How to Rotate Tires

Your tires account for how much power your engine has, they help with steering, and they are instrumental in regards to braking power. Tires are supposed to be rotated roughly every 5,000 miles. If not, not only will your cars performance suffer, it will become very unsafe. So while rotating your tires is a necessity, it isn’t necessary to take it to a shop and pay a lot of money to have it done. With a few basic tools you can do it yourself in front of your own home, for absolutely free.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Torque wrench
• Jack
• 4 jack stands

Removing the Tires

1. With the car on a flat, level surface, place a jack under either the front left or right side of the car, up towards the front wheel. Make sure to position it under the frame for safety.

2. Raise the car just high enough that the tire is barely off the ground. Slip a jack stand underneath the frame and lower. The tire should still be off the ground.

3. With a torque wrench, turn the wheel nuts counter-clockwise and remove. Pull the tire off and sit it down.

4. Move the jack to the rear wheel and repeat Steps 2 and 3.

5. When both tires are off and one side of the car secure on two jack stands, remove the tires on the other side in the same fashion.

Rotating the Tires

6. Now that all the tires are removed you will put them back on using the criss-cross pattern.

7. Take the tire that was attached to the front right wheel well and place onto the back left side wheel well. You’ll move the original back left tire to the front right.

8. Now the front left and the back right tires will replace each other.

9. Using your hand at first, lightly screw back on all the wheel nuts. Then use the torque wrench to tighten them the rest of the way.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use a torque wrench to screw the wheel nuts back on. Using a power tool could result in making it impossible to get them off again in the future.
• Always exercise caution when working around an elevated vehicle.