Is tire rotation necessary? If so, how often to rotate tires?

Is tire rotation necessary? If so, how often to rotate tires?

Why you should ignore the idiots who say you don’t rotate tires

The idiots who maintain that you shouldn’t rotate your tires use a financial reason to justify their insane advice. They argue that if you add up all the tire rotation charges you would have saved by not rotating your tires, you could have paid about half the cost of a new set of tires. Let’s take a look at that faulty reasoning.

1st fault in reasoning not to rotate tires

The first fault in the reasoning to not rotate your tires is the cost of rotation. Most large tire stores and warehouse clubs include free tire rotation with every purchase. The only places that charge for tire rotation after buying a new set of tires are car dealers and independent mechanical shops; which is a good reason to not buy tires there in the first place.

If you get free tire rotation, there’s NO reason not to rotate your tires.

But let’s assume you do have to pay for tire rotation

You buy a set of tires rated with a treadwear expectancy of 60,000 miles. If you rotate your tires every 5,000 miles, you’ll pay for 9 tire rotations at around $40 per rotation. That’s $360.

Tire rotation cost/benefit analysis

Let’s use a 2010 Mazda CX-7 crossover/SUV for our comparison. It’s typical of many late crossover/SUV model vehicles with low profile tires. A low cost tire for this vehicle costs around $240 with 50,000 expected treadwear life.

Cost per mile with tire store free rotation package

4 tires at $240 each – $960 plus 9 tire rotations every 5,000 miles at $0 each = $960 ÷ 60,000 miles = .016/mile

Cost per mile with NO rotations over 60,000 mile period

4 tires at $240 =$960, plus 2 new tires at 30,000 to replace the worn out front tires. $960+$480= $1,440. $1,440 ÷ 60,000 miles= 0.024/mile

The net result is that failure to rotate your tires actually costs you 34% more than rotating your tires with free rotation..

Cost per mile if you have to pay $40 per tire rotation

Tires $960 + 9 tire rotations @ 40 = $1,320 ÷ 60,000 miles = 0.022 per mile. Rotating your tires and paying for tire rotation still saves you $120 over 60,000 miles.

Worse than the cost however, if the fact that worn tires provide less traction, longer stopping distances, more hydroplaning. It’s not worth it!

Now let’s discuss why tire rotation is important

Why you should rotate tires

Front and rear tires wear at different rates

Front and rear tires carry different weight and perform different duties. The front tires, for example, endure a greater proportion of the torque and friction for turning, accelerating and braking on FWD and AWD vehicles. Front tires wear faster even on rear wheel drive because they carry more weight, do all the turning and perform more of the braking.

Left and right tires can wear differently

Roads are usually higher in the center (road crown) so they shed water toward the shoulder. This can cause uneven tire wear between the left and right side tires. Carmakers try to compensate for the different side-to-side stresses when computing alignment angles, but they can’t always eliminate road crown wear. In fact, many carmakers have issued service bulletins advising dealer that road crown wear is normal and they should not adjust alignment angles to eliminate it.

Here’s an except from a recent General Motors bulletin regarding uneven tire wear that’s considered normal:

“Lead/pull concerns due to road crown are considered “Normal Operation” and are NOT a warrantable condition — the customer should be advised that this is “Normal Operation. Slight to very slight “feathering” or “edge” wear on the shoulders of tires is NOT considered unusual and should even out with a tire rotation: if the customer is concerned about a “feathering” condition of the tires. the customer could be advised to rotate the tires earlier than the next scheduled mileage —“GM Technical Service Bulletin #05-03-07-0091 dated February, 2020

If you don’t rotate your tires according to the carmakers/tire maker’s recommendations, your front tires will wear faster than your rear tires. That means you’ll have less tread depth on your front tires.

Lack of rotation results in uneven braking

Less traction means less braking ability and longer stopping distances.

Lack of rotation increases your chance of hydroplaning

Uneven tire wear and lower tread depth can increase your chances of encountering hydroplaning on wet roads.

Lack of rotation degrades the effectiveness of stability control and traction control systems

The stability and traction control systems in late model vehicles assume that you’ve rotated your tires and that the tread depths on all four tires are similar. If the tread depth varies quite bit or the wear is uneven, that can degrade the effectiveness of the traction control and stability control systems.

Lack of rotation and uneven tread depth can damage AWD systems

Carmakers state a maximum tread depth difference between front and rear tires. If you exceed the tread depth difference, you can cause damage to the AWD system, costing thousands of dollars.

Lack of rotation will simply wear out your tires faster

Lack of rotation voids your tire warranty

This one is really simple: No tire company is going to cover a treadwear warranty if you haven’t followed the recommended tire rotation schedule.

Tire rotation evens out treadwear between the front and rear tires

What rotation pattern should you use?

The following tire rotation patterns are for vehicles that have NON-DIRECTIONAL tires and where all four tires are the same size.

Rearward Cross

The rearward cross is recommended for 4WD, AWD and RWD vehicles.

X-Pattern

The X-Pattern is recommended for light trucks.

Forward Cross

The forward cross tire rotation pattern is recommended for FWD cars, CUVs and SUVs.

©, 2021 Rick Muscoplat