How to Do a Tire Rotation On Your Own

Taking good care of your tires is one of the most important parts of staying safe on Rome roads. Knowing how to do a tire rotation and what purpose it serves can help you choose whether to rotate your tires yourself or take your vehicle to a local service center. Follow our guide to learn how to do a tire rotation and why you should do it.

Why Do You Need to Rotate Your Tires?

Because your driving habits and the road conditions around your home don’t interact with every tire the same way, your tires will always wear unevenly. For example, when you turn the outside edges of the front tires wear more than that of the rear tires. This means that if you were to keep your tires in place, they’d wear down more quickly and you’d have to replace them more often. Rotating your tires spreads out the wear and keeps your tires even.

How Often Should You Rotate Your Tires?

The rule of thumb is to rotate your tires every 5,000-7,000 miles for front and rear-wheel drive vehicles. For all-wheel-drive vehicles, all the tires are engaged as you drive in Acworth, so they’ll wear more quickly and you’ll need to rotate them every 3,000-5,000 miles. Your owner’s manual will have more specifics.

How to Do a Tire Rotation at Home

Before you can do a tire rotation at home in Canton, you need the right set of tools. These can include:

• a car jack
• A lug nut wrench
• and a set of car jacks

Once you have your tools, just follow these steps:

1. For safety, engage your parking brake.
2. Loosen, but don’t remove, the lug nuts on all four wheels. This will make it easier to unscrew the nuts when the tire is elevated.
3. Use a car jack to lift up one wheel, then place the jack stand underneath it.
4. Remove each of your tires one by one.
5. Check the pressure of each tire, and make sure that they are all optimally filled. Once they are filled, you can rotate them.
6. For a FWD Vehicle: Move the front tires to the back of the car, keeping them on their original sides (i.e. left stays on left, right stays on right). Take the rear tires to the front, but have them switch sides.
7. For a RWD Vehicle: Move the rear tires to the front of the car, keeping them on their original sides (i.e. left stays on left, right stays on right). Take the front tires to the back, but have them switch sides.
8. When you place the tire back onto the wheel mount, screw the lug nuts on by hand as far as you can.
9. Now, lower the car from the jack stands. At this point, use the lug wrench to finish off tightening the nuts. To ensure even tightening, work the lug nuts diagonally from one to another in a star pattern. Unevenly tightening the lug nuts can cause the brake rotor to warp.

Have Riverside Buick GMC Rotate Your Tires

Feel like having a professional rotate your tires for you? Schedule service at our service center in Cartersville and we’ll happily do it. Be sure to check our service specials for deals, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact us! Looking for more DIY tips? Learn how to check your transmission fluid, fix a dent yourself, or even what TPMS means with our experts!