Rotating tires

Fitting oversize tires, raising and lowering, suspension modifications...

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HenryJ
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Rotating tires

Post by HenryJ »

Time for another rotation, and I still do not have the sequence memorized :?

I added it to our stock information page - Tire Rotation

Four (4) Tire Rotation

# On front wheel drive cars, rotate the tires in a forward cross pattern (fig. A) or the alternative X pattern (fig. B)
# On rear wheel or four wheel drive vehicles, rotate the tires in a rearward cross pattern (fig. C) or the alternative X pattern (fig. B)
# If your car has directional wheels or tires, rotate them as shown in fig D.
# If your car has non-directional tires that are a different size from front to rear, rotate them as shown in fig. E.

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Five (5) Tire Rotation

While many vehicles are equipped with temporary spares that cannot be included in a tire rotation program, if the vehicle's four wheels and tires on the ground match the spare wheel and tire (if non-directional and not branded "for temporary use"), they should be included in the tire rotation pattern. Follow the vehicle manufacturer's recommended tire rotation procedures, or if not available, insert the spare in the right rear position at every rotation. Place the tire that would have gone to the right rear in the trunk as the spare until the next tire rotation. Five tire rotation results in equally distributed use that will help maintain equivalent tread depths on all five tires throughout their life. When applied to many four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles, this is required to prevent driveline damage if a flat tire forces a new spare to be put into service with partially worn tires on the other three wheel positions.

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Last edited by HenryJ on Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:07 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by killian96ss »

Interesting info, although I think it's kind of funny that figure A is recommended for FWD and figure C is recommended for RWD even though the two rotation are the same except for being backwards. It really doesn't matter which way you do it wether you have FWD or RWD. After seeing this I printed it out to show my local tire shop and they thought it was kind of funny as well. :wink: I guess it doesn't really matter, I'm just being difficult. :D

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Post by HenryJ »

As I understand it , the rule of thumb is to cross rotate driven wheels when possible. That is what my tire guru told me and seems to hold true according to the information I used from Tirerack.com.
The page does say "Follow the vehicle manufacturer's recommended tire rotation procedures".

Glad I can continue to amuse you and your friends :roll: I'll continue to try to bring you guys around :?

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Post by killian96ss »

HenryJ wrote:Glad I can continue to amuse you and your friends :roll: I'll continue to try to bring you guys around :?
:o I hope you didn't take my post the wrong way. :poke: I was merely trying to point out that figure A and C will give you the exact same tire wear whether you have a FWD or RWD. My alignment guys said the same thing. :wink:

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Post by HenryJ »

Just jabbing back ;) All in good humor :mg:

Any regular rotation is a good thing. The worst you can do is never move them around.

"Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary does." - Richard Hammond
"Speed is just a matter of Money - How fast do YOU want to go?"-Mechanic from Mad Max-
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Post by killian96ss »

What kind of tools are you guys using to make tire rotations easier?

Here's what I'm using right now: 3-1/2 ton Larin low profile floor jack, Craftsman 3 ton jackstands, Goodyear 24v impact wrench, and a Craftsman tire lug torque wrench.

I really like using the Goodyear 24 volt cordless impact wrench to help speed up the process. I bought it at Pep Boys a few months back for only $80 and it has been working great for tire rotations and off roading trips. I noticed a few on E-Bay earlier for only $50 + $15 shipping. :D The price is reasonable and the 170 ft pounds of torque is nice! A full charge will last about 3 tire rotations and you don't have to deal with air hoses. It's also nice to be able to take it with you anywhere just in case. :D

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Post by HenryJ »

Looks like a handy tool. That's not a whole lot of torque when you are used to a 600lbft air impact. Does it have enough to break them loose ok?

"Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary does." - Richard Hammond
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Post by killian96ss »

HenryJ wrote:Looks like a handy tool. That's not a whole lot of torque when you are used to a 600lbft air impact. Does it have enough to break them loose ok?
It breaks them loose fairly easily except for when the battery starts getting low. On a full charge I can easily do 3 tire rotations, but after that it starts slowing down. I really wanted to get a Craftsman 18 volt cordless impact wrench that had 350 ft pounds of torque, but the price was $250 more than the Goodyear, so I said what the hell, I'll give it a try, $80 ain't too bad. :D I got to use it today when my friends Dodge got a flat while we were off roading on some BLM land. We managed to change his tire and get back on the road in less than 5 minutes. :D If money were no object I would have bought the Craftsman, however I have yet to find anything wrong with the Goodyear impact wrench. For the price I don't think you could buy a better cordless impact wrench. :wink:

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Post by HenryJ »

killian96ss wrote:...I have yet to find anything wrong with the Goodyear impact wrench. For the price I don't think you could buy a better cordless impact wrench.
I think you're right. I picked one up pretty cheap. It has been here a while. Just tried it today. Seems to work pretty well. Thanks for pointing it out :mg:

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Post by killian96ss »

HenryJ wrote:
killian96ss wrote:...I have yet to find anything wrong with the Goodyear impact wrench. For the price I don't think you could buy a better cordless impact wrench.
I think you're right. I picked one up pretty cheap. It has been here a while. Just tried it today. Seems to work pretty well. Thanks for pointing it out :mg:
It's not the most powerful cordless impact wrench by any means, but on a full charge it does pretty good and for the price I really can't complain. I like that it has a case and all the necessary attachments. Whenever I go off road I take it with me just in case. I'll probably never need it, but my friends have already used it. :lol:

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Post by HenryJ »

Only one irritating thing...those rubber goodyear labels are curling up :evil:

"Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary does." - Richard Hammond
"Speed is just a matter of Money - How fast do YOU want to go?"-Mechanic from Mad Max-
If at first you don't succeed - Don't take up Skydiving!
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Post by killian96ss »

HenryJ wrote:Only one irritating thing...those rubber goodyear labels are curling up :evil:
Need to find some good glue! :lol: One of mine is doing the same. :roll:

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Post by drperry »

I use a cross wrench from 1988 (It came with the Suburban my parents bought back in the day)

and a 3/4" drive 2 foot long torque wrench.

Oddly enough, according to the Haynes manuals, my Lumina Z34 lugs needed to be torqued to higher ft/lbs than the Blazer, lol.


Otherwise, I use a jack and the spare tire, lol.

I need 2 more jack stands...
2005 Chevy Blazer
5 Speed 4x4