The tires on your car are likely designed to last for at least 6 years. In some cases, you might be able to even get 8 to 10 years out of them. But your tires aren’t going to stick around for anywhere near that long if you don’t get into the habit of doing regular tire rotations. You’ll quickly see just how beneficial tire rotations can be when you schedule them and pay the tire rotation cost. They’ll allow you to get more life out of your tires that you might otherwise. Learn more about tire rotations and the tire rotation cost below so that you have a better understanding of what makes rotating your tires so important.
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What Is a Tire Rotation?
When you have new tires installed on your car, the technician who puts them into place will choose where to put them. There are obviously four places that they can put your tires when installing them on your car. But just because the technician puts them into a particular spot doesn’t mean that they should stay there for the entire tire that you own your vehicle. You should have a tire rotation done every so often.
During a tire rotation, the tires on your car will be removed from it and then put back onto your car in a different place. The exact spot where they land will depend on what kind of car you drive and what type of tires that you have on it. But generally speaking, a tire rotation involves taking tires and moving them around so that they don’t sit in any one spot for too long—and, as you’ll quickly find out, the tire rotation cost is worth whatever you pay for it in the end.
Why Is It Important to Have Tire Rotations Done?
In theory, you might be able to get away with not doing a tire rotation at any point in time. It won’t do too much damage to your car as a whole. But it will eventually take a big toll on your tires. You’re going to put different forces on your tires when you’re behind the wheel of your car based on where they’re positioned on your car, and these forces could very well cause your tires to wear out unevenly. This could lead to problems down the line with your tires.
A tire rotation will prevent this uneven wear and tear from affecting your car in a major way. Since you’ll constantly be moving your tires around, they won’t have enough time to wear down on you unevenly. The wear that you put on each tire will remain consistent, which will help you avoid having one of your tires wear down quicker than the others. You’ll notice a real difference in the way that your tires look and perform when you make tire rotations a part of your normal car maintenance routine.
How Often Should You Rotate Your Car’s Tires?
Now that you have a better understanding as far as why it’s so essential to do tire rotations, you need to know how often you should be having them done. There are differing options on this among some mechanics. But more often than that, most mechanics will tell you that you should rotate your tires about once every six months or every 5,000 to 7,000 miles.
But as always, you should consult the owner’s manual for your specific car before coming up with a tire rotation schedule. There are some vehicles, including those that are on the heavier side, that may need to have tire rotations done more often than others because of the wear and tear they put on their tires. It’s a good idea to know what your auto manufacturer recommends before you begin trying to find room in your budget for the tire rotation cost.
What Happens If You Never Rotate Your Tires?
As we mentioned earlier, you might get away with not doing tire rotation every six months. In fact, there are some people who get away with not doing tire rotation at all in an effort to avoid the tire rotation cost. But the truth is that you’re not really going to be “getting away with” anything when you skip out on tire rotations. It’s going to have a much bigger impact on your car than you might realize.
For starters, you’re going to notice that your car’s tires will need to be replaced more often than they do now when you don’t schedule a tire rotation every six months or so. At least one or two of them are going to wear down quicker than expected and force you to replace all four. And that’s not all that’s going to happen when you don’t rotate your tires.
If you choose to avoid paying the tire rotation, you’re also going to find that your car’s gas mileage isn’t going to be very good. That will lead to you paying more at the pump to fill up your car with fuel. Additionally, you’re going to find that your car isn’t going to handle as effectively as it should. That could put you into a position where you put either yourself or others at risk.
Bottom line: You shouldn’t steer clear of doing tire rotations to save a few bucks. The tire rotation cost (more on that in a few moments) is very affordable and worth the price that you’ll pay.
What Are Some Signs That Your Tires Need to Be Rotated?
As long as you make every effort to rotate your car’s tires about once every six months, you shouldn’t ever see any of the signs that indicate that you need to have a tire rotation done. Rotating your tires that consistently should keep them in great shape for many months and years to come. But if you don’t always do tire rotation on time, it’s going to be a different story. You might notice some signs that’ll let you know you need to do a tire rotation ASAP.
