Tyre Rotation

Tyre Rotation Guide

Car tyres will wear more quickly depending on where they are positioned on your car. So to extend the life of your tyres, you should rotate them roughly every 6000 miles for cars or 4000 miles for 4x4 vehicles.

rotating car tyres


How to Rotate Car Tyres

How you rotate your tyres depends on whether you’re driving a front wheel drive, rear wheel drive or 4x4.

  • Front wheel drive cars are rotated with a rearward cross rotation,
  • Rear wheel drive cars are rotated with a forward cross rotation,
  • Four wheel drive vehicles (4x4s) are rotated with a cross rotation of all four tyres.

The diagrams below show the various ways car tyres can be rotated.

Staggered Tyres

Some vehicles have staggered tyres, where the tyres on the rear axle are not the same size as the tyres on the front axle. In this situation, tyres can only be rotated right to left and left to right, not front to back. 




Tyre rotation

Front Wheel Drive Tyre Rotation

  1. The two front tyres should be moved to the rear axle and remain on the same side,
  2. The two rear tyres should be brought to the front axle and crossed, so your rear left tyre becomes your front right tyre and your rear right tyre becomes your front left tyre. 

Tyre rotation

Rear Wheel Drive Tyre Rotation

  1. The two rear tyres should be moved to the front axle and remain on the same side,
  2. The two front tyres should be moved to rear axle and crossed, so your front left tyre becomes your rear right tyre and your front right tyre becomes your rear left tyre.

Tyre rotation

Four Wheel Drive Tyre Rotation

  1. The two rear tyres should be brought to the front axle and crossed, so your rear left tyre becomes your front right tyre and your rear right tyre becomes your front left tyre,
  2. The two front tyres should be moved to rear axle and crossed, so your front left tyre becomes your rear right tyre and your front right tyre becomes your rear left tyre. 

Tyre rotation

Straight Rotation for Directional Tyres

If you have directional tyres on your car, these tyres can only be rotated from front to back, but not crossed. This is known as a straight rotation, where the front left tyre exchanges position with the rear left tyre and the front right tyre exchanges position with the rear right tyre. 




Is Tyre Rotation Necessary?

Rotating your tyres is necessary to get the most miles out of your tyres. Depending on what type of car you drive, some of your tyres are likely to wear out quicker than others. By rotating your tyres every 6000 miles or so, you can spread the rate at which your tyres wear across all four tyres, allowing you to get the most out of the tyre’s tread life.

Note: rotating your tyres won’t correct wear problems caused by incorrect inflation pressures or irregular wear as result of poor wheel alignment.

Benefits of Tyre Rotation

Rotating your car tyres has key benefits:

  • Improved tyre lifespan – by rotating your car tyres, you can help distribute the wear on your tyres more evenly across all four tyres and so extend the tyre’s lifespan,
  • Better performance – as soon as your tyres begin to wear closer to a tread depth of 1.6mm, performance can also decrease. By managing your tyre wear across all four tyres as evenly as possible, you can ensure a better performance for as long as possible.


How often to Rotate Tyres?

You should rotate your tyres every 10,000km / 6,000 miles or so. There are additional factors that may mean you need to rotate your tyres more frequently:

  • High speeds, heavy loads, long distances: if you regularly drive at high speed over long distances, or carry heavy loads, then extra strain might mean slightly more frequent rotations,
  • Uneven wear: you should rotate your tyres as soon as possible if you notice uneven wear,
  • Humming sound: if your tyres emit a humming sound when driving on a smooth road, it is recommended to check first for heel and toe wear from misalignment – tyre rotation alone will not resolve this issue.


How to Rotate Your Tyres?

We always recommend getting a professional to rotate your car tyres for you. 




If you’re confident that you can rotate your car tyres yourself, remember to use the correct torque spec when tightening up tyres and wheels. You can find this information in your owner’s manual. It is important to ensure that your wheels are properly tightened after any rotation or tyre change. 





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