How do you mark/tag your tires?

[Howard]

I always want to rotate my tires properly but I can never remember which ones are which. How do you do it?

 

[jlee]

I suppose you coul write on the inner sidewall with a paint marker or something. I rotate the tires on my truck front to back, so it's not an issue. My car's tires don't get rotated.

 

[vshah]

front to back here as well. i'd use different color air caps, or wrap some diff color tape around the valve stem

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm having a tough time figuring out what the hell you're talking about...unless you're stacking them and shuffling them before you install them it's not that difficult to remember which is which.

Remove front tires, place them behind the rear wheels you're going to put them on, remove rear wheels and put them on the front, then install the rear tires.

My car can only go front to rear, not side to side. My wife's car you cannot rotate the tires at all so it's a moot point.

 

[Howard]

What about when I switch from my summer to winter wheels?

 

[herm0016]

grease pen on the inner sidewall works great.

 

[obamanation]

If your tires are fairly new (last 5 years?) you can look them up online and see if they're directional or not. If they're not directional, you pretty much can move them where ever you please. Yes I am aware they have various rotation patterns depending on if you have a full size spare or whatnot but the main purpose of rotation is to prevent any continuous wear on any one part of the tire. If you have a donut spare, just crisscross the tires. If they're directional, all you can do is go from front to back back to front. If you have a full size spare, be sure to rotate it in so that the tire doesn't go to waste as tires do expire.

 

[Rifter]

i move them front to back as well, every season. For example i just put my summer tires on for the year and the back tires from last year are on the front now.

You can use a feeler gauge to measure the tires too if you want, you would always put the tires with more tread left on the drive wheels.

 

[Atty]

I do one at a time and use my memory.

 

[Apex]

Why not just use chalk?

 

[StageLeft]

If your tires are fairly new (last 5 years?) you can look them up online and see if they're directional or not. If they're not directional, you pretty much can move them where ever you please. Yes I am aware they have various rotation patterns depending on if you have a full size spare or whatnot but the main purpose of rotation is to prevent any continuous wear on any one part of the tire. If you have a donut spare, just crisscross the tires. If they're directional, all you can do is go from front to back back to front. If you have a full size spare, be sure to rotate it in so that the tire doesn't go to waste as tires do expire.

You can also look on the tire; no need to look online.

 

[boomerang]

Assuming your tires are not directional and are the same size on both the front and rear, you'd really be better off IMO to rotate them as suggested in your manual. For a rear wheel drive car, that means the fronts would cross to the rear and the rears would move straight forward to the fronts.

If you follow a pattern, and do it the same every time, you'll equalize the wear patterns as best as possible with the added bonus of not having to try and remember how you rotated them last time.

 

[tiresmokindad]

Nice boomerang, I agree with you that the rear wheel drive car would cross. I hope I can rotate mine either.

 

[vshah]

You can also look on the tire; no need to look online.

yes, there should be an arrow on the sidewall indicating correct direction

 

[amdhunter]

grease pen on the inner sidewall works great.

This, but you have to make sure that you inflate as close to sidewall as possible to give you some writing room :awe:

 

[waffleironhead]

I get sams club to do it for me, since its free.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If you're in a "store them for winter" deal, write on some painters tape and wrap it around a spoke on the rim.

 

[boomerang]

I get sams club to do it for me, since its free.

Only if you bought the tires from them though...right?

 

[Howard]

If you're in a "store them for winter" deal, write on some painters tape and wrap it around a spoke on the rim.

Good idea. I'd stick it on the rubber instead, though, since I don't want any corrosion underneath the tape from entrapped water.

 

[alkemyst]

I'd personally just eyeball them then install them depending on the wear and what wheels drive the car if taking them out of storage.

Then at the maintenance intervals I remove my wheels and immediately set them down next to the corner they will be going back on to.

With a 4 wheel car this shouldn't be all that much to manage even in your head.

 

[KIAman]

OMG, it is not worth the effort. Just rotate them normally 1 by 1 and when storing for winter/summer, just put them on in whatever order. That 5,000 miles until your next rotation is not gonna do jack to the tires unless your car has serious suspension issues.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Only if you bought the tires from them though...right?

Yes. I put on winter wheels+tires myself (since I bought the Xi2s from TireRack). When warmer weather rolls around, Sam's does it for free (since I bought the RE960ASs from them).

 

[JulesMaximus]

What about when I switch from my summer to winter wheels?

Ah, I hadn't considered that...I run the same tires year round and sometimes forget about you people in the cold states who run snow tires in the winter.

In that case I'd just label them where you want them to go. Some masking tape and a sharpie should do the trick nicely.

 

[sdifox]

zip tie with tag

 

[Pacfanweb]

Why would you need to mark them?

Front to back, back to front. Cross them if it makes you feel better. No need to ever mark them.