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Tire rotation is an very important maintenance duty that the majority of people don't think about often enough. When done at the proper time, tire rotation extends the life of your tires, preserves tire balance and traction, maintains even tire wear on all four tires thus ensuring safe driving and even tire performance advantages. Let's  take a look at this simple and effective process.

Whether you plan on doing the job yourself or having it performed by a your local tire store, it's important to know why we rotate our tires. When you stop and think about it, there are several  obvious factors that cause your tires to wear unevenly. Parallel parking. three-point turns, wear problems due to worn mechanical parts or incorrect inflation pressures.Every turn of the steering wheel, causes more wear on the front tires than the rear. (This is even more accentuated in front-wheel-drive cars, where the front wheels provide the major motive power for the vehicle.) Resistance causes friction, friction creates heat. Therefore, the front tires wear much faster than the rear tires. Tire wear on performances vehicles will typically be more severe than that of a family car.

When all four of your tires wear evenly, it allows you to purchase a new SET of 4 tires without having to resort to buying PAIRS. When you replace tires in sets of four, you are maintaining the vehicles intended handling balance. Another thing to consider is that tire manufacturers are continually improving upon their past product’s performance. If you are replacing your tires in sets of four, you will be getting the latest tire technology instead of trying to locate a good set of used tires to replace the two tires that wore out first.

WHEN TO ROTATE YOUR TIRES

When we refer to "ROTATING TIRES" we are talking about we are referring to the process of moving the front wheels and tires to the rear and the rear tires to the front several times during their life cycle in order to maintain even tire wear and thus extending the life of the tires.  Most manufacturer's tire mileage warranties require rotation of the tires at regular intervals in order  to keep the warranty valid.

So how often should you rotate your tires? We recommend that tires be rotated every 3,000 to 5,000 miles even if they don't show obvious signs of wear. It is a good idea to rotate your tires every time you get your oil changed.  This is also be a good time to have your tires rebalanced and your tire pressure checked. This is also a good time to have your wheel alignment checked.  At Texas Tire Sales, we often have monthly specials that include Oil Change, Tire Rotation & computerized Wheel Balancing.

HOW TO ROATATE YOR TIRES

There are three (3) main tire rotation patterns that cover most vehicles. Ther are also a few other Rotation patterns that apply to utilizing your spare, directional tread tires, vehicles with different sized tires on each axle and vehicles with dual rear wheels.  All are listed below.

REARWARD CROSS TIRE ROTATION
This method involves moving the rear tires straight forward to the front and crisscrossing the front tires to the rear.
 

X PATTERN TIRE ROTATION
This method requires crisscrossing the front tires to the rear and crisscrossing the rear tires to the front.
 

FORWARD CROSS TIRE ROTATION
This method is the opposite of the Rearward Cross approach and involves moving the front tires straight back to the rear and crisscrossing the rear tires to the front.
 

FIVE TIRE ROTATION (Including your spare tire)
These days, many vehicles are equipped with a temporary spare tire that cannot be included in your tire rotation routine, if the vehicle’s spare tire size matches  the other four (4) and is NOT branded "for temporary use only" it should be included in the tire rotation pattern. Consult the vehicle's owner's manual for recommended tire rotation procedures, or if not available, insert the spare in the right rear position at every rotation. Put the tire that would have gone to the right rear in the trunk or under the vehicle as the spare until the next tire rotation.
 

ROTATION FOR TIRES WITH DIRECTIONAL TREAD
There is a specific tire rotation pattern for vehicles equipped with tires that have directional tread. Vehicles equipped with  tires that have asymmetric or uni-directional tread designs require a rotation method whereby you would simply move the front tires to the rear and the rear tires to the front with no crisscrossing.
 

ROTATION ON VEHICLES WITH DIFFERENT TIRE SIZES ON EACH AXLE
Some vehicles are equipped with different size tires on the front and rear axles.  In this case you would typically rotate the tires side to side and there would be NO front to rear rotation or crisscrossing involved. Check the owner's manual for the proper rotation in these cases.
 

DUAL WHEEL ROTATION PATTERN
If you drive a vehicle with dual wheels in the rear, there is no crisscrossing involved in the rotation process.  In this situation both front tires are relocated to the outside rear tire locations.  The inside rear tires move to the front tire locations and the outside rear tires move to the inside rear location.  

One more thing  to remember, If you take your vehicle in to have your tires or wheels serviced or rotated and you have wheel locks or locking lug nuts, bring the key. If you lose your key, bring your vehicle in to Texas Tire Sales and we can remove your locking lug nuts for you.  Another thing to remember is that any competent wheel thief can show you how to remove a locking lug nut quickly and easily.