You said the back tires look pretty good. You should be able to replace only 2. I always buy the same tire if I only replace 2. I have had no trouble, but your owners manual says replace all 4. If you rotated your tires they should wear about the same.

 

Thanks - they were supposed to be rotated when I brought it in for my regular oil changes. However, as I said above, it looks like they only swapped left to right, and never front to rear. Either that, or Monro never rotated them at all. I can't think of another reason why the rear tires would be hardly worn compared to the fronts.

 

The rear tires dont wear like the fronts because they dont do the turning and accelerating. The turns are what wear tires down. Hence why people with alot of highway driving get more life out of them.

Your wifes dry turning (google) doesnt help either.


I would just rotate the front and back and get more use out of them before buying a new set.


Lesson here is to inspect after shops say they rotated them. Clearly they did not. swapping pass and driver side is not a rotation.
And car platform doesnt matter. 4x2 or 4x4 they should be rotated every 5-6k miles

 

Thanks - other than maybe marking the tires beforehand, I couldn't really tell one tire from another.

 

Well, in the grooves of the tire you will see a small bump every 12" or so.


Those are wear bars. They tell you when the service life is up. This is a good indication of how much tread you have left.,

You always want the best tread in the front (even though tire companies are telling people different to sell tires) as the fronts are hitting puddles, evacuating water, braking, and taking the all the punishment.


Now braking is best on dry roads with worn tires down to the wear bars. Wet braking is best with more tread.

Handling is better with worn tires in dry conditions, better with more tread in wet..

any questions?

 

Thanks - I know what and where the wear bars are, but my eyes are not sharp enough to distinguish between 4/32 of an inch of tread left vs 5/32 vs 3/32.

 

well, if its that close, then you dont have anything to worry about. just try and put the best on the front. =)

 

The guy from the auto shop told me that the front tires were 4/32 of tread left, and the rear tires had 7/32.

 

I think you could rotate front to back and be good to go.

A Toyota shop once lied to me, as I did have a mark on my tires and they did not rotate as they claimed. That, plus a few other instances of shoddy work, cost them my business. Shops don't really make money out of these 'oil change specials' unless they cut corners or rope you into an unnecessary item.

As for replacing 2 tires, I agree with what has been said. Per the Toyota Service Manual, it is preferable to do all 4, as this provides the most consistent acceleration and braking. But it is acceptable to replace 2 at a time "to maintain nearly equivalent tread on both tires of an axle."

Also, f you wanna keep an eye on tread, here's a free tool:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=51

While 2/32 is legal, a few sources say for snow driving, best to get new at 4/32 or a little sooner...

 

I think you could rotate front to back and be good to go.

A Toyota shop once lied to me, as I did have a mark on my tires and they did not rotate as they claimed. That, plus a few other instances of shoddy work, cost them my business. Shops don't really make money out of these 'oil change specials' unless they cut corners or rope you into an unnecessary item.

As for replacing 2 tires, I agree with what has been said. Per the Toyota Service Manual, it is preferable to do all 4, as this provides the most consistent acceleration and braking. But it is acceptable to replace 2 at a time "to maintain nearly equivalent tread on both tires of an axle."

I went to a local shop to get the wheel bearing replaced, so I was actually happy the guy suggested the possibility of replacing only 2 tires. He could have said that since I have 4WD, I needed to replace all 4 tires at once and made more money.

 

AWD usually requires matching tires & tread depth. 4WD does not. If you go for two new tires, put them on the rear, not the front. While you're at it, check the spare for air.