Minimum tire rotation internal, why not (expected mileage life)/4?

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kehyler

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Jan 23, 2019
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Hi all,

I've got a question, why is the recommended tire rotation internal not (expected mileage life)/4? For example, if I expected my tires to last 60k miles, then the interval would be 15k miles. If the tires get to ride for many miles on each corner of the vehicle, shouldn't the wear be reasonably consistent?

(Of course more rotations is better, it's just that with maintenance I would like to have the minimum amount until I can articulate why something is actually harmed by not doing it more.)

Thanks,

-kehyler
 
If you start getting a wear pattern that's even 1/32" inch it's hard to impossible to erase that.

The chance of this happening varies widely by vehicle/ driving pattern/ suspension geometry.
 
15,000 miles is too much, they'll get a wear pattern developed as eljefino said.

But I think it's too hard to estimate how long tires will last. The rears on my Genesis were bald by 15k miles. Never rotated because they're staggered and that set was directional too. This set isn't directional so I can at least do left to right.
 
The wear length is not going to be the same for a particular tire between applications. Some vehicles have more load front to back, some experience more cornering force, some have more unbalanced brake force between axles, etc. A blanket rule will be wrong most of the time.
 
eljefino said:
If you start getting a wear pattern that's even 1/32" inch it's hard to impossible to erase that.

The chance of this happening varies widely by vehicle/ driving pattern/ suspension geometry.
Click to expand...
Nick1994 said:
15,000 miles is too much, they'll get a wear pattern developed as eljefino said.

But I think it's too hard to estimate how long tires will last. The rears on my Genesis were bald by 15k miles. Never rotated because they're staggered and that set was directional too. This set isn't directional so I can at least do left to right.
Click to expand...

What is a "wear pattern" which you two are mentioning?
 
If a corner has an issue with leading to a wear pattern, I'm not seeing how increasing the number of rotations is going to solve the issue? The total time spent on each corner is roughly independent of the frequency of the rotations.
 
kehyler said:
What is a "wear pattern" which you two are mentioning?
Click to expand...
These are wear patterns. All tires on all cars will do one or some of these to some extent. Once they start and get deep enough, the tire will continue to wear like that regardless of how it is rotated. By rotating, it keeps them all even.

The 2nd one is camber wear. Many brand new cars will cause camber wear, so if that inner edge is 1/32" of tread less, it's going to have 1/32" of tread less from then on out even after a proper rotation.

35F2C764-F64F-441A-9F51-239D4FD76CE3.jpg
 
A 10000 mile rotation is adequate for my mother in her compact SUV, as she's gotten rid of tires in the past because of weather cracking when the tread was still very good. It's not frequent enough for me and my Focus ST. I rotate every oil change (5000). Rears will last forever on a FWD car unless the camber is excessive, but aggressive driving will waste the fronts quickly.
 
What kind of car/tires are we talking about?

Wear patterns are not necessarily a result of problems, tires do different work based on their position thus they wear differently. Rotation is about equalizing the wear and patterns before they get too pronounced.

You might get away with 10 or 15,000 miles on some things, but most assuredly not on others.
 
The Honda dealer we got our '18 CR-V from has rotated tires at every oil change (going by oil life monitor, it was at 6174 miles, 8055 miles, and 5011 miles). I do agree with the other comments that ~7500 miles is a good tire rotation interval. I'll be doing the next oil change on the CR-V myself, and will continue with the tire rotation at the same time. Kind of a hassle with no lift or impact wrench, but I think it's important enough to do at every oil change. Even my vehicles with lower miles, I'll do the same. If I change oil once a year, I'll rotate tires at the same time...
 
I only rotate and balance once or twice in the tires life cycle. Most services costs at least $15 a tire, so that's $60 spent each time. R & B every 5K to 10K miles and it adds up more than the incremental loss in the tires longevity. Actually, I have seen little difference. If I rotate at 20K, then again 40K, the tires are about done by 60K anyway.

In the 6,000 mile example above, thats 9 times in a 60,000 mile life cycle, so that is $540 in that time if the services cost $15 per tire. If its only $10 per tire, thats still $360. That almost costs as much as a new set.
 
There is a safety issue here if you rotate at a too long an interval. The tires develop a wear pattern and set, and when you rotate you don't have the full tire footprint untill the tires rewear to the new position. BMW used to have a 3,000 mile rotation interval to maintain a good footprint at the new location. However; they modified their position due to cost. My position is to rotate at the manufactures recommendation or don't rotate at all. Ed
 
gfh77665 said:
I only rotate and balance once or twice in the tires life cycle. Most services costs at least $15 a tire, so that's $60 spent each time. R & B every 5K to 10K miles and it adds up more than the incremental loss in the tires longevity. Actually, I have seen little difference. If I rotate at 20K, then again 40K, the tires are about done by 60K anyway.

In the 6,000 mile example above, thats 9 times in a 60,000 mile life cycle, so that is $540 in that time if the services cost $15 per tire. If its only $10 per tire, thats still $360. That almost costs as much as a new set.
Click to expand...
ywah if you have to pay for rotations then it doesn't seem worth it. I have a car that I never rotate them but in this particular car, they seem to all wear about the same anyway.
 
Eddie said:
There is a safety issue here if you rotate at a too long an interval.
Click to expand...
If thats true everyone needs to stay off the highways because many motorists neglect rotations the same way they neglect oil changes.

IMO its no "safety issue" unless something is badly, badly out of alignment.
 
Nick1994 said:
15,000 miles is too much, they'll get a wear pattern developed as eljefino said.
Click to expand...

It is dependent on vehicle and how & where driven.

5000 miles on rough city pavement with lots of stop and go and turns is very different than the same mileage on all smooth highways.

FWD and RWD also wear tires differently.
 
kehyler said:
Hi all,

I've got a question, why is the recommended tire rotation internal not (expected mileage life)/4? For example, if I expected my tires to last 60k miles, then the interval would be 15k miles. If the tires get to ride for many miles on each corner of the vehicle, shouldn't the wear be reasonably consistent?

(Of course more rotations is better, it's just that with maintenance I would like to have the minimum amount until I can articulate why something is actually harmed by not doing it more.)

Thanks,

-kehyler
Click to expand...
5k miles has always been the typical interval. Probably because it matched with with oil change intervals at the time. In any case the treat wear rating on tires isn't based off some regulatory test but the tire manufacturers own tests and those tests may differ from one brand to the next. Take it with a grain of salt.
 
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