When and Why You Should Rotate Your Tires
Starting with the basics
Your car is a big part of your everyday life. Not only is it one of the largest expenses you will have in your lifetime, but it is your place to escape, your means of transport, and something that carries you and your family around for tens of thousands of miles a year. All of this driving requires a lot of demand from your tires, and proper maintenance of them is required so they can last as long as possible.
Why should I get my tires rotated?
When it comes to vehicle maintenance, you don’t want to skimp on consistency and quality. After all, there’s a reason the age-old saying "you get what you pay for" is still used today! Tires are certainly no exception to this rule; in fact, they are quite literally the only thing allowing your vehicle to freely move forward down the road. The simple fact is tires need to be rotated to help them wear evenly and keep your vehicle balanced while driving. Every vehicle on the road is built on an assembly line of some kind and each have slight tolerance differences between them. With this in mind, along with most roads being in borderline acceptable condition for travel, bumps, potholes and other environmental factors can have a negative impact on your tires. If your alignment is off, for example, one of your front tires will wear out faster than the other because the car wants to pull in another direction. The same can be said for imbalanced tires or tires that constantly run with low air in them. Having your tires rotated on a consistent basis is an important step in maintaining your vehicle’s reliability and safety.
How often should I get my tires rotated?
Like all components on a vehicle, the more they get used, the faster they tend to wear out. With tires, however, wear can be prolonged for tens of thousands of miles with regularly scheduled rotations and having your vehicle’s wheels aligned regularly as well. While driving, there are many different factors that you have to take into account; the most important for your tires is the road surface itself. The typical industry standard for having your tires rotated is every 5,000 miles or so. Going higher in mileage than this is where tire degradation starts to become prevalent due to uneven wear, and anything lower simply isn’t necessary. Because tires take a lot of abuse from the road rather consistently, having them filled up to proper inflation is important as well to their longevity as the tire itself can start to become warped or develop flat spots. Most major tire shops don’t charge an arm and a leg to have your tires rotated and it takes very little time to do. Think of it as cheap insurance for your vehicle just like changing your oil — engines and tires aren’t cheap to replace!
