Tire Rotation Question

Since the spare is the same size as the rest of the tires, shouldn't the spare be rotated with the rest to keep all the tires in about the same condition?

I'm thinking it would not be a very good thing to have 3 worn tires and one brand spanking new tire, especially when the tires are nearing the end of their useful tread.

I'm asking cause I was thinking about getting a matching rim for the spare. And this would help me justify the cost.

If you rotate your spare, all your tires should have roughly the same wear on them, that's the point. You'll get a little more life out of the set overall, but it's not really worth it, especially when you include the cost of a matching wheel. I'd rather let the spare that is already paid for sit under there for the next few years than pay to replace 5 tires at a time. Keep an eye on it for dry rot, check the pressure every month or so, and don't sweat it.

Brent

OK, I'm going out on a limb here because I haven't paid much attention to the tires on my truck. Steel belted radials should only be run in one direction. If you get a flat, you should put the spare on and drive as short a distance as possible until you can get it fixed. That way you can use the spare on either side of the truck. It has been about 12 years since I worked as an auto mechanic so things may have changed since then. As I said in the beginning, I haven't paid much attention to my tires. I plan on replacing them ASAP. I'm not even sure if the Xterra has steel belted radials I just thought I'd give a reason to not put the spare in the mix.

Xterrian Thanks. Thats just the sort of thing that was lingering in the back of my head somewhere. Somewhere my brain was saying the was a problem with what I was thinking, but couldn't say what that problem was.

But if you go to some tire sites or repair manuals, the criss-cross rotation pattern is recommended or at least acceptable (i.e., left front to right rear, right front to left rear). That would mean it's OK to run them in different directions?

If it were not OK, wouldn't they somehow be marked as directional? Like true directional tires are?

I've heard that too about not switching directions on steel-belted radials, but is that now an urban legend?

this months consumer reports states that radial tires can be criss crossed although most automakers dont recommend it. they said that the construction of todays radial tires is far better than years ago where belt separation was a fear when rotating tires to the opposite side of the vehicle. very rarely if ever do radial tires fail because of being rotated to the other side of the vehicle. this probably excludes ford explorers though.

I figured that they had advanced since the days of points and condensers I'm glad I put that caveat in there :rolleyes: