fbloogyudsr wrote:
> "zerouali" > wrote
>
>> Tyre rotation seems to be a mainly American thing, no one else ever
>> really mentions or uses it, as far as I've seen. Any particular reason
>> for this?
>
>
> The main rationale is to maximize tire mileage/life. On a FWD car, the
> fronts always wear more and won't last as long as the rears. On a RWD
> car, the rears wear more. And the spare tire doesn't wear at all.

Well, sort of... I've said this before, but I'll say it once more;
Rotating tires is is not, not has it ever been, about increasing the
total mileage of a tire, *except* when considered as a set.

By rotating tires one can even out the wear at the 4 corners and thereby
equalize the wear so that the set of 4 all wear-out at the same time.

Or to state it another way, it will not extend the life of any single
tire, but rather will allow the 4 to be spent at the same time and be
replaced as a set.

The value in that is especially evident when considering how often a
particular tire model is obsoleted and replaced with a new one in any
particular brand.

Some folks advocate replacement of the spare tire after a certain amount
of age regardless of how much wear it has attained, for safety reasons.
Obviously, any scheme that allows the spare into the rotation will
extend the life of the "set" by ~20%.

OTOH, if you have a brand/model of tire that is readily available over a
long time period (or if you wear them out quickly due to high annual
mileage) just replacing the axle that wear quickest would be equally as
economical as replacing the set.

-Fred W

-Fred W