Tire Rotation

SmokeyBear-JAY

Senior Member
RV LIFE Pro
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Posts
462
Location
CLOVIS CA
Lot's of experi3nce with 4 wheels. 6 wheels, hardly at all.

I can't afford to buy 6 tires, only 2 at a time. My plan is replace the two oldest tires with these two new tires mounted on the front. Of the 4 tires remaining, where should I put the oldest? Inside dually or outside dually?
 
Outer duals will wear out faster that the inner ones will. If all 6 of your wheels are steel, you can rotate them. As you can afford tires keep putting the new tires on the front. Next best looking set of old tires on the rear inner and the the last set on the outer.
If you have aluminum wheels, most likely they are not rotatable other than from one side to the other. And at that point I wouldn't even bother rotating them. Just replace the most worn out set as you can afford them.
GM dually's that have the aluminum wheels can't be rotated front to back. Front wheels are for the front only and rears are for the rear only.
 
I asked my local mechanic about rotating the tires on my Class C. He said if I'm only doing 5-10k miles per year, and the tires are wearing evenly, don't bother. They'll age out before they wear out.
 
Of the 4 tires remaining, where should I put the oldest? Inside dually or outside dually?
Duals should always be changed in pairs.
I asked my local mechanic about rotating the tires on my Class C. He said if I'm only doing 5-10k miles per year, and the tires are wearing evenly, don't bother. They'll age out before they wear out.
X-2 Never did a rotation on my MH's.
 
I asked my local mechanic about rotating the tires on my Class C. He said if I'm only doing 5-10k miles per year, and the tires are wearing evenly, don't bother. They'll age out before they wear out.

Duals should always be changed in pairs.

X-2 Never did a rotation on my MH's.
You guys need to re-read my original post. I'm not doing a simple rotation, I'm replacing two and asking what to do with the remaining four.
 
Most will recommend putting new tires on the rear axle. It doesn't make sense to me as they say that the rear tires are more important for stability and control (regardless of front-wheel or rear-wheel drive) especially during "sudden maneuvers". That just doesn't make sense to me, but that's what the "pros" recommend...

I kind of did something similar with my rig. I lost a tread on one of the rears. Had it replaced and mounted in the exact same place (inside passenger dual). Then later I lost a tread on one of the steer tires (driver side). I had both steer tires replaced, I did not move tires from the drive axle to the steer axle, then put the new ones on the rear as might have been the "conventional wisdom". Then I lost another tread on a different rear tire (driver's side outside dual). At that point, I had basically brand new Michelin Agilis on my steer axle, so I had all 4 duals replaced with Michelin RIBS, and retained the replacement from before (which is a Michelin) as a spare.

FWIW, all the failures were on Hankooks, so I'll never purchase another.
 
You guys need to re-read my original post. I'm not doing a simple rotation, I'm replacing two and asking what to do with the remaining four.

You've got 6 to replace and you're only buying 2 at a time. I get it. Yep - first pair go on the front.

Next pair will obviously be 50% of what you need. If so, I don't think there's a simple or good answer. If the mismatch between old and new is great, I don't think you should replace only two. Or buy two, store 'em, then when you buy the last pair, install the four.
 
You asked "inside or outside".. and I stated you replace duals in pairs. Not one at at time! Both on the same set of duals. You need to keep the diameter as close to the same as possible.
Good advice. Hopefully next time I can replace more than two.
 
You've got 6 to replace and you're only buying 2 at a time. I get it. Yep - first pair go on the front.

Next pair will obviously be 50% of what you need. If so, I don't think there's a simple or good answer. If the mismatch between old and new is great, I don't think you should replace only two. Or buy two, store 'em, then when you buy the last pair, install the four.
Good advice. Hopefully next time I can replace more than two.
 
FWIW, I use Discount Tire credit card these days (Synchrony Bank). You can get a set amount of time interest free, and so long as you pay the balance in the promo period (typically 12 months), you don't pay any interest.

I've done my last 3 sets of tires like that. Kind of saved me when I wasn't expecting to have to replace more tires on the RV at virtually the same time I got new shoes for my Jeep.

I know a lot of people despise debt of any kind, but I'm a small business owner, and I consult businesses every single day in my profession. In business, debt makes the world go 'round. If you use it correctly, that is. I could technically afford to pay cash, but there's no reason to do that. No interest to use someone else's money? Sounds good to me!
 
I realize that my reply is not in response to your original question, and for that I apologize. As a retired person with little extra money I also sympathize with your economics. But you did ask for opinions, so here I am.

After having personally seen tire disasters on RVs, it scares me to death. A tire failure is nasty. If 2 of your tires need to be replaced, I wonder how safe the rest of them are.

There is no way that I would personally replace tires unless I did ALL of them. There is always something that can be taken out of the budget that we can live without. But safety on the highway with the family in tow is not one of them.

JMHO.
 
I realize that my reply is not in response to your original question, and for that I apologize. As a retired person with little extra money I also sympathize with your economics. But you did ask for opinions, so here I am.

After having personally seen tire disasters on RVs, it scares me to death. A tire failure is nasty. If 2 of your tires need to be replaced, I wonder how safe the rest of them are.

There is no way that I would personally replace tires unless I did ALL of them. There is always something that can be taken out of the budget that we can live without. But safety on the highway with the family in tow is not one of them.

JMHO.
Good advice for everyone. In my defense, here's more to the story. I replaced four of the tires when I bought the motorhome in '22 so I knew the dates for those four, all '21. The other two were dates unknown because I didn't have enough foresight to record them. Since I'm leaving on an extended trip today, I knew I need to replace them. The new ones are '24.
 
Good advice for everyone. In my defense, here's more to the story. I replaced four of the tires when I bought the motorhome in '22 so I knew the dates for those four, all '21. The other two were dates unknown because I didn't have enough foresight to record them. Since I'm leaving on an extended trip today, I knew I need to replace them. The new ones are '24.

I'm glad you added this. Here I'm thinking you've got all 6 tires that are OEM from 1997, and you're replacing them 2 at a time. That would be pretty scary...

My rig doesn't see a heckuvalotta mileage, so I'm not sure it would matter which ones I replaced. But I do happen to have matching sets (same tire, same age on both fronts, and different tires for the rears, but all 4 same tires, same age). All 6 will certainly age out before they wear out... But because of their relative ages, I shouldn't ever have to replace all 6 at once.
 
According to Google AI


AI Overview
Learn more

When buying two new tires for a dually truck, you should always put them on the rear axle, meaning on the back of the vehicle, as this provides the best stability and control, regardless of whether you're replacing the inside or outside duals.

Key points to remember:
  • Stability first:
    The rear axle is crucial for vehicle stability, so placing the newer tires there ensures better handling, especially in wet conditions.

  • Tire rotation:
    If you only buy two new tires, rotate the older tires to the front axle after installation.

  • Check tire wear:
    Always ensure that both tires on a dual axle have similar tread depth for optimal performance.
 
Lot's of experi3nce with 4 wheels. 6 wheels, hardly at all.

I can't afford to buy 6 tires, only 2 at a time. My plan is replace the two oldest tires with these two new tires mounted on the front. Of the 4 tires remaining, where should I put the oldest? Inside dually or outside dually?
Any movement of DUALS You MUST match the pair to be withing 0.75" OC or you risk tire problems. This advice is from a tire design engineer.
 
Any movement of DUALS You MUST match the pair to be withing 0.75" OC or you risk tire problems. This advice is from a tire design engineer.
Just to clarify. 0.75" OC is overall circumference? If so, on a 32" nominal tire, 0.75 " OC equals around 1/4" difference in diameter. This tells me, replacing duals in pairs is the safe bet.
 
According to Google AI


AI Overview
Learn more

When buying two new tires for a dually truck, you should always put them on the rear axle, meaning on the back of the vehicle, as this provides the best stability and control, regardless of whether you're replacing the inside or outside duals.

Key points to remember:
  • Stability first:
    The rear axle is crucial for vehicle stability, so placing the newer tires there ensures better handling, especially in wet conditions.

  • Tire rotation:
    If you only buy two new tires, rotate the older tires to the front axle after installation.

  • Check tire wear:
    Always ensure that both tires on a dual axle have similar tread depth for optimal performance.
The GOOGLE "AI" may be Artificial but isn't very "I". The OD match is important and critical to tire life. It is in many industry publications.
 
That's interesting Tireman9. Could you help me understand something? Expand a little on the phrase "critical to tire life." Is that according to age, or life according to mileage.

Another silly question: Is there a Tireman1 thru 8?
 
That's interesting Tireman9. Could you help me understand something? Expand a little on the phrase "critical to tire life." Is that according to age, or life according to mileage.

Another silly question: Is there a Tireman1 thru 8?
"Critical" means "important to" In this context "tire life" means not having a failure due to overload or rapid wear due to scrubbing with miss-match OD so one tires rotates faster than the other.
 

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