How Often Should You Rotate Your Tires
Rotating your tires as a maintenance routine saves you a lot of trouble, time, and money. In fact, without this service, your tire’s integrity will be compromised over time.
As helpful as a tire rotation is, the question of how often you should rotate your tires remains. This article will answer this question while highlighting the benefits of rotating your tires. Also, we will explore some frequently asked questions about tire rotation.
Without further talk, let’s dive into the article.
What Is Tire Rotation?
Before discussing the tire rotation patterns, we must first point out what tire rotation is. The practice of tire rotation refers to moving the tires of your vehicle from one position to another. Several tire rotation styles are shown in the diagram below, and they all perform the same function.
However, the pattern may change depending on the type of vehicle you have and the number of tires you rotate with. For example, a 5 tire rotation will require a different rotation technique than a 4 tire rotation.
You can use the image below as a reference when rotating your tires, as the appropriate rotation patterns for different car types (front-wheel-drive/rear-wheel drive/four-wheel drive) have been highlighted.
How Important Is Tire Rotation?
Tire rotation plays an important role in maintaining your tire health. Your tires will encounter many problems if you fail to rotate them. Otherwise, if you do it regularly, there will be various benefits below:
- Even tread wear
Even tread wear is one significant benefit you get from a tire rotation. In fact, it is the primary purpose of the tire rotation service. When the tread of your tires wears uniformly, it improves your tire’s grip both off-road and on-road. Also, your vehicle’s braking distance is enhanced with an even tire tread.
- Prevent Tread Cupping
If you don’t rotate your tires, your car tires will develop tread cupping problems over time, resulting in a bouncing motion when driving. In addition, cupping makes your tires unsafe for use as it reduces the traction on the tire. Thankfully, you can prevent this when you rotate your tires regularly.
- Increased tire lifespan
The friction your tires generate when you drive can damage even the best tires out there in the long-run. However, when you rotate your tires often, the friction is distributed across all four tires of your car, which helps extend the lifespan of your tires.
- Save money
By rotating your tires as often as you should, problems such as uneven tread wear and tire cupping won’t be a problem. By implication, you won’t have to spend money replacing your tires often. But that’s not all; it also improves gas mileage, implying that the money spent on fuel will be reduced.
When your tires don’t wear uniformly, it causes a drag which increases rolling resistance. Therefore, it makes your car consume more fuel. Seeing as tire rotation guarantees even tread wear, you won’t have this problem.
How Often Should You Rotate Your Tires
According to various tire manufacturers, you should rotate your tires after every 5,000 to 7,500 miles or twice a year (every six months). Keep in mind that this figure is sometimes dependent on the type of vehicle you drive, how you drive it, and where you go with it.
Based on this, we recommend that you should check your vehicle’s/tire manual. That way, you get a definitive answer about how often you should do a tire rotation. To be on the safe side, you can make it a habit to rotate your tires whenever you change your oil.
How Long Does A Tire Rotation Take?
The tire rotation service does not take a whole day to carry out. But how long it takes depends on whether you do it yourself or hire an expert (the garage). It takes around 30 minutes to rotate your tires at the garage. However, if you do it yourself, the time taken should be about an hour. Keep in mind that the time it takes to rotate your tires also depends on your proficiency level. For example, if you have experience rotating your tires by yourself, you are bound to spend less time than a first-timer.
How Much Is A Tire Rotation?
The cost of a tire rotation is between $24 and $50. However, depending on the garage you go to and other services you might get, it can go up to $120. Some of these services include checking for uneven wear and professional advice regarding the state of your tires. That being said, you can save yourself some extra cash by doing the rotation yourself. As a result, you are cutting down your tire maintenance cost.
Conclusion
Tire rotation is an essential tire maintenance routine you can’t do without as a car owner. Not only does it guarantee maximum tire life, but rotating your tires also helps keep you safe. With that in mind, you should consider a tire rotation for your vehicle if you haven’t done one in a long time!
Writer Bio:
Mark Johnson is a tire technician. He has been working with tires for 8 years. Now, he’s the Chief Editor of tiresglobe.com – a blog about Tires & Wheels. He has been writing articles to share his experience related to tires & wheels with honest and accurate information.
