Do you count the miles driven plus towed when you rotate tires?
Rotate them whenever they get asymmetrical .
We have AT tires on our pickup. I have always rotated at 5,000 miles because the aggressive tread tires tend to cup if not rotated frequently in my experience. This was the advice from a tire shop many years ago after I ruined a pair of AT tires on a Suburban. What I don't know is if towed miles have a lesser or greater effect, or just the same as "driven" miles.
I just look for tread wear overall and if more or different than the rear, I rotate front to back, never across even with non-directional tires.
Pierce
I have Jeep Wrangler with 35" MT tires, rotate them in an X pattern every 3-4K keeps them from cupping. Less aggressive street tread maybe every 10K or so, assuming alignment and balance are all good.
Yes.
Towed miles are harder on tires than driven miles.
I check the tread depth on the inside, middle, and outside of the tire after every significant move. I have a spreadsheet that I track it in along with date & mileage. I also note where each tire goes after a rotation. Perhaps overkill but you eventually notice a pattern if there's something wrong and it's a great early warning. It has just become part of my setup routine now.
I rotate them them front to opposite rear, and rear to front on the same side like pictured below. This ensures that each tire eventually gets a turn at each corner for consistent wear.
Was always told the same thing... Since everone is always throwing there titles around ( :)) ) my dad tought me to take the front and put them on the back and the back on the front but never cross swap.. He was a Master Mechanic in another life..
I know tires have changed but I dont think it can hurt to do it this way.. My Dad said he was sitting at a Discount tire waiting to get his tire done.. Guy driving out of the lot and made it almost to the end of the drive before all the treads came off...
Not sure if it was rotation problems (I have read it stretches the tread opposite direction and pulls them apart) or from a retread.. Stay away from retreads .. Not worth your life or your dogs.
Rotate front to rear based on mfr recommendation and total miles, drive + towed. It is free where we got our tires.
Thanks Roger. Had to get a new set of tires as one had sidewall damage and only 5/32 tread left on the others. The Discount Tire guy suggested I count driven and towed miles. Since we are traveling all over they should provide a lot of places to do the rotation.
Mr Wolfe (Reply #5),
I tried to come up with a scientific explanation for your statement, but came up blank. I went back to my machinery elements text book and re-read Eytelwein, did not help me either.
I am reading your technical statement with interest since I am a member of the forum, and have not found a single one that I thought was wrong.
So I assume you will be right again on the question of tire use while towing, so please enlighten me.
Regards
Klaus
Klaus,
Sit in a toad for just a few minutes with someone else driving your coach. You will see very quickly that the long overhang of the coach causes much more abrupt steering inputs in the toad than were you driving the toad on the same road, same turns, same speed, etc.
Those sharp turns are especially hard on toad tires.