My brother was experiencing un-even wear on his front tires. I took this as an opportunity to show everyone else how to rotate your tires to prevent an uneven wear.
Rotating your tires depends on a couple of different variables:
- What type of drivetrain (Front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, all wheel drive)
- Do you have the same sized tires front to back?
- Are one pair of tires worn significantly more than the others? (Safety concern)
It is recommended to rotate your tires every 6000-8000 miles.
Some sports cars have wider tires in the rear than in the front. This is to produce extra rear grip under heavy acceleration. You can check to see if your tires are equal sizes by reading the code on the side wall.
The first number 185 indicates that it is 185 mm wide. If your front tires and rear tires have this same number you will be able to interchange them front to rear.
If you drive a fancy sports car with wide tires in the rear you will only be able to switch tires from left to right.
Rotation patterns for different drivetrain:
Here are a few rotational patterns depending on your drivetrain setup
If you have directional radials it would be required that the tire is removed from the rim in order to keep the rotational direction the same. Most cars do not have directional tires these days, but if you do it is most likely noted on the sidewall with a rotation arrow.
An example of that arrow is found in the image below.
When rotating a tire from the back to the front it is important to make sure that the difference in tread depth does not exceed 2/32″. If your tires are significantly more worn on the rear it can cause instability and unsafe driving conditions on wet or snowy roads. It is always recommended to keep more worn out tires on the front of the car because it will prevent the car from a spin out.