How to Do a Tire Rotation

Taking care of your tires is essential to keeping your vehicle rolling smoothly on the Ellensburg streets, and tire rotation is an important aspect of tire care that often goes overlooked. Learn about the importance of tire rotation with the service center at Harvest Honda Yakima. Then, learn how to rotate tires at home, so you can extend the life of your tires as long as possible. 

Importance of Tire Rotation

Why should you even rotate tires? Rotating tires helps you ensure that your tires are getting worn down evenly, since not all of your tires receive the same amount of wear on the road at the same time. If you never rotate your tires after the many miles of driving on the Sunnyside roads, then they will wear down at different rates, which will mean some of them will have to be replaced before others. Your tires will eventually need to be replaced, but rotating them helps to extend their lifespan for as long as possible. 

When to Rotate Tires

For front-wheel drive (FWD) vehicles, these tires will usually need to be rotated about every 5,000-7,500 miles. For all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicles, you’ll want to have the tires rotated about every 3,000-5,000 miles since all of the tires receive a similar amount of wear. However, all vehicles are different, so check your owner’s manual for a more accurate recommendation of when to rotate your tires. 

How to Do a Tire Rotation at Home

Rotating tires involves moving front tires to the back and back tires to the front. You’ll also need to switch the sides of the tires after moving them to either the front or back of your vehicle. If you live in the Wenatchee area or can’t make it to a service center, then here is how to rotate tires at home: 

1. Make sure your vehicle is off and your parking brake is on. 
2. Loosen the lug nuts on all of your wheels, but make sure that they aren’t all of the way off the tires. When you go to unscrew the lug nuts all of the way, this makes it easier. 
3. Using a car jack, lift up one wheel and put the jack stand underneath it. 
4. Using this process, remove the tires one by one. 
5. While you’re removing your tires, check to see that they are filled with the appropriate amount of air pressure. Once the tires are then switched to the appropriate spots on your car, place each tire back onto its wheel mount, and screw the lug nuts in by hand until they’re tight. 
6. Lower the jack stands, and finish screwing in the lug nuts with a lug wrench. When screwing in the lug nuts, screw them in diagonally from one another. This way, the lug nuts will tighten evenly. 

Importance of Tire Position

The way that you will position your tires when rotating them will vary depending on if you have a FWD or rear-wheel drive (RWD) car. Here is what to do depending on the drivetrain: 

• FWD Tires: Move the front tires to the rear, but keep the left and right positions the same. When moving the rear tires to the front end, switch the left and right positions. 
• RWD Tires: The process will be reversed for RWD vehicles. So, you’ll move the rear tires to the front end but keep the left right positions the same. The front tires will be moved to the back, but you’ll switch the left and right positions. 

Now that you know how to do a tire rotation yourself, rely on Harvest Honda Yakima for all of your tire needs. Schedule a visit with our service team in Yakima if you prefer to have our technicians rotate your tires. 

Rotate Your Tires at Harvest Honda Yakima

Contact us at Harvest Honda Yakima for any other tire questions, and save on every visit to our service center with our rotating selection of service specials.