5 tire rotation discussion

[LouisvEarlleJT]

Figured it'd be easier to start a new thread than to hijack someone else's to ask this question.

Can anyone provide data on tangible benefits gained from a 5-tire rotation? I often read about more even wear and longer tire life but it's just not adding up.

If I have four tires with a 40,000 mile tread life, and I rotate them, they are theoretically going to make it to 40,000 miles and then be replaced. Around year 10-12 I will also need to replace the spare.

If I have five tires with a 40,000 mile tread life, and I rotate them, they're still lasting 40,000 miles except I'm just buying 5 tires at the end of the 40,000 miles instead of 4. Or rather, buying 4 at 40,000 and then a spare at 45,000 (assuming a 5,000 mile rotation interval and that the spare wasn't already starting with 5,000 miles on it).

I see plenty of folks swearing by it, so surely there is something I'm missing here.

Thanks in advance.

Sponsored

 

[Janster]

I can’t believe I went there….but I did.

So……
4 Tire Rotation = The truck will go 20,000 miles and each tire will have 20,000 miles on each tire.

5 Tire Rotation = The truck will go 25,000 miles and each tire will have 20,000 miles on each tire.

Perhaps some folks would rather wait longer (50,000 miles) before having to change out their 40,000 mile tires?? If I did the 5 tire rotation…. I’d leave the spare in place (with 40,000 miles) and only buy 4 tires and use the 4 tire rotation after that.

But I’m curious what others have to say…

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

I can’t believe I went there….but I did.

So……
4 Tire Rotation = The truck will go 20,000 miles and each tire will have 20,000 miles on each tire.

5 Tire Rotation = The truck will go 25,000 miles and each tire will have 20,000 miles on each tire.

Perhaps some folks would rather wait longer (50,000 miles) before having to change out their 40,000 mile tires?? If I did the 5 tire rotation…. I’d leave the spare in place (with 40,000 miles) and only buy 4 tires and use the 4 tire rotation after that.

But I’m curious what others have to say…

Thank you! So it seems like it’s really just a time thing, like, do you want to buy 4 tires at 4 years or 5 tires at 5 years. (Or whatever time lines up with the mileage of the tire).

 

[KQL]

There are couple of additional benefits to 5 tire rotation though. If you’re only ever having those 4 tires on the ground, when you do need your spare due to a puncture, it’s going to be of a different diameter than the other 3. Rotating it in regularly ensures it wears at the same rate as the other tires, always ready to be swapped in without any size differential concerns. Also, if you never rotated your spare in, eventually it would just become too old and you’d have to toss it out, so you would have gotten zero miles out of that spare tire. On the other hand, the 5 tire rotation does require you to buy a matching 5th rim, which depending on the cost of your wheels might be a good chunk of change.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

There are couple of additional benefits to 5 tire rotation though. If you’re only ever having those 4 tires on the ground, when you do need your spare due to a puncture, it’s going to be of a different diameter than the other 3. Rotating it in regularly ensures it wears at the same rate as the other tires, always ready to be swapped in without any size differential concerns. Also, if you never rotated your spare in, eventually it would just become too old and you’d have to toss it out, so you would have gotten zero miles out of that spare tire. On the other hand, the 5 tire rotation does require you to buy a matching 5th rim, which depending on the cost of your wheels might be a good chunk of change.

I get the 0 miles thing, a “might as well get your money’s worth” thing.

For the sake of anyone who might read this later though-spare diameter only matters if you’re using it truly as a 5th wheel (and therefore need it to match) vs an emergency spare. Maybe if you’re running 40’s and have like a 32” spare or something but for most folks, having to put on a 31 or 32” spare with your 33s or 35s for a few miles to get to a tire shop isn’t going to mess anything up. They’ll spin at different speeds (but they were doing that already).

 

[Mr._Bill]

The same spare is shipped with all the Gladiators. Many of them, like my High Altitude, have different tires on the truck. To do a five tire rotation would require an expensive purchase of a matching 20" tire and wheel. All it would do is extend the time between tire purchases, but at a greater cost for the purchase, and more work at rotation time. Five tire rotations don't save any money. They don't make sense to me. I drove my Overland for over four years and never dropped the spare one time. It also came with wheels and tires that didn't match the spare.

 

[Camaroboi13]

I run a 5 tire rotation. If you get 40k on 4 tires, you get 50k on 5 tires. I’m not sure what the percentage is but I never buy the same tires twice. Went from 32s to 37s and will likely go 38s next. Might go back to 37s later on, but unlikely. I don’t want a mismatched spare tire.

 

[Janster]

Note:

You don’t need to buy a new 5th wheel or new 5th tire.

If you’re up-sizing to bigger tires, You can call any tire shop and ask for USED tires for cheap. As long as the width of the tire is compatible to the OEM spare wheel width (and a shop willing to install)….. you’re good to go.

 

[unsocbl]

5 tire rotation made complete sense when I drove a Wrangler. The spare was there on the back, same tire, same wheel just throw it in the rotation...IMO, it doesn't make sense on a truck

 

[Mr._Bill]

Note:

You don’t need to buy a new 5th wheel or new 5th tire.

If you’re up-sizing to bigger tires, You can call any tire shop and ask for USED tires for cheap. As long as the width of the tire is compatible to the OEM spare wheel width (and a shop willing to install)….. you’re good to go.

A five tire rotation is different from just having a matching fifth spare.

It's the height of the spare, not the width, that many worry about.

 

[Hootbro]

I have a hard time coming to grips with the math, time and effort of having a matching spare tire and wheel that sits under the bed exposed to the elements and doing a 5 tire rotation.

Wrangler, sure no problem but not this guy and the Gladiator.

 

[Mr Miami]

5 tire rotation made complete sense when I drove a Wrangler. The spare was there on the back, same tire, same wheel just throw it in the rotation...IMO, it doesn't make sense on a truck

On my 2016 Wrangler, it came with the matching spare on the back. I purchased a take-off wheel and a 6th tire. This way, I have 4 tires on the road, 1 spare and 1 in the garage. Every 5k miles, I do a front to back rotation where the left rear tire becomes the spare and the right rear tire goes into the garage. So each tire is only on the road 2/3 of the time. With the Gladiator, this would not be as easy due to the same tire/wheel used as a spare for all the vehicles.

 

[Bananaman]

This always seems to help me understand the reason why.

 

[Saltwaterwop]

I tried a 5 tire rotation a couple of times on my first truck with an underbed spare.
What convinced me to go to 4 was the time it took to clean all of the mud and mess off of the spare when I went to rotate it in. Not a bit item, but it overweighed the slight benefits of the 5 way for me if I had to do that all the time for years.. I will check my spare every time I rotate tires our of habit though. And replace it with a similar size after 6-7 yrs if I have the truck that long so it isn't dry rotted.

 

[AustyPosty]

I have a hard time coming to grips with the math, time and effort of having a matching spare tire and wheel that sits under the bed exposed to the elements and doing a 5 tire rotation.

Wrangler, sure no problem but not this guy and the Gladiator.

To be fair, the other 4 tires and wheels are also exposed to the elements

Sponsored