rob_engineer

My math on rotations including the spare.

HogHoden

I'm not arguing the math, just clarifying the application of it. If you are rotating 5 tires, they all wear out and you replace 5. If you are rotating 4, you only replace 4 each time. It's just a matter of the time horizon you looking at. Make a chart for a 4 tire rotation like the one you attached and extend both out to 250,000 miles. At that point, you will have replaced the same number of tires in both scenarios.

My point being, in the short term, you are extending the mileage ON THE VEHICLE between tire replacement with a 5 rotation schedule, but in the long run (all else being equal) the rotation pattern does not impact the wear and life of an individual tire.

As I said though, I do five so I have more options when it comes time to replace. Best thing about a Jeep is changing it.

DesolationMania

Dealers have their marching orders....find ways to get out of the warranty. Maybe you will find someone stupid enough to believe you and this approach actually works. Take everything they say with a grain of salt, and do your own research. I'm not great at promoting any website, but I have really come to appreciate this forum. I've learned more here than any dealer could possibly fathom. I had an instance where the dealership service manager and the mechanic got together and lied about diagnostic results they pulled on my JK. I had pulled the codes and the engine performance data prior to going in, and they didn't match up with what they were saying. When I asked for a print out of their diagnostics, they himmed and hawed at it. Should have seen the look on their faces when I confronted them on it. Should have seen the look on my face when they were forced into replacing the troubled part.

donnie

If you have the stealer do a rotation, mark at least one of the tires to make sure they do what you asked.
I took mine in some time ago and asked for them to rotate.
Came back and they say"Its ready" I check tires and tell them they didnt do the rotate I asked for.
Had them take it back and I watched them aas they did it to make sure.
Only reason I have the shop do it is Im not really setup to do maintenance where I am.

Jiblet

If you 5-tire rotate regularly, each tire takes its turn on the back, so you get 25% more miles on the set overall.

Let's say a tire is good for 80k miles. With a 4-tire rotation, you go 80k miles and you need 4 new tires. And have one (old) tire with zero miles on it.

With a 5-wheel rotation, you go 100k before any one tire sees 80k of service. Because each tire spends some time as the spare. So you go 100k miles and you need 5 new tires.

If you rotate every 5k, then you go 25k before any of the tires is back into its original position.

A tire is at spare position from 0-5k miles. It then moves to RR for miles 5k-10k, then to RF for 10k-15k, then LR for 15k-20k, and then LF for 20k-25k. Then, at 25k, it goes back to the spare position. So you drove 25k miles but each tire only saw 20k of road because each tire took its turn as spare for 5k miles.

You're right that one tire will always be fresher than the other four because one has to start out its life as the spare, but with regular rotations on a reasonable schedule, the difference is never more than the length of the schedule (5k in my example).

thx1158

x2 on this....

jkrubcon

I stand corrected. After reading your post I still didn't agree. But then I backed up and opened my mind, set the math aside and said to myself, what if I had 100 tires to rotate? Bang! My pea brain understood that !
Thanks!

jkrubcon

Another thought, talk about beating a dead horse ! Well now I'm wondering if it's a wash. Does your additional miles gain wash out the cost of the fifth tire and mounting,

Hammer002

As for the OP, expecting anyone else to know everything (or anything for that matter) is the same as expecting you know everything. These people deal with not only numerous models with several differences year to year, but also models and years that have been discontinued. I do what others here have suggested, know what I can and check what I can. I do my oil changes and maintenance at the dealership for the record toward my lifetime warranty and leave it at that.

Ahhhh...the old rotate the full size spare in or not. You can find threads and articles debating this for past decades everywhere. I am still of the opinion its a wash and you really dont gain enough to make me care. When you truely factor ALL the elements I do not believe you are making five last any bit longer than the four. If you think so, you are comparing the miles between each rotation to be exactly the same as well as front to back being the same as well as ignoring many other contributions to tire wear over a several year lifetime of the set. Its the same as calculating how many spoonfulls it will take to empty a box of cereal based on the accumulation gained by the first five. There are other factors to consider - especially over an extended amount of time. What was each season of each year like? Argue on. 25 percent?? Absolutley not. 10 percent? Maybe if the all factors are controlled equally (which is impossible if you think about it) the ENTIRE life of the set. And by the time you are talking about proper replacement time you are also considering the life of the rubber itself of the entire tire. Has it hardened, softened? As for me....? i dont care how good the arguement is in opposition, I dont want a crappy looking tire hanging on the back of my beautiful Jeep Jeep! lol

23CSP

Eventually you are going to have to replace the spare even if it NEVER touches the pavement because of dry rot, so you might as well use it.