How Good Is Rotating The Car Tires?

Rotating the car tire is very important to increase the life of your car tire as well as the performance of your car. This is something very simple but many do not know its importance. You can do it by yourself and it should be done atleast once in a month. To start with; the front and rear tire has different grades of wearing effect. The front tires will be subject to more wearing due to the increased pressure while driving and doing turnings. For each turning the front tires absorb more pressure than the rear tires.

Since the resistance on the front tires is more, the wearing will also be more. So naturally the front tires lose its shape and functionality than the rear wheel. Therefore it is necessary to rotate the tires between rear and front on diagonal interchange. Which means the left front tire must be changed with right rear tire and right front tire with the left rear tire. This interchanging technique will help to prolong the life of the tire as this process will keep the shape of the tire intact. Rotating the tire does not mean simply changing the tire of either axel in the same row.

Most of the cars use radial tires. So it is easy to do the rotation of tires. It is important to use same brand company tires while buying a new tire. The tire quality varies from manufacture to manufacture. Do ensure to buy a pair of tires always. Some car manufactures use staggered wheels. This condition reflects the use of two different types of tires for both front and rear wheels. Cars of these types can change the tire from the one axle to the other axle. You cannot swap the tires from front to rear because of the different tire size.

In some cars unidirectional tires are used. Unidirectional tires are meant for use in one side of the car only. In some case they use asymmetrical tires too. In asymmetrical tires the thread patterns changes from the inside to the outside of the tire. These types of tires can be changed from front to back but not from side to side. You could be in a funny situation where cars are having staggered wheels and that are also unidirectional or asymmetrical, you are in a fix. In that case forget about having a tire rotation plan.

Now you must be wondering, how often you need to rotate the tires. It can be done in two ways. One practice is by doing the rotation changes once in a month. In this case the wearing on tire will be very minimal and you can have the maximum usage of the tire as if it is a new tire. The other recommended pattern is to have the rotation in 5,000 or 10,000 KM of usage. This can be done with the recommendation given in the owner’s manual. However, it is recommended doing a monthly rotation plan to get the maximum utility of the tire.

What are the tools you need for doing a rotation service? As all the modern cars are fitted with alloy wheel there is every chance to get tire wheel nut getting damaged. So it is better to have a torque wrench spanner. The torque wrench spanner correctly control the pressure required to be applied on the nut of the wheel when you fix the wheel. The torque specification also can be seen in the owner’s manual. If you do a tire rotation on a regular basis, you can extend the life of your tire and save money on spending tires.