PyrPatriot
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- Joined
- Oct 27, 2019
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- Location
- Kentucky, USA
- Vehicle(s)
- JT Sport S Max Tow; Honda Element
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- #1
So I put on my Falken Mud-Terrains at about 15k miles, now at 35k miles, and have essentially rotated them regularly every 5k miles. I missed the last rotation so the when I rotate them this weekend I will run them for 10k miles before rotating again to even out the wear. I've come across an opportunity to get a brand new tire, same size and brand/model, for cheap, and have a couple extra wheels laying around. This means that with my current spare, never put into the rotation, I can have 2 essentially new tires (one has some wear from being hit now and then off-roading, I drive a JT so it's under the bed) on matching wheels to my current 4-wheel/tire setup.
My question is: when/how do I enter these two into the rotation?
My current plan is to replace 2 wheels/tires with these new ones, and use the others, which should in 10k miles be at 50% tread depth by sight. But I went ahead and measured it. I tested depth in a 2-3 spots along the "center", "outer", and "inner" edges of the tires.
So looks like currently there's about the same wear, passenger side having slightly less tread than driver side. Which is odd given I'm primarily in the truck alone and most of the "gear" is behind my seat (there is a reason for that, I wish I could distribute it better). A chalk test shows that 28psi is about the best contact patch I can get as I am on stock wheels (7.5" width, ideally would be 8-8.5"). I have them running at 28psi "cold" right now to avoid getting too low when the temps drop to below freezing (cold psi is then 26) and let it warm up to 30-31psi when driving. It's a happy middle ground for an un-ideal situation.
Factory tread depth is 21/32". I believe I read that for mud-terrains you replace at 6/32", so out of 15/32" of "useable" tread, I'm down to an average of 15-17/32, having thus used about 4-6/32" of wear, or about 1/4-1/3 of my tread life. Yes I understand wear is not uniform/linear with mileage, that it increases in rate as the tread gets lower. Still, 20k miles on a tire that doesn't have an expected life officially published, with folks saying they get 50k out of theirs, and this is with many thousands of miles of me wheeling through mud, rock, and gravel roads of Eastern KY, I'd say (knock-on-wood) I'm doing alright.
I'd say rotating and driving for another 10k miles should even out the wear. The plan is to throw in the "new" tires on the back when I have half tread left in the current ones. That way I can use 2 of the "old" tires as spares to where they have a useable amount of tread on the trails. Then, depending on how the front ones continue to wear, I'll rotate as applicable, maybe leave the back ones on for something like 25k miles and only rotate them side-to-side. Or should I do that now, to wear in the "new" tires for 25k, use the "old" rear tires in rotation with the front, and that way have all of them at about the same tread, at 50%, in the next 25k miles? I definitely do not want to just have 2 new tires sitting around (well, one mounted under my Jeep) when I could be putting miles on them and stretching out having to replace 4.
Your thoughts on the current plan, or suggestions for what to do?
My question is: when/how do I enter these two into the rotation?
My current plan is to replace 2 wheels/tires with these new ones, and use the others, which should in 10k miles be at 50% tread depth by sight. But I went ahead and measured it. I tested depth in a 2-3 spots along the "center", "outer", and "inner" edges of the tires.
| Tire | Center Depth (32nds) | Outer Depth | Inner Depth |
| Front-Driver | 16-17 | 15 | 15 |
| Front-Passenger | 15-17 | 15 | 15 |
| Rear-Driver | 17.5 | 15 | 15 |
| Rear-Passenger | 15.5-16 | 15 | 15 |
So looks like currently there's about the same wear, passenger side having slightly less tread than driver side. Which is odd given I'm primarily in the truck alone and most of the "gear" is behind my seat (there is a reason for that, I wish I could distribute it better). A chalk test shows that 28psi is about the best contact patch I can get as I am on stock wheels (7.5" width, ideally would be 8-8.5"). I have them running at 28psi "cold" right now to avoid getting too low when the temps drop to below freezing (cold psi is then 26) and let it warm up to 30-31psi when driving. It's a happy middle ground for an un-ideal situation.
Factory tread depth is 21/32". I believe I read that for mud-terrains you replace at 6/32", so out of 15/32" of "useable" tread, I'm down to an average of 15-17/32, having thus used about 4-6/32" of wear, or about 1/4-1/3 of my tread life. Yes I understand wear is not uniform/linear with mileage, that it increases in rate as the tread gets lower. Still, 20k miles on a tire that doesn't have an expected life officially published, with folks saying they get 50k out of theirs, and this is with many thousands of miles of me wheeling through mud, rock, and gravel roads of Eastern KY, I'd say (knock-on-wood) I'm doing alright.
I'd say rotating and driving for another 10k miles should even out the wear. The plan is to throw in the "new" tires on the back when I have half tread left in the current ones. That way I can use 2 of the "old" tires as spares to where they have a useable amount of tread on the trails. Then, depending on how the front ones continue to wear, I'll rotate as applicable, maybe leave the back ones on for something like 25k miles and only rotate them side-to-side. Or should I do that now, to wear in the "new" tires for 25k, use the "old" rear tires in rotation with the front, and that way have all of them at about the same tread, at 50%, in the next 25k miles? I definitely do not want to just have 2 new tires sitting around (well, one mounted under my Jeep) when I could be putting miles on them and stretching out having to replace 4.
Your thoughts on the current plan, or suggestions for what to do?
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