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Tire Rotation

jeepthang

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Just curious on your thoughts about tire rotation. Is it standard practice to rotate the spare tire in the mix? I recently had my free tire rotation done while getting my 20k mi service and they did just that? My jeep really drove like crap for the first couple hundred miles since I had a brand new tire tread on one wheel. Now it seems like it is tracking and settling back in but for a while right after rotation, it was squirrely on the highways. Thoughts?
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blnewt

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Just curious on your thoughts about tire rotation. Is it standard practice to rotate the spare tire in the mix? I recently had my free tire rotation done while getting my 20k mi service and they did just that? My jeep really drove like crap for the first couple hundred miles since I had a brand new tire tread on one wheel. Now it seems like it is tracking and settling back in but for a while right after rotation, it was squirrely on the highways. Thoughts?
Did you verify tire pressure for all tires? The spare may have been overinflated and when added to the mix it may have had that effect.
 

jeepster345

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I just did mine a couple of days ago. I used the spare because I feel if I get a flat and the spare is brand new, it could possibly screw something up. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I don’t like the idea of using 3 old and 1 new tire.
 
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jeepthang

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Did you verify tire pressure for all tires? The spare may have been overinflated and when added to the mix it may have had that effect.
Tire pressures are all good - right around 37-38 psi.
 

limeade

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When I have a full size spare with matching wheel, I prefer a 5 tire rotation. In my experience, you will get more mileage out of a set of tires by doing this versus only doing a 4 tire rotation.

In most 5 tire rotations, your rear tires go to the front (kept on same side), front pass tire goes to rear driver, front driver to spare, and spare goes to rear passenger. So maybe one of the rear tires had some poor wear and caused an issue until it wore correctly?? Or maybe they put the spare on the front??
 

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Htfan

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When I have a full size spare with matching wheel, I prefer a 5 tire rotation. In my experience, you will get more mileage out of a set of tires by doing this versus only doing a 4 tire rotation.

In most 5 tire rotations, your rear tires go to the front (kept on same side), front pass tire goes to rear driver, front driver to spare, and spare goes to rear passenger. So maybe one of the rear tires had some poor wear and caused an issue until it wore correctly?? Or maybe they put the spare on the front??
Yes, a 5 tire rotation with a full size/matching spare will get you the best overall mileage out of the set. However, there are many different schools of thought on the best rotation pattern depending on the expert you talk with.

What I took away from all this was was we must decide on our preferred rotation pattern and keep it consistent. Then make sure to communicate with any shop doing future rotations what pattern you are using.

I usually do my own so it's not an issue.
 
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jeepthang

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When I have a full size spare with matching wheel, I prefer a 5 tire rotation. In my experience, you will get more mileage out of a set of tires by doing this versus only doing a 4 tire rotation.

In most 5 tire rotations, your rear tires go to the front (kept on same side), front pass tire goes to rear driver, front driver to spare, and spare goes to rear passenger. So maybe one of the rear tires had some poor wear and caused an issue until it wore correctly?? Or maybe they put the spare on the front??
Thanks for the info limeade, they did exactly what you described above. I suppose this is normal practice then. I think having uneven tread wear at different locations may have result in the uneasy feel in the steering. Like it said, its driving better by the day.
 

ConqSoft

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Haven’t done my first rotation yet, but going with this flow.

D3816CC8-692B-4396-9BAC-E43DB5E2FF33.jpeg
 

Htfan

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Here's another pattern I've seen (quadratec.com). There is also a simple counter - clockwise pattern that is popular with dealerships.

Jeep Wrangler JL Tire Rotation jeep-5-tire-rotation-V1


The important thing is pick one and stick with it!
 
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jeepthang

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Thanks all for your input and great information as always.
 

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LizardBoy

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The diagram from Quadratec is for a rear wheel drive vehicle, NOT for FWD (despite what they say). I put this together for printing:

Jeep Wrangler JL Tire Rotation Tire rotation - 4WD
 

WagzDad

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Just be sure to number your tire’s with a crayon or piece of blu tape so you can verify the service Department made the correct transitions. Simple peace of mind so you won’t have to obsess over “what di they really do?”
 

Kraty1

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Got this from somewhere in these forums 2 years ago when I got my JLU

3F2E52A1-1CC7-4539-9790-637D6B87DFA0.png
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