Tire rotation - 4 or 5 tires?
- Thread starter IK13
- Start date
re: rotating four or five tires
Might be best to not be lazy and keep all five in rotation, so spare doesn't sit there and rot. (This is for those with five same-size tire and wheels, natch.)
In 2003, a 1997 4Runner rolled over in southern Calif. In a petition, a safety group told regulators that three weeks before, a dealer had rotated an original spare onto the right rear, the tread separated at highway speed, and a young mother was killed in the rollover.
Tires age chemically and mechanically. There are agents in the compound that depend on the tires flexing to keep the compound from getting hard and brittle. There have been "discussions" between NHTSA and the tire industry on whether/when/how to put date stamps on the sidewall in plain English so consumers can tell when a tire was made. Different tire manufacturers and auto companies differ on how long a tire should be used. Understand that some sort of solution will be on tires made after September, 2009.
for what it's worth ....
speaking of value, what's the final, best solution for preventing spare wheel/tires from being stolen? (short of taking them off!
Here's one way: For 2009, new Bridgestone run-flats (Dueler H/L 400
Might be best to not be lazy and keep all five in rotation, so spare doesn't sit there and rot. (This is for those with five same-size tire and wheels, natch.)
In 2003, a 1997 4Runner rolled over in southern Calif. In a petition, a safety group told regulators that three weeks before, a dealer had rotated an original spare onto the right rear, the tread separated at highway speed, and a young mother was killed in the rollover.
Tires age chemically and mechanically. There are agents in the compound that depend on the tires flexing to keep the compound from getting hard and brittle. There have been "discussions" between NHTSA and the tire industry on whether/when/how to put date stamps on the sidewall in plain English so consumers can tell when a tire was made. Different tire manufacturers and auto companies differ on how long a tire should be used. Understand that some sort of solution will be on tires made after September, 2009.
for what it's worth ....
speaking of value, what's the final, best solution for preventing spare wheel/tires from being stolen? (short of taking them off!
Here's one way: For 2009, new Bridgestone run-flats (Dueler H/L 400
Tire rotation
5 tire rotation is probably the best, but the issues comes with the TPMS. My understanding is that the spare tire TPMS module is not activiated and having it activated and deactivated one a year could get pretty pricey in the course of rotating all 5 tires is a pain in the but.
5 tire rotation is probably the best, but the issues comes with the TPMS. My understanding is that the spare tire TPMS module is not activiated and having it activated and deactivated one a year could get pretty pricey in the course of rotating all 5 tires is a pain in the but.
TechWrench
Senior Member
Re: Tire rotation
I don't have the TPMS on my '03, but from what I have read, all five wheels are monitored. There have been many threads about the system, and complaints about it indicating a low tire, when the four on the ground were all checked to be good. It almost always came down to the spare causing the system to trigger a low tire fault.
chicago70 said:
I don't have the TPMS on my '03, but from what I have read, all five wheels are monitored. There have been many threads about the system, and complaints about it indicating a low tire, when the four on the ground were all checked to be good. It almost always came down to the spare causing the system to trigger a low tire fault.
Re: Re: Tire rotation
All cars after 2005 are required by Feds to have a TPMS system, which I believe is another money maker for someone and causes more headaches for the owner. To me its another thing to breakdown.
The 2008 T4R that I have does not have the sensor in the spare activited, which I thought was kind of strange, because 90% of the people forget to check the tire pressure for the spare more so than the other tires.
TechWrench said:
All cars after 2005 are required by Feds to have a TPMS system, which I believe is another money maker for someone and causes more headaches for the owner. To me its another thing to breakdown.
The 2008 T4R that I have does not have the sensor in the spare activited, which I thought was kind of strange, because 90% of the people forget to check the tire pressure for the spare more so than the other tires.
TechWrench
Senior Member
Re: Re: Re: Tire rotation
It is easy to find fault with any new safety system or device that is mandated as standard equipment on new vehicles, but most of them do save lives. My only complaint with these mandated safety systems, is when the implementation is not done right, and they create enough aggravation to the owner that they will go to great lengths to disable or defeat them. At that point, the system is no longer able to do what it was designed for. The early TPMS systems on the Toyotas, I believe, didn't have the ability to disable the sensor in the spare. Apparently there were enough complaints about the spare setting off the warning, that they then allowed them to be disabled in later years. That, IMHO, doesn't make a lot of sense. If I had a tire failure, requiring the spare to be used, I would not want to find out then, that the spare wasn't usable because it was deflated. What I think would have made more sense, would be to have some type of extension hose for the spare, to allow one to make an adjustment to its air pressure with out having to climb under the vehicle.
chicago70 said:
It is easy to find fault with any new safety system or device that is mandated as standard equipment on new vehicles, but most of them do save lives. My only complaint with these mandated safety systems, is when the implementation is not done right, and they create enough aggravation to the owner that they will go to great lengths to disable or defeat them. At that point, the system is no longer able to do what it was designed for. The early TPMS systems on the Toyotas, I believe, didn't have the ability to disable the sensor in the spare. Apparently there were enough complaints about the spare setting off the warning, that they then allowed them to be disabled in later years. That, IMHO, doesn't make a lot of sense. If I had a tire failure, requiring the spare to be used, I would not want to find out then, that the spare wasn't usable because it was deflated. What I think would have made more sense, would be to have some type of extension hose for the spare, to allow one to make an adjustment to its air pressure with out having to climb under the vehicle.
pmrowczynski
New member
Because of this thread, went from a "never" option to 30,000 miles and did the 5 tire rotation. The spare had 8.5mm where the rears had 6.5mm and the fronts had 5.5mm of tread remaining.
Glad I did though, the spare tire change if you've never done it or had to do it on the side of the road is best experienced first from your own garage versus the side of a road. The same goes for figuring out the jack point (rear axle housing versus frame).
Glad I did though, the spare tire change if you've never done it or had to do it on the side of the road is best experienced first from your own garage versus the side of a road. The same goes for figuring out the jack point (rear axle housing versus frame).
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