Its a good idea to rotate tires every 6000 miles or every 6 months. Which ever comes first. Rotate the tires, same side front to back on front wheel and rear wheel drive vehicals. Also, use a penny to check tire depth. If you can see the top of Lincolns head your tires are wearing thin.:AddEmoticons0423:
Always good info from Ara. I have a question. Do you suggest always rotating tires front to back on same sides? You mention to do this for front whell and rear wheel drive vehicles. Are there other vehicles that use a different pattern? Many years ago, a tire shop guy taught me to rotate tires in an X pattern. Scott Warrington
Scott, The X pattern is definately another recomended way. The X pattern you are refering to is sometimes used to correct a drifting issue when alignment is good.
Checking tire pressure is something that should be done on a regular basis- not when a tire "seems" to be low. Properly inflated tires increase tire and gas mileage that reduce rolling friction. Under inflated adds rolling friction. It can also lead to tread separation. And certain tire manufacturers tread pattern also reduce rolling friction, to increase gas mileage. Specifically Toyo brand tires, and Michelin brand tires. Another important thing- tire dates when manufactured. A tire over 6 years old is not as flexible as a newer tire, and can cause tread separation. (This happened to me.) The manufactured date is stamped into the tire wall, in a code. I just found this out last week. As the last text molded into the tire, inside an ellipse, is the manufacture date of the tire. The code reads like this- for instance on my own 2 front tires bought Oct 1st- reads inside the ellipse- 1408. This means they were made the 14th week of 2008. The 2 rear tires, somewhat older- read 3406. Which means they were made the 34th week of 2006. I checked my wife's car tires. The 2 front ones read 176 which means they were made the 17th week of 1996. The 2 rear ones read 204, which means the 20th week of 1994. Now, her car seldom gets used. And never goes out of town, only to the store, bank, friends house, etc. A 1984 Dodge with only 53,000 actual miles- you get the drift. On close inspection, I see age cracks in the sides, and even though there is a lot of tread left on them, they are in a bad condition. So... check the date on your tires, and if they are over 6 years old, replace them. Gary
