{"id":5306,"date":"2020-11-24T14:00:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T21:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/blog\/what-to-look-for-when-rotating-tires\/"},"modified":"2023-01-13T12:27:57","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T17:27:57","slug":"what-to-look-for-when-rotating-tires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/blog\/what-to-look-for-when-rotating-tires\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Look For When Rotating A Set Of Tires"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you rotating a set of tires on a vehicle? You may want to inspect the vehicle while you&#8217;re at it. Having the vehicle up in the air and the tires off makes it easy to check for certain issues. If you&#8217;re not sure what to check, we put together a list of items to look for.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>1. Brake Pad Thickness<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4977\" src=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/brake-pad-thickness.jpg\" alt=\"Bakre pad thickness\" width=\"640\" height=\"342\"><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a good idea to check the brake pads every time the wheel is off. Check the thickness of the brake pad with a brake pad thickness gauge. If it measures 3mm or less, replace the brake pads ASAP. There&#8217;s very little pad life left. That means:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The vehicle won&#8217;t be able to stop safely<\/li>\n<li>There can be serious damage to the pads, rotors, and calipers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the brake pad thickness reads 4mm to 7mm, take caution. Keep an eye on the brake pad life, but the vehicle is still safe to drive.<\/p>\n<p>If the brake pad thickness reads 8mm or above, there&#8217;s plenty of pad life left.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Wheel Hub Or Ball Joint Play<\/h2>\n<p>You want to check this after lifting the vehicle, but before removing the wheel, and with the lug nuts still on. Here&#8217;s how the process goes:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Put your hands at 12:00 and 6:00 on the tire.<\/li>\n<li>Rock the tire inward and outward.\n<ol>\n<li>Give it a good firm shove.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>If there&#8217;s some play, the ball joint or wheel hub is loose.<\/li>\n<li>To determine which part is loose:\n<ol>\n<li>Stand behind the tire and observe the ball joint and wheel hub while a friend rocks the tire inward and outward. Look for excessive play in both parts.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If the wheel hub is the issue, there&#8217;s usually a grinding sound that happens with excessive play. If the wheel hub bearing assembly has any play, you may have a worn out bearing. If you&#8217;re in this situation, we have some resources that may help you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/what-causes-a-wheel-hub-assembly-to-go-bad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What Causes A Wheel Hub Assembly To Go Bad?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/worn-wheel-hub-bearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Symptoms Of A Worn Wheel Hub Bearing<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wheel-bearing-troubleshooting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wheel Bearing Troubleshooting And Repair<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/common-wheel-hub-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Common Mistakes To Avoid When Replacing Wheel Hubs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We produce <a href=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/products\/hub-assemblies-wheel-bearings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">high quality wheel hub assemblies and wheel bearings<\/a>. If you need a replacement part, you can&#8217;t go wrong with GMB!<\/p>\n<h2>3. Tie Rod Or Steering Linkage Play<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4978 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/tie-rod.jpg\" alt=\"Tie rod\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/p>\n<p>You can do this after checking for wheel hub\/ball joint play. The process is generally the same with the tire still on and the lug nuts still on.<\/p>\n<p>Put your hands at 9:00 and 3:00 of the tire. Rock the tire inward and outward. Be gentle; don&#8217;t rock it too hard. If it moves even a little bit, there&#8217;s play in the tie rod or steering linkage. There shouldn&#8217;t be any play at all.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Shock Leaks Or Damage<\/h2>\n<p>With your wheels off, it&#8217;s easy to see the shocks. Grab a flashlight and inspect the shocks for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leaking hydraulic fluid (shocks are always dirty, but if you see any wetness on the shocks, it&#8217;s likely hydraulic fluid)<\/li>\n<li>Bent rods<\/li>\n<li>Any looseness<\/li>\n<li>Any cracks or damage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you find any leaks or damage on the shocks, it&#8217;s best to replace them ASAP. Good shocks help maintain:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ride comfort<\/li>\n<li>Handling<\/li>\n<li>Better control when going over bumps or potholes<\/li>\n<li>Gas mileage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>5. Tread Life<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4979\" src=\"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/tire-tread.jpg\" alt=\"Tire tread\" width=\"640\" height=\"365\"><\/p>\n<p>Check the tread life to see if your tires are still good to use. It would be a drag to rotate the tires only to find out that they need replacing soon. If there&#8217;s too little tread life left, the vehicle won&#8217;t stop well in wet weather.<\/p>\n<p>If the tread life is 3\/32&#8243; or under, the vehicle definitely needs new tires ASAP.<\/p>\n<h2>6. Torn CV Boots<\/h2>\n<p>If you have a torn CV boot, the CV joint will fail shortly. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s a good idea to catch and address the issue early on. To do this, grab a flashlight and then give the CV boots a visual inspection. Look for any:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cracks<\/li>\n<li>Rips<\/li>\n<li>Tears<\/li>\n<li>Punctures<\/li>\n<li>Loose or missing clamps<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If a CV boot is torn, the packing grease leaks out. Also, dirt and moisture is let in. This damages the CV joint and compromises its ability to function.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you rotating a set of tires on a vehicle? You may want to inspect the vehicle while you&#8217;re at it. Having the vehicle up in the air and the tires off makes it easy to check for certain issues. If you&#8217;re not sure what to check, we put together a list of items to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[34,90044],"class_list":["post-5306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maintenance-tips","tag-maintenance","tag-wheel-bearings-and-hub-assembly"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmb.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}