F-350 Super Duty

Make
Ford
Segment
Sports Car

What is Tire Rotation?

Tire rotation is the process of interchanging your vehicle's tires, usually the front ones with the rear ones, with an aim to extend the life of the tread and sidewall rubber quality on each tire. In most cases, the front tires of our cars usually incur more wear than the rear ones as they carry more weight, being that they're positioned at the front of the car and support the weight of the engine bay. Turning also affects each of the front wheels differently - regular right turns, which are slightly longer in the US, will wear out the front right tire more while frequent left turns will, of course, wear out the front left tire more. There are differences for all-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive cars and those with different sized wheels, so there's a lot to take in.

Our vehicle's tires serve multiple essential purposes - they help propel the car, of course, they cushion the weight of the car, provide traction on the road, and help to stop the car. This is why it's so important to regularly maintain your car's tires, and one of the best ways is to rotate tires to reduce wear and tear and prolong their life.

What Does Rotating Your Car's Tires do?

Rotating your tires will help preserve the tread and sidewall quality of each of your tires. As some tires incur more friction and damage than others, depending on their position on the car, swapping them out helps to even out the deterioration. The tread on the tires is what gives them their grip on the road, and so preserving that tread will not only benefit performance and conserve handling dynamics, but also save you money by decreasing the chances of one of the front wheels blowing out from overuse. This is the main reason why we rotate tires.

How to Rotate Tires

When deciding how to rotate your tires, keep in mind that there are several tire rotation patterns. Choosing which one to use depends on the type of car you're driving, its drivetrain, and the tires it's equipped with. The position of the tires, their size, and whether the car is equipped with a front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive system, will determine how all of the tires are affected and their wear rates. The front and rear wheels accomplish different functions, and this differs on FWD, RWD, and AWD cars.

Knowing what type of tire is fitted to your car is also important. Non-directional tires are most commonly used on passenger cars, and refer to tires that have a tread pattern designed to perform optimally regardless of the direction of the wheel's rotation. Directional tires are the opposite in that they are designed to rotate in only one direction. This doesn't mean the car cannot reverse when fitted with these, but this has implications for how the tire is fitted in relation to the vehicle thanks to a V-shaped tread. Directional tires provide superior traction and handling on wet or dry surfaces, and are most commonly used on high-performance vehicles.

You can learn more about buying the right tires from our guide here, but once you know all of this information about your car and its current tires, you can follow these instructions to know how to rotate your car tires the proper way.

Rear- and Front-Wheel-Drive Tire Rotation

Most passenger vehicles require front-wheel-drive tire rotation. When all four tires are the same size, an FWD-car tire rotation will require that the tires be rotated in a "cross to drive" pattern, meaning the driven wheels from the front will go straight to the back of the car, and the rear tires move forward and across. Similarly, an RWD car's rear tires move straight to the front, and the front tires go to the back and across.

Tire Rotation for AWD or Four-Wheel-Drive Vehicles

4x4 tire rotation or AWD-car tire rotation is a little different, and perhaps a little simpler. A "four-tire cross rotation" suits here, with the back left tire switching places with the front right, and the back right switching with the front left. This applies to non-directional tires.

If you have direction tires fitted, a straight forward/backward rotation is needed, with the front left changing places with the back left, and the front right switching out with the back right.

Different Size Tires

It may complicate things a little when there are different size tires on the front and back. This is most often found in high-performance cars like the Nissan 350Z, or on supercars like the Lamborghini Aventador S. In this case, you would only switch out placing with the other tire of the same size. However, this will require dismounting, remounting, and rebalancing if these tires are directional.

Five-Tire Rotation

This applies when you want to include the spare wheel, or if you've had an incident that required replacing the spare tire. This doesn't apply to a spare you are only going to be using temporarily. If you have a full-size spare and want to include it in the rotation pattern, the spare moves into the right rear position when the car is front-wheel drive, and the front right tire is kept as a spare.

In rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive rotation that makes use of the spare, the back left and back right move to the front left and right respectively - but the front left is then taken as a spare, and the front right moves to the back left while the spare slots into the back right spot.

Six-Tire Rotation

This applies to pickups with a dual-rear-wheel setup like the Ford F-350 Super Duty; these have six tires overall that need rotating. While this seems the most complicated, it's actually fairly simple - envision the left and right sides of the car separately when viewed from the top. The front tire on each side represents the top point of a triangle, with the two rear tires on each side creating the base of a triangle, meaning there should be two triangles. To rotate tires here, simply switch out each tire with the next in an anti-clockwise pattern: the bottom left point of the triangle moves to the bottom right point, while the bottom right point moves to the top of the triangle. The top point tire moves to the bottom left.

How Often Should You Do a Tire Rotation

Many automotive professionals recommend that car owners rotate their cars tires every three to five thousand miles, even if there are no discernible signs of wear. This means that a tire rotation can synchronize with oil change intervals as the service center or mechanics will need to lift the car for the job, anyway. This will also be a good time to inspect all of the tires for any wear and tear, ensure that there is no uneven tire wear, remove any stones or debris from the tire tread, and check tire pressure.

Naturally, if you need to replace tires at any time, this is an ideal time to rotate - especially since this means you have fresher rubber on some tires. Ideally, one would get at least two of the same new tires to ensure balanced traction. The best-case scenario is replacing all four tires at the same time, but this isn't always achievable. In this case, the common rule of thumb is this: the freshest tires should always go to the rear, regardless of drivetrain. The rear wheels provide stability, and without stability, you can't brake or accelerate when you need to.

The Tools You’ll Need

Though most of the tools you will require to change the position of your tires are easy to come by, some of them, such as the hydraulic car jack, may be quite expensive, in which case it would make more sense to take the car to a service center or mechanic.

  • Heavy duty car jack
  • Multiple jack stands
  • Torque or lug wrench
  • Wheel-lock key
  • Car user manual

If you're feeling unsure or don't have the tools, rather go to a professional that can evaluate the correct rotation of your car's wheels and carry out the most effective tire rotation and balancing for you.