Why Should I Rotate My Car Tires?

You count on your tires to give you better grip on the roads, improve your ability to handle your car through a variety of terrains and to also improve your gas mileage. With so many responsibilities it’s important that you keep your tires well maintained and change them when necessary. A popular method for extending the life of your tires to avoid the high cost of replacing all four tires at a time is rotating them throughout your car every so often. Professional auto mechanics suggest rotating the tires on your vehicle every 6,000-8,000 miles to help extend the life and performance you get out of them. While rotating may not seem like the biggest help to keeping your tires healthy longer, there are plenty of reasons as to why you should start regularly rotating the tires on your car.

Reasons to rotate tires regularly

• Longer Tire Life– Your tires tend to wear out at an uneven rate, when they start to wear unevenly, it will speed up the rate that they deteriorate and the severity of the deterioration. Regular tire rotation will help the wear on your tires occur evenly, keeping them in the best shape possible and allowing you more time before having to completely replace them.
• Keep Your Warranty Valid– When you have to replace your tires it can be an expensive purchase. But more often your new tires come with a good warranty that will last a long time. However, if your tires do have a warranty be careful, often times the warranties will stipulate that to keep the tires under warranty, they must be rotated on a regular basis. Suggested rotation is between 6,000-8,000 miles so keep that in mind before heading in to take advantage of the warranty.
• Maintains Your Fuel Efficiency– A lot of drivers may not realize that tire quality and performance does have an effect on your car’s fuel efficiency. Tires that haven’t been properly maintained are likely to cause a huge drop in the gas mileage that your vehicle gets. Rotating your tires will keep the tire friction low, which will then improve the fuel efficiency.
• Better Control of Your Vehicle– Because rotating your tires contributes to your tires wearing out more evenly, the traction and grip you have on the road will be improved and you will get better control over your car. If you have to drive in conditions like wet or icy roads during harsher months of the year then this is extremely important and beneficial and will help keep you safer in these hazardous situations.
• Eliminate Tire Noise and Vibrations– While not nearly as important, unusually and uncommon noises always tend to inspire uncertainty among drivers and any changes in your handling or feel for your car should always be addressed promptly and taken seriously. Uneven tire wear can lead to increased road noises and vibrations that you notice in the steering wheel, so to avoid that unnecessary annoyance, simply rotate the tires and eliminate any uneven wear.

When you do get your tires there are at least three key things that need to happen whether you are rotating them yourself or are taking it to a mechanic.

1. Each tire and wheel should be removed from the vehicle and moved to a different position on the car.

2. The air pressure should be checked and adjusted as needed to properly inflate each tire to the recommended PSI.

3. With the tires off the brakes are easier to see and reach so while the tires are off, check your brakes to ensure that they are still healthy and don’t need to be changed.

Conclusion

No one likes to spend money that they don’t need to and more than that, it doesn’t make sense to risk senseless damages to your vehicle when you count on it each day to get you wherever you may need to go. Taking the necessary steps to reduce any chance of unnecessary costs is an important part of owning and maintaining your vehicle and one of the easiest and most effective things you can do is rotate the tires. Rotating your tires regularly will not only improve gas mileage but will also give you better grip and handling, keeping you safer for longer.