This is what I do too.

 

asked my dealer what there protocol for a 5 tire rotation was and he looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and said "we don't do 5 tire rotations".

I laminated a copy of this 5 tire reward cross and keep it in the jeep when they do the rotation. I do every other as the will do it for free every 6K miles and I rotate every 3K

By rotating all 5 you actually get 20% more tread life so to me it's a no brainier to rotate all 5

 

I always do the 5 tire rotation but I put the rear tires on the front but opposite side so LR goes to RF and RR goes to LF spare goes to the rear and one front to spare location. I have always done it this way dont know where I learned it.

 

I rotate all 5 about every 6-8k miles. I have been starting with the spare and then move clockwise starting with the left rear to left front to right front to right rear to spare. Everything seems to be wearing evenly and it only takes about 30 min with a floor jack.

 

Quick question, so I've been neglectful and am at 11000 miles and haven't done a rotation...is it too late to rotate in my spare tire?

 

not too late IMHO. I went 10k miles on my rotation once and it didn't seem to matter. I usually rotate every 5k.

 

Thanks, yea I figure I'll rotate it in this weekend and see how things go, if there's some vibration I'll know why and if I have to swap the spare back out

 

There are two schools of thought...

Most common is you throw the spare into the rotation... in theory if you rotate your tires 4 times before they wear out every tire gets a break for a few thousand miles, thus extends the life of the set for a few thousand miles.

The other school of thought is if you have a blow out, you will have to buy a new tire. The new tire will have full tread, so you can put the brand new spare on the same axle as the new tire and that axle will have the same tread. (but then what do you do the second time you have a flat?)

I subscribe to the first school and think I will rotate my spare in... if I ever have to get a new tire I will likely throw it on the back and not rotate it in untill I buy other new tires. As long as I don't have more than one blow out per set, I should be good to go.

edit: I figured it out:

rotate all 5,

after first flat put new tire on carrier and rotate 4 remaining

after second flat mate the fresh tire with the replaced tire and put a worn tire on the carrier

after thrid flat - ???

 

I never rotate my tires on any of my cars. I believe tread wear will be less if you don't rotate. My theory is when you install a new set of tires on a car the tires go through an accelerated wear-in period for a short time. This cycle is repeated every time the tires are rotated causing higher wear than if they are never rotated. One negative is two tires might need replaced prior to the other two. I consisting get higher than the rated miles for tires. Been doing this for 20+ years.

 

Thread...plain and simple.