With the advent of space savers/can of gunk and unidirectional tyres probably not often done these days, but tyre rotation on a car was once a regular service item.

My question is: is rotating tyres still (ever) a good idea, and are the recommendations of tyre and tyre fitting companies just an attempt to increase sales throughput and therefore cash flow?

I have an 2008 Octavia II 1.9 TDI with 16.000 miles up. I recently rotated the tyres to balance wear.

As far as I understand it the front tyres of front wheel drive cars carry most weight, and responsibility for cornering, and breaking. All the steering and driving happens up front of car. Rears last longer and so, after time, have greater tread depth than those on the front. Rotating balances this wear.

The Owners Manual backs me up:

Always fit the tyres with the deeper tread depth to the front wheels.” Page 267

If significantly greater wear is present on the front tyres, we recommend changing the front wheels around with the rear wheels as shown in the diagram ⇒ fig. 201. You will then obtain approximately the same life for all

Benefits might include IMHO:

• Good tyres on the (front) driving wheels for longer
  

• Removal of all tyres from use within 6 years of manufacture
  

• Regular inspection of inside of tyre, brakes and suspension parts
  

• An excuse to clean inside the wheels
  

• Delay in spending money
  

• Opportunity to change tyre make and quality of all tyres at the same time
  

• Possible discounts (3 for 4 offers)
  

But was I wise to think this way?

Rotating tyres does not save money. Sometime around 120k miles the mileage covered, money spent and number of tyres changed on the car will converge which ever system I adopt.

The only way to save money with rotating is a) to time tyre wear to match selling the car, and/or benefit from any discount for bulk buying.

KwikFit aren't thinking this way: Tyres :: Tyre rotation

“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.”

Neither does Michelin:

Michelin - Fitting tyres - Why fit new or less worn tyres to the rear?

The consequences can be seen here:

Who to believe?

My calculations indicate that replacing front tyres as they wear and shoving the new ones on the back will increase the frequency of visits to tyre fitters.

Calculation:

At 15k the original Dunlop SP Sport 01 on my car were showing 4mm at the front and 7mm at the back. Your mileage may vary but I calculated 3.750 miles per mm of wear on the front assuming 8mm tread on a new tyre.

Without rotating, the fronts wear out at 22.500 and rears by 90.000 miles. By rotating front to back, I expect to achieve 37.500 before spending any money. This assumes I junk them at 2mm.

The alternative “modern” theory seems to be:

1. Replace front set at 22.500 miles and put the new tyres on the back axle.
   
2. Part worn rears will now quickly wear out - 18.750 miles later
   
3. Repeat at 18.750 miles intervals
   

This seems to bring you in for new tyres as quickly as possible and then buying more at regular shorter intervals.

What are your thoughts? Anyone in the tyre business with the inside track?

Edited 8 October, 200916 yr by FriendlyFire
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My dad has always told me to put the better tyres on the front, and so does the 2 local tyre fitters aswell. Tyre companies, like with any other company want to make more money and by telling you to rotate in a different way ensures that.

Without rotating, the fronts wear out at 22.500 and rears by 90.000 miles. By rotating front to back, I expect to achieve 37.500 before spending any money. This assumes I junk them at 2mm

Car before the Furby had only 30k on it ,with what looked like original tyres, with a lot of tread on rear and about 3mm on front .When I looked further, I found cracking inside the tread on the rear tyres ,sufficient to make me change all four. And this was on a four year old car .Since I do not do a lot of miles ,I now work on the principle of changing my tyres at intervals less than this to prevent this happening .

I generally put the new ones on the rear, swopping the rears to the front to wear them out and get rid of them.

I've seen a few cars with 4/5+ year old tyres on the rear, while they still have tread depth remaining the cracks evident in the sidewalls did not inspire confidence!

I rotate the tyres on the Octy at about 18k then end up replacing all four at about 35k, but I do a lot of miles.

The Wifes' Furby was 6 years old at the mot and the tyres had 5mm of tread, there were no signs of cracking but the the fronts were going out of shape, so I changed all four.

The new tyres 'which end' argument has been done to death, and I disagree with Michelin/Kwik Fit. Personally, I just leave the tyres where they are and replace when worn- which for me is about 3mm, but if I was to pick where to fit new tyres it would be the front- I want iit to go where I steer it.

I roughly get through 2 sets of front to one rear. I don't see how rotating the tyres will affect the overall wear rate- rear tyres will wear at one rate, fronts at another. The main effect of rotating them would be to make all 4 be worn together.

Look at some of my old (yawn) posts.... new tyres to rear.. you can rotate the tyres if you wish but would strongly advise only nearside front to nearside rear,same on offside meaning you keep the tyres direction of travel in one direction. Have seen lots of out of shape tyres due to the direction being turned after say 10k....also seen loads of tyres over the age of 6 years that are bordering on failing MOT due to the perishing/cracks nearly exposing the cords

HTH

Phil (ex Pirelli Platinum fitter)

I don't see how rotating the tyres will affect the overall wear rate- rear tyres will wear at one rate, fronts at another. The main effect of rotating them would be to make all 4 be worn together.

Disregarding the "best tyres to front" arguement for a moment, I think the only benefit of rotating tyres is when you have bad geometry which is causing unusual wear on a particular tyre (or tyres).

Example: suppose a car has 4 new tyres, that under normal conditions, will last 1 year each. Assume a car with similar tyre wear at front and back, like my current car or my previous car (neither are FWD).

Now what would happen is each tyre would last 1 year, then you change the lot, i.e. 4 tyres every year.

Now, suppose one tyre is having a geometry problem and wearing in 3 months on the outer edge. Although the tyre might have generally lots of tread left, low tread on the edge makes it illegal (and perhaps dangerous) so it should be changed. Now, you are in the situation where you'll be changing 3 + (1 * 4) = 7 tyres, because you are changing one corner more often just to address an isolated wear region on the tyre.

Now, if you rotate the tyres, each tyre would spend approx 3 months on "the bad corner", wear close to the legal limit at the outer edge, then get swapped round the car. Now, you are back to changing each tyre once a year, or certainly much closer to it than if you didn't rotate the tyres. Obviously the sharper among you will note that having less rubber on one side will probably mean the rest of the rubber wears slightly quicker, but I still reckon it would be a better situation!

I'm no expert on tyres, but that's how I see rotating tyres might actually save you money. But to reiterate, I think this only applies if your car has a problem where uneven wear is occuring for some reason.

Feel free to blow holes in my theory though :P

Better tyres on the front, oversteer is slightly easier to control than understeer.

And rotating tyres prolongs the wear, but you'll end up having to replace all four at once!

And rotating tyres prolongs the wear

That would only make a significant difference if the wear on the tyres was significantly different though.

If all four tyres wear wearing exactly the same, rotating them would make no difference at all.

Todays thinking, and its recommended by ALL the national tyre chains is to fit new tyres to the rear. The reasoning behind it is shown nicely in the links posted by the OP.

Rotating tyres will reduce the number of visits needed to the tyre centre, however each visit will cost you twice as much because you would need 4 tyres instead of 2 on each visit, so although you are visiting less, the overal cost at the end of the day is the same.

As others have said , rotating tyres around the car can help to spread the wear more evenly across all four (or five if you have a suitable spare as well). In the long run it won't save any money as you'd still need to replace the same amount of rubber , though in the short term it can put off the need to buy new tyres until after you've sold a car.

I generally put the new ones on the rear, swopping the rears to the front to wear them out and get rid of them.

I've seen a few cars with 4/5+ year old tyres on the rear, while they still have tread depth remaining the cracks evident in the sidewalls did not inspire confidence!

I agree - I do the same.

Having a rear wheel drive car is interesting re the tyre wear. I’ve done nearly 30,000 miles and all the tyres are still in pretty good shape and wearing evenly. Probably just as well as I cant rotate them owing to direction and size differences.

But as the car is on a PCP and goes back in a years time at the latest, it will need new boots at some time. So really I should buy them now, even though there is plenty of life in the tyres on the car, as I might as well get the benefit of fresh rubber for the duration of my keeping the car. Seems a shame to give away the existing tyres, but common sense says I should bite the bullet and get it done.

Rotating tyres will reduce the number of visits needed to the tyre centre, however each visit will cost you twice as much because you would need 4 tyres instead of 2 on each visit, so although you are visiting less, the overal cost at the end of the day is the same.

I rotate mine as the fronts wear twice as fast as the rears and it means all the tyres then need replacing at the same time. It works out cheaper for me as I get a bigger discount from the tyre fitter for replacing 4 tyres over replacing two at a time

Chris

I never rotated tyres on any car.