baller152

How often should you rotate the tires on a 2008 Acura TL Type-S? The Acura dealership said b/c it is fwd that I should have it done every 5k miles....this doesn't sound right to me as I have always been told to do it every 10k miles. Anyone know????

calgary2800

8k here

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

7500 miles or to make it easy, every oil change as requested by the MID.

baller152

Great...thank you!

jspagna1

I have heard anywhere from every 5,000 - 7,500 miles. I do mine every 5,000 miles because it's just easier to remember.

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

I think it depends on the tire. Some wear quicker than others etc...

I do mine every 4-5k miles.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

Thats about the time i change my oil.

Mug

If you just move front to back, then technically, you would only have to do it once right? Once half the tread is gone in the front, move them to the back. Simple. I never rotate because I have a set of winter tires on rims. When I change them over, I just put the one with most tread in the front.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Nope, if they are directional they are to be rotated at regular intervals, and new tires, or the tires whith the most tread, should be placed on the rear.

djflex167

damn i have the car for more than a year and never rotated the tires lol what is the advantage of that?

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

A FWD car will wear the front tires faster than the rears, so to keep everything equal rotation is necessary.

They can don a better job with the explanation:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=43

goalwong

good infor~~~

Mug

Why though?

Will Y.

Most street cars, whether FWD, RWD or AWD, will lose traction at the back first, then lose traction up front, so the tires with best traction go on the back to address that problem.

Oh, I rotate about every oil change (via MID) or every other oil change (if changing at less than MID-intervals).

smarty666

every 5k man! as someone else said earlier, its just easier number to remember!

avs007

It's not that they lose traction at the back first, it's that you want to have the best tires on the back, so you don't induce over-steer.

With equal grip tires on front and back, most cars are setup to understeer, not oversteer. But when people put new tires up front, and old balding tires on back, they are artificially biasing their car to oversteer.

For example, look at the Pontiac Grand Prix GXP. From the factory, it comes with a staggered setup where the FRONTS are bigger than the back, with 255s up front and 225 in back. This is because the front heavy, FWD, GXP naturally wants to understeer, but with this staggered setup, balances the car out by biasing the tires to oversteer.

Will Y.

I think more people have hydroplaned their rear tires than their fronts.

And what's so bad about oversteer?

Mug

Yeah, but you guys are talking about hardcore traction. I just drive my car to work and back. I would never notice if the tires on one end of my car were half worn. If there are no internal issues with rotating once, and you don't autocross, then is it a safety issue?

Will Y.

Hydroplaning from puddles, roads, wet runoff...

You're in Alaska-- doesn't it rain there??
There's some white stuff that comes from the sky (not Colombia) that we don't get much of in LA, too-- that cold slushy stuff doesn't do you any favors with on-road traction.

Just think what could happen if you stomp in the brakes to avoid a moose or whatever emergency you have on the roadways there (polar bears? drunk Eskimo drivers?) and the car isn't straight...

avs007

That's not because the car tends to oversteer. That's because one of the factors in hydroplaning, is weight. The rear wheels typically have less weight on them, which is why they may tend to hydroplane before the fronts.

On dry pavement or wet pavement without standing water, most cars will tend to understeer.... But like I said, my point was that when you start biasing traction towards the fronts, you are raising the chances to induce oversteer.

I also didn't say there was something wrong with oversteering. I'm just saying why you're supposed to put good tires on the back first. Most non-enthusiasts aren't accustomed to oversteer...

Will Y.

It's the lower traction at the rear that permits the hydroplaning, which is more likely to occur with worn tires (grooves and sipes aren't as deep) than newer tires.

I was being a wise-ass. Oversteer is bad because it can lead to over-correction with non-expert drivers.
Over-correction then results in the rear end swinging out of control and losing traction at the rear first, if there is a loss of control.
Newer tires on the back = lower likelihood of loss of traction.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Here's some documentation:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=52

Mug

But if tires wear faster in the front, and you always want better traction in the rear, wouldn't that mean you never need to rotate? You'd just buy new tires when the fronts go need to be replaced, and put them in the rear.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Usual guidelines are around 6k. But, as has been mentioned, rotate them every oil change.

gotkilled

iTrader: (1)

I rotate them them at every oil change as requested by the MID. For my parents cars, they're rotated pretty much whenever haha.. About every other oil change.

avs007

Well, the idea is that if you rotate every 6k miles, your tires will be wearing uniformly front to back, so that all 4 treads will be close to each other. And like I was saying earlier, if all 4 tires are in the same condition, your car will tend to understeer in most circumstances.

Then let's say you wear down all 4 tires near the wear bars... and you decide you want to buy 2 tires now, and 2 tires later.... THIS is when you want to put them on back, cuz otherwise your back tires will be significantly inferior to the front, biasing your car to want to oversteer....

Same thing if you are lazy with rotations, and rotate at let say 15k miles when you wear down half the treads, so that when you rotate, your fronts are in like new condition, and your rears are half worn... Same problem...

Bayam0n

I don't rotate my tires. I just mean mug my car until it rotates the tires by itself...

every 6k