What are these signs? Here are just a few of things that you’ll want to look out for:
- Your car’s tires are wearing out unevenly and it’s noticeable to you and your mechanic
- Your car often starts to shake violently when you drive more than 45 miles per hour
- Your tires don’t hold air like they used to and experience pressure loss all the time
If you ever see any of these signs, it means that you need to run down to your mechanic’s shop and have your tires rotated. It might also mean that you’re going to have to think about replacing your tires altogether since you didn’t take the time to incorporate the tire rotation cost into your car maintenance.
Can You Tackle Tire Rotation Yourself?
If you’re short on cash and trying to find ways to cut corners when it comes to your budget, you might be tempted to try and do tire rotation on your own. Even though the tire rotation cost isn’t that high, some vehicle owners like to try and take on tasks like tire rotation themselves.
You’re welcome to try and do it if you would like. You can attempt to rotate your car’s tires with little more than a jack. But it’s a job that’s going to take you a decent amount of time, and if you don’t do something right, you could also sustain an injury while rotating the tires on your car.
You’re so much better off trusting a mechanic to take care of your tire rotation for you. They’ll get your car up off the ground, remove the tires from it, rotate them, and bring your car back down to earth so that you can drive away on tires that have been rotated. It’s a less time-consuming process and won’t force you to shell out too much money to get it done.
How Long Does It Take to Perform Tire Rotation?
There are some people who don’t like taking their car to a mechanic because they don’t want to have to wait around all day for it to be done. They would rather take their chances and not have a service performed on their car as opposed to taking off from work for a day to sit around and wait for their car to be finished. A tire rotation is not one of those kinds of service.
In some cases, a mechanic might take up to an hour to perform a tire rotation. If you have a heavy-duty vehicle with large tires on it, they’re going to have to roll up their sleeves for a little while and get to work. But in most instances, you can have a tire rotation done in as little as just 15 minutes. It’s yet another reason why it makes all the sense in the world to have one done.
It’s also why the tire rotation cost is on the lower side as compared to other car maintenance jobs. Mechanics won’t have to spend all day taking a car apart when they’re doing a tire rotation. All they have to do is take your tires off, rotate them, and put them back on, which shouldn’t take much time at all. So you won’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a tire rotation.
How Much Will Tire Rotation Cost?
At this point, we’ve answered almost all of the questions that you might have about getting a tire rotation done. The only thing that we haven’t touched on yet is the cost associated with doing a tire rotation. So, what is the tire rotation cost?
Well, you’ll be happy to know that the average tire rotation cost is only about $35 to $45. That’s right. For about what you would pay for an oil change in this day and age, you can have your tires rotated and ensure that they’re ready to last you for at least a few more years.
Now, we should point out that most people choose to do a tire rotation in conjunction with an oil change or another form of car maintenance. It doesn’t always make sense to take a car to a mechanic solely for a tire rotation. As a result, you could easily end up paying more than $35 or $45 when you have your tires rotated. But still, the tire rotation cost is so low that it doesn’t make sense not to have your tires rotated every now and then.
Should You Have Your Tires Balanced When Rotating Them?
One of the other things that you might want to do when you’re having your car’s tires rotated is have your tires balanced, too. Despite what you might think, rotating tires and balancing tires are not one and the same. Rotating tires involves physically moving your tires around on your car, while balancing them involves tinkering with the metal weights on them to ensure that they don’t wear out too quickly.
On average, the tire balancing cost is about $40. It’s another small price to pay for keeping your car’s tires in great condition. You should think about having tire balancing done when you’re rotating your tires and add the cost of it to your tire rotation cost. These two small investments will pay off in a big way as far as your car’s tires are concerned.
Is the Tire Rotation Cost Worth It?
The tire rotation is, as we just touched on, well worth it. For well under $100, you can protect your car’s tires and make sure that they’re able to last for a long time. You should set aside a little money every six months for when you schedule tire rotation.
But with that being said, you should be wary about doing too much maintenance to a car that’s well beyond its best days. That includes doing tire rotations. If your car is old and starting to fall apart on you, you might want to get rid of it and buy something new. Cash Cars Buyer can help you do this by providing you with cash in exchange for your car.
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