Improper wheel alignment can cause faster wear and tear of tires. Tire rotation is an important part to increase the life and performance of tires. Here, we have tried to explain why you should rotate your tires. 

What Does It Mean to Rotate Tires?

Rotating tires means changing the position of tires in your vehicle. In tire rotation, the position of each tire vehicle is changed after a specific interval that could be every 6 months. According to tire experts, you need to rotate your tires every 6000 to 8000 miles. People who drive less than 7500 miles in a year can rotate tires after 7.5 months. 

Reasons to Rotate Your Tires

There are two main reasons to rotate tires and they are 

• The front and rear tires have to face different weights and pressure and hence they wear unevenly. The tires fitted at the wheel drive axle have to bear the pressure and power of the engine.If the car is a front-wheel drive the pressure is amplified as the front tires also have to bear the pressure of the vehicle at turns.In this case, the front tires wear faster. To even out tread wear, you need to rotate tires which involves moving front tires to the rear and vice versa. 
• When you rotate tires it evens out wear that is translated into better handling and improved traction.

When You Should Rotate Your Tires?

You need to rotate tires every 6000 to 8000 miles or every six months whichever is earlier. However, there are certain conditions that cause tires to wear faster. For example, under inflated and overinflating, problems with the suspension and improper wheel alignment wear tires faster and unevenly. In that case, you need to find out and fix the root because that is causing the tires to wear faster and unevenly and get tires rotated during repairs. 

Tire Rotation Patterns Explained

Rearward Cross

This tire rotation pattern is mainly followed in vehicles with AWD and FWD drivetrains.  In Rearward Cross, the front tires move diagonally to the rear axle. For example, the front right tire is fitted on the rear left side and the front left tire is fitted on the rear right side. The rear tires go straight to the front axle. The Rearward Cross rotation pattern is recommended for 4-wheel-drive and rear-wheel drive vehicles. 

Forward Cross

In Forward cross, the front tires move straight to the rear axle and the rear tires move diagonally. For example, the rear left tire is fitted on the front right side and the rear right is fitted on the front left side. The forward cross rotation pattern is recommended for front-wheel-drive vehicles. 

X-Cross

In X-Cross, all four tires move diagonally. The front left tire moves to the rear right position and vice versa and the front right tire moves to the rear left position and vice versa. 

A tire can tell a lot about your vehicle. Uneven wear of tires shows the negligence of tire maintenance that reduces the value of your vehicle.Rotating tires regularly can actually save money as you don’t need to replace tires early that are wastage of money.