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Tire Rotation

Tire rotation can be beneficial in several ways. When done at the recommended times, it can preserve balanced handling and traction of the tires and even out tire wear. It can even provide performance advantages. When should tires be rotated ? We recommend that high performance tires be rotated every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, even if they don’t show signs of wear. Tire rotation can often be done with oil change intervals while the vehicle is off the ground anyway. Tire rotation helps even out tire wear by allowing each tire to serve in as many of the vehicle’s wheel positions as possible. Remember, tire rotation can’t correct wear problems due to worn mechanical parts or incorrect inflation pressures.

While every vehicle is equipped with four tires, usually the tires on the front need to accomplish very different tasks than the rear tires. And the tasks encountered on a front wheel drive car are considerably different than those of a rear wheel drive car. Tire wear experienced on a performance vehicle will usually be more severe than those on a family sedan. Each wheel position can cause different wear rates and different type of tire wear.

 

It is an advantage when all four tires wear together because as wear reduces a tire’s tread depth, it allows tires to respond to the driver’s input more quickly, maintains the handling, and it helps increase a tire’s cornering traction.

When your tires wear out together you can get a new set of tires, without being forced to buy pairs. If you replace tires in sets you will maintain the original handling balance. And our suppliers are constantly introducing new tires, each of which improves upon their past product’s performance. If you replace your tires in sets, it allows you to experience today’s technology, instead of being forced to match yesterdays.

On front wheel drive cars, rotate the tires in a forward cross pattern (fig. A) or the alternative X pattern (fig. B) On rear wheel or four wheel drive vehicles, rotate the tires in a rearward cross pattern (fig. C) or the alternative X pattern (fig. B) If you car has directional wheels or tires, rotate them as shown in fig D. If you car has non-directional tires that are a different size from front to rear, rotate them as shown in fig. E.