Rotating Your Car Tires

Rotating your car tires isn't a particularly difficult task. In fact, if you know how to change a car tire, then you know the basic mechanics of rotating the tires on your car. However, there are a about three different ways to rotate your tires. These are for directional tires, non-directional tires, and for when you want to rotate your spare into the mix. (By the way, directional tires mean that the tread pattern on the tires are designed, usually indicated by arrows on the sidewalls that point in the direction of travel, in such a way that they have to be mounted in a specific way to operate efficiently. Obviously, this means that non-directional tires don't have this.) Here's what you do.

Rotating Directional Tires:

1. Identify direction of travel. Before you begin to raise the tires, make sure that you identify which direction the tire tread should be traveling in. This isn't all that difficult, since there should be a small arrow on the sidewall of the tire that points in the direction of travel.
2. Raise and jack. Before you begin raising the tires, go ahead and loosen the lugs on the tires. Do not completely remove the lugs, but loosen them enough that it will be easy to remove them when the tire has been raised into the air. Once you have done that, begin raising the front tire. It does not matter which side you raise first, but it should be a tire that you have loosened the lugs on. Once you have raised the tire enough, put a jack stand under near the jack point, and then lower the tire onto the jack stand. Repeat the process on the tire that is behind the one you just raised.
3. Remove and rotate. Once you have both of the tires raised on one side of the car, remove the lugs, and then the tires. Switch the two tires, making sure that the treads are going in the direction that they are designed to. Hand tighten the lugs again, making sure that you tighten them in a star pattern. Do this for both tires.
4. Lower and tighten. Raise the rear tire once again on a jack, and off of the jack stand. Then lower the tire down to the ground. Repeat this with the front tire as well. Once again, tighten the lugs on each wheel in a star pattern, this time using the tire iron to do the job. Do not over torque the lugs though, or you could end up shearing off the bolts.
5. Repeat. Repeat steps one through four on the side that you have not yet worked on. Once you have finished, you have completed rotating your tires.
6. Don't forget to inspect. While you are rotating the tires, take the opportunity to look them over. This is the perfect chance to see if there is anything noticeably wrong with the tires that need to be replaced. Pay particular attention to wear and tear, as well as tread depth. Get any tire that is dramatically bad replaced as soon as you possibly can.

Rotating Non-Directional Tires:

A brief word of warning when attempting to utilize this particular method of rotating your car tires, when utilizing this method, be sure that you are only doing the work on level ground. The reason for this is that cars which are not on level ground, and that are placed on jack stands, have a tendency to come off of those jack stands. This can lead to severe injury or death, to say nothing about the damage to your vehicle.

1. Loosen the lugs. Since you will be rotating all of the tires at one time, go ahead and loosen the lugs on all of them at once. Do not completely remove the lugs though, since this would create a dangerous situation.
2. Raise and jack one tire. After loosening the lugs, chose one of the wheels and raise it up on a jack. Once you have raised the wheel far enough to allow it a chance to turn freely, place a jack stand underneath, near to the location of the jack. Make sure that when you lower the wheel onto the stand, that there is still enough room underneath the tire that it can freely turn.
3. Repeat. Repeat raising, and jacking standing each of the tires until all have been raised off of the ground.
4. Remove and rotate. Once you have raised and jacked all of the tires, go ahead and remove all of the lugs. Once the lugs are off of the wheels, begin to rotate them. Typically this is done in a criss-cross manner. It's rather simple. The pattern is like this: the left front tire goes to the right rear, the right rear goes to the right front, the right front goes to the left rear, and the left rear goes to the left front.
5. Finger tighten lugs. After rotating the tires, finger tighten the lugs as much as possible. The pattern for the lugs is a star pattern. Do not tighten the lugs with the tire iron at this time.
6. Lower and tighten tires. Raise one of the tires off of the jack stand, and then lower it to the ground. Repeat this process with each of the remaining tires. Once the tires are on the ground, tighten the lugs once again. Remember to still use the star pattern, and this time use the tire iron to get everything nice and tight. Do not over torque the tires though, since this could end up shearing the bolts off.
7. Don't forget to inspect. While you are rotating the tires, take the opportunity to look them over. This is the perfect chance to see if there is anything noticeably wrong with the tires that need to be replaced. Pay particular attention to wear and tear, as well as tread depth. Get any tire that is dramatically bad replaced as soon as you possibly can.

Rotating the Spare:

Follow the same safety precautions as rotating non-directional tires when rotating your spare into the mix. The reason for this is that, frankly, you will be using a majority of the same methods for changing the tires. In addition, this method should only be used if you have a full sized spare.

1. Locate and remove the spare. The vehicles that most often have a full sized spare are things like SUVs and vans, though there are some cars that do have them. Locate and remove the spare from wherever it is stored and set it behind the vehicle. This will help you to keep the tires straight.
2. Loosen the lugs. Since you will be rotating all of the tires at one time, go ahead and loosen the lugs on all of them at once. Do not completely remove the lugs though, since this would create a dangerous situation.
3. Raise and jack one tire. After loosening the lugs, chose one of the wheels and raise it up on a jack. Once you have raised the wheel far enough to allow it a chance to turn freely, place a jack stand underneath, near to the location of the jack. Make sure that when you lower the wheel onto the stand, that there is still enough room underneath the tire that it can freely turn.
4. Repeat. Repeat raising, and jacking standing each of the tires until all have been raised off of the ground.
5. Remove and rotate. Rotating the spare tire into the mix with the rest of your tires is much the same as rotating non-directional tires. However, there is a slightly different step. The pattern for this type of rotating goes like this: left front to spare, spare to right rear, right rear to right front, right front to left rear, and left rear to left front.
6. Finger tighten lugs. After rotating the tires, finger tighten the lugs as much as possible. The pattern for the lugs is a star pattern. Do not tighten the lugs with the tire iron at this time.
7. Lower and tighten tires. Raise one of the tires off of the jack stand, and then lower it to the ground. Repeat this process with each of the remaining tires. Once the tires are on the ground, tighten the lugs once again. Remember to still use the star pattern, and this time use the tire iron to get everything nice and tight. Do not over torque the tires though, since this could end up shearing the bolts off.
8. Don't forget to inspect. While you are rotating the tires, take the opportunity to look them over. This is the perfect chance to see if there is anything noticeably wrong with the tires that need to be replaced. Pay particular attention to wear and tear, as well as tread depth. Get any tire that is dramatically bad replaced as soon as you possibly can.