2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Rotate or not?

[rblomquist]

I know what the book calls for and I know what the Michelin website says as far as rotation patters BUT I'm hearing some ole' timers say they never rotated as the rears wear out much faster than the fronts.



I've had a few folks tell me they can go twice the mileage on 2 of the 4 by not swapping them around and thus wearing them all out at the same rate causing a need to buy 4 tires at once.



I really notice the shoulders on my rear tires wear a lot faster than anything. I have a heavy tongue weight trailer that exudes a toll on the rear shoulders while towing (even with the tire pressure at max-cold).



Just looking for some experiences... ... ...

 

[mhenon]

Rotate!!!

I used the rotaion schedule in the manual (every 7500 miles) until all the tire went around once. Now I rotate them at 10k miles. So far, with 50k+ miles, the tires show no abnormal wear. I would guess there's still another 20k or 30k left on this set.

Just to keep the record straight, I'm using the spare tire in the rotation... so thats 5 tires not 4.

Apparently, the first rotation is the most important for some reason.



Mike

 

[Joe G.]

I rotate every oil change so that the tires will all wear out at the same time. The reason for that is that I don't want different sized tires on my 4X4. If it was a 4X2 I probably would not rotate them at all.

 

[lil red cummins]

for over 10 years (since i got a front wheel drive) i have not been rotating tires. i adjust toe-in for wear and just replace 2 tires at a time. the rears last almost 80,000 miles.



on the truck, i am not sure what i am going to do. i recently passed 4000 miles and i saw no reason to rotate yet.



jim

 

[Mad Bomber]

Rotate

I rotate every oil change AND I DO HAVE A 2X4.

 

[BTanzini]

I highly recommend rotating every oil change 5-6000 miles, my last set of Michelin tires I got 65,000 out of them from 1998-2003 and I am not a Sunday driver. When it was time to replace I had to replace all 4. Just my 2-cents worth.

 

[barbwire]

I now have 31,000 mi on my 04 4x2. It looks like I will get 40,000 miles out of the rears, and at this time the fronts look almost like new. 95%of it's life has been pulling a trailer. I never have rotated my tires. So in my opinion, it will be easier to come up with the money for 2 tires at a time than 4 tires. But as some had mentioned, if you have a 4x4, you do not have this option. As you would not want to run tires with uneven tread depth. JMO.

 

[rrausch]

I rotate every 5,000 miles. I have 2 Michelins out of 4 which were on the truck when I bought it 4 years ago. Those 2 still on have 94,000 miles on them. The other 2 wore out at about 85,000 because of front end problems. There was a time when I only rotated every 10,000, but went back to the 5,000 mile schedule when I ruined the first 2 Michelins.

 

[CFowler]

i failed to rotate my michelins and ruined any chance of getting hi mileage out of them. i will rotate them soon even though ive rounded out the fronts,24k. i think every oil change is the way to go.

 

[DBrickel]

I rotate about every 6000 to 7000k. also check tire preasure fairly frequently. I always get around 65000k on my tires before I buy new ones. There has been legal tread left when I bought the new ones.

 

[rfcom]

I rotate them at 20k, 40k and 60k km. After that, they can stay where they are because they're probably shot anyway. This way, each tire sees each corner of the truck once.



Jim

 

[lschultz]

Started with the 91(4x2) and all the others(4x4) rotating every 10000 miles,check air pressure every week. No abnormal wear.