Tire Rack's tire rotation recommendation

[CapriRacer]

Allow me to explain the science behind Tire Rack's recommendations.

First, tires will develop irregular wear regardless of which position on the vehicle it is in. But the kind of irregular wear varies by wheel position - especially front to rear. What an owner should want to do is rotate the tires BEFORE the irregular wear gets so bad that it causes a vibration or noise. The key to this is the speed with which the irregular wear appears - which is a function of what the tire is being asked to do (turn the vehicle, accelerate, brake, etc.) and the alignment in that position. I should also mention load and inflation pressure.


Tread wear is not even throughout the life of a tire. It is faster when the tire is unworn and slower as it approaches wearout. That's because the height of the tread blocks is taller (and therefore more flexible) when new. Further, some tires have shallow sipes and angled sides to their grooves, thereby changing the geometry of an individual tread block and the rate the tread wears. If you were to accurately and frequently measure the tread wear during a tires life, you would see a curve.

Rotating tires puts a different wear pattern into the tires, thereby slowing down the rate irregular wear is forming.

But since tires wear faster at the beginning, it would be advantageous to have the first rotation a bit early.

 

[circuitsmith]

I do the first rotation or two early (~2500) to get to a multiple of 5000 on the odo.
Then rotate every 5000. Mostly city driving.
I think rotation is more important with AWD and FWD than RWD.

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Unless I see a tire wearing , I never rotate them . If it is wearing , time to inspect the suspension and repair as needed . Then get an alignment .

Then replace any tires that need it .


Tires will always wear from the first inch you roll on them. Is it a suspension problem? Or do you mean if you see uneven wearing properties that point to a suspension issue.

 

[krzyss]

Thanks CapriRacer!

So there is method to this madness

Krzyś

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
I always heard that if a tire wears at the edges , it id probably under inflated .

I have always aired my tires to the max rating listed on the sidewall . More air gives a little rougher ride , but the tire lasts longer & gets slightly better MPG .


I check my tires (and my wife's and my daughter's) fairly often and usually fill them 1-2 lbs above the recommended pressure when I notice they are 1-2 lbs low...of course, temperature changes mess with all this.
I'm pretty sure my tires' shoulder blocks wear early because of the way I drive...I have to make an effort to tone my cornering down a bit when I have passengers so they don't have to hang on for dear life. I don't drive super duper fast, but I usually don't slow down for turns any more than I have to. Put a thicker rear sway bar on my little SUV to match my style, too much body roll when it was stock...

 

[supton]

Hard cornering would be wear on the outer edge. Inner and outer edge wear would be underinflation.

 

[Tomioka]

I guess I might give it a shot with my new tires and see what happens in the long run. Tire shop gave me a recommendation of 7,000mi so maybe I can do two tire rotations within that span.

 

[supton]

How often do you check tire pressure? I'm wondering if you could just check outside/middle/inner depth when you check tire pressure (and oil level and etc). It'd be overkill to write down the measurements every 1k but you'd know real quick when a rotation is really needed.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: supton
Hard cornering would be wear on the outer edge. Inner and outer edge wear would be underinflation.


Ah ….. Mmmm …… not exactly.


Depending on the suspension, hard cornering can produce wear on the inside or outside or both shoulders.

 

[supton]

Is that from the angle of the spindle changing during cornering?

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: supton
Is that from the angle of the spindle changing during cornering?


Yes, but that's only part of the picture. Ackermann (various spellings!) plays a role in that it may induce an excessive slip angle, which would exaggerate the wear. My race car used to do that.

 

[Sayjac]

Since DT says rotations every 5-6k miles to keep tread-wear/life warranty in force and makes no new tire distinction, I'll stick with that.

I wonder just how significant if at all the "wear" difference is between new tire rotation at 3k miles and 5-6k miles. Be that as it may, I won't be going to the TR recommendation.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: supton
Hard cornering would be wear on the outer edge. Inner and outer edge wear would be underinflation.

As I mentioned before, I didn't think the tires looked THAT bad when I put them on in the spring...when I looked at them on the car just before replacing them, I could only see the outer blocks really well and they were quite shot. I let the tire shop dispose of the tires, so I can't check them now...I guess I don't know how the inner shoulder blocks really looked at the end.
I do keep a pretty close eye on pressure, but I suppose that my gauge could be reading too high...I'll have to compare it to my old digital gauge and a stick gauge.

 

[Rand]

Since I rotate my own, and I'll be putting winter tires/wheels back on in mid December I might do an early one.

which would end up making my first 2 rotations around 3000 miles.

If not well they should pile up around 6500miles between now and December 15 give or take a week.

I already noticed these Firestone AT tires flat spot bad overnight.. luckily they get round within 2 miles. It also flatspots much more if you drive it extended miles in heat.

Felt like I had 4 square concrete blocks yesterday after driving it 120miles in the 95F temps then parking it overnight.

If its just around town for a few miles.. they barely flatspot the next day.

 

[NO2]

We rotate when the OLM indicates its time for an oil change, every 6000-7500 miles. The difference between front and rear never exceeds 1/32". On the vehicle driven primarily on the highway we use a 7500 mi interval.