Tire Rotation question.

[YipMan_Style]

Rear is 7/32
Front is 6/32

I've not rotated the tires because of this.

One of the rear tires had two nails in it. The other rear had one nail in it. Both tires have been patched up (free of charge) by my tire shop.

Both front tires never had any damage.

The question is, should I rotate the tires?

My thinking is, because the rear tires have been damaged, and the front have not, I should keep it that way since it's FWD and all the weight is up front. So I want the "better" tires up front (even if it's more worn).

What do you think of this logic?

I'm guessing new tires are due in a year (?), so ride it out?

Do you guys wait till it's 4/32 to get new tires?

[megatron]

You are right in that you should NOT rotate the tires, but your reasoning is wrong. The tires with more tread (ie "better") should always be on the rear regardless of fwd, rwd, or awd because those are the tires that keep you from losing traction in a turn and spinning out. Losing traction on acceleration from fwd with bald front tires is not life threatening and losing traction in the front in a turn can be compensated for with steering, but the rear losing traction in a turn is disaster for normal drivers.

That's the logic.

As for the patched tires, no big deal. Treat them as normal undamaged tires now.

[N_Jay]

You should start rotating and not worry about either the patches or the 1/16 difference.

[NJGuy]

+1 for rotating them.

You'll get slightly longer life out of the set, and you'll have a matching set of 4 when you eventually replace them (provided no mishaps occur).

I don't believe a 1/32 depth difference between the two pairs is significant.