Tire Rotation...just 4 or all 5?

Colo Kevin · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:26 am

Never had a vehicle with a full-sized spare before. Do you include the spare in the rotation scheme or just leave it hanging off the back? It would increase the life of your tires if you rotated the spare too. If you do, what's the recommended rotation pattern?

PCTim · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:31 am

I rotate all 5 every other oil change.

Spare to LR
LR to RF
RF to RR
RR to LF
LF to Spare

If you start with the spare, you only have to jack up one corner at a time.

Hope this helps!

Tightwadsjeeper · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:52 am

PCTim wrote:

I rotate all 5 every other oil change.

Spare to LR
LR to RF
RF to RR
RR to LF
LF to Spare

If you start with the spare, you only have to jack up one corner at a time.

Hope this helps!

Bingo. Excellent advice. Provided you change your oil every 3K miles. If you run synthetic oil and only change every 5K miles, you might want to rotate them with every oil change.

Luis

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

Most people will tell you that your tires will last longer when rotating 5 (and they will). However, I only rotate 4. Next time I need tires I'll only have to buy 3 because the spare is brand new and one of the old tires can take the place of the spare.

So there's probably not a real big advantage either way.

Spike6901 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:47 am

I follow that exact pattern on the rotation for two reasons. One is that it is pretty simple to do in my garage and the second is that I want to make sure that all of the tires are of the same diameter. I don't want a new spare on there that is 1/4" larger diameter than the others if it comes to that, especailly with the Track loc.

I rotate mine every 10k though and it works great. If I had mud grips, I would probably do it about every 5k though.

PCTim · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:49 am

Skyjump136 wrote:

Most people will tell you that your tires will last longer when rotating 5 (and they will). However, I only rotate 4. Next time I need tires I'll only have to buy 3 because the spare is brand new and one of the old tires can take the place of the spare.

So there's probably not a real big advantage either way.

Yes, but with four wheel drive, you want all four tires to match. If you have 40,000 miles on the stock tires, and a spare that has 0 miles, there is going to be a big difference if you need to use the spare. If you are in four wheel drive at the time, it may bind.

Also, when it comes time to buy the new tires, what if you want a better tire (we all know how much everyone likes those stock tires), or a different size? When I replaced my stock tires with Revo's, I bought all 5.

Just my $.02

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

I doubt it would make much difference (especially with the stock tires). Maybe if you had lockers engaged. But that small of a difference wouldn't matter. Wheels spin at difference speeds all the time - going around corners for instance. All a spare has to do is get you home. Now if you ran a 245/75/16 on one side and a 235/70/16 on the other that would be a bad situation. But just a couple millimeters is no biggy.

As for wanting a different size tire...I doubt it. I've been running 245/75/16 tires for a long time and scrapped the stock tires long before the tread wore down. I actually have two sets of 245/75/16 tires so I won't be changing anytime soon. Obviously, if you want a different size then buying 5 is necessary.

To each his own though.

PCTim · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:43 pm

Maybe I should have read your signature :oops:

. I didn't realize what you were running. I, however, went from 215/75/16 to 245/70/16, so it was a jump of at least an inch in diameter.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

Yeah, you definitely needed five then. You wouldn't want to run a mixture of those two sizes for sure.

Just to clarify - everybody should have the same size spare as the rest of the tires they are running. No undersized donut tires allowed. We are talking about rotating 4 or 5 of the SAME SIZE tire.

KJLoKi · **Joined:** Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:39 am **Posts:** 51

I rotate all 5 of 'em every 2500 miles... the MTs tend to get a lil' noisy (er) if I go longer!

Lance

Joe Jeep Owner · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:43 am

I just bough 4 new tires and kept the OEM as the spare (covered of course) because it hasnt been used.

I figure, the only reason I would use it is as a temp fix to hold me until I get to the tire place. Then I would buy new to match the 4 that I am running and either replace the spare at that time (to match the others) or continue to use it as an "emergency tire". I dont go hardcore offroading yet (just street and light offroad) so I figure this is sufficient for now.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

As long as they're the same size that won't be a problem. You don't want a different size spare though.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:39 pm

Advantage of rotating 4 tires only:

You have a new spare and you can get deals where you buy three and get the fourth free. (Saves a lot of money)This all comes down to buying the exact same size tire. Model really doesn't matter since the spare is meant to get you home and get the regular tire patched and switched back. If you are off-roading and have a different spare compared to the tires you are using, you could have issues with traction and such.

Advantage of rotating 5 tires:

Your tires last longer and when you replace all five, you will have a matching spare (size and capability) all of the time. Just right for off-roading.

I would go with the 5 tire rotation since I off-road. A Mall Runner would probably be better going with 4 tire rotation.

Joe Jeep Owner · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:41 pm

I resent that, I'm only a TEMP Mall running until I have some cash to upgrade! :twisted:

MALL RUNNERS UNITE!!

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:46 pm

PCTim wrote:

I rotate all 5 every other oil change.

Spare to LR
LR to RF
RF to RR
RR to LF
LF to Spare

If you start with the spare, you only have to jack up one corner at a time.

Hope this helps!

All good except for one thing: you're doing it backwards. You want to cross rotate on the way back, not forward. So it should be:
S to RR
LR to LF
RF to LR
RR to RF
LF to S
(I suppose you can put the spare anywhere in the mix, but the important thing is that you want to go back to front, and front cross to back. This reduces any steering wheel vibration that may result for the first few hundred miles after cross rotating. This is per tirerack and Goodyear.)

Oh, one last point for doing 5 tire rotation: dry rot. You tend to get it on your spare if it sits there uncovered, in the full sun without being driven on for 40k miles.

You own 5. Use 5.

Flying J · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:17 am

So I was going to do the 5-tire rotation this weekend. My only concern was putting the brand new spare on the right rear while the left rear will have a tire with 6k miles on it from the front. Is that too big of a difference for a trac-lock diff?

Thanks,

-Vic

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:36 am

No. 6k worth of wear is not enough to cause a problem. Just like a pound or two of psi isn't enough. You have to get that new spare into the mix at some point. Go ahead kid, get off the bench and into the game!

Flying J · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2005 11:09 am

Hey yeah - good point. The spare is going in the game coach.

-Vic

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2005 11:13 am

Skyjump136 wrote:

Most people will tell you that your tires will last longer when rotating 5 (and they will). However, I only rotate 4. Next time I need tires I'll only have to buy 3 because the spare is brand new and one of the old tires can take the place of the spare.

So there's probably not a real big advantage either way.

Joel....that only works the first time through because the next set after that, the spare is already used. Many times, dealers have sales on "buy 3 get the 4th free."

jelohead · **Posted:** Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:59 pm

ok guys, im a 4 revo owner, not using the spare in the rotation mix. wadaya think, front-to-rear rotation, or corner-crossing?

Tire Rotation...just 4 or all 5?

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