How Often Should You Rotate Your Tires

Tire rotation is an essential part of car maintenance. Tires play a major role in a drive and if not maintained properly or not rotated on time, they can lead to unsafe drive. To ensure driving safety and to extend the life of your tires, rotating them is very essential. How often should you rotate your tires, is a usual question. First let us know more about the need of tire rotation.

The Need for Tire Rotation

Each tire of your car wears differently due to difference in the load carried by each and the difference in road conditions faced by each of them. Sixty percent of the car's weight is carried by front tires, so they'll wear more and quicker than the rear ones. If your auto is front-wheel drive, the front tires will wear more than the rear ones. In case of rear-wheel drive the rear tire will wear more. If you are driving more on the highways, it means lot of cloverleafs, leading to high speed right-hand turns. While driving more on street, you might take high speed left hand turns whereas right hand turns are tighter. So, where you drive will also decide which tire wears more. To make those tires last longer, which are subject to more wear and tear, they need to be switched with those which wear less, comparatively. Rotating your tires will ensure that all the tires wear at the same rate, so that you don't need to replace the tires that are completely out of synchronization.

Frequency of Tire Rotation

It would be best to check your vehicle manufacture's recommendation in the owner's manual. You can also contact your car maintenance professional to know exactly how often and when should the tires be rotated to avoid further car problems. You can also know the right tire rotation pattern for your car. You can rotate tires according to the appropriate time intervals mentioned in the owner's manual. Even if your tires do not show wear and tear, they must be rotated as mentioned in the manual. If nothing in mentioned in the manual , the usual practice is to rotate them between 6000 miles to 10000 miles.

You can take your car to a tire professional or rotate them on your own. This is a good time to get them inspected as well. You can check for any unusual wear, tire tread damage, sidewall damage and other problems. Sharp ridges on one of your tires might be formed as a result of misalignment. In this case, you should get the wheel alignment checked and corrected in order to prevent additional tire wear.

When Should You Replace a Tire?

A tire should be replaced when the tread over it has worn out. This can be identified with help of the tread wear indicator. The tread wear indicator is a small raised bar that runs across the grooves of the tire tread. This raised bar marks the minimum allowable tread depth. These are spaced evenly around the entire tire. You must replace the tires when they are close to the minimum tread depth.

Now that you know how important tire rotation is for the long life of the tires, I am sure you will get this done on time. For extra care, you can do the tire rotation procedure at the time of oil change. You can also consult the authorized service station of your car regarding the frequency of tire rotation. Do note the mileage at the time of tire rotation. Also, regularly check the tire pressure. Follow the simple rules and enjoy a balanced, fast and safe drive.