alpinist

I was changing a flat the other day and noticed that my rear tire has a LOT more wear than my front. These tires have about 1,500 miles on them. The tread is nearly gone on the rear, and doesn't seem to be bad on the front still. I'm going to swap them out this weekend and see how it goes from here.

Anybody regularly rotate their tires? How often?

annc

Sheldon says don't do it!

twilkins9076

If Sheldon says don't, then don't.

As the article probably says, you're better off keeping your best tread on the front where you need it for steering traction. If you're going to replace just one tire, put the new one on the front and rotate your front tire to the rear.

alpinist

Interesting. Hey, that's why I came here, to ask and learn!

I'll just wait until the rear one is completely fried and replace them both with better tires, then.

(P.S. - I'm open to suggestions! Hybrid commuter, 700 x 35 )

madhouse

I have occationally rotated tires. Not on a schedule; but when going from studs back to slicks in the spring I will put my worst tire forward. That being said, there is still a lot of wear left in that tire; therefore I don't feel like I am at risk for a blowout.

CastIron

Buy tires in three's.

alpinist

Heh. Was just thinking that...

Bolo Grubb

When the back wears out, I will sometimes move the front tire to the back wheel and place the new tire on the front. Other times I will just replace both front and back with new.

dalmore

I generally follow Sheldon's advice. But I rotate my tires. I have found that my rear tire gets to the point of having more flats long before it gets to the point of losing traction. Since I have only once had a flat on the front, I move my rear to the front after it flats and there is noticeable wear. If I were in a place where I had frequent flat problems, I'd probably not rotate because a flat on the front is not fun.

(The one flat I had on the front was a pinch flat on a new tire. Stupid rock and stupid me for hitting it... A couple of miles after striking the rock, the tire got low enough to slide while I was taking a low speed corner. I would not want to try that with any kind of speed.)

sauerwald

This is what I do, but since I started using Schwalbe Marathons plus's, I am not replacing tires very often - my current rear wheel has just under 5K miles on it and still has a ways to go before it needs replacement.

tmoritz

I rotate front to rear and put new tire on the front. I get between 2000 and 3000 miles on a tire.

I recommend Specialized Armadillo tires. I commute 42 miles round trip and haven't had a flat in over 4000 miles. Same route with other tires, I averaged two or three flats over the same distance, usually due to glass shards.

BroadSTPhilly

I rotate my tires every morning and every afternoon.

caloso

Sheldon's never steered me wrong. I just buy a new rear tire.

StanSeven

Changing tires isn't fun. Just replace the rear when it's worn. There's no advantage to rotating them and you still have to buy the equivalent amount of tires over time.

dogbreathpnw

Ditto on this. The rear wheel is your drive wheel and hence the tire will wear out faster. Motorcyclists have the same experience.

I generally wait until I start getting many flats on the rear tire. This is my indication that I've gotten my $$$'s worth out of the rear tire . Then I switch front to back and replace the front.

This also has the benefit that you're putting the softer stickier rubber on your control wheel and the harder longer-lasting rubber on your drive wheel. Finally, since the front tire lasts *A LOT* longer than the rear wheel, it keeps you from having a front tire dating from the Eisenhower administration.

ItsJustMe

The front tire is most important. Do not put a worn out tire on the front. Ride the rear until it's dead, then if you buy a new tire, put the new one, the "best" tire, on the front and put that one on the back until it wears out.

In the end you will still go through exactly the same number of tires, but you will always have your best tire on the front. Rotating tires just means that you'll be riding with a ratty, worn out tire in the front where it can do the most damage and possibly hurt you bad, and then you'll wind up having to replace both wheels at once instead of one at a time.

I try to always have my next tire or two already waiting in the garage. This allows me to buy tires when they're on sale and use slow shipping since I've got months until I really need them.

Andy_K 

I find that if I don't rotate my tires they wear out really quick on the spot that makes contact with the road. The bike is really slow that way too.

JeffS

Which is fine if you never want to change the size or style of tire you're running. I have a number of perfectly good singles hanging in my garage currently for that very reason.

The only time I get concerned about tire quality as a safety issue is group rides.

ghettocruiser

New tire on front.

Front tire to back.

Back tire to dumpster.

Always

d2create

I let mine rotate automatically as I ride. Works for me.

Szczuldo

buy a near tire put the new tire in front and the old front in back and toss the old rear one. Last thing you want is a flat in front...especially if you travel at any speed worth mentioning.

ItsJustMe

I don't feel any need to run the same kind of tire front and back. A tire that was OK yesterday on the front is OK on the back today.

BarracksSi

What's surprising to me is the perception that an old, worn-out tire is still safe to use on either wheel.

Worn is worn. Get rid of it. +whatever to everyone that's said to replace the old tire, and a slight preference towards putting the fresh one on the front and moving the older front to the rear.

I wish more people treated their car's tires the same way.

ItsJustMe

My car's tires pretty much all wear out at once, and I buy 4 new ones at once. My bike wears out rear tires several times faster than front ones.

BarracksSi

Right -- I mean, once the tires are worn, you replace them, even if it means replacing all of them at once. On my FWD car, the fronts last maybe half or a third as long as the rears, so I can replace them a pair at a time. I could still simply replace the fronts, or get rid of the old front tires, move the old-but-not-toasted rears to the front, and get new tires for the rear -- opposite of bicycles, but makes as much sense since the car's front tires carry more weight.