Wheels front to back and back to front.
Discussion
Taken form the "when do you change your tyres" thread.
Do anybody swap the front tyres/wheels around to put the fresher ones on the drive wheels or just go and buy newer ones.
I have noticed on both my cars that the front tend to wear around the edges more, due to my style of cornering ,so I'm told.
So, swap or buy new?
Do anybody swap the front tyres/wheels around to put the fresher ones on the drive wheels or just go and buy newer ones.
I have noticed on both my cars that the front tend to wear around the edges more, due to my style of cornering ,so I'm told.
So, swap or buy new?
If front wheel drive you should wear the fronts then put the new ones onto the rear and put the rears onto the front. Keeps all the rubber fresh.
If the spare is the same size you should also put that into the rotation by putting a new one in the boot and the spare on the rear with the other new one
If the spare is the same size you should also put that into the rotation by putting a new one in the boot and the spare on the rear with the other new one
Zoobeef said:
If the spare is the same size you should also put that into the rotation by putting a new one in the boot and the spare on the rear with the other new one
No no, you can't do that!What about when you come to sell the car when it's 10 years old and knackered - you're not going to be able to say in your ad "spare wheel unused". Then what will you do? No one will buy the car.
Re - the spare.
When I get my tyres changed I normally put the best of those getting replaced into the boot as the spare.
A long time ago I swapped the spare tyre into the mix - and it failed quite badly.
Bearibg in mind a spare (for me) is only staying on the car lobg enough for me to get home it doesn't need to brand new. But nor do I want an old dryed up lump.
When I get my tyres changed I normally put the best of those getting replaced into the boot as the spare.
A long time ago I swapped the spare tyre into the mix - and it failed quite badly.
Bearibg in mind a spare (for me) is only staying on the car lobg enough for me to get home it doesn't need to brand new. But nor do I want an old dryed up lump.
I lived in California for a couple of years, and ran a Lexus IS 300 (rear wheel drive, all wheels same size).
Presumably because of the hot weather, the service intervals were much more frequent (oil change), something like every 4K miles, iirc.
Anyway, they would always rotate the tyres (or, 'tires') at every service as part of the routine service.
Never known that to be done as standard in UK.
Presumably because of the hot weather, the service intervals were much more frequent (oil change), something like every 4K miles, iirc.
Anyway, they would always rotate the tyres (or, 'tires') at every service as part of the routine service.
Never known that to be done as standard in UK.
carbibles said:
Rotating Your Tyres
This is the practice of swapping the front and back tyres to even out the wear, not the practice of literally spinning your tyres around (you'd be surprised how often people seem to get confused by this). I used to believe that this wasn't a good idea. Think about it: the tyres begin to wear in a pattern, however good or bad, that matches their position on the car. If you now change them all around, you end up with tyres worn for the rear being placed on the front and vice versa. However, having had this done a few times both on front-wheel drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles during manufacturer services, I' a bit of a convert. I now reckon it actually is A Good Thing. It results in even overall tyre wear. By this, I mean wear in the tread depth. This is a valid point, but if you can't be bothered to buy a new pair of tyres when the old pair wear too much, then you shouldn't be on the road, let alone kidding yourself that putting worn front tyres on the back and partly worn back tyres on the front will cure your problem.
So how should you rotate your tyres? It depends on whether you have 2-, 4-, front- or rear-wheel drive, and whether or not you have unidirectional tyres (meaning, those with tread designed only to spin in one direction). With unidirectional tyres, you can swap the front and rear per-side, but not swap them side-to-side. If you do, they'll all end up spinning the wrong way for the tread. Generally speaking you ought to rotate your tyres every 5,000 miles (8,000km) or so, even if they're showing no signs of wear. The following table shows the correct way to rotate your tyres.
ETA: Picture order is FWD (but it's not displaying at the mo); RWD; 4WD; Uni-directional tyresThis is the practice of swapping the front and back tyres to even out the wear, not the practice of literally spinning your tyres around (you'd be surprised how often people seem to get confused by this). I used to believe that this wasn't a good idea. Think about it: the tyres begin to wear in a pattern, however good or bad, that matches their position on the car. If you now change them all around, you end up with tyres worn for the rear being placed on the front and vice versa. However, having had this done a few times both on front-wheel drive and all-wheel-drive vehicles during manufacturer services, I' a bit of a convert. I now reckon it actually is A Good Thing. It results in even overall tyre wear. By this, I mean wear in the tread depth. This is a valid point, but if you can't be bothered to buy a new pair of tyres when the old pair wear too much, then you shouldn't be on the road, let alone kidding yourself that putting worn front tyres on the back and partly worn back tyres on the front will cure your problem.
So how should you rotate your tyres? It depends on whether you have 2-, 4-, front- or rear-wheel drive, and whether or not you have unidirectional tyres (meaning, those with tread designed only to spin in one direction). With unidirectional tyres, you can swap the front and rear per-side, but not swap them side-to-side. If you do, they'll all end up spinning the wrong way for the tread. Generally speaking you ought to rotate your tyres every 5,000 miles (8,000km) or so, even if they're showing no signs of wear. The following table shows the correct way to rotate your tyres.
Edited by xRIEx on Monday 11th March 19:57
samdale said:
Front and rear are different sizes so I can't swap. I just change whichever pair need changing, when they're getting near the limit.
Surely you're just delaying it and will then need to buy 4 tyres at once?
On a FWD or AWD car you will typically go through something like two sets of fronts per set of rears (YMMV). The rear tread is quite critical in a FWD car in terms of aquaplaning, so it's best to have good tyres at the back. By rotating you should never end up with less than 4mm or so tread on the rear, and always more tread at the back than the front, which is a sensible thing to do. Surely you're just delaying it and will then need to buy 4 tyres at once?
On RWD it's more determined by how you drive. If you hoon the rears will get destroyed quickly, but if you are reasonably gentle the wear will be fairly even.
samdale said:
Front and rear are different sizes so I can't swap. I just change whichever pair need changing, when they're getting near the limit.
Surely you're just delaying it and will then need to buy 4 tyres at once?
That's the point! You often find tyres are cheaper if you buy a set of four, and even better, there's the joy of having four matching brand new tyres!Surely you're just delaying it and will then need to buy 4 tyres at once?
Pah. I noticed that, bizarrely, the rear tyres on the E46 were slightly less worn than the fronts. So I decided to start getting on the power a little earlier in corners. Now they're even again 
Close to 50/50 weight distribution and RWD, I live in ignorant bliss of such things as tyre rotation
Close to 50/50 weight distribution and RWD, I live in ignorant bliss of such things as tyre rotation
GrizzlyBear said:
kambites said:
On cars where it's possible, I swap them regularly so all four tyres need replacing at the same time.
I used to do this with all 5 tyres (much prefer a full size spare), I get a much better price on new tyres when replacing a few at once.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff