Have you ever had one of your tires blown out? That could be due to a variety of things. However, if you take care of your tires, you are less likely to experience a tire blowout. Taking care of your tires would involve proper tire maintenance. That includes the dreaded tire rotation.
Let’s be honest, are you really doing this regularly? Most people do not but we all know that we should. It helps make sure that the tires are worn out equally. That lessens the chance of blowing out a tire while the others are still okay. Today, we’ll talk about tire rotation. We’ll focus on what it is and how to properly do it so you can better take care of your tires and lessen the chance of getting a flat.
Tire rotation is a form of tire maintenance that involves interchanging the tires of your vehicle. It is recommended by manufacturers to rotate the tires every 5000 miles. If you want to make it easier for you to remember when to rotate them, just do it whenever you change your vehicle’s oil.
Rotating the tires is also a great way to closely inspect the tires for any damage. You can also do other tire maintenance procedures like maintaining the air pressure, checking tire tread depth, as well as rebalancing them.
Tire rotation is a great way to take care of your tires. When you do this, you spread the wear evenly across all your four tires. That helps maximize the lifespan of each of your tires.
The position of the tires gives different wear and tear on the tires. Those that are found on the front of a front-wheel-drive will usually take more wear and tear when the car accelerates, brakes or turns. Switching them with those at the back will even out the wear and tear for all the tires.
Tire rotation isn’t just randomly switching the tires. To make it easier to remember which to switch and to make sure that the wear and tear are really even for all, you can follow a rotation pattern. The rotation pattern will depend on the type of tires you have, and if your vehicle is a rear, front, four, or all-wheel drive.
You have to consider the sizes of your tires. Are they all the same? Also, do you have a full-sized spare in your emergency roadside kit that you will include in the rotation?
Traditionally, there are three patterns to choose from. These are the x-pattern, forward cross, and rearward cross.
Those that have an all-wheel, four-wheel, or rear-wheel drive should use the rearward cross. With this, the tires at the back are moved forward but they are kept on the same side. The front tires on the other hand are moved to the back to the opposite sides.
For front-wheel drives, it is recommended to use the x-pattern. With this, the tires are interchanged diagonally. This means the rear wheel on the left side is moved to the front on the right side. Alternatively, the forward cross is also a good pattern for this type of vehicle. With this pattern, the front tires are moved to the back on the same sides. The rear tires however are moved to the front on the opposite sides.
Directional and high-performance tires will require a different pattern from the traditional ones. The two additional patterns are called front-to-rear and side-to-side patterns. For those with the same sized directional tires, the front-to-rear pattern is used. With this, the front tires are just moved to the back and they remain on the same sides.
Those with high-performance tires may come in different sizes. For those with non-directional tires but of different sizes, the side-to-side pattern is advised. This means the front tires will stay on the front but will just change sides and the rear wheels remain at the back but exchange sides
Those who have a full-sized spare should also include it in the rotation. This has two additional patterns which are modifications of the two traditional patterns we already have. The modified patterns are the forward-cross and rearward-cross.
The modified forward-cross is used for those with a front-wheel-drive vehicle. This is done by placing the rear wheels to the front on the opposite sides. The left front wheel is placed in the back left position, the spare is placed in the back right position and the front right is considered as the spare.
Rear-wheels and four-wheel drives will use the modified rearward cross pattern. With this, both rear wheels will be moved to the front and will stay at the same respective sides. The spare will be used as the rear right tire while the front right tire will be used as the rear left tire. The front left tire would be kept as the spare.
Don’t let a flat get you stuck somewhere unsafe. Call Big League Towing right away so they can check your tires, repair or replace them on-site…
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