ColdIron

5 Tire rotation here. 40-50 years ago with bias ply not so much. 5K rotation same as oil changes. Used to be 3K at one time, those days have since passed.

Tire Rack has a video on it and why, using a Lexus GX460 as an example for AWD/4WD

Toretto

Great info, I'll just purchase a 5th tire to replace my stock spare and include with my first rotation. Looks like that will prevent excess wear on drivetrain hardware.

ASE

No Logic ... "Excess Wear on Drivetrain Hardware" ... Totally Ridiculous ... Selling Tires ...

When premium tires last 60,000-odd miles ... what is the advantage of introducing a side-line (spare) tire into rotation when the tires will in most cases time-out from a date stamp standpoint anyway ? Best that ALL tires for the drivetrain are of (close to) equivalent tread wear (diameter) assuming regular 5-6,000 mile rotation.

skeener

One thing to consider if not rotating in the spare is that the delta in tread depth between the 4 in-use tires and the spare increases w/ miles elapsed. If one needs to use the spare after lots of wear has occurred in the other 4, and the spare still has full original tread depth, one may hit that threshold where the center diff is less than happy. I don't know what that threshold is, and how many miles driven under that condition creates appreciable wear, but I'd like to.

Toretto

This.

It can't be good or even feasible that on a solid axle if you need to use a brand new tire and the three other tires have 30k miles that your diff is going to be okay with one a difference in the wheel speed from one side to another.

ASE

^ ... just long enough to get to a tire shop. If that worried for limited distance ... add some pressure to the worn tire and slightly deflate the new tire to reduce the difference in rotating diameter(s). This is rounding error stuff here ...

And beyond that ... who has actually used their spare tire anyway ... and if so, left it on the vehicle for more time than required to repair the original tire ... again, a rounding error in the scheme of discussion ...

40+ years ... and have never used a spare tire.

Toretto

Well in this scenario that's still a problem in my mind. If you hobble to a tire shop to replace the defective tire you're now looking at let's say 3 tires with XX,XXX miles and one with 0 miles. So do you now over inflate the other 3 tires to try to have matching heights at all four corners?

ASE

Just don't rotate the spare ... with 60,000 mile tread wear warranty with most premium tires ... what's the point ? ... why even introduce this variable in the first place ? ... especially when most tires will need to be replaced in this timeframe anyway due to age ?

The above threads are concerned about this variable, but then talk about rotating the spare, and then obsess about the difference in tread wear (tire diameter) causing stress on the differential(s) ... none of this makes any sense.

IanG

^^^ I agree, based on tire wear of 7/32" then the difference between the used (worn) tire and a new tire would be 10 revolutions per mile, a non-issue.

skeener

At what value of tire circumference difference does the center diff begin to experience significant increased wear? What's it's capacity to endure under this condition? Until we know these things it's all conjecture. Any Torsen Type-C experts care to enlighten?

Also, this speaks a bit to what the center diff does when it encounters a speed delta front/rear: https://www.toyota-club.net/files/fa...en_4wd_eng.htm

ASE

^ always replace tires in pairs ... the golden rule ...

Hrocks

I only rotated four tires on my two 2016 GX's. My '21 and '23 GX's have the Sport Design package, with 19" wheels, so I rotate five. The 265x55x19 tires are painfully expensive, (~ $450 each) so I want the maximum tread life. I had to request my dealer to rotate five, as their standard protocol is a four tire rotation. My guess is because most of the crossovers have only four alloy wheels and a donut, whereas we all know, the GX has five alloy wheels. After the initial Lexus new car "free" services, I take them to Costco and have them purge the air and replace it with Nitrogen and balance them. I think it's very competitive at around $35.

ASE

... nitrogen ? ... why ?

skeener

https://www.autolist.com/guides/nitrogen-in-tires

mike202

A lot of BS there....