Tire rotation needed every oil change?

I have historically rotated my tires about every 10K. I realized very recently that that may not be enough for the Prius.

Some background. At about 15K I had to replace one of my tires because of an unrepairable road hazard. The replacment was put on the left front. At my 20K rotation, with only 5K on that one, I decided to leave it there. Recently, at about 27K, I noticed some uneven wear on the outer edge of that tire suggestive of an alignment problem. I had the alignment checked, which was slightly out of specifications, both camber and toe. Probably not much in the big scheme of things, but enough for that newest tire, with only 12K miles, to be in the worst shape among the four. More frequent rotation might have reduced the wear, and possibly could have allowed me to catch the uneven wear sooner.

Coincidentally, I got the alignment done at a Goodyear dealer. While urging me to rotate the tires every 5K, they also said Goodyear dealers are supposed to rotate their own brand for free. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it's worth calling your local dealer to ask.

Even more coincidentally and beside the point somewhat, four days after the alignment I had another unrepairable road hazard on another tire. With the overall tread wear, I replaced them all with Michelin Hydroedges. But back to the point: I will rotate those every 5K.

 

Do not overlook the obvious. You can actually look at the wear and decide based on that if a rotation is needed. The wear is very dependent on the tire hardness. The Goodyear Integrity (The usual tires on a new Prius) has a wear rating of 460. This is pretty low so this tire wears faster and would be rotated more often then a Goodyear Regatta (what I use) with a wear rating of 680. If an obvious wear difference is apparent, then the rotation is justified.

 

I intend to rotate the tires (front to back) along with the oil/filter change every 5K miles. I think that's what the manual recommends for 2007 model. This is pretty much what I've always done with my vehicles.

 

Get a tire tread depth gauge and measure the tread depth every 5,000 miles. If the fronts are worn more than the rears, then it is time to rotate. If not, then it is not time. Automatically rotating (or not rotating) every 5,000 miles does not take into consideration your actual driving conditions or the impact on the tire compound. A tread depth gauge is not going cost $1,000 (or anywhere near that). At one point, Michelin dealers were giving them away with every set of 4 tires they sold.

 

I rotated the Hydroedges front to back about 6K after getting them,
and took pix of each side's pair matched up right next to each
other while looking straight down tangentially through the treads.
I could detect *no* height difference. Next time I'll do a
circumferential check or something to see if that gives better
resolution.
.
_H*

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hobbit @ Jul 10 2007, 06:28 PM) [snapback]476511[/snapback]</div>

The measurement standard is tread depth, not tire circumference. If there was no difference in tread depth, then there was really no need to rotate the tires. Which was why I was advocating measuring before rotating.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jrod81 @ Jul 10 2007, 11:09 AM) [snapback]476160[/snapback]</div>

I plan doing rotations every 10k miles. By the way, Walmart rotates tires for $1.50 each (or only $6 total). For that kind of price I'll avoid doing it myself.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prickly commute @ Jul 11 2007, 08:40 AM) [snapback]476727[/snapback]</div>

Again, supposedly Goodyear dealers will rotate Goodyear tires for free. You might want to check your local dealer. For that kind of price you can avoid a DIY job and Wal-Mart.

 

I have a 2006 and rotated my tires at 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k and 55k so far. They have 57k on them and should last me till 70k at least. I check them out at the 5k oil changes to make sure they aren't doing anything goofy on me. Look for excessive wear, rips, bulges and anything that is just weird. So far so good for me. I had one screw in a tire once that I had to get repaired.

I rotate them myself in the garage, it usually takes me about a half hour to do it using a hydraulic jack and the standard tire iron.

5k can't hurt but I think it's excessive (at least for my car with my alignment and acceptable performance thus far)..

 

At 5,000 miles I could see the front tires were wearing faster than the rear tires, so I rotated them myself at home. I prefer to do it myself to make sure the lug nuts don't get tightened down too much, which can damage the rotors. The car tracks as well as it did when new after I rotated the tires. Front to back and back to front.

 

If you're asking for votes, mine is to absolutely rotate every 5K.

The Front tires on the Prius take a beating and the Left Front really gets stressed.

Your tires will last much much longer with the rotation.

If you choose not to rotate that often, be sure to keep a sharp eye on the tread on the outside shoulder of the Left Front tire and if you see it wearing faster than the rest of the tread across the tire, rotate.

In the parking lot here at work, I can easily tell which Prius owners rotate and which don't Of course the worst are the ones that don't rotate, AND don't keep the air pressure up. I've seen Left Front tires running on the cords on the outside edges.

 

I *was* looking at tread depth.
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/tires/6Kleft.jpg
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/tires/6Kright.jpg
You have to take viewing angle into account for apparent narrowing
of the grooves. Fronts are at the top, rears at bottom. I can't
see much difference, and could not with my eyes either.
.
_H*

 

Doesn't have to be every 5k but it's, to some people, a matter of convenience since the car is in the shop anyway.

However, I think rotating them at set intervals (5k, 7.5k or 10k) will help to avoid uneven wear.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(INPrius @ Jul 11 2007, 11:24 AM) [snapback]476822[/snapback]</div>

With my driving it will be 10 months to hit 5000 miles. Is it best to wait for the 5K point or change oil at the 6 month point?

 

IMO, if you wait until you see the tread wear to rotate you waited too long. As mentioned, the front treadwear will be usually on the outer edges, from aggressive cornering, whatever, which is harder to measure than the tread in the middle of the tire's width. On some front wheel drive cars the rear tires develop flat spots when not rotated. By the time it is discovered its too late to rotate. I haven't heard of any complaints of this from Prius owners. I rotate at the same time I change the oil, mainly because I have the floorjack out, torque wrench, etc. Also, it is easier to do a front brake inspection with the wheels off, and you have half of the job of a rotation done then. I always used to do rotations at 7500 on other cars. But I used the X pattern rotation then and Toyota doesn't recommend that for the Prius. I like Michelin tires, usually go for the 80K wear type tires and always get 80K+ out of them.

 

It is safer to rotate tires only when needed to keep the *less worn* tires at the rear. More tread at the rear makes the car less likely to spin out or fishtail in slippery conditions.

Yes, frequent rotation wears all the tries evenly. Would someone please explain the benefits of that? The only benefit I know of is that you then replace all four tires at the same time, instead of two at a time. More convenience but less safety seems like a bad choice.

 

Well, sometimes it's not just rotating from front to back, sometimes you need to rotate tiers to the other side of the car. I'd assume it has to do with how the car sits. 4 even wears mean the car is flat all the time, which is usually a good thing. Probably just makes people feel better though.

Anyways, I just rotate my own tires when I see fit. If I notice odd wear or need to prolong the life of my older tires then I'll rotate them then.

Having 2 new tires and 2 old tires is no fun. I hate having to worry about both sets.

 

True, if there is uneven wear on individual tires then rotating them will make the whole set last longer. But uneven wear on a tire usually means that an alignment is needed. And if an alignment is needed then rotating the tires is just a bandaid which masks the underlying problem.

 

I change the oil and filter and rotate my tires every 5K miles without fail. The tires look great and I am sure my engine looks nice and clean on the inside too. Cheap insurance. Takes me about 30 minutes.