5 Tire Rotations

When looking on this site, especially when looking at info on wheels and tires, it doesn't seem to me that very many people buy new wheels in sets of 5, they only buy sets of 4.

Are a lot of people not doing 5 tire rotations?? If not, why?

I like to rotate all tires every 5K miles. It ensures that my spare has at least some road experience (ie has been on recently so I know it will hold pressure, doesn't have anything puncturing it etc.) and to ensure that I don't go years without removing the spare. I've had buddies experience flat tires when there truck is 5-6 years old and they have never taken the spare down. So when they are on the side of the road (or in the woods) with a flat that's when they find out their spare has basically corroded in place and they have to call for a tow truck.

Just wondering what everyone else does and why.

 

Matching spare on matching wheel. Rotate tires with every oil change, also grease u-joints and check u-bolts.

 

I just rotate the four. That's probably not a good idea because on my old T-100, the spare was rusted in place. I had to cut the cable to get it out, then I just removed the carrier and don't carry a spare. That truck never leaves the county any more but on the seldom occasion that it does, I just throw the spare in the back.

I should probably drop my spare from time to time and oil up the mechanism really good. You make a good point about that.

 

There is no benefit for me to buy a 5th tire every time I buy tires and not to mention the initial cost of a 5th matching rim. Tires are a consumable item and I'm happy when I go over 40K with them. My tires are only slightly larger than the OEM tire and spare, so if I have to use the spare it won't matter for drivability. If I need to keep the spare on for a bit, I would put it on the rear axle so my steering isn't affected.

I have OEM TPMS in the spare, but I still drop it at least once a year to clean/oil the winch and inflate to a proper pressure.

 

I like to know my spare is 100% good and ready for me to use, no chance of a slow leak. Plus many guys on here run different tire brands and it sucks to buy 5 tires.

I do half diagonal rotations on my customers tacomas to ensure the best tire wear without the fronts feeling too weird. Front crossed to rears, rears straight to front. I do full diagonal on my duratracs.

 

I do a 5-tire rotation because of the reasons you mention but also because if I get a flat, or worse, a truly damaged tire in the middle of offroad nowhere, I want the insurance and capability to get out the same way I got in.

 

I have been doing 5 tire rotation since I first started driving. The only time ive bought 5 tires at a time is when I change tire size (2 times). With the spare you keep the best out of 5.

 

I have 5 matching wheels with 5 matching tires on them, but am only rotating 4 at the moment. The spare KO2 I got was slightly used, so I'll wait another couple oil changes before I bring it into rotation with the others, and then yes, I will rotate all 5.

 

Five tire rotation for me. Picked up matching wheel used for about $125 and sold steel spare wheel for $25. I have KO2 on all five. I go remote places and so I want to have my spare as good as what died so I can reliably get back out.

I'm not sure I understand what the various "sucks to buy 5 tires" comments are directed at. If you do a five tire rotation naturally you replace your tires later so the cost per mile is the same for a four or five tire rotation. I usually buy online and the price per tire is the same for four vs. five. Is there some case in which you get a better deal buying just four?

Anyway, no real "right" answer. If you are city driving then an older unmatched spare is probably fine - likely better than the tiny spares on passenger cars. If you are off road I'd prefer to have a matched spare and if you make that matched spare part of a five tire rotation then it costs you nothing in the long term to do so.

 

I'm a big proponent Hanging it off the back and rotating it in. Never have a problem with the winch seizing up this way

 

Well I'm certainly not going to buy a matching rim, and my OEM spare is only 1" in diameter smaller than my current tires. Zero issues on the rear axle-BTDT. I'm not brand loyal to tires, so what I have now might be different when I buy again. I'm not changing sizes. Zero monetary or practical benefit to rotating all five in my case. It would definitely be a negative for me if I bought a matching spare.

The last time I had 5 matching rims/tires was in the early 90s when I had an 86 Dodge W100. Rotated all 5 until I bought a new Dodge in 93.

 

I do 4 and my reason isn't a good one. My spare is the stock 265/70/16 and my 4 tires are upgraded 265/75/16. I know I should replace the spare with something bigger, just haven't gotten around to it.

 

That is a 1" difference in diameter and a 21 revolution per mile difference. Hardly worth buying a new rim and tire over. Assuming your spare is still new, you'll have a similar capability between your 31.6" worn normal tires and your 30.6" new but smaller spare. More than enough to get you home and drive around for a week or so until you get a new tire.

Your money, I won't stop you. Not worth it in your case IMO.

 

See I always hear conflicting reports on this, a lot of people say it's "dangerous"

 

It will drive differently-barely. Mitigate the risk by putting it on the rear axle.

When you replace the blown out tire, replace at least in pairs unless brand new.

 

My understanding, different sizes put added stress on the axles causing premature failure. This might be with straight axles not IFS however. I'm not completely savvy on all of the mechanical/technical aspects either. However, if it were me the smaller tire would only be on a limited time, to get me to safety until the regular tire is fixed and put back on.

 

Yep, it's not like we're riding on a spare for months and trips back and forth to Mom's house a thousand miles away.

 

The whole 4 wheel rotation Vs. 5 wheel came about when people started using radial cord tires as opposed to the old bias ply tires. Radials will take a "set" in the cord based on the rotation direction of the tire, and the reasoning was that reversing the rotation direction would weaken the cord, and shorten the lifetime of the tire or lead to premature failure. True or not, I don't know, but that's why people do 4 wheel rotations, just front to back on the same side.

 

Not sure about the first radials but modern radials are fine with a five tire rotation and all the manufactures have a recommended five tire rotation pattern for radials. And in fact the recommended 4 tire rotation pattern for radials already involves crossing sides of the tires:

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BUT some tire tread patterns are not symmetric and the tires are suppose to be mounted for a particular direction of travel. In that case if you look at the tires the driver side tires are mounted opposite orientation to the passenger tires (relative to the wheel face that is). So in that case you really need to do a 4 tire rotation only rotating front to back on the same side of the vehicle. Naturally if you have different size tires in the front and rear (some sports cars) then front to back is out and you can only do side to side on the same axle. So those two cases are special:

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And lastly the recommend five tire rotation patterns:

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One advantage of a five tire rotation is that if you do end up with tire that can't be repaired you can drop to a four tire rotation and not be forced to replace a pair of tires just because one tire was beyond repair. Some drivetrains are very sensitive to mismatched tire sizes (I know Subarus are for instance) and so having five tires that are matched in wear gives you more options to deal with losing a tire mid-treadlife. (As someone already mentioned you can certainly run a slightly differently sized tire to get home and get to a tire shop, but you probably don't want to run mismatched tires for say 15,000 miles of remaining tread life on your undamaged tires).

Good run down of rotation options here.

 

My spare is the same size as the other 4 tires, but I only have 4 Aftermarket Aluminum rims, so I do a 4 tire rotation as recommended by the dealer, or my local tire shop. My spare does have a TPMS sensor in it, so I know the pressure is good, and I even make sure it's checked at each rotation in case I need to use it. BUT, I don't off-road in hard terrain very much, so I've been lucky so far...(Knock wood...)