Any reason NOT to include spare in rotation?

[Audi Junkie]

"I rotate 5" So, no two tires are ever exactly matched in terms of tread depth? Another point is that rotating (5!) and rotating in gerneral ACCELERATES tread wear. You read it right, they wear *faster* when put into another position until they set-in. Don't believe me? I don't care, but it's true. A tire that's run-in a certian way with a certian wear pattern will wear most slowly. Move it to another position with a different wear pattern, it will wear faster until re-patterned. Still don't believe me and you are getting ready your "I rotate every 1000 miles and got 90,000 miles" story? Ask BMW, they ALSO recommend against rotating. W/ FWD, leave your tires alone and buy 2 new ones for the front every winter. Rotating is a guaranteed way to have 4 useless tires come winter.

 

[goodvibes]

It's just as important to have thread on the rear. They all wear out eventually and you just have to decide at what depth that is. On a full time 4wd vehicle, which is what we're talking about, you want all 4 tire to be as close as posible to the same size for the system to work optimumly. There are plusses and minusses in regards to rotation. I suspect that as you get to stiffer low profile tires like BMW tends to use that rotation becomes questionable. Other car manufacturers still recommend rotation as do tire manufacturers so even though BMW says no for their vehicles, some of which use different sizes at the same time, I wouldn't except it as gospel. BMW would also have to cover in their 3 year free maintanence program. Read over extended OCIs. That's something Audi guys were familiar with before some mods in the program. Don't get me wrong, I really like Audi but there's no way I would have gone with the original extended free oil (maintanence) program.

 

[DaveInLA]

Another thing worth noting is that a lot of tire shops give discounts when you buy exactly 4 tires. Not 5, not 3.

 

[Auto-Union]

2 axels, 2 tires on each. A no-brainer.

 

[MattBrew]

it's perfectly acceptable to run a 5 tire rotation and it's fine to just make a 'circle' on the vehicle as you go. The 4wd will not be bothered by a 3, 4, or even 5/32s difference in tread depth. One word of caution is that most tire shops will only do a 4 tire swap and anymore, most of them will only rotate front to back, so keep that in mine if lifetime rotation and balance is offered.