1996 Saturn SL Tire Rotation Cost

While driving, all four tires are subjected to different forces. Turning, braking, and powering drive wheels will wear tires differently depending on what corner of the vehicle they're on. The outside edges of the front wheels may wear quicker, and the inside edges of the rear tires may wear quicker. When tires are rotated, they "take turns" being subjected to the differing forces, ensuring even wear.

Depending on the manufacturer wheel alignment specifications, vehicles will wear their tires unevenly in normal driving. Heavy vehicles, more powerful vehicles, or sportier vehicles will exacerbate this behavior. If tire rotations are skipped, the uneven wear will cause the tire to make noise, affect the vehicle handling, and even cause tire failure if the wear goes to the tire's metal cords.

Regardless of the last time the tires were rotated, it is important to keep track of the tire wear. You can drive a vehicle without having a tire rotation performed, but decreased fuel mileage, tire life, and inconsistent handling may result if the tires are too unevenly worn.

Tire rotation is part of your factory scheduled maintenance. The rotation interval will be stated at some point in the service section of the owner’s manual.

If necessary, the technician will inspect the tires for wear. If the manufacturer specified interval has been missed, or differing wear is observed, a tire rotation will be recommended.

To rotate the tires, the technician checks for directional or non-directional tires. Directional tires are made to rotate in one direction, so if they were taken to the other side of the vehicle, the tire would be facing backwards. For directional tires, the wheels are moved from the back to the front, and front to back. For all other tires, the tires are moved in a crossing pattern that moves the tires from spare tire position to front tire position, and back. One pattern is spare position, right-rear position, right-front position, left-rear position, left-front position, and repeat.

To rotate the tires, the technician checks for directional or non-directional tires. Directional tires are made to rotate in one direction, so if they were taken to the other side of the vehicle, the tire would be facing backwards. For directional tires, the wheels are moved from the back to the front, and front to back. For all other tires, the tires are moved in a crossing pattern that moves the tires from spare tire position to front tire position, and back. One pattern is spare position, right-rear position, right-front position, left-rear position, left-front position, and repeat.

Rotating tires is always recommended at the scheduled times If rotation is missed, it can be performed on the next scheduled maintenance visit.

Be sure to keep a record of tire rotations, and to have the tires inspected with every service visit. If a tire rotation is missed too many times, the tires can wear so much that they need to be replaced, even though most of the tread is intact. Many rear wheel drive cars will wear the inside of their rear tires more quickly than the front, wearing the inside smooth before the outside of the tread is even worn halfway. This will require a tire purchase that was preventable by rotating the rears to the front before the wear had become too extreme.