Rotating tyres is important part of tyre maintenance as it helps create an even tread wear leading to longer tread lasting tyres.
To understand why, consider how a front wheel drive vehicle which bears all of the steering, braking and driving forces on the front axle wears at a much faster rate than the rear tyres. The opposite can be said for a rear wheel drive vehicle. Therefore, rotating tyres for these vehicles is important for the optimum level of tyre life.
How often should tyres be rotated?
You can usually find a rotation pattern or period in the your owner’s manual, however if this cannot be located then you should be rotating your tyres every 5,000 – 10,000kms.
This should be ignored if you notice uneven or irregular wear, which can occur from simply hitting a pothole as off wheel alignment can cause uneven tyre wear.
Tyre rotation pattern
You can use the following patterns only where the tyres are the same type and size, but note that not all types of tyres can be rotated in the patterns shown below (including tyres with uni-directional and asymmetric tread designs).
Cross Rotation
Cross Rotation
Cross Rotation
A cross pattern can be used on any front or rear wheel drive vehicle equipped with non-unidirectional tyres and is known to provide the best results.
4 Wheel Drive
4x4 Pattern
The pattern means tyres from both axles are crossed and installed on the opposite side, and is best suited to 4×4 vehicles mainly operated in 4-wheel drive mode.
Straight Rotation
Straight Rotation
Developed in the very early years of radial tyres, straight rotation simply means replacing the front to the rear and vice-versa.
Tyre Pressures
After rotating your tyres, you should check the inflation pressures and make any adjustments accordingly as outlined in the owner’s manual as front end rear tyres can often require different tyre pressures.
If your tyres are under inflated, you may end up with an uneven tread wear defeating the purpose of rotating them in the first place!
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