Skip Every Other Tire Rotation

[bhzmark]

If you sell tires and you are afraid of liability claims because the car of the customer has catastrophic oversteer then you put the new tires on the back.

If you are a car owner and want your tires to wear evenly and have confidence in stability control and the fact that you are not likely to oversteer or you know how to correct oversteering then you put the new tires on the front for more even treadwear and to reduce the more common understeering.

 

[jerry33]

If you sell tires and you are afraid of liability claims because the car of the customer has catastrophic oversteer then you put the new tires on the back.

If you are a car owner and want your tires to wear evenly and have confidence in stability control and the fact that you are not likely to oversteer or you know how to correct oversteering then you put the new tires on the front for more even treadwear and to reduce the more common understeering.

If you are an owner and don't want the car to oversteer when it rains, put the best tires on the rear. This is about safety in non-optimal conditions.

 

[ArtInCT]

This is a very interesting thread and it makes me wonder about past behavior of scheduled rotations. However, on my performance cars I tend to use a Tire Tread Gauge from QuickCar that is a pretty nice precision tool at an inexpensive price. On those cars, when I regularly check pressure, I also check inside, outside and mid tread depths on the driver's side. When I see a variance then I rotate my tires and check the break pads and other wheel and suspension bits. I do this operation myself as I enjoy working on cars and rotation is not rocket science.

Here is a picture of the Quickcar Tire Wear Gauge.... I forget where I bought it... Perhaps Pegasus Racing?

 

[wycolo]

With most of these tires it is not 'rotation' but switching on the same side, so physically an easier process. Yay!

I've noticed that tires seem to wear unevenly much more below 50% tread. This presumably is because deep treads can flex more thus scrub less against the pavement. If this is indeed true then keeping the taller treads on the rear of a RWD car would be more economical in addition to being safer.
--

 

[dhrivnak]

Sounds like you are rotating, just with a longer interval. :wink:

Assuming rears wear significantly more than first...

+Replace rears when worn.
+Replace fronts when worn and 'rotate' the worn rears to the front.
+From here on depends on wear between front and rear, but anytime fronts get replaced and rears don't there is a 'rotation'.

Yes correct and the interval can be 30,000 miles. We have had good luck and wear on tires excepting the Roadster. Which can eat tires if I am not careful.

 

[ecarfan]

I use this digital tire tread depth gauge to check my tires. Inexpensive and simple to use, reads in mm or fractions of an inch.
Amazon.com: Accutire MS-48B Digital Combination Tire Thread Depth Gauge and Tire Pressure Gauge: Automotive

 

[markb1]

If you sell tires and you are afraid of liability claims because the car of the customer has catastrophic oversteer then you put the new tires on the back.

If you are a car owner and want your tires to wear evenly and have confidence in stability control and the fact that you are not likely to oversteer or you know how to correct oversteering then you put the new tires on the front for more even treadwear and to reduce the more common understeering.

How does putting the new tires on the front help them to wear evenly?

 

[siucity]

How does putting the new tires on the front help them to wear evenly?

For a FWD vehicle?

 

[Owner]

I would never miss a rotation....

I have had quite an odyssey with Tesla and tires.

 

[jerry33]

I've noticed that tires seem to wear unevenly much more below 50% tread.

This can be minimized by doing a very early first rotation so that all tires get a turn on the drive axle early in their life. The idea is that if you set up an even wearing pattern in the beginning they will continue to wear evenly. In some cases (that I've followed) the difference has turned out to be very non-trivial. Very early means 1600-2000 miles.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I have about 12,000 miles on my P85 with 19" Michelins. I took it in for a tire rotation at 4,750 miles. They measured 9/32 tread depth at all twelve points (outer, center, inner times four tires). They rotated them.

I took it in again at 11,000 miles. This time they measured 8/32, 7/32, 8/32 on all four tires. They commented that "Vehicle does not need tire rotation at this time. All tire tread thicknesses measure the same." So it seems they agree with you that no rotation is needed. Now whether it's still important to check every 5,000 miles is something I'll trust them to decide.

 

[bhzmark]

How does putting the new tires on the front help them to wear evenly?

front tires generally wear more quickly because they are used laterally (to steer) and not just rotationally (to go around and around). And esp FWD or AWD they are drive wheels as well.

Since most cars now have stability control and general suspension design that heavily favors understeer, oversteer is much much less common than understeer.

However, there are three types of people:
When the car starts to oversteer they:

A: have no idea what to do and watch as the car's rear trades places with the car's front.
B: vaguely recall from driver's ed that you are supposed to steer into a spin out and they wrench the steering wheel hard over and hold it until eventually the car over corrects and oversteers in the other direction and they spin out the other way.
C: they sense the oversteer and they slide the wheel over briefly to give it enough to come around and quickly nudge the wheel back -- or they let stability control effect roughly the same thing with the inside front brake.

Types A and B can put the new tires on the back to help them avoid their catastrophic spinouts, but now they are at a much higher risk for the much more common understeering off the exit ramp curve.

every car I had since 2001 has had stability control and it was near impossible to get them to spinout even fooling around in snowy parking lot. Seems a waste to put the slippery tires on the front to encourage the much more common understeer in exchange for protection against the rare rare oversteer. (and since stability control works mostly with the front brakes you are not giving ESC the right tools to work if you are putting the crappy tires in the front.

 

[markb1]

front tires generally wear more quickly because they are used laterally (to steer) and not just rotationally (to go around and around). And esp FWD or AWD they are drive wheels as well.

With my Model S (as I think is the case with most Models S), the rear tires wear much faster than the front tires.

 

[bhzmark]

the rwd teslas do all regen braking with the rears so that is a big factor for their wear.

 

[markb1]

the rwd teslas do all regen braking with the rears so that is a big factor for their wear.

I agree. But my question was, how does putting the new tires on the front help them to wear evenly? Is that a statement about cars in general, or does it apply to Model S?

 

[jerry33]

I agree. But my question was, how does putting the new tires on the front help them to wear evenly? Is that a statement about cars in general, or does it apply to Model S?

I believe he was referring to front wheel drive cars. Then you'd put the new tires on the front for a short time so that they will get an even wear pattern.

 

[bhzmark]

I agree. But my question was, how does putting the new tires on the front help them to wear evenly? Is that a statement about cars in general, or does it apply to Model S?

Cars in general. Because of unique regen braking from rear wheels, it probably doesn't apply to rwd teslas. (Esp the old p+s that have unusually high rear tire wear).

For awd ds -- we will see. I wld predict that now most braking is back in the front where it belongs and wear will be greatest on the front tires.

 

[markb1]

Cars in general. Because of unique regen braking from rear wheels, it probably doesn't apply to rwd teslas. (Esp the old p+s that have unusually high rear tire wear).

For awd ds -- we will see. I wld predict that now most braking is back in the front where it belongs and wear will be greatest on the front tires.

Good point. I didn't even consider dual-motor Model S.

 

[breser]

Anyone with a D that's rotated yet, if so how did the wear look. You would think that it would be more even wear because of the dual motors. Still breaking mine in with 1500miles and don't see any wear difference from front to rear and I'm launching it all the time.

Mine were rotated last week at 6,244 miles. No difference in wear all 4 were at 8/32 (outer center and inner) according to the paperwork from Tesla. It's probably still too early to say but it seems that the AWD vehicles don't have the wear problems of the RWD vehicles. I have the standard 19" wheels with Michellin Primacy tires.

 

[Barry]

Do most people use the Tesla SC for tire rotation vs. going to your local Firestone or similar tire store?