When should you rotate your tires? Most passenger vehicles can be rotated at a 5,000-mile interval. However, you want to check your specific tires requirements because there are some exceptions to the rule. Some vehicles with an aggressive off-road or all-terrain tread may need to be rotated sooner, up to 2,500 miles sooner. What will happen if I don’t rotate my tires at a regular interval? Lack of rotation can lead to uneven wear and eventually lead to premature replacement of your vehicle’s tires.
Things to remember when completing a tire rotation. Your tires have a TPMS sensor built into the valve stem, and they send a radio signal back to your vehicle’s computer that will display your tires’ pressure. Most modern vehicles show a location of the four tires. When you complete your tire rotation you will need to “relearn” your tires position, otherwise your display will show the old positions. Also, just like every critical nut and bolt on your vehicle, your lug nuts have a torque specification. You will need to determine your lug nuts’ torque specifications and use a torque wrench to tighten them down to the correct ft-lb of torque.
What else can cause uneven wear on your vehicle’s tires? Poor alignment, worn out suspension, over inflation, or under inflation can all lead to uneven wear and premature tire replacement. To prevent this from happening have your vehicle checked on a regular basis and make sure your tires are properly inflated. There is a placard on your driver’s door jamb (or on the edge of your door) that will give your vehicle’s designated tire pressure. Make sure that your tires are inflated to your vehicle’s designed air pressures, over inflation will wear out the middle of your tires and under inflation will wear out the edges of your tires.
When should you replace your tires? Tires are measured in 32nds of an inch, and your vehicle has a “wear bar.” A wear bar is a raised piece of rubber between your tires treads that measures 2/32nds of an inch tall. If your tread wears down to be even with this wear bar your have gone too far. According to the National Safety Council’s defensive driving course, 4/32nds of an inch of tread is enough to cause your vehicle to hydroplane. At 4/32nds of an inch, enough of the tread is gone so the grooves in your tires can no longer effectively channel water through the tire and it ends up sliding on top of the water causing your vehicle to lose control. Also, stopping power is reduced much more in the later half of your tire’s life cycle. We recommend replacing your tires before they get to 4/32nds of an inch.
When should you patch your tires? You can patch your tires as long as the puncture is not in your side wall or on the shoulder (outer most tread) of your tire. The middle of your tire tread is the area when the forces of driving are the least and therefore the integrity of the patch can be maintained. The sidewall and the shoulder sustain the most amount of flexing and take the brunt of the forces induced by driving and therefore the risk of the plug failing is increased in these areas.
What if my vehicle has an AWD system? It is critical for your all-wheel-drive system to have evenly worn tires for the system to operate as designed. If there is more than 2/32nds of an inch difference between the tires it could cause damage to the powertrain and wear at out your tires prematurely. If you have a puncture in the shoulder of your tire and if the new tire would have more than 2/32nds of tread than the other tires on your vehicle, the recommendation would be to replace all four of your tires so your system does not misinterpret the larger tire as wheel slippage.
