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Opinions on 5 tire rotation? I'm torn.

da_jokker

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We all know the 2.7 takes way to long to drain all its oil. So question has a simple answer.

At 5k, pull your oil pan drain bolt, and rotate all five tires while you're waiting :)
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Mattwings

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For those with the 4A transfer case in particular, a 5 tire rotation could save you from having to buy at least two and potentially 4 tires before they are completely worn, because of a non-repairable flat. If the tires have enough variance in circumference the "full time" 4wd won't like the variation in size. I am doing a 5 tire every 5K. I should get the tires completely even rotated twice in the expected 50K MI service life. Seems like a good plan :)
 

ramblinwreck

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Unfortunately most places charge you and extra $20-$30 to do a five tire rotation in my experience. Iā€™ve found it most cost effective to do a 4 tire rotation, and when itā€™s time to buy tires just buy 3 new tires, and replace the spare with the current tire you have in best condition.
 

Gamecock

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Unfortunately most places charge you and extra $20-$30 to do a five tire rotation in my experience. Iā€™ve found it most cost effective to do a 4 tire rotation, and when itā€™s time to buy tires just buy 3 new tires, and replace the spare with the current tire you have in best condition.
Wow, Iā€™ve never had anyone charge extra, and I always do a 5 tire rotation. Thatā€™s very strange. I just hand them the diagram below and tell them to rotate all 5 and never once had anyone try to upcharge.

A 5 tire rotation makes way more sense than anything else. If you donā€™t do it, you either end up with a ratty looking mismatched tire on the back, or have to replace an unused tire when you switch. Rotate all 5 and you go 20% longer between tire purchases and get 5 fresh new ones that all match when you do switch.

5ABE5A3B-857F-42D3-A270-EB504E57DFAF.jpeg
 

BR0NCO

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Really? So you can wear out 4 tires 20% sooner but leave one of them untouched? (And nobody is giving you anything for it after hanging out for a couple years)

If you are getting exactly the same tire next time, maybe Iā€™d consider it, but too many variables (satisfaction, availability, competitors, price) to take that chance. Maybe itā€™s just me - would love to hear the logic against itā€¦
You get 20% (or whatever the actual percentage is) because say you rotate every 5000 miles, the tire on the tailgate sits out that 5000 miles. 5000 miles later it gets rotated in and the next one sits out the next 5000 miles, and so on. After the Bronco goes 25,000 each tire sat out 5000 miles and each one has 20,000 miles on it instead on 25,000. Do another cycle of this and each tire has 40,000 miles and the Bronco has driven 50,000 miles.
I have a jeep and I see sets of 5 wheels for sale with ā€˜spare never touched the groundā€™ and 4 worn out tires all the time.
Rotations are super easy with the 5th wheel being rotated in because you only need one floor jack
 

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Techun

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You get 20% (or whatever the actual percentage is) because say you rotate every 5000 miles, the tire on the tailgate sits out that 5000 miles. 5000 miles later it gets rotated in and the next one sits out the next 5000 miles, and so on. After the Bronco goes 25,000 each tire sat out 5000 miles and each one has 20,000 miles on it instead on 25,000. Do another cycle of this and each tire has 40,000 miles and the Bronco has driven 50,000 miles.
I have a jeep and I see sets of 5 wheels with ā€˜spare never touched the groundā€™ and 4 worn out tires all the time.
Rotations are super easy with the 5th wheel being rotated in because you only need one floor jack
Correct. It's EASIER to do a 5 tire rotation than a 4.
 

mds5917

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You get 20% (or whatever the actual percentage is) because say you rotate every 5000 miles, the tire on the tailgate sits out that 5000 miles. 5000 miles later it gets rotated in and the next one sits out the next 5000 miles, and so on. After the Bronco goes 25,000 each tire sat out 5000 miles and each one has 20,000 miles on it instead on 25,000. Do another cycle of this and each tire has 40,000 miles and the Bronco has driven 50,000 miles.
I have a jeep and I see sets of 5 wheels for sale with ā€˜spare never touched the groundā€™ and 4 worn out tires all the time.
Rotations are super easy with the 5th wheel being rotated in because you only need one floor jack
Exactly my point - I have not seen any good argument against doing all 5. And indeed, it is much easier if youā€™re not on a lift as @Techun has noted
 

Dillhole

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Do 5!!!!! That untouched spare will still dry rot sitting back there so might as well use em all up!
 

Go Devils

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I've read through most of the posts on this and other related threads. In my small brain, I had to write it out and came to one conclusion--based on very basic math.
The spare will always have fewer miles on it if you follow the rotation guide.

For example, if you rotate every 5,000 miles, then after the 5th rotation, the original 4 tires on the ground will have 25,000 miles and the spare will have only 20,000 miles on the ground (note that the vehicle will have ~30,000 miles--assuming it was new when the rotation process began). Again, based on rudimentary math skills from 5th grade, this would translate into an extra 16.66% (30,000-25,000=5,000; 30,000/5,000=6; 100/6=16.66) tread life per ground tire--with the spare having 33.33% extra tread life (30,000-20,000=10,000; 30,000/10,000=3; 100/3=33.33). Based on these calculations, we got an extra 5,000 miles from rotating in the spare. So, now we can go one more rotation before replacing the tires altogether (assuming our tires will last 30k miles +/-). The next questions is if we get 45k miles out of the tires, how many extra miles are we getting from rotating the spare into the mix?

