How Often Should You Rotate Your Tires?

Tires might not be the most complex components on your vehicle, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important. In fact, your tires require regular rotation if they’re going to keep working as intended. So, how often should you rotate your tires?

• If you drive a vehicle with FWD or RWD, you should rotate tires once every 5,000 to 7,500 miles, or two to three times a year.
• If you drive a vehicle with AWD or 4WD, it’s better to rotate your tires once every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, or roughly three to four times a year.

Still confused about how many miles to rotate tires for? Maybe you can’t remember when your last rotation occurred. Keep reading to find out if it’s time to schedule service.

Why Should You Rotate Your Tires?

We mentioned above that tires require regular care and maintenance. Even if you’re keeping your tires inflated to the proper levels, failing to rotate your tires is sure to impact your performance on Carolina Beach and Jacksonville roads. Here, we’ve listed just a few of the reasons you’ll want to keep up with your Kia maintenance schedule:

• Your drivetrain does not distribute power equally, so your tires will naturally wear out at different rates. Rotation ensures that they can all be replaced at the same time.
• Worn down tires often fail to provide sufficient traction. Rotation ensures that all of your tires continue to offer as much traction as possible, for longer.
• If your tires are worn down to different sizes, you’ll experience more unpleasant vehicle shake on the roads near Leland.

How Do I Know If It’s Time to Rotate Tires?

It might seem impossible to answer the question, “How often should you rotate your tires?” if you don’t know when your last rotation occurred. On the contrary: Even if you can’t remember your last service appointment, there’s an easy way to check and see if you’re due. Generally speaking, it’s time to schedule service when there’s a difference of at least 2/32 of an inch between the tread depth of your tires. 

Although a simple technique like the penny test will tell you when it’s time to trade-up for a new set of tires, determining the difference in tread depth between your tires usually requires a more precise method. You can pick up a specialized tire tread ruler from our Wilmington parts department.

Stay on Top of Your Tires with Coastal Kia!

If you’d like to have an expert take a look at your tires, or if you’ve decided that it’s time for a rotation, you can schedule service online today! Since we also have a dedicated tire center onsite, you can even trade up for a new set while you’re here.