4 or 5 tire rotation...???

Wrong rotation pattern used...now what?

I had planned to pick up a floor jack, jack stands and a large socket wrench set to do my own rotations...this is my first Jeep Wrangler and I know I should be gathering my own tools so I have them for trail repairs...but since this was my 1st rotation, and I had a credit at my local garage, I decide to let them do it. I should have done my homework before hand and brought a diagram...but they said they knew what they were doing.

Seems like there are Front Wheel Drive and Rear/4 Wheel Drive rotation patterns. I guess my shop (a foreign import shop, I used to own a Honda delSol and I've been going to them for a LONG time) has never dealt with a 4 Wheel Drive vehicle before...so they used the forward cross (Left), rather than rearward cross (Right) rotation pattern.

5-tire-rotation.jpg

Should I continue to follow that pattern for future rotations or switch to using the rearward cross?

Also, should I switch my tires immediately to avoid any problems? What type problems should I expect if using the wrong pattern will lead to problems?

I hate when I pay 'the pros' to do a job then find out afterward that they did it poorly or just plain wrong. :mad:
 
Im wanting to do a 5 tire rotation...but that means Ill have to hit up the Rubicon or another rocky trail soon to scuff up my rear slab to match. :cheesy:
 
StrizzyChris said:
Im wanting to do a 5 tire rotation...but that means Ill have to hit up the Rubicon or another rocky trail soon to scuff up my rear slab to match. :cheesy:
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For a man with your "touch up" skills, it shouldn't be a problem.;)
 
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fegan said:
I had planned to pick up a floor jack, jack stands and a large socket wrench set to do my own rotations...this is my first Jeep Wrangler and I know I should be gathering my own tools so I have them for trail repairs...but since this was my 1st rotation, and I had a credit at my local garage, I decide to let them do it. I should have done my homework before hand and brought a diagram...but they said they knew what they were doing.

Seems like there are Front Wheel Drive and Rear/4 Wheel Drive rotation patterns. I guess my shop (a foreign import shop, I used to own a Honda delSol and I've been going to them for a LONG time) has never dealt with a 4 Wheel Drive vehicle before...so they used the forward cross (Left), rather than rearward cross (Right) rotation pattern.

View attachment 94074

Should I continue to follow that pattern for future rotations or switch to using the rearward cross?

Also, should I switch my tires immediately to avoid any problems? What type problems should I expect if using the wrong pattern will lead to problems?

I hate when I pay 'the pros' to do a job then find out afterward that they did it poorly or just plain wrong. :mad:
Click to expand...

Either pattern is fine as long as you used your spare I'm new to this site but I'm not new to tires. Tires have oil in the rubber so as a tire heats up and cools down the oil seeps through to keep it lubricated and if you don't use your spare the oils never seep so the tire dry rotes. I have seen many spare tires explode once someone has to use them . In fact most company's will not touch a tire that is ten years old and tire manufactures say to replace your tires at 4to 6 years. And for the guys that are trying to keep there spare looking (pretty) trade your JEEP in for a car LOL....... Just my two pennies..
 
monstrousmac said:
Being from a family of mechanics, here is why you want to rotate your spare in.

If you do need to use your spare tire in the event of a flat tire or damage, you want your spare tire to have an even wear on it with the other tires. If you don't, you have the potential to doing damage to your vehicle. It would be like having 3 x 33inch tires on and 1 x 31 inch tire on. This could cause damage to your axles, ring and pinion and etc....I personally experienced this problem not by my fault. I had Goodyear put some brand new MTR's on my Jeep. After about 2,000 miles of driving cross country, I noticed a weird grinding noise coming from my Jeep. I got it in the garage and took of the diff cover and there was nothing but metal shavings. I contacted Jeep and brought my vehicle to the Dealership in Palmdale, CA. They were awesome; my warranty had just gone out. I had 71,700 miles on my jeep. That told me they would see what they could do, they contacted Chrysler and they agreed to fix it for free, my ring, pinion and front drive shaft were bad.

Well, about a day into repairs I get a call and they said that they were not going to pay for damage because I had an odd size tire on the passenger front. It was a 32 inch tire and the others were 33 inch and that is what caused the damage. I explained I just had the tire put on. So, I called the Goodyear that installed my tires and explained the situation, they called the Chrysler dealership and long and behold Goodyear agreed to pay for the damages. They admitted that there were a bad lot of tires that were improperly labeled on the white labels that go across the tire.

So, back to my point, rotate your spar in to allow for even wear on all your tires in case you ever have to use your spare. I would rather pay 300-450 for a tire than a few thousand for repairs caused by running a spare tire that was not broken in.

Just my two cents, others may disagree.


Sincerely,
Mark
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I got into a debate with a guy about this very thing. Passenger cars run donuts for miles and miles. While I'm sure it isn't safe, I'm not sure it increases wear. The dude's position was that the more worn tire would spin faster than the new spare and cause damage to drive line components. The same thing happens when driving around curves. So, while I do a 5-tire rotation, it isn't for fear of damage.

I'm not doubting your experience, I just feel it's not necessarily the case all the time.


Kevin

Sent from my Galaxy S5 using the Wayalife APP
 
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