When is it time to rotate your tires

If you drive your vehicle a lot, you may need to get your tires rotated every time you need an oil change or every 3, to 5, miles. This time frame can vary, depending on whether your car is front-, rear-, or all-wheel drive.

According to Car and Driver, tires will wear at different rates for various models. Proper rotation may also rely heavily on the type of tire, especially when it comes to vehicles with varying tire sizes at the front and rear. This can help you better understand how your tires wear and how often you need to rotate them. When in doubt, seek the advice of a professional.

Tire rotation means periodically changing the position of each of the tires on your vehicle. You should rotate your tires as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, or every 5, miles. There are several reasons why tire rotation is an important element of your standard tire care. First, by routinely rotating your tires, wear is spread evenly across all four tires, and their tread life is maximized. It is especially important to rotate new tires by 5, miles because deep, fresh tire tread is more susceptible to uneven wear.

Secondly, even tread wear keeps the tread depth on your tires uniform, which can help keep traction and handling consistent across all four tires. This will improve cornering and braking performance and keep your vehicle safer for driving overall. By changing them frequently it helps your tyres wear more evenly and lets you get the most out of their tread life. There are other factors that may mean you need to rotate your tyres more frequently:.

Tyre Rotation. What is Tyre Rotation? There are various ways you can rotate your tyres, usually dependant on your vehicle. Two common tire problems that might surface during an inspection include cupping and blistering of the sidewall.

Tire cupping, Edmonds explains, is more common in older vehicles with suspension systems that are aging and in need of repair. This issue presents itself via uneven wear patterns in the tread, which, if ignored, could significantly affect a vehicle's ride, steering, and braking ability while also wearing out tires prematurely. A blistered sidewall—literally, a bulge in the sidewall—might result from slamming into a deep pothole.

The air could then get into the structure of the tire, and you get a blister," Edmonds says. If unseen or left undiagnosed, this problem could result in a flat tire or a blowout that could cause a serious accident. We suffered 10 pothole-related tire failures recently with one of our long-term test cars, a Jaguar XE, over the course of its 40,mile stay, due to Michigan's cratered road surfaces.

According to the Tire Industry Association, three tire-rotation patterns cover most of today's vehicles, as long as they are fitted with equal-size tires front and rear and those tires are not unidirectional meaning they have to rotate in only one direction to function properly. Rotation pattern for front-drive vehicles : Swap the front tires straight to the rear position on the same side.

Take the rear tires and move them to the opposite front corner e. Rotation pattern for rear-drive vehicles: Move the rear tires straight to the front, then move each front tire to the opposite rear corner for example, move the right front to the left rear.

Rotation pattern for all-wheel-drive vehicle s : Crisscross all four tires move the right front to the left rear, the left front to the right rear, the left rear to the right front, and the right rear to the left front. By the way, rugged-looking SUVs may be all the rage, but having a vehicle with all-wheel drive doesn't mean you're immune to tire-rotation maintenance.

And a vehicle's inherent weight difference between the front and rear can also affect tire wear.