Tire Rotation Service in Fort Myers, FL

One of the best ways to lengthen the lifespan of your vehicle is by conducting regular maintenance on its mechanical and exterior features. It’s important to keep track of the different services you receive to ensure every component of your vehicle operates at full capacity in terms of efficiency, safety, and operational standards. The state of your tires can have a significant impact on the way your car drives and maneuvers through different terrain and weather.

Luckily, getting a tire rotation regularly can extend the life of your tires and reduce the risk of brake failure, making for a more secure driving experience. At Fort Myers Mitsubishi, our service center makes it easy to schedule a tire rotation so you can maintain your car’s condition for years to come.

What is a Tire Rotation?

A tire rotation is a type of car service that involves changing the position of your tires. There are various types of rotation services, but the best one for your vehicle depends on the specific make, model, and manufacturer recommendations. Whenever you drive your car, your tires undergo a significant amount of wear and tear. Different weather patterns, terrains, and levels of use can impact the condition of your tires, making them more susceptible to damage.

Each tire on your car performs a different task to allow the vehicle to move successfully and safely. Because of this, certain areas of your tires may wear down at a faster rate, resulting in more friction with the road and a subsequently more difficult time controlling your vehicle. If you keep your tires in the same positions, they can get an uneven amount of wear, causing them to deteriorate faster.

There are plenty of benefits to regularly rotating your tires, including:

  • Reducing the need to replace your tires: When you rotate your tires regularly, extend their useful lives and can go for longer periods without replacing them. If you choose not to rotate your tires, they can wear down in the same spot until you can no longer salvage them, costing you valuable time and money.
  • Enhancing your driving experience: When tires have continuous tread wear in the same spots, it can cause them to have uneven contact with the road, leading to friction that makes for a bumpy driving experience. By rotating your tires, you can prevent the uneven wear and enjoy a significantly smoother ride.
  • Improving your fuel economy: Besides improving the experience of driving your car, rotating your tires can also enhance your vehicle’s fuel economy. When you regularly rotate your tires, you maintain uniform friction against the road that reduces the need for your engine to work harder and burn more gas.
  • Increasing your vehicle’s safety: When friction is too low or too high, you can easily lose control of your car’s direction, especially on sharp turns or wet roads, so it’s very important to maintain even tread wear.

What Kind of Tire Rotation Do I Need?

The exact tire rotation you need depends on the make and model of your vehicle, as different manufacturers have distinct recommendations for tire and mechanical care. Some factors that can impact which tire rotation pattern is best for your vehicle include whether the car is front-, rear-, or all-wheel drive. For example, an all-wheel-drive vehicle has a more even disbursement of friction than a front-wheel-drive vehicle, which has a majority of its power in the front two tires.

Some vehicles have tires of different sizes on the front and rear wheels. This is especially common with rear-wheel-drive vehicles, as the back tires handle a majority of the traction needed to control the car safely. If your car operates with four of the same-sized tires and your spare matches those tires, you can include the spare in the rotation. Tires can also be directional, meaning they have a tread pattern designed to move in one direction, or non-directional, which means they can rotate in either direction. This is important information to know because it can impact your rotation patterns.

Here are the most common tire rotation patterns for directional tires:

  • Side-to-side: This tire rotation involves switching tires from one side of the vehicle to another. The two front tires switch positions and the two back tires do the same.
  • Front-to-back: This rotation pattern involves switching tires from the front to the rear on the same side of the vehicle. The front left tire would move to the rear left, while the front right would move to the rear right.

Here are the most common tire rotation patterns for non-directional tires:

  • Rearward cross: This pattern involves moving the back two tires directly to the front while remaining on the same side, while the two front tires switch sides on the car’s rear. This can work for all-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive vehicles.
  • Forward cross: The forward cross rotation is the opposite of the rearward cross and involves having the front two wheels move directly to the rear and having the rear wheels switch sides on the front of the car. This pattern is most common for front-wheel-drive vehicles.
  • Crisscross: The crisscross pattern involves switching the front and rear tires in an “X” pattern. The front left tire moves to the rear right, the rear right moves to the front left, the rear left moves to the front right, and the front right moves to the rear left.

Schedule a Tire Rotation Today

Your tires carry a lot of wear and tear and can have a massive impact on your driving experience. By rotating your tires regularly, you can help them last significantly longer, save money, decrease your risk of crashing, and have an overall smoother experience when traveling on the road.

At Fort Myers Mitsubishi, the dedicated team working at our service center is more than happy to assist you with scheduling all of your car maintenance needs. Have questions about buying or leasing a Mitsubishi vehicle? Contact us today and learn more about our various financing and leasing options so you can drive off in the perfect vehicle in no time.