Ray Ho – 04/04/2020

Like most of you, I am practicing social distancing by working from home. There is not much of a reason to go out on the weekends anyway as all the car events are cancelled. So why not stay home and work on our cars? Today I decided to do some DIYs and I wanted to share one with you. Here are the steps for a DIY Tire Rotation. Hope you will find them useful.

Tools required:

  • Beer
  • Calculator if you are not good at math
  • Blue painter’s tape
  • Measuring tape
  • One of your kids

Step1 – Stop watching car videos and get off the couch. Of course you can hold on to your beer.

Step 2 – Check the tire size markings on your car tire sidewall. Since you read this blog you should know the tire size markings indicate the tire width/aspect ratio/construction/rim diameter.

Step 3 – Warning! This is the hardest part. Calculate the full tire rotation distance per the following: Multiply the tire width by the aspect ratio, divide it by 100 and multiply it by 2 to get the total sidewall height in millimeters. Multiply it by 0.0394 for the height in inches, then add the rim diameter then multiply it by 3.14 to get the tire circumference, or in this case known as the full tire rotation distance. As an example, for my car with 215/45/ZR17 tires, the full tire rotation distance is: ((215*45/100)*2*0.0394+17)*3.14 which is 76.8”.

Step 4 – With the blue painter’s, mark as the START distance where the tire touches the ground for the front driver tire (or the front passenger side tire if you are a rebel).

Step 5 – With the blue painter’s tape, mark the STOP distance (START plus tire rotation distance from Step 2), the STOP tape should be way ahead of the front bumper, unless your car has a massive overhang in which case you may want to consider replacing you vehicle.

Step 6 – This is where you can put one of your kids to good use.  Start the car and slowly inching forward, ask your kid to tell you to stop when the front driver tire is right on the STOP line. Well done! You have completed a full tire rotation. BTW, since you already interrupted your kid’s TikTok video binge, feel free to tell him or her to grab you another beer.

Step 7 – Resume watching car videos.

Yes, I know. I need to get out of the house more.

Next project – DIY toilet papers.