Tire Rotation

Tire Rotation is a much overlooked part of vehicle maintenance. All four of your tires are worn down differently. The driver side tires are worn down different than the passenger-side tires, and the front tires are worn down different than the rear tires. The regular rotation of your tires helps prolong tire life as well as makes your vehicle safer to take on the road. Tires should be rotated every other oil change. Vehicles that have four-wheel drive need it about every 1 1/2 oil changes. Tire rotation can be done by professionals or it can be done by you. Getting your tires rotated professionally isn't very expensive, but it is something that you can do for free, on your own. For those who are not knowledgeable on how to rotate your vehicle's tires manually, here are some tips.

For those with vehicles that have all weather tires here are directions on how you should rotate your tires. The front two tires, need to go in place of the back tires, but the front driver side tire needs to go to the rear passenger-side tire. Likewise the passenger-side front tire needs to go to the rear driver side tire. The two rear tires, need to go forward; meaning that the rear driver side tire needs to go to the front driver side, and the rear passenger-side tire needs to go to the front passenger-side.
Next are those with front wheel drive tires. Front wheel drive tires are to be rotated differently than all weather tires. Instead of crossing the front tires, you're going to cross the rear tires, meaning that the rear passenger-side tire is going to go to the front driver side. The rear driver side tire is going to go to the front passenger-side. The front passenger-side tire is going to go to the back passenger-side and the front driver side is going to go to the back driver side.
Directional tires are not as difficult, as the front and back tires are only going to switch. So the front passenger-side tire goes to the back passenger-side and front driver side tire goes to the back driver side. The same thing goes for the rear tires. They are only going to go to the front of the same side. Directional tires are made to stay on their designated side of the vehicle so you don't have the option to cross them as in the previous two examples.

Some things are important to remember if you do choose to rotate your own tires. Make sure that you know what you're tires' inflation levels should be. Once you have finished rotating them, it is important to make sure that your the tires' inflation levels are adjusted to whatever the specific cars recommendations are. Even though it is a somewhat time-consuming process, it is pretty easy. Regular tire rotation increases tire life in a big way. Increasing the vehicle's tire life will save you money in the long run.