Question on tire rotation

[sbergman27]

I drive quite a lot. Maybe 6500 miles per month. Literally 98% of it is Interstate Highway. If I go with a new set of tires which has a UTQG tread wear rating of, say, 700, what would be a reasonable frequency of rotation, keeping in mind that 5000 mile intervals would see me rotating tires every 3 weeks?

Thanks,
Steve

[detroiter]

I'd say that the 5000-5500 range is where you would want to rotate them regardless of how often you drive. 5000 miles is 5000 miles.

[schleppy]

On a car like the Yaris (lightweight, very little camber, high treadwear tires) I'd say keeping your tire pressures in check will be more valuable than constant rotation. I'd rotate every 6-10k, if at all. Just keep an eye on the treads.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by detroiter

5000 miles is 5000 miles.

Reasonable. But it's the 98% Interstate Highway bit that I'm wondering about. Certainly, a different situation than maneuvering around the city. Then again, a significant portion of the remaining 2% is on winding mountain roads. I imagine all those 15mph bends that I take at 25mph count for something.

[Loren]

Be sure your alignment is good. Keep an eye on your tire pressures.

Then, just watch the front tread depth. When you get close to 1/2 tread depth, rotate front to rear. That should be all the rotating you really need to do for a mostly highway-driven car.

Do watch for uneven tire wear. You aren't likely to see it in the rear, but in the front, if you take those tight turns agressively and frequently, you could see outside edge wear. If that's happening to excess, you can get more miles out of your tires by having them flipped on the wheels before that wear reaches more than 1/2 tread depth. You can incorporate that into your rotation schedule so that you'll be doing a flip of the fronts and a front-to-rear rotation at the same time.

Rear tires on a light FWD car hardly wear at all. You just need to manage the front tire wear. Keep them from wearing too unevenly, or letting them get so far gone that they're not useful for the rear.

Resist the urge to NOT rotate your tires, as you'll then have to put new tires on the front and have rubber that is much older and harder in the rear.

To sum up: No real rotation "schedule", just do what the tires tell you to do.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by Loren

To sum up: No real rotation "schedule", just do what the tires tell you to do.

I was hoping that you would post. Well considered and well reasoned advice, as usual.

I've found a model tire that I really think is going to be kick-ass for my requirements. And they're not the Michelin Energy Saver A/S's I was talking about the other day. I'll probably be posting about them in a couple of weeks after they're on the car and I have some actual experience with them. Not LRR tires, unfortunately. Everything is a compromise, and one can't have everything.

Regarding the rotation... on the one hand I always keep an eye on how to keep the maintenance down. On the other, and to be honest, I'm buying these tires to make up for the fact that I don't have ABS or traction control. It's really starting to nag me that I don't have those. (And I don't really need tires just yet.) So I'm thinking that maybe ~5000 mile rotation might be worth it, just to optimize tire performance. Or, at least, to provide a placebo effect in that vein. Especially since the tire shop provides free rotation... even if you've never bought any tires from them. Even going so far as to take special requests... like "Please don't use the goddam impact wrench to torque the lug nuts!". :-)

-Steve

[nemelek]

To me it's simple with the Yaris. I change the oil at 5,000 and do the tire rotation at the same time. With 2 floor jacks it doesn't take long to rotate.

[sbergman27]

Originally Posted by nemelek

With 2 floor jacks it doesn't take long to rotate.

LOL. It's definitely worth investing in a second jack. The "1 jack and 1 spare" method is a pain and a half. ;-)

[Loren]

Front-rear rotation is easy with one jack. Lift at the jack point on the side beneath the door mirror with a good floor jack. The whole side comes up enough to get both wheels off. (not quite enough to get a jack stand under the back, but just keep your body parts out from under the car!)

You can't do criss-cross rotation that way, but that hasn't really been necessary in a long time.