Do Your Own Tire Rotation

With winter weather right around the corner and the temperatures quickly falling, your car’s grip on the road is about to become much more strained. Everything from ice on the road to fallen leaves can cause balding tires to lose their grip and can cause unnecessary accidents and breakdowns. The best way to make sure that your tires hold their grip all winter long is to check your tires’ treads and get ahead of potential balding. If you want to make sure that your tires wear down evenly throughout the year, doing an annual tire rotation can help you save money on unnecessary tire changes and keep you safe on the road. Learn how you can rotate your own tires and get all the tools and parts you need to succeed right here at your local U-Pull-&-Pay.

The Difficulty With TPMS

Cars have become immensely more complicated over the last decade, and although these updates are exciting and convenient for drivers, they make DIY repairs much more complicated. The biggest complication when it comes to tires is that many new cars come equipped with TPMS, or Tire Pressure Monitoring System. TPMS works with your car’s internal computer to monitor the pressure in each individual tire by using small sensors in each tire. This system works beautifully on the surface, allowing you to monitor your tire pressure without using any tools. The problem arises when you try to add tire pressure manually or try to rotate your own tires.

Your car’s computer registers each sensor as an individual tire, and assigns that tire’s location on your car. This is where the problems start to arise. Rotating your tires isn’t much of an issue, but in order to tell your car’s computer that you have changes your tires’ position, you would need to have a specialized scan tool to reassign your positioning within your car’s computer. This whole process can be expensive and lengthy, so if your car has a TPMS, you may want to think twice about tackling this easy DIY project.

How To Rotate Your Tires

If you want to rotate your tires, all you need is a floor jack, a basic set of hand tools, and a torque wrench. The first thing you need to decide on is which rotation pattern is right for you. Rear and four-wheel drive vehicles can use a rearward cross or an x-pattern rotation whereas front-wheel drive vehicles should use the forward cross rotation. Once you have chosen a rotation pattern, all you will need to do is jack up your vehicle, remove each tire with a lug wrench, and move each tire to its new position. Tighten the lug nuts with your hand, lower your car down and fully tighten each lug with a wrench.

You can easily keep your car safe and secure all winter long by getting ahead of potential hazards. Rotating your tires will ensure that your tires wear down evenly, saving you time, money, and frustrations. If you want to learn more about how you can easily rotate your own tires, come into your  local U-Pull-&-Pay today. Our expert staff will make sure that you get all the tips and parts that you need to take on any DIY repair project.