Is there really a need to rotate tires if tread wear is symmetrical?

[GoodSam]

I have 15K miles on the General Grabbers, 275/60 R20 116 load index. The wear pattern looks the same for all four tires. Also, it looks like I have been underinflating the tires at 42psi as the outer and inner channels (of the 4) show more wear than the center 2 channels. Any burning reason to rotate tires if all are showing similar wear patterns? BTW, I raised the inflation pressure to 45psi in an attempt to get the wear to occur towards the tire centers.

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[SmoothJ]

With the truck almost having a 50/50 weight distribution, I was wondering the same. I guess it really depends on if you tow often or usually have things in the bed of the truck.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

It's not just whether the wear pattern is the same between each corner. Rotating tires also turns them around so the tire spins in the opposite direction. This is lower priority than the corner to corner wear pattern if your tires don't have aggressive tread or you don't take the tires where the front-facing tread might see significant action.

Example: I live on a gravel road so the front-facing tread wears more quickly than the rear-facing tread. Rotating the tires allows that tread wear pattern to even out. If it's really bad, I'll use a different rotation scheme to the one in the manual, but it's been okay for the OEM tires so far.

 

[Calvin H-C]

It's not just whether the wear pattern is the same between each corner. Rotating tires also turns them around so the tire spins in the opposite direction.

True, unless the tires are directional, which is the case for most (if not all) winter tires.

That said, I suspect that there is wear that does not appear as changes in tread depth. As the tire spins and carries a load, stresses are imposed on them that may take their toll on the structure at a microscopic level. By rotating tires, these stresses are likely equalized, and this likely extends the overall life of the tire at least by a bit. By how much is debatable.

Not speaking from any specific knowledge, just from a simple though experiment of what tires may go through stress-wise.

 

[Henry Ford]

My initial thought was, "of course you need to rotate your tires and you are an immoral person for suggesting otherwise," but if the tires are wearing evenly and you are paying attention there really isn't a need to rotate.

The side benefits of rotating tires are catching suspension and brake issues early. on the other hand, suspension and brake issues eventually let themselves be known with a clunk or scraping noise. Deferred maintenance is cheap maintenance.

Please keep us updated as you put more miles on the tires. I'm sure a lot of people would be happy to stop rotating tires.

 

[Henry Ford]

True, unless the tires are directional, which is the case for most (if not all) winter tires.

That said, I suspect that there is wear that does not appear as changes in tread depth. As the tire spins and carries a load, stresses are imposed on them that may take their toll on the structure at a microscopic level. By rotating tires, these stresses are likely equalized, and this likely extends the overall life of the tire at least by a bit. By how much is debatable.

Not speaking from any specific knowledge, just from a simple though experiment of what tires may go through stress-wise.

This might be 100% true but when you go to Discount tire they don't look at your tire with a microscope, they measure the tread depth and if it's below some threshold they suggest new tires.

 

[Joe Dablock]

I rotate my tires at around 20k miles, and front to back on a diagonal so they all rotate in the opposite direction. I have found that tires get a very slight scallop on tread which is the cause of noise, and by rotating them in the opposite direction, the scallop wears off (but will now scallop on opposite side of tread).
My MME at 60k miles will be due for a new set of tires sometime this summer. My Lightning at 36k is on track to make it to 70k miles before needing replaced.

 

[inchman254]

Unless you were driving in a straight line for 15,000 miles, there would be more sidewall stress and wear on front tires simply due to going around corners and maneuvering in parking lots. Wear and tear is not always visible on the treads. In addition, you have indicated that the tires may have been under more stress than intended.

A blown tire at speed due to a failed sidewall might be the first step in a visit to the ditch.

I have never seen a maintenance schedule that says "rotate your tires every x miles unless they look like they're wearing evenly", but I have seen an "inspect y every x miles and replace if necessary". So there is obviously a difference in the way they intend you should maintain your tires compared to "as necessary".

