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5-Tire Rotation

29K views 63 replies 47 participants last post by  green89yj 
#1 ·
I'm up for my second tire rotation. The first rotation I asked the dealer to do a five tire rotation and rotate the spare in and they looked at me like I had five heads. Of course they did it anyway. I figure by the time the tires are warn out I'm going to by 5 new ones, bigger, more aggressive you know the deal. I didn't want to get stuck with a brand new spare different from what I buy. Is anyone else doing this? Are there any reasons it would be bad?
 
#2 ·
Coming from being a tire tech for a bit a while back, I can tell you that the 5 tire rotation is just fine. You do need to make shure you do it EVERY time you rotate though. Keeps the pattern concistent.
 
#3 ·
I am not doing it, but I upgraded tires after 3K miles...but there is not a reason that I am aware of to not do it...
 
#4 ·
I have no plans to replace my stock tires until they're kaput. I'm doing 5-tire rotation, so it should give me any extra year of wear on them. Then I'm going to buy four new tires instead of five and keep one of the worn ones as a spare, saving the cost of a fifth replacement.
 
#9 ·
Might as well join the party. I'm doing a 5 tire rotation as well. Every 3000 miles. In Arizona the sun/heat does as much damage as driving on them so I thought I might as well get use out of the spare. As others have stated when the time comes I'll be buying 5 instead of four new ones.
 
#10 ·
I think it's more important to rotate all 5 tires when you have a really deep tread, like the Wrangler GS-A's, BFG AT's, etc.

When I got my TJ, the stock GS-A's were pretty worn down compared to the spare. The stock tread was so deep compared to more highway type tires, that even worn down that much, they were still fine for driving.

If I had to use the spare, it would be like having a different size tire on the Jeep. I'm not sure how much difference that little bit would make, but I wouldn't want to put it in 4HI with it like that.

Now I have General Grabber AT2's and am planning to rotate all 5.
 
#12 ·
4 only for me. I like the idea of a nice tire on the back instead of a 20,000+ worn out eyesore. If I used a cover, I would do a 5 tire rotation.

Ummmm...Anyone want to buy a Mickey Thompson Baja Claw 35" tire on 16" rim? Has less than 100 mile son it. lol
 
#13 ·
I've been doing a 5 wheel rotation... I think it's the best bet for all of us having a 5th normal wheel. If you paid for that extra wheel you're lugging around, you might as well use it!!

Be sure to always rotate them the same way...

I use this chart:
 

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#14 ·
I've been doing a 5 wheel rotation... I think it's the best bet for all of us having a 5th normal wheel. If you paid for that extra wheel you're lugging around, you might as well use it!!

Be sure to always rotate them the same way...

I use this chart:
Yeah, I told the idiots at the tire shop to rotate that way. Then when I was pumping gas later that weekend, I just happened to notice that the spare had gotten move to the left rear, and the left front was move to the spare :brickwall SO now I have no real knowledge of what actually ended up where :brickwall But all is not loss, I just know that from here on, I have to rotate the following in order to make sure all tires get equal road time.

Spare to LR
LR to Rf
RF to RR
RR to LF
LF to Spare
 
#15 ·
I took mine in not long ago for a rotation...when they said it was ready I noticed they hadn't touched the spare and I made them rotate it into the line-up...then, as they were doing that, I noticed that for some reason they hadn't balanced two of the tires (I paid for all of them)...so I stood there and made them run every one of them again in front of me...one of them was pointed out as being wayyy out of balance - they balanced it but said that one was kind of screwed up somehow and they recommended that I leave that one on as my spare from now on... Which is the only reason I guess I wouldn't keep a five tire rotation going. Last 4 sets I have always rotated all 5 and they seem to last a lot longer that way - BFG AT's by the way (over a 17 yr period in two Jeeps).
 
#17 ·
I wish I took care to notice which position they rotated the spare in last time, I'm willing to bet they did not do it as recommended. I no longer go to that particular dealer because they are terrible, and as far as oil change and tire rotation I think I will just go to the local lube shop or do it myself. I have noticed that one wheel has a scrape all the way around the outside edge right about where the weights sit, I'm willing to bet the dealer had something to do with that but its impossible to prove. No way to tell how they rotated it before huh? I guess if I just keep track of it from now on, I should be fine.
 
#20 ·
I was JUST discussing doing this when I get mine rotated in a couple weeks! I will DEFINITELY bring the handy diagram, but as others have said, I don't have much faith in them! haha! Good to know that it seems to work well though. I am in the same boat as a lot of you - waiting to wear these tires out, then moving on to bigger/better ones! lol! I DID have the concern about the "ugly" tire on the back, though, since I don't have the cover on it. Does it really look THAT bad?
 
#21 ·
You tell me- does this spare look bad

 
#23 ·
The trick to making the 'used' spare look good is to keep it clean. Just clean the rim and spray some of that 'Tire Wet' stuff on it... especially over the treads. Make sure you rub that stuff into the treads with a brush or towel or just spray it till it's dripping. This way the 'used' spare always looks new!
 
#24 ·
Great! Thanks! :) I think I am taking it in next week to give it a shot! Lets see how badly they screw up the rotation...(nice for me to have a positive attitude about it, huh?! lol)! They should know with me, by now, that they are going to do stuff right, or do it again til they get it right. I don't mess around when it comes to my Jeep!!!
 
#25 ·
Tire rotation "help" for tech.

I use chalk to mark where the tire should end up AFTER the rotation so they can check their work. Cleans off pretty easy if that matters. I use the diagram from the Tirerack web site. Again it doesn't matter which pattern you use as long as you always use the same.
 
#26 ·
brtzworld1,

You think like I do but I don't trust them not to wipe off the chalk.
I mark the tires with a "sharpie" with little letters; LF, LR, RF, RR & SP so I absolutely know where each tire was when I brought them my Jeep.
The black ink hardly shows but you can clean off the permanent marker ink with mild solvent (no tire damage) after you have verified they used the correct pattern and so as to not confuse you during the next rotation.
 
#28 ·
I avoid dealing with the idiots by just doing it myself. It isnt that hard and u can do one tire at a time if you do a 5 tire rotation.
Agreed. Just do it yourself. That way you know it was done correctly.

I label all my tires before-hand as a previous poster said to do and then put the jeep on jack stands and do them all at once. After.. just go to each tire and make sure you did all of them in the correct direction using their labels.

Oh yea and I do mine every 4k or so...

The first time took me like 2 hours because I wasn't sure exactly where to put the jack stands etc. and my jack wouldn't go high enough. But the second time only took about an hour. I think next time I can cut it down to 40 mins.
 
#29 ·
I do five every 6000 miles, from what I've seen you get even more mileage out of your tires by rotating in a fifth. I don't worry about a wore out looking spare, because if you take a bit of concentrated carwash soap and a scrub brush it looks as good as new.
 
#30 ·
This is how I have been doing my 5-tire rotation (every 10,000km) for the last 4 times (currently @ 51,000km):

Spare to RR
RR to RF
RF to LR
LR to LF
LF to Spare

I agree. If you have 5 tires, why not utilize them. :cheers2:
 
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