Best Practice 5 Tire Rotation?

[Fordmanbob]

But seriously, the RWD rotation pattern should be fine and just keep a journal in your glove box and take notes.

If you don't rotate all 5, let's say 40k miles down the road you have a blowout. Now you have to put on the spare. Now you have a single tire on your Bronco with 17/32nds and 3 with 8/32nds.
If that tire is on the front position the steering angles will be off. If on a rear position the spiders will wear more due to one tire running slower than the other.

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[redone17]

Sorry to bring this back. Planning on rearward myself. Question for those with experience - how long on average do off-road tires last when rotating all 5? I’m coming up ok 5k miles and running some calculations. I promised myself I would get use out of the stock rubber and want the dust to settle on suspension options.

 

[kodiakisland]

Sorry to bring this back. Planning on rearward myself. Question for those with experience - how long on average do off-road tires last when rotating all 5? I’m coming up ok 5k miles and running some calculations. I promised myself I would get use out of the stock rubber and want the dust to settle on suspension options.

That's a pretty loaded question. Actual miles depends on the tires, the vehicle, the use, etc.
The tires are going to last the same amount of miles when rotating 5 verses 4. The payoff is the vehicle will travel more miles in that time than the tires have on them.

If you are not happy with the tires, replace them. Don't wait. Tires have a huge impact on performance of the vehicle.

 

[redone17]

That's a pretty loaded question. Actual miles depends on the tires, the vehicle, the use, etc.
The tires are going to last the same amount of miles when rotating 5 verses 4. The payoff is the vehicle will travel more miles in that time than the tires have on them.

If you are not happy with the tires, replace them. Don't wait. Tires have a huge impact on performance of the vehicle.

Right. I get that. I wasn’t clear.

I guess I’m asking - average miles per tire with mixed use. I understand that there are a ton of variables - but, referring to A/T tires like the Grabbers or KO2. I’ve never driven anything but street tires.

I just switched to Michelin Defenders on our Transit because we were ripping through the OEM Continentals in 25k miles. Granted - we load it up and do a lot of hilly driving and have a steep incline driveway.

 

[kodiakisland]

Right. I get that. I wasn’t clear.

I guess I’m asking - average miles per tire with mixed use. I understand that there are a ton of variables - but, referring to A/T tires like the Grabbers or KO2. I’ve never driven anything but street tires.

I just switched to Michelin Defenders on our Transit because we were ripping through the OEM Continentals in 25k miles. Granted - we load it up and do a lot of hilly driving and have a steep incline driveway.

Again, it really does matter on the vehicle and use as well as the actual tire. I've eaten tires well before they were rated for but also gone well beyond.

If you are not hard on them and they balance well, as well as the vehicle being in good alignment, front and rear, you can probably expect normal wear, which these days is 45K+. I only expect 30K from an OEM tire, and will be replacing my Generals at the dealer before I even take delivery.

Not trying to be vague, but it really is hard to say how long your tires will last you.

 

[redone17]

Alright, finally decided on Toyo AT3 - 35x11.5. Who knows when they’ll be in stock…but, I’m not in a rush.

First rotation of the Grabbers next week. In terms of usability at a later date (or resale value?) - should I rotate the 5th in or just rotate the 4 if I’m planning on swapping within the next 2-3k miles?

 

[redone17]

Toyo AT3s on 30-60 days backorder. But, the order is in.

 

[tourproto]

All I can say after reading this thread is it would have been much better with popcorn!

There are pros and cons to both approaches.

As one of my friends would say if I posed this argument to him: "if you can afford a brand new $50K car, deciding between a 4 or 5 wheel rotation and the cost/labor trade offs associated with that, that's a first world/rich white guy problem"

Do whatever makes you happy. It doesn't matter to anyone but you.

 

[da_jokker]

It's been a long time since I had a vehicle with a full size spare, so I never really thought about the tire rotation. Honestly on all my front wheel drive cars I don't rotate tires. The back tires will last 2-3 times longer than the front, So I just replaced the front when they wear out but that's sticking with the same tire.

Now with that said, I think what the Bronco a five-tire rotation is the way to go. But here's my question. I recently bought a used Wrangler as a holdover. All five tires are the same brand, however the spare has a plug in it and it's brand new (that sucked for the previous owner).

So part of me wants to do the five tire rotation, but I don't really want to put a patched tire on unless I have to.

So a question for all the 5 tire folks.... What if you have to patch a tire, do you still do the 5 rotation or do you now switch to 4?

 

[2BRONCO1]

How many people rotate their “spare” keys?

Wait... We have to rotate keys now!?! Damn, one more thing to add to maintenance list.

 

[Jalgieri]

I don't care to rotate 5 as 1 will always not be exactly the same as the other 4 in terms of wear.

If you rotate every 7 - 10k miles the difference will not be that great. Better to rotate with the full size spare and plan to replace it too when new tires are needed.

 

[Jalgieri]

I can see both sides of the argument. 20% longer life vs. uneven tread depths. both are correct.

HOWEVER, I won't be rotating the 5th because IMO driving around with a used / worn tire on the back of the vehicle just looks bad. just my .02

Tire dressing is your friend.

 

[dcg2]

Local Ford dealer did 5 tire rotation per my instructions (I made them a map) and I verified they did it correctly (I marked them ahead of time). Only issue was it threw a TPMS fault on front driver that they were able to quickly correct.

 

[WuNgUn]

The correct answer is G. Less complicated than F.
And YES YES YES, you do need to rotate that 5th tire, your tires will last 20% longer that way. Do the math.

Just make sure you're not doing it every 30k, else you're gonna have some differential issue

 

[NC_Pinz]

It's been a long time since I had a vehicle with a full size spare, so I never really thought about the tire rotation. Honestly on all my front wheel drive cars I don't rotate tires. The back tires will last 2-3 times longer than the front, So I just replaced the front when they wear out but that's sticking with the same tire.

Now with that said, I think what the Bronco a five-tire rotation is the way to go. But here's my question. I recently bought a used Wrangler as a holdover. All five tires are the same brand, however the spare has a plug in it and it's brand new (that sucked for the previous owner).

So part of me wants to do the five tire rotation, but I don't really want to put a patched tire on unless I have to.

So a question for all the 5 tire folks.... What if you have to patch a tire, do you still do the 5 rotation or do you now switch to 4?

So it is an old school plug and not an interior patch? If a plug, I'd just keep it as a spare and do a 4 tire rotation. Plugs are fine and I've done them myself, but patches are more foolproof.

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