tire rotation?

I have never rotated my tires and they always wear evenly and I don't have any trouble. I've put about 120,000 on my car since having it and that's two sets of tires(yeah it's getting time for a new set but that has to wait a little bit). Is this completely unheard of, am I mucking things up and don't even know it, or is it just magic and I shouldn't mess with a good thing?

 

Mechanics of coarse have suggested it be done but I always tell them to come out and check the tires with a depth gauge and I'll let them do it if there's any difference but there never is. My uncle had told me it wouldn't be needed and so far he seems correct.

 

 

not sure if it's easily viewed from here so I'll add that I have a 2001 Legacy GT 2.5L

I'm not a big fan of rotating the tires too.

 

If there are wearing evenly, I'm going to leave mine alone next time. I seem to get a vibration in the front after I rotate the tires. Had them balanced and it's just a little better.

thanks. I'll actually probably go get them balanced soon just to have em checked

I never rotated or balanced my tires for the past 45,000 miles. I THOUGHT they were in good condition because the tread is still deep. Yesterday out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very bad sign on my front right wheel. Fibers and metal is showing on the inside 1" of the tire. The rest of the tire looks like it can go for another 10,000 miles. But 1 inch on the inside has metal showing and a crack going all the way around. It was by sheer luck that I noticed this problem. I was doing yard work and saw it from about 20 feet away. I never thought to check the inside of the tires, I just assumed it was the same as the outside tread (its hard to see the inside part if you dont turn the wheel to look). Had I not noticed, I would be driving around on the freeway with a ticking time bomb. Its worn down soo much, I dont know how it has not already blown out. Only 1 out of the 4 tires are like this. The other ones are still good (I triple checked!). The reason this one wore down is because Ive always had break problems on that one wheel, plus the combination of never getting them rotated.

 

Do I need to change all 4 tires at once? I drive a 06' Legacy 2.5i automatic. I have heard that you can break the car if you dont change all 4 tires at the same time. Is this true? I can not afford new tires, so I will be riding my skateboard around until I figure something out. If my only choice is changing all 4 tires, I will be skating to parks looking to recycle aluinum cans and plastic bottles for some $$$ for new tires.

Experts can elaborate here in detail and you can read about it as well in other threads but it is as simple as this > The outer circumference of each tire on your car needs to be within a certain variance. This is written in the owner manual. Has to do with the symmetrical awd system, my two bits......

At 45,000 miles I would replace all four, after all, winter is only a few months away.

 

Yes you also want the tires to be the same size.

Thanks for the info. It does not seem like an easy task to find a used tire with equal wear and tear. Max brings up a good point about the winter. I guess I will be getting 4 new tires. I found a place called discount tire that offers interest free financing...so hopefully I will be back on the road tomorrow. That is...if the tire does not blow out on the way to getting the new ones

I am 5000 miles into my first Subaru...its a 95 legacy L wagon. The tires appeared to be nearly new when i got it. today i started to feel some ver heavy vibration at hwy speeds. Took it to the shop and 3 of the tires were severy cupped i mean really bad. one was just moderately cupped or chopped if you prefer. What could cause tire wEAR OF THIS SEVERETY? I replaced all 4 tires and had a front end algnment. im not confident the problem is solved. shop said the wheel bearing are good. ANY suggestions......STL SUBIE

first cupped and chopped are two different things so pick one.

http://www.accidentreconstruction.com/research/tires/tirewear.asp

Worn suspension can cup tires. How old are your shocks and struts?

The only reason I rotate the tires on my subie is to keep rim color uniform. I only rotate mine like every 10k, maybe longer

My subaru seems to wear evenly and seeing how my tires sets are directional, I'd only get front to back anyway without getting dismounted, flipped and mounted/rebalanced.

 

My mustang I rotate (now that I have same tires F&R).. the rear wear faster flat across from gear change spins and the fronts wear the inner due to the camber I purposely have. Not directional, but they have an inner & outer side of the tire (forget what thats called)

 

My Ranger is similar, except the camber wear I had was not on purpose (sagging front springs which has since been remedied). Not directional or inner/outer, do whatever I want, lol

I eat tires for breakfast, so I rotate often, but that's because I'm racing around in the Malibu canyons almost every weekend, puts a lot of stress on the tires. If I'm doing long road trips, obviously I won't rotate so much, but otherwise, I'm rotating around every 2-3,000mi to keep the fronts and rears wearing evenly, otherwise the fronts will wear too quickly This is probably the other end of the spectrum from the OP, a typical set of tires might last me 10,000mi depending on how hard I'm driving the car, and I may rotate 2-4 times in 10,000mi.