How Often Should I Rotate My Tires?

Why Should I Rotate My Tires?

As your tires are the direct link between your vehicle and the road, making sure they're in healthy condition is paramount. This simple act of maintenance goes a long way in protecting you from potential issues developing down the road. We'd like to present a handful of those possible issues in the following bulletpoints:

• Hydroplaning: Tires with healthy treads wick water away from the direct driving surface, which allows the tire to keep firm contact with the road. When the tread has degraded, conditions for steering, control, and handling become difficult to maintain.
• Punctures & Blowouts: A weak spot on a tire can be whittled down to such thinness that a piece of glass, a nail, a rock, or some other errant piece of roadway material can poke a hole into it. This can result in a highly dangerous situation.
• Heat Buildup: Healthy tires can withstand a measure of heat, but without proper rotation, that surface area can lose the cooling airflow that's formed by the treads, leading to such undesirable conditions as tread separation and blowouts.

These are only a handful of the many hazards that come with weak tires. It's good to be reminded that the weaker your tire's health is, the higher the potential for an accident to occur. A healthy set of tires is a safe vehicle. In the following sections, we'll show how to properly maintain them.

When Should I Have My Tires Rotated?

Your source of information should be your owner's manual as each manufacturer has different maintenance schedules for their vehicles. However, if you lack access to a manual, don't fret, as there are other ways to check.

One way is to have them rotated every three to five thousand miles, depending on how heavy of a driver you are. Another example is to get them done at the same time as an oil change. This can generally be done about every six months, but if you can check your manual, you'll have a more accurate account.