Tyre rotation - do you bother doing it?

anewman · 16 November 2007 at 9:06PM

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.

Tyre rotation

Many tyre manufacturers agree that it is no longer good practice to rotate your tyres in order to extend their legal life. The reasons for this are;
Partly worn tyres are more likely to experience punctures – particularly in wet weather conditions.
Front tyre deflation will create an under-steer effect which is easier to control than over-steer (the effect produced by a rear tyre deflation)

In the unlikely event that a tyre deflates suddenly, then it is easier to control the vehicle if this occurs at the front of the vehicle. For improved handling and stability it is now recommended that the ‘best’ tyres should always be fitted at the rear of the vehicle. This is irrespective of whether the car is front or rear wheel drive.

Because of this at Kwik Fit we do not recommend tyre rotation and we do recommend fitting your best tyres at the rear of the vehicle. If you are replacing a single tyre then this should be paired with the rear with the tyre having the most tread depth. There are some circumstances when this advice does not apply, such as;
Where front and rear tyre sizes are designed to be different
Where a vehicle is designed to have directional tyres at the front and asymmetric at the rear

Wig · 16 November 2007 at 9:28PM

I don't do it, because the tyre wear on the fronts wil be greater than the rears but the tyre wear on the front is going to be a constant. So whether it is the original fronts allowed to wear down to legal minimum or the newer looking rears transferred to the front both sets of tyres will wear at the same rate (when fitted to the front).

The original fronts will obviously be finished quicker than if you had the rears moved forward. But what I'm saying is that overall you don't gain anything from the process, because for example you still are losing 1mm of tread per 2,500 miles.

I hope I explained that ok.

So I change the fronts when they are gone, and I change the rears when they are gone.

The exception is if there is uneven tyre wear occuring, but IMO if that is the case. I prefer to fix the cause of the uneven wear rather than working around the problem.

goldspanners · 16 November 2007 at 9:40PM

i done this with the original tyres on my car,all it meant was when i needed to replace the front tyres it was also needing rears by this point so it meant forking out £200 in the one go,but it could be worth while if you find a garage offering a discount on buying 4 tyres.
at thetime it was great as i couldnt afford to replace just 2 tyres so it gave me time to save a little before buying them.
so maybe its not as bad an idea as we think.

but dont wait until the front tyres are on the limit and then rotate them as you wont get very long at all,when they are around 2.5- 3 mm then consider rotation.

ariba10 · 16 November 2007 at 9:57PM

In changing the side of the car a wheel is on also changes the direction of rotation. Once considered an advantage but not now.

oldagetraveller · 17 November 2007 at 10:26AM

This always used to be recommended with the old cross ply tyres but not with radials. Don't ask me why it's just something I read in an old car (Morris Minor) driver's handbook!!
But if you want all your tyres to wear out together and have to replace all four (or five if the spare is included in the rotation) at one go then go ahead.
When the fronts wear on a front wheel drive car I usually put the rear wheels on the front and renew the now rears because tyres do deteriorate with age so eventually the rears will cause problems if the fronts are always renewed and the rears left where they are.

StevieJ · 18 November 2007 at 5:53PM

For safety, I was told by a tyre expert that you should always have your best (new replacements) tyres on the back. The simple reason for this is that it is easier to to handle a front wheel puncture than one on the rear (if you get my drift).

Sagaris · 18 November 2007 at 5:59PM

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.

epz_2 · 18 November 2007 at 6:38PM

StevieJ wrote: »

For safety, I was told by a tyre expert that you should always have your best (new replacements) tyres on the back. The simple reason for this is that it is easier to to handle a front wheel puncture than one on the rear (if you get my drift).

i always thought it was the opposite, the front tyres provide the direction and in a lot of cases power while the rears are just there to keep the boot off the ground

StevieJ · 18 November 2007 at 8:14PM

epz wrote: »

i always thought it was the opposite, the front tyres provide the direction and in a lot of cases power while the rears are just there to keep the boot off the ground

I include a link to the Michelin web site, it does not specifically mention punctures but it does extol the safety virtues of placing new/best tyres on the rear.

http://www.michelin.co.uk/uk/front/affich.jsp?codeRubrique=26&lang=EN

Lorian · 18 November 2007 at 8:21PM

StevieJ wrote: »

I include a link to the Michelin web site, it does not specifically mention punctures but it does extol the safety virtues of placing new/best tyres on the rear.

Because they expect an average driver to be able to better deal with understeer rather than oversteer.

Personally I prefer oversteer, but that's probably because of the time I spent karting.

Markyt · 18 November 2007 at 11:24PM

So Kwikfit, who make a lot of money from selling tyres, are telling people not to do things that might make their tyres last longer? I'm shocked.

Tyre rotation - do you bother doing it?

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