Whether you just got new tires or if you’ve been driving on your old ones for a long time, you’re probably wondering if the tires would benefit from being rotated. There is much conflicting information about tire rotation, but the answer is straightforward and simple.
The tires on your truck should be rotated every six thousand to eight thousand miles (9656.06 – 12874.75 km). This will ensure that your tires do not develop uneven wear. This is especially true for larger aftermarket truck tires than normal tires.
In the rest of this article, I’ll explain more about how tires wear unevenly, why it is dangerous to drive on tires that are worn, and why you should rotate them regularly, in addition to some tips on how to take care of aftermarket tires.
Why You Need To Rotate Your Tires
You need to rotate your tires regularly if you want to have a smooth and safe ride on your truck. Rotating your tires will also have the tread on the tires wear evenly across all four tires. Having even tread on the tires not only gives your truck a smoother ride but also makes the truck safer to drive.
Even wear across all four tires will create a much smoother ride because all tires will be uniform in the amount of tread on them. Front tires wear more quickly than back tires due to how the front tires move around when making turns in your truck.
This effect of uneven wear is exaggerated if you have large aftermarket tires with a more knobby and aggressive tread than normal stock tires. If you have invested money into aftermarket tires for your truck, you will want to rotate them to keep them in good condition.
Rotating your tires is not a thing that is purely for aesthetics. Rotating your tires regularly will keep you safe by ensuring your truck has a good grip on the road. This is especially true if you take your truck off-road often.
How To Take Care of Aftermarket Tires
Aftermarket tires can be an expensive upgrade, so you’ll want to take care of them as best as you can. For this reason, you will want to keep them looking nice and maximize their lifespan as much as possible. This can be accomplished by ensuring everything about your tires–from the alignment to the PSI–is correct.
You can do this by rotating the tires more often. Instead of every six thousand to eight thousand miles (9656.06 – 12874.75 km), aftermarket tires should be rotated every five thousand miles (8046.72 km). You can rotate them even more frequently if they have a more aggressive tread on them with many big knobs.
You will also want to ensure that your truck’s wheels are properly aligned. This helps the tread to wear evenly and create uniformity in the tires. Improper alignment can cause your tires to go bald faster than they usually would.
According to the manufacturer, you should also check the recommended tire air pressure for your particular set of tires. Different tires may require a different level of inflation. Improperly inflated tires will cause added wear that can be avoided by simply checking the PSI of your tires and adjusting it accordingly.
You should also ensure that your aftermarket tires are properly installed and fit your truck correctly. Tires of the wrong size can cause wear by rubbing against certain parts of the vehicle. Opening up to even more uneven wear.
Why Is It Dangerous To Drive on Tires With Uneven Wear?
Tires with uneven wear on them are not only bad looking and make for a bumpier ride, but they are also highly hazardous to you and the other drivers you share the road with. Rotating your tires regularly protects you and the other drivers around you.
Tires with uneven wear are susceptible to heat buildup, which can cause them to explode. If this happens when you are driving down the road at a high rate of speed, you are at great potential risk of getting into an accident.
Tires that explode may not only cause an accident for you, but the shrapnel from the destroyed tire can also hit other drivers’ cars and cause them to crash. Tires are very heavy. If a tire that has exploded hits a driver’s windshield, it will go through the windshield and severely injure that driver.
Rotating your tires is also important for having grip and stability in rainy or snowy conditions.
Hydroplaning
If your tires have been allowed to go bald and you drive in the rain, you are at high risk of hydroplaning.
When a truck begins to hydroplane, the tires are no longer in contact with the road. They are on the water that is sitting on the surface of the road. This takes all of the control of the truck away from the driver.
This is extremely dangerous again to not just yourself but other drivers as well. Losing complete control of your truck may cause you to run into other cars or trucks on the road, and if you are traveling at a high rate of speed, these collisions can be deadly.
The effect of losing control of your truck due to improperly worn tires is exacerbated if you drive in the snow. You will have no grip and inevitably lose control of your truck. I cannot stress enough how dangerous this is. It can be avoided by simply rotating your tires regularly.
Rotating your tires does not take a long time at all. It’s something you can do yourself if you have the correct tools. Performing this simple maintenance measure could save your life or the life of another motorist.
Conclusion
Rotating your tires is a very simple thing that you should do periodically for your safety and others. If you don’t have the tools to do it yourself, you can always head to your local auto maintenance shop. You can have it done for a small fee in a matter of minutes.
The small fee and the time it takes to do it are good investments for the future. Neglecting to rotate your tires regularly could cost you a ton of money in insurance premiums and injuries.