Introduction to Tyre Rotation

Tyres, as we know, are expendable. They are the ones keeping you on the ground, constantly going round-and-round so you could go forward and is the first to face all the extreme harshness you put your car through. These tyres thus undergo wear and tear. But it isn’t necessary to remove and throw them away once the tyres reach a certain wear level. That would be an expensive affair and harmful for the environment as well. Tyre rotation is your best bet. Tyre rotation is the practice of moving the wheels and tires from one position to another, to ensure even wear and tear, thus extending the life and utility of a set of tyres.

Reason for rotating tyre

It is a known phenomenon that the tyres on the front axle wear faster than the tyres on the rear axle. This is because both the sets (front and rear) are assigned different duties -the front tyres steer, causing wear on the walls and treads. They also wear more due to combined braking forces experienced due to the weight of the car, speed and conditions. On the other hand, tyres at rear wear comparatively less. Driving with improper tyre inflation/pressure also contributes to uneven wear.

Apart from these, misbalancing or misalignment of the tyres also causes uneven wear on all four tyres. Proper alignment may be disrupted depending on driving conditions and a prolonged delay in getting them realigned results in uneven wear of the tyres.

Thus rotating the position of these tyres periodically ensures even wear of all four tyres rather than heading out to buy an all-new set that would burn a big hole in your pocket.

How frequently should one rotate the tyres?

Usually, the manufacturer provides a recommended time period/kilometres covered to rotate the tyres, which can be found in the user manual. Tyre rotation is usually recommended for every 8,000km to 15,000km. However, this differs with each car and manufacturer, as well as application and road conditions. So the best way to judge the right time to do tyre rotation is by looking at the wear on all four sides, vehicle balance at different speeds and careening off the vehicle are the look for points to judge the right time for rotating the tyres.

How to rotate the tyres?

Earlier it was easy to rotate the tyres – the front ones would go back while the back ones would be moved to the front. But there is a method to do that. There are pre-determined patterns in which the tyres need to be rotated.

Both the front tyres will go to the rear on the same side. The rear tyres, on the other hand, will be diagonally switched with the front tyres. These are basically done on cars with front-wheel-drive vehicles.

It is a similar process with the rear-wheel-drive, but done vice versa. The rear tyres will move up front on the same side, while the front sets will diagonally switch with the rear.

In a four-wheel-drive vehicle, the front right tyre can exchange position with the rear left, while the front left can exchange its position with the rear right.

The unidirectional tyres as seen in the previous article cannot cross over to another side as they need to maintain the same direction. Therefore the rotation can only be – front to back on the same side of the vehicle, to preserve the rotational direction of the tyres. Most unidirectional tyres can be moved from side to side if they are remounted. This, however, cannot be done on asymmetrical tyres.

The rotation patterns turn more complicated if you bring in the spare tyres into the equation. With the spare tyres, the front left becomes the spare, while the spare takes the place at rear right. The front right goes to rear left and the rear left tyre moves up to the front left.

Miscellaneous Information

It is generally advised to use the best tyres for the rear wheels for maximum traction even while rotation, irrespective of whether the vehicle is front- or rear-wheel drive. This is because if the rear wheels lose grip before the front ones, an oversteer condition will occur, which is harder to control than the corresponding understeer. It is also believed that in front-wheel drive vehicles, the front tyres should be of best quality. This protects it from a blowout which is difficult to control if it happens with the front/steering tyres than on the rear.

In special cases, there are houses which are against the rule of tyre rotation on the grounds that it won’t help with even wear and is an unsafe practice. While in other cases, some vehicles come fitted with different dimensions of tyres at front and back, making the rotation of tyres impossible.

Know more about tyres here.