First Tire rotation at 6300. What about the Spare?

[Bronc-Itus]

I’m about to drop off my Badlands for oil change number two. Gonna ask them to rotate the tires. Never had a full size, on display spare before. Does it get mixed in, or just look pretty it’s whole life?

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[kodiakisland]

Well, lots of threads on it, but some of us rotate it in because it makes sense and others don't.

 

[NC_Pinz]

I'd rotate it. No reason not to. It's not like the tires last forever, so I'd rather get use out of it before it is not suitable for service.

 

[Ser Arthur Dayne]

Absolutely rotate it in.

Anyone who says otherwise just doesn't understand the subject-matter.

 

[Mattwings]

Service life is of a tire is roughly 5 years. Doing a five tire rotation should net you about 20% more miles before you replace the tires, so if you were going to need new at 50k, you can go to 60k. You will need to buy 5 replacement tires, so net cost isn't much different, but that spare will be "thrown away" at some point from degradation (sun and atmosphere break down the rubber) so might as well use it.

 

[MyATV]

I'll quote myself from another thread:

The reason to rotate all 5, is so that at any given time, only 80-percent of your rubber (4 tires) is on the road (because 20-percent of your rubber [1 tire] is the spare on the tailgate).

That means after the vehicle has travelled 100K miles, each of the 5 tires has only 80K miles on them, because one tire is always taking a 'time-out' from road service. Follow a 4-tire rotation schedule, and you'll have 4 tires with 100K miles, and one with 0 miles.

That means if you were able to squeeze 80K miles out of your tires, you wouldn't need to replace your tires until the vehicle travelled 100K miles assuming you're doing 5-tire rotations (because each tire would only have 80K miles on it after the vehicle travelled 100K miles). If you followed a 4-tire rotation schedule, you'd be replacing the tires after the vehicle travelled 80K miles.

 

[Roger123]

I'm in the "rotate the spare" camp but I need to better understand if the TPMS will need dealer programing.

My Jeep has a "smart" system where it figures out on it's own what tire is where post rotation, and I believe the Ford is the same, just not sure about the spare, I know it has a TPM Sensor, just not sure if rotating in the spare will mess up the system?

 

[ramblinwreck]

Absolutely rotate it in.

Anyone who says otherwise just doesn't understand the subject-matter.

This just isn't accurate. There are reasons you might not want to rotate the spare in. Many(most?) Jeep dealerships will charge you significantly extra to rotate a spare in. The extra cost of rotating the spare in my case worked out to more than the cost of a new tire over the life span of the set.

Also, in my case, I needed new tires every 2-3 years, so I could just buy 3 new tires, use the spare for the 4th tire, and push the best condition tire back up to the spare. This saved me 25% on the cost of a new set of tires .

So, while in general you can and should rotate in the spare if the dealership doesn't charge you extra for it, this is not always the case. If they do charge you extra, it is probably cheaper not to do it.

 

[BR0NCO]

Absolutely rotate in the spare. All you need to do it yourself in the driveway is a good floor jack, if you have a battery powered impact gun it can be done in 15 minutes. If you skip the spare you need jack stands and will take triple the time. You also get more life out of a set like mentioned above. When you replace the set you will probably be replacing the spare anyways, might as well use it. I think the TPMS will figure out it’s rotated in, my Jeep does.

 

[BroncoB]

The main reason to do a 5 tire rotation is to keep the spare the same diameter as the rest of the tires for when you need it. 4x4's need evenly worn tires.

As mentioned above, it saves money too because you actually use the spare to extend the life of all tires instead of tossing out the unused spare because it didn't match your new tires or it rotted.

Also makes rotating your own tires easier is you don't have/or want to use jack stands. You can do one tire at a time.

The tpms program tool is fairly inexpensive if you need it. I think about $20. I haven't had my tires rotated yet so I'm not sure if it is needed.

Tip: print out a 5 tire rotation diagram and keep it in the glove box to follow the same pattern everytime, whether you do it yourself or have it done in a shop. There are a lot of diagrams online.

From the manual:
Rotating your tires at the
recommended interval, as
indicated in the scheduled
maintenance chapter, will help
your tires wear more evenly,
providing better tire performance
and longer tire life.
For the best tire life, a five tire
rotation is recommended that
includes the matching spare tire
mounted on the back of the
vehicle. This rotation requires a
forced re-learning of your tire
pressure monitor system sensors
by your vehicle, and should be
performed by an authorized dealer
or a service center to ensure the
tire pressure monitor system will
provide proper warning at all
times. When performing the tire
rotation yourself, a four tire
rotation is recommended, without
using the spare tire in the rotation,
so that no tire pressure monitor
system sensor re-learn is required.
If a five tire rotation is performed
without a tire pressure monitor
system sensor re-learn, the
system may not provide a low tire
pressure warning when necessary.
Keep in mind that a spare tire that
is not used in the tire rotation
should only be used temporarily
in the event of a flat tire, not as a
permanent replacement. The
spare tire should always be
replaced if it exceeds 6 years of
age, regardless of whether it is
part of the tire rotation.
Rear-wheel drive vehicles and
four-wheel drive vehicles with four
tire rotation, front tires at left of
diagram.
E142548
Sometimes irregular tire wear can
be corrected by rotating the tires.

 

[HotdogThud]

Service life is of a tire is roughly 5 years.

*laughs in arizona*

UV barbecues everything here, tires are a two year maint item for me :-\

 

[BroncoB]

*laughs in arizona*

UV barbecues everything here, tires are a two year maint item for me :-\

Do you protect them with UV protector? 303?

 

[HotdogThud]

Do you protect them with UV protector? 303?

Not sure yet, I'm not really a fan of coatings and such on my tires, especially for the road cars where it can do bad things to the handling. Going to have to try a few things and see what works. Have heard good things about 303 though

 

[BroncoB]

Not sure yet, I'm not really a fan of coatings and such on my tires, especially for the road cars where it can do bad things to the handling. Going to have to try a few things and see what works. Have heard good things about 303 though

I don't have sun like AZ but I heard it's pretty brutal. I have been using 303 on my tires for years. It definitely helps and it makes the tires look good, not overly glossy or anything. I spray some on the exposed tread to get it in between the lugs. I haven't noticed any performance issues. Any 303 on the tread itself seems to wear off as soon as you start driving. I would never put it on a motorcycle tread.

 

[niterider006]

This just isn't accurate. There are reasons you might not want to rotate the spare in. Many(most?) Jeep dealerships will charge you significantly extra to rotate a spare in. The extra cost of rotating the spare in my case worked out to more than the cost of a new tire over the life span of the set.

Also, in my case, I needed new tires every 2-3 years, so I could just buy 3 new tires, use the spare for the 4th tire, and push the best condition tire back up to the spare. This saved me 25% on the cost of a new set of tires .

So, while in general you can and should rotate in the spare if the dealership doesn't charge you extra for it, this is not always the case. If they do charge you extra, it is probably cheaper not to do it.

Well, that's ok I guess if you like to stick with the goodyears.

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