 

[Andrewbens]

I had taken my truck in for a Rotation after 8,000 miles on my K02s and the wear was even on all 4 tires the girl was really confused and said that its really impressive.

 

[Calvin H-C]

This might be 100% true but when you go to Discount tire they don't look at your tire with a microscope, they measure the tread depth and if it's below some threshold they suggest new tires.

Absolutely. What I'm suggesting is that structural wear cannot be measured directly. How soon the wear shows to warrant suggesting new tires may be extended by the occasional rotation.

It won't hurt, except for the cost of the rotation, which can be mitigated by rotating when the brakes are inspected or serviced. In my case, changing from winter to "all" season tires also provides a rotation opportunity with no added cost.

 

[Calvin H-C]

I have never seen a maintenance schedule that says "rotate your tires every x miles unless they look like they're wearing evenly", but I have seen an "inspect y every x miles and replace if necessary". So there is obviously a difference in the way they intend you should maintain your tires compared to "as necessary".

I write maintenance manuals and train railway signalling maintainers, and the preventive maintenance activities have frequencies based on best practices and calculations on the mean time between failures (MTBF) of equipment involved.

While there are some rare circumstances where something is "run to failure", most have a PM frequency designed to provide the least down time for a reasonable maintenance cost. If you're comfortable assuming a higher risk of downtime or earlier replacement costs, then have at it.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

True, unless the tires are directional, which is the case for most (if not all) winter tires.

That said, I suspect that there is wear that does not appear as changes in tread depth. As the tire spins and carries a load, stresses are imposed on them that may take their toll on the structure at a microscopic level. By rotating tires, these stresses are likely equalized, and this likely extends the overall life of the tire at least by a bit. By how much is debatable.

Not speaking from any specific knowledge, just from a simple though experiment of what tires may go through stress-wise.

All of this is true.

The differential wear on the front tires includes sidewall wear that's not visible to the user. At least you hope it's invisible. With independent suspension, wear is even more disparate between the front and the rear sidewalls. Related to sidewall failure is the simple possibility that someone who parks outside always parks with one side of the vehicle facing the sun, which means lack of tire rotation will induce UV-related failure of the sidewalls on the sun-side tires.

TPMS has largely reduced but not eliminated the need for someone to put eyes on the tires from time-to-time to ensure the pressures are proper, but that was another reason for high-frequency tire rotation recommendations.

Tire rotation PM also gets people to look at the brakes and at the suspension. I had a leaking rear shock on a previous vehicle that hadn't yet shown up as a problem while driving but was revealed when I took the wheels off to rotate the tires. A potential catastrophic problem was avoided by a simple 15-minute tire rotation.

 

[Maxx]

Proportion of how fast you accelerate to how fast and how often you decelerate may have impact on difference between front and back of the thread wear. How fast you go on turns especially when loaded may have impact on difference between front and back outside thread wear.

I don’t drive in sport mode and try to minimize acceleration, deceleration and turning fast. I am still bellow 20K and so far thread wear is not noticeable.

 

[PreservedSwine]

I have 15K miles on the General Grabbers, 275/60 R20 116 load index. The wear pattern looks the same for all four tires. Also, it looks like I have been underinflating the tires at 42psi as the outer and inner channels (of the 4) show more wear than the center 2 channels. Any burning reason to rotate tires if all are showing similar wear patterns? BTW, I raised the inflation pressure to 45psi in an attempt to get the wear to occur towards the tire centers.

I believe the answer on this is clear and unequivocal.

The answer is, it depends. It's entirely dependent on the vehicle. On most vehicles, it's necessary to rotate on some type of schedule (which can vary wildly) to keep tire wear even.

However, there are plenty of vehicles out there that have no need, and no benefit, the tread wears evenly, with no unusual tread or wear patterns.

 

[Maxx]

What is the downside of waiting to see a difference and then rotating?

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