How to Do a Tire Rotation Yourself?

Tire rotation is vital to your vehicle up and running on the Milton streets. If you are up for the challenge to keep up with tire rotations yourself, our service technicians can show you the ropes! Find out how to do a tire rotation below, so you can help all of your tires wear at a similar rate. 

Why Do You Need To Rotate Your Vehicle’s Tires?

Depending on the drivetrain type, driving style, and driving conditions, your tires are most likely wearing at different rates. For example, if you have a front-wheel-drive vehicle, the front wheels will wear faster since the engine is sending all of the power to them. However, routine tire rotations will help extend the life of your tires! 

Whether you have performance tires or not, you want to use them for as long as possible, or else you would need to keep replacing them more, and then they will wear at severely different speeds. Carrying spare tires on the Crestview roads is not exactly convenient either! 

How Often Should You Perform Tire Rotations?

There isn’t one cut-clear answer, but you can find one in your owner’s manual as it will tell you the frequency for your model! However, as a general rule of thumb, you can expect to rotate tires according to the drivetrain type:

• Front & Rear-Wheel-Drive Cars: Once every 5,000 to 7,500 miles
• All-Wheel-Drive Cars: Once every 3,000 to 5,000 miles

Tire Rotation Pattern 

The way you will be rotating your tires is important and it will also depend on the type of drivetrain your Fort Walton Beach ride uses:

• Front-Wheel-Drive Cars: Move the front tires to the back of the car in the same left/right positions. When it is time to move the rear tires to the front, you must also switch the right and left tires (known as moving the tires side to side). 
• Rear-Wheel-Drive Cars: You’ll do the opposite for rear-wheel-drive vehicles, so you will move the rear tires to the front of the car in the same left/right positions, but when you move the front tires to the rear, you need to switch the left and right tire. For example, the front left tire will end up being the rear right tire. 

How to Do a Tire Rotation at Home?

Gather a car jack, lug nut wrench, and a set of car jacks. Then, do the following: 

1. Engage your parking brake.
2. Loosen the lug nuts on all four wheels, but make sure you didn’t take them off all the way. 
3. Use the car jack to lift up one wheel and then put the jack stand underneath it. 
4. Start removing the tires one at a time.
5. Check to see if your tires are filled to the optimal tire pressure. If they are all filled, you can rotate them according to the right pattern for your type of tires. 
6. Once you are done using the cross pattern or whichever pattern your tires need, put the tires back onto the wheel mount and screw the lug nuts on by hand for as much as you can.
7. Then, lower the car from the jack stands and tighten the nuts completely with the lug nut wrench. Work on the nuts diagonally from one to another in a star pattern for even tightening or else it can cause the brake rotor to warp.

Our Certified Service Team Can Rotate Your Tires For You!

Do you want a professional to do it for you this time? We have your back! Schedule an appointment now and then stop by our Pensacola location and consider it done. Sandy Sansing Chevrolet, Inc. can tell you more about tires and wheels, so you can feel more confident in doing a tire rotation by yourself the next time you need to rotate them!