Everyone wants their vehicle to last them a lifetime. The best way to do that is to follow the recommended maintenance schedule. By following the maintenance schedule, your vehicle will keep its value for a long time.
Rotating your tires is one of the many regular maintenances that your Toyota needs. It might be that time and you're wondering what, how, when, and where to get it done. Lucky for you, we're experts at these types of questions.
It sounds like what you might think it is. It's a simple way of saying that you move your tires around. You might move your left tire over to where your right tire used to be. Or you might move your front tires to where your back tires are. That's the general idea, but there's a lot more that goes into it. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know.
The straightforward answer is that it will vary. There are a plethora of different factors that will impact how you rotate your tires, some of which might include the type of vehicle it is and what type of drive it is, i.e. if it is a front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, or all-wheel drive.
Other factors that influence how often you need a tire rotation include how worn out your tires are and what normal road conditions are in your area. It also could depend on the type of tires you have and whether they are bidirectional tires or unidirectional tires.
A bidirectional tire has groove patterns going in both directions, while a unidirectional tire's grooves go in one direction. These grooves determine how water flows off the tire and how the tire wears out.
To keep it simple, in terms or rotating your tires there's a general rule of thumb that most car companies follow. That rule states that you need to rotate your tires every 7,500 miles or every 6 months. As usual, it's based on which comes first, the mileage or the months passed. Usually, service records would tell you the last time the service was performed. If you aren't sure when last it was serviced, bring it to your local Toyota. We'll test it to see if you need the service.
Many items need to be checked off, and these are just a few of them: the tire tread depth needs to be measured; then there is balancing the tires; then the wheels need to be mounted, and sometimes remounting needs to be performed. These are the basic processes involved in rotating a tire.
It gets a bit more complicated when you add in some of the varying factors. For example, if you have a bidirectional tire on your vehicle, the way you rotate the tires will vary from a unidirectional tire.
The number one reason to get your tires rotated is safety. The front and rear tires wear out differently. Depending on if your vehicle is a front-wheel drive, the front tires will wear out faster than the rear tires.
And vice versa - if your vehicle is rear-wheel drive, the rear tires will wear out faster than the front tires. By having this service performed, you're making sure that your tires wear out evenly. You don't want to brake on uneven tires, it'll just wear your brake pads which will affect how long it takes to stop the vehicle.
Below are some images to show you how to rotate your tires. The first two images are based on unidirectional tires. If you're not sure what type of tires you have but you still have your original tires, please contact your local Toyota dealer to verify before doing any work yourself.
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