# How often do you rotate your tires? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464 "2012-09-12T02:19:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/1 "2012-09-12T02:19:40Z")
Guidelines often suggest doing it every 6 to 7.5K. I must admit I have never been so good at doing that. Do the rest of the TMs do better? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/2 "2012-09-12T02:25:24Z")
Every 15K. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/3 "2012-09-12T02:34:31Z")
Not regularly and have come up with very inventive ways to put it off. Like if you do the first one at 15K you can do the second one at 45K because of the uneven wear that the tires get after the first 15K will take 15K to correct, then another 15K to go the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/4 "2012-09-12T02:41:23Z")
5k at the same time as the oil changes, 5 tire rotation. Once I kill one of them I’ll go to a four tire rotation. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/5 "2012-09-12T03:01:46Z")
Every 6K. It come free with my tires, takes 15 min. with an appt., and they inspect the tires. High speed blowouts are frightening. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/6 "2012-09-12T04:02:56Z")
Twice a year, when I switch between summer and winter tires. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/7 "2012-09-12T04:07:57Z")
Every time I drive; they just rotate by themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/8 "2012-09-12T05:10:17Z")
I do it when I change the oil, so each car varies a little bit. Some cars, they don’t get rotated, like the Jeep. Those tires don’t wear, they “chunk”. The 65 Ford has bigger tires on the rear, and I it only gets a few hundred miles a year. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/9 "2012-09-12T11:52:06Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Twice a year, when I switch between summer and winter tires. Me too. The owner’s manual recommends against it, but it should make all 4 summer tyres wear out at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/10 "2012-09-12T12:31:29Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > > [@Gorsnak](#): > > > > Twice a year, when I switch between summer and winter tires. > > Me too. The owner’s manual recommends against it, but it should make all 4 summer tyres wear out at the same time. :dubious: Why would the owner’s manual recommend against this? I do it too - with 12K per year, it works out to rotation every 6K or so - but I can’t fathom why the manufacturer would recommend against it. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/11 "2012-09-12T12:44:51Z")
I do it every other time I get my oil changed, which is every 5,000 miles, so every 10,000 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/12 "2012-09-12T13:28:09Z")
I switch from summer wheels/tires to winter wheels/tires, twice a year. Otherwise, my wheels/tires are directional and staggered, so no rotation. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/13 "2012-09-12T13:31:39Z")
The auto shop in my office building includes tire rotation with an oil change, so every 5,000 miles for me. The last time, they found a screw in one tire, and didn’t charge any extra to dismount, patch remout and balance it. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/14 "2012-09-12T15:11:49Z")
When I think about it and feel like spending ~$25 on it, which isn’t often enough. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/15 "2012-09-12T15:38:00Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Twice a year, when I switch between summer and winter tires. Same here but with one more rotation of the summer tires at the end of July so three time yearly. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/16 "2012-09-12T15:47:33Z")
Since the rear wheels of my handcycle are canted and the front remains vertical(no leaning), I rotate every three months-about 1,100-1,300 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/17 "2012-09-12T17:35:36Z")
Aren’t they rotating while I drive? 🙂 Had my last POS car for 3.5 years and about 23,000 miles (yeah, that’s all). They got rotated three times, but that was as tires were replaced or repaired. They seemed to be wearing rather heavily and unevenly. Car before that I don’t think I had them rotated more than a couple of times in 120,000 miles, usually as wear indicated. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/18 "2012-09-12T17:48:09Z")
The place where I buy my tires does free tire rotation and flat repairs. Still I only rotate them about once per year. They are directional tires and seem to wear very evenly all around. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/19 "2012-09-12T18:28:05Z")
I’ve had it done once that I know of, it was included as part of my transmission fluid change at the dealership… unless the people who change my oil rotate the tires without telling me (which is possible, they’re pretty cool). I’ve been driving for 3.5 years on the same tires. No flats or blowouts or significant loss of tread yet. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464/20 "2012-09-12T18:36:39Z")
I don’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-rotate-your-tires/634464.md?page=2)