Car maintenance is important to the longevity of your vehicle,and your tires are a vital part of scheduled maintenance. Tires are an essential part of your vehicle and very important to driver and passenger safety. As you drive your vehicle the tires on your wheels will wear. In order to maximize your mileage and ensure proper and even tire wear however, you need to rotate tires in your vehicle.
Believe it or not, most owners don’t bother to rotate tires, which can cause you a lot of issues. If fact many people simply choose to align their tires, or skip tire rotation overall. Of course depending on your vehicle, there’s different ways to rotate your tires. For front wheel vehicles, or rear wheel vehicles, to all wheel drive the methods to rotate tires is different for each.
If you’ve got high mileage tires and you aren’t sure when you last rotated them, it’s a good idea to check now. Finding the best repair shop or tire shop to rotate tires is decision that can save you money and keep you safe. When the shop goes to rotate tires on your vehicle, they are moving tires from front to rear or left to right to help encourage even wear.
Because your vehicle’s static alignment can change the way your car’s tires wear, it’s always a good idea to have your alignment checked. For more information on what a car alignment is, check our guide here.
If you see the tires on your car look like the ones above, you’ve got a serious problem. Either your alignment is out of spec or your tires have not been rotated. This causes the premature death of your tires, because you’ll need to replace them even though there’s good tread on most of the tires above.
When you rotate tires, you are giving your car the best chance at handling and driving effectively and safely. Here’s a few things that can adversely affect your ride quality and impact your tire wear negatively.
Reasons to rotate tires
If you aren’t sure why you need to rotate tires, these tips can help you avoid disaster. Even though your car alignment has a huge role to play, you’ll still need to rotate tires regularly. Your vehicle’s static alignment properly sets your vehicle’s camber, caster and toe so that your tires wear and ride evenly. Despite this fact your tires should still be rotated, but why?
Here’s a few reasons why you want to rotate tires regularly, to save your tires from a premature death. Look over some of the need tire rotation signs listed below.
Improperly inflated Tires – The single most important factor in caring for your tires is maintaining the correct tire inflation pressure. Improperly inflated tires can cause serious safety issues, and can make your tires wear faster. Because there’s not enough air in your tires, the tire can break down and wear faster along the sidewall.
It’s not just under-inflated tires either, because you can make a mistake by over-inflating them as well. Here’s a few symptoms that can come from improper inflation.
Under-inflated – These tires can wear out faster, create excessive heat, increase fuel consumption, and create an unsafe driving condition. Because your tires aren’t properly inflated, there’s a lack of grip and proper contact patch.
Over-inflated – When you have too much air in your tires, you can blow out more easily, wear out faster, and make the vehicle unstable and unsafe to handle.
Only through proper car maintenance and having a repair shop rotate tires on your car can you keep your car running in optimum condition. Increase contact patch and ensure that your tires wear evenly when you rotate tires on your car.
Bad Alignment – So you’ve been driving around with a bad alignment or you recently lowered your vehicle and didn’t get a chance to head to the alignment shop. By driving with an improper camber setting, too much caster or toe can cause your tires to wear unevenly.
This creates a condition where your car can become downright unsafe. After you’ve replaced your tires with new ones or even certified used tires, you can align your vehicle.
Even after you’ve aligned your car, you still need to rotate tires as part of your scheduled maintenance. This is because your vehicle’s bushings and springs can wear over time and sag. This can affect your static alignment and create uneven tire wear. This is the largest reason to rotate tires at regular intervals.
Uneven Tire Wear – Now that you’ve got a fresh set of tires on your car and you are properly aligned, you are on top of the world. Because you’ve got a new set of tires and a good alignment, you shouldn’t need to rotate tires right?
Wrong unfortunately because driving your vehicle causes your tires to wear. Your front tires typically endure more wear than the tires in the back of your car. This is because your front tires not only steer the vehicle, but burden the most amount of weight in your car.
When you are driving your car, the front tires are under constant duress. As you turn your vehicle, the weight of your vehicle transfers to the outside edge of your tire. This puts more pressure and force on the tire which can make it wear faster on the outer edge.
That’s why you need to rotate tires, and when you notice uneven tire wear, speak to your repair shop to see how best to make them last. Properly rotating your tires ensures that your tires will last as long as the manufacturer intended them. You’ll be saving money and getting thousands of more miles out of your tires, instead of constantly replacing them.
These points can help you manage your vehicle and keep a proper schedule to rotate tires. If you are in doubt, take your vehicle into an alignment shop have the tires rotated and stay safe. Have any questions about our guide to rotate tires and maintenance? Leave us a comment below and let us know!
