I grabbed the stuff bleow from www.tirerack.com. is anyone following this schedule? I will be coming up on my first rotation soon. This should add 20% onto the life expectancy of my tires by adding the 5th wheel. If you havent been doing this and your tires are 50% worn will addding the new spare to your existing rotation cause any issues with binding between the axles?





Five (5) Tire Rotation

While many vehicles are equipped with temporary spares that cannot be included in a tire rotation program, if the vehicle’s four wheels and tires on the ground match the spare wheel and tire (if non-directional and not branded "for temporary use"), they should be included in the tire rotation pattern. Follow the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended tire rotation procedures, or if not available, insert the spare in the right rear position at every rotation. Place the tire that would have gone to the right rear in the trunk as the spare until the next tire rotation.

• On front-wheel drive cars with full-size matching spare, rotate the tires in a forward cross pattern (Figure F)
• On rear-wheel or four-wheel drive cars with full-size matching spare, rotate the tires in a rearward cross pattern (Figure G)

 

I had to make this decesion after buying new 35's about 7 months ago. I'm rotating every 5000 miles, "recomended by the manufactor". You can get 20% more life out of your tires if you rotate all 5. Or you can spend less when buying tires by rotating only 4 and keep a good looking tire on the back for spare... At $300 plus per tire, I am only rotating 4 and keeping a new good looking spare on the back. When new tire time comes, I'll only be buying 4 instead of 5! 1200 v.s. 1600

 

With the full time 4WD system that our trucks have, you are going to want to rotate in the spare. You need to keep the tire diameter the same all around or you can run into problems with your drivetrain.

 

so I'm going to be putting some miles on my H3 this summer. I've had it since January this year and I've only put 2,000 miles on it. 24,000 total miles on the vehicle still with the factory tires. It's obvious that the spare hasn't been rotated, not even sure if any of the tires have ever been rotated at all. But I'm wanting to start. I understand LMB's point about the different circumferences between worn and new tires.

If I follow figure g in the OP, will adding my spare with zero wear on it cause my drive train any problems? Or should I only rotate the 4 worn tires until I get them replaced?

 

great thread, my buddy at dunn tire told me that because I was over 10,000 miles on the regular 4 tires that have been rotated that it was too late to work in the spare tire in the rotation. if you have tread gauge you will see a big difference between the spare and the ones that have been on for a while. he said that everything would be off and could potentially damaged something. it makes sense to me, but who knows, it will run no matter what right!!!

 

thanks, that's what I was thinking as well. It's too bad my next set of tires will be a much larger size, and I really don't want that spare to go to waste without being used.