Tyre rotation - do you bother doing it?

thescouselander

anewman wrote: »

I just rotated my tyres and thought I was doing something worthwhile. I.e. extending the life of the tyres as the tyres at the front wear quicker and differently compared with the back on a front wheel drive car.

However I just read the following Kwik-fit web page http://www.kwik-fit.com/tyre-rotation.asp which basically appears to say it's not worthwhile or necessary.

The Kiwk Fit advise contradicts itself if you think about it. They recommend that you dont rotate your tyres but thay also advise keeping the best tyres on the rear.

So, if your tyres are worn out on the front and you go and get new ones presumably they would recommend putting the new tyres on the back and move the rear tyres to the front - i.e. they would rotate them.


I dont rotate the tyres on my car because the ones at the back are wider than the front so I couldn't do it anyway. Can't say it causes me any problems.

movilogo

Majority of cars are now front wheel drive. It we put bad tyres on rear, how do the front wheels get a better grip?

Ideally, we should keep all tyres in good condition - both front & rear.

james.f.thomas

If you do rotate your tyres then both the front and rears will wear out together. If you don't then the rears will wear slower and be on the car for longer. It is recomended to put new tyres on the rear but if you have not rotated them then the tyres that are moved to the front will end up being in use longer than if they had been regularly rotated and as tyres deteriorate with age this probably isn't ideal.

tomstickland

I just put new fronts and rears on when they wear down. When I had a FWD car I had new tyres put on the back and put the old rear tyres onto the front.

kennyboy66_2

Sagaris wrote: »

Last time I had new tyres fitted at Costco I was told they always rotate tyres, and that it was the law! It didn't seem right to me, so I went to my local tyre place and they said that it wasn't, but they would do it if I wanted them to. Their opinion was that it wasn't necessary, so I had the new ones fitted on the front as I wanted, Costco wanted to put the rear ones on the front and the new ones on the back, I preferred to have the new ones on the front as it's a front wheel drive.

Its certainly not 'the law', but Costco were doing the right thing by wanting to put the best tyres at the rear of the vehicle. They don't charge any extra for this.

iluvmylexus

costco state that new tyres on the front can adversely affect the handling by excessive oversteer so always fit new tyres to the rear
i have noticed the difference and always go along with what they say
new tyres should be fitted to the rear [michelin also recommend this]

vikingaero

I disagree with the tyre manufacturers, Costco and Kwik-Fit over this. I'm sure it's nothing more than a marketing scam to increase the sale of tyres - your front tyres are worn and you want to replace them; the tyre depot put the new ones on the rear axle and the half worn rears are placed on the front; 6,000 miles later you need new front boots again.

My reasoning for this opposition to their policies is as follows:

Most cars are FWD and I would rather have better resistance to aquaplaning, better straight line braking and increased directional stability. Most of my heavy braking occurs when the motorway comes to a complete stop. I've never had a real life emergency braking situation where oversteer has kicked in although I've practised this enough on track and on driving courses.

In a few months time those with part-worn rotated boots will have a trickier time than those with new boots on the front when it snows or is icy.

And where deflation of the rear tyre has occurred the back of the car just gets dragged around and feels lumpy (unless deflation occurs mid fast bend). I feel that rapid deflation of the front tyres are more hazardous. When the rear deflates the directional stability is provided for by the front tyres.

I use Elite Tyres in Essex and they get sent all the industry guidelines and allow customers the choice and generally don't agree with them.

alzibar

Hi;
the reason why tyres are rotated is front wheeled drive cars have 'toe in' and 'camber' this wears the driven tyres more on the outside edge at a greater rate ,thus puting them on rear will make them last longer:j

steadynerve

I've been reading this thread with interest.

So far I've learnt that front wheel cars wear front tyres more on the outside edge and so would last longer if moved to the back after a certain time as here they don't wear so much in this position.

That tyre manufacturtures and fitters advocate to not prolong the life of front tyres by rotating in this way as this could leave to lack of grip at back (especially in wet weather) or if you have a back blow out ( a bit more likley as well with a more worn tyre apparently) . This is an oversteer condition and is harder and less obvuios to control than a understeer condtion which is when you lose grip at the front which is where the increased safety comes from.

So basicially tyre manufactures and fitters are advocating doing something that gives them more buisness and not to do something that gives them less on the grounds of safety.

The trouble with these issues it noone ever quantifies the exact level of improved safety ie exactly on average how much safer are you following this advice? So you can determine if its worth the extra expense.

Also can't you remedy it other ways as well (the tyre manufacturers don't seem to be saying anything about this?) ie drive slower in wet wheather, learn how to control a car in understeer and oversteer?, keep your tyres regularty inflated and note if tyres are excessively losing inflation indicating a slow puncture etc.

Unless I hear statistics from the manufacturers i am more inclined to think that their safety risks can be controlled in other ways and you can still save some money by rotating your tyres!

I also note before 1992 the legal tread on car tyres was 1mm and not 1.6mm so we all had a lot less grip in those days and the manufactures are looking to increase the legal minimum to 3mm on safety grounds as well.
Now you are I could do this as well without the law change (indeed the tyres suppliers already recommend changing before the legal minimum) and i'm sure it would be safer and more expensive to always drive with 3mm or more of thread. But in the end increased safety does often come down to how much you are willing to spend for the extra benefit.

pstuart

vikingaero wrote: »

I disagree with the tyre manufacturers, Costco and Kwik-Fit over this. I'm sure it's nothing more than a marketing scam to increase the sale of tyres - your front tyres are worn and you want to replace them; the tyre depot put the new ones on the rear axle and the half worn rears are placed on the front; 6,000 miles later you need new front boots again.

My reasoning for this opposition to their policies is as follows:

Most cars are FWD and I would rather have better resistance to aquaplaning, better straight line braking and increased directional stability. Most of my heavy braking occurs when the motorway comes to a complete stop. I've never had a real life emergency braking situation where oversteer has kicked in although I've practised this enough on track and on driving courses.

In a few months time those with part-worn rotated boots will have a trickier time than those with new boots on the front when it snows or is icy.

And where deflation of the rear tyre has occurred the back of the car just gets dragged around and feels lumpy (unless deflation occurs mid fast bend). I feel that rapid deflation of the front tyres are more hazardous. When the rear deflates the directional stability is provided for by the front tyres.

QUOTE]

Having worked in the tyre industry for many years I would totally agree with this statement.

Took my wifes Motabilty car to Kwikfit to have the backs changed to the front (yes I know we get free tyres but the replacements are third rate) and Kwikfit refused quoting from their training manual.

Its two tyres for them in a few months, in the meanwhile my frontwheel drive traction and stopping distances are reduced.