Tyre rotation done in your driveway

Why tyres wear unevenly

Each corner of a car does a different job. On a front-wheel-drive Camry, Corolla, Sunny or Altima, the front tyres steer, put down all the engine's power and carry most of the braking force. They wear out much faster than the rears, which mostly just follow along. On a rear-wheel-drive Patrol or BMW, the rear tyres drive while the fronts take the steering and much of the braking.

UAE driving adds its own patterns. Tight turns in mall car parks and roundabouts scrub the outer shoulders of the front tyres. Long highway runs between Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi heat the tread evenly but put more load on the driven axle. Left alone, one pair reaches the replacement point while the other still has plenty of tread.

Rotation patterns by drivetrain

Cars with a full-size matching spare, common on older Land Cruisers and pickups, can include the spare in a five-tyre rotation, which spreads the wear across all five and keeps the spare's tread in step with the rest.

How often to rotate

About every 10,000 km is a good rule for most cars, or every second oil change. Look for these signs that it is overdue:

• The front tyres look visibly more worn than the rears, or the other way round.
• One shoulder of a tyre is noticeably more worn than the centre.
• The car feels slightly less settled than when the tyres were new.

If one edge of a tyre is far more worn than the other, rotation alone will not fix it, because the cause is usually alignment. Get that checked first; see our wheel alignment service.

What happens during a rotation visit

1. The technician checks tread depth on each tyre and notes any uneven wear.
2. The car is lifted and the wheels moved to their new positions using the correct pattern for your drivetrain and tyres.
3. If you feel any vibration at speed, wheels can be rebalanced on the van's balancer at AED 25 per wheel.
4. Wheel nuts are torqued by hand to the maker's figure.
5. Pressures are set to the door-placard values. Some cars specify different front and rear pressures, so this step matters after a swap.
6. On cars with TPMS, the sensors are relearned to their new positions where the car requires it.

Free with fitting, AED 100 on its own

Rotation is included free whenever we are already at your car for a fitting visit: a puncture repair, new pair of tyres or spare change. If you only need a rotation, the standalone visit is AED 100 and we come to your home, office or basement car park, 24 hours a day. Combining it with a tyre pressure check or other job makes the most of the visit.

Rotation and new tyres

When only two new tyres are fitted, they normally go on the rear axle, whatever the drivetrain. Grip at the back keeps the car stable if the road is wet or a tyre loses pressure, and a car that slides from the rear is far harder to control than one that runs wide at the front. That is why rotation often happens during a tyre fitting visit anyway: the newer pair goes to the back, the part-worn pair moves forward. After a full set of four, starting rotations from the first 10,000 km keeps all four wearing at the same rate until they are replaced together. For the wider routine, our tyre maintenance guide covers tread checks, age and sun damage.