Here is the math...
55,000-45,000=10,000; 55,000/10,000=5.5; 100/5.5=18.18

So now, we have increased our tire life to 18.18% after 45,000 miles on the tires and 55,000 miles on the vehicle. So, when do we get the 20% you might ask? Well, if we want to get an extra 20% of use from our tires? Lets try it... Lets say after 60,000 miles on the tires, our vehicle has traveled 75,000 miles. I know this is pushing it, but lets be optimistic that our tires might last that long (just like we've been optimistic that our Broncos will get here before Christmas-2024).

Here is the math...
75,000-60,000=15,000; 75,000/15,000=5; 100/5=20%

So, after 75,000 miles on the vehicle and 60,000 miles on each tire, we have reached the 20% mark. Now, we have to replace all 5 tires and start again. But who gets 60,000 miles on truck/LT/mud tires? Exactly!

So do we truly get an extra 20% of tire life when rotating the spare into the mix? Based on Mrs. Schmidt's lesson on percentages, I would say only if you are getting 60,000 miles from your tires. Otherwise, you will likely get an extra 5,000-10,000 miles if you're lucky and still have to replace the spare. I am still undecided but I agree that having an old worn tire on the back on my new-ish Bronco is not ideal.
 

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Put me in the 5 tire rotation camp. Rotate on schedule .
 

MyATV

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I went in for my second oil change today (10K), and asked for 5-tire rotation. When I went to leave d'ship, I noticed spare was not rotated. I knew this because I was off-road just last weekend and spare was the only clean on the truck (even after washing, LOL). And it was still there - a perfectly clean spare. Waited another 45 minutes for them to rotate my tires as I had asked for. An oil-change & tire rotation that should have taken less than 2 hours took damn-near 3. And no apology for wasting my time.
I hate to say that's one advantage of a 'jiffy lube', because you can stand outside the service bay and watch them do everything. At a typical d'ship, you pull into a 'drive-through office' where they take your keys and you don't see your ride till it's over. And you hope they actually did a 5-tire rotation if that's what you asked for.
I'm no die-hard 4-tire or 5-tire rotator. Because I can see advantages to both. But once you slip into one groove or the other, you tend to stay.
But I'm beginning to believe the 4-tire rotators have the advantage. Because they don't have to go through the BS us 5-tire rotators continually have to put up with.
(Yeah, I know - I could do it myself. But I'm getting too old for that and would rather pay someone to do it. But why is it so difficult?)
 

Wyo

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I've read through most of the posts on this and other related threads. In my small brain, I had to write it out and came to one conclusion--based on very basic math.
The spare will always have fewer miles on it if you follow the rotation guide.

For example, if you rotate every 5,000 miles, then after the 5th rotation, the original 4 tires on the ground will have 25,000 miles and the spare will have only 20,000 miles on the ground (note that the vehicle will have ~30,000 miles--assuming it was new when the rotation process began). Again, based on rudimentary math skills from 5th grade, this would translate into an extra 16.66% (30,000-25,000=5,000; 30,000/5,000=6; 100/6=16.66) tread life per ground tire--with the spare having 33.33% extra tread life (30,000-20,000=10,000; 30,000/10,000=3; 100/3=33.33). Based on these calculations, we got an extra 5,000 miles from rotating in the spare. So, now we can go one more rotation before replacing the tires altogether (assuming our tires will last 30k miles +/-). The next questions is if we get 45k miles out of the tires, how many extra miles are we getting from rotating the spare into the mix?

Here is the math...
55,000-45,000=10,000; 55,000/10,000=5.5; 100/5.5=18.18

So now, we have increased our tire life to 18.18% after 45,000 miles on the tires and 55,000 miles on the vehicle. So, when do we get the 20% you might ask? Well, if we want to get an extra 20% of use from our tires? Lets try it... Lets say after 60,000 miles on the tires, our vehicle has traveled 75,000 miles. I know this is pushing it, but lets be optimistic that our tires might last that long (just like we've been optimistic that our Broncos will get here before Christmas-2024).

Here is the math...
75,000-60,000=15,000; 75,000/15,000=5; 100/5=20%

So, after 75,000 miles on the vehicle and 60,000 miles on each tire, we have reached the 20% mark. Now, we have to replace all 5 tires and start again. But who gets 60,000 miles on truck/LT/mud tires? Exactly!

So do we truly get an extra 20% of tire life when rotating the spare into the mix? Based on Mrs. Schmidt's lesson on percentages, I would say only if you are getting 60,000 miles from your tires. Otherwise, you will likely get an extra 5,000-10,000 miles if you're lucky and still have to replace the spare. I am still undecided but I agree that having an old worn tire on the back on my new-ish Bronco is not ideal.
Replying to your old post but actually if you rotate every 5k miles, each of your 5 tires will have 20k miles on them. Your Bronco will have 25k miles but each tire will have spent 5k miles as a spare. So after 50k miles, each tire will have 40k miles since each has spent 2 x 5k as a spare. 20% less still.
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