Which would be fine if tires didn’t age out from UV and other atmospheric elements whether in use or not.

 

True but I’m not sure how significant it would be. I wonder what the manual says. If it says to rotate the spare, I’d do it

 

why would you not do it? All up-side, no downside.

 

I second that. With "friends" like that....who needs enemies?!

My preference is to have the cover on during the winter and take off during the warmer months. I live in the northeast and the back gets filthy with the snow. It's easier to keep clean during the snowy season with a cover on and enjoy without the rest of the year.

 

Because now you're putting unnecessary wear on a "spare" tire. I asked my group of friends about this conversation, and half thought you should and the other half said you shouldn't. Personal preference really.

If you have a car with the spare in the trunk or a pickup truck with it under the bed, and it's the same spec tire and not a donut, do you rotate it with the main 4? Now all of a sudden it's visible and on the tailgate and you should.

 

Hey, do what you want. I’m sure you’re right about it.

Cheers!

 

You’re using your spare to increase the life of the other 4 tires; does that make up for the cost of having to buy 4 tires instead of 5 when you need new tires? IDK, but I hope someone does the math and reports back haha. And that’s assuming the spare doesn’t degrade at all without use (which of course is not true).

 

Anyone saying not to rotate the spare isn't taking into consideration that tires "age" -- even when they're hanging out doing nothing. I don't see the point in preserving your spare from road wear, when you're going to have to swap it out eventually due to dry rot. Might as well put all five in rotation and get an extra 20% mileage before replacement. Maybe it's just me though.

 

If the spare has the cover, dry rot would be much less prevalent over time.

 

For what another opinion and a voice to support 5 tire rotations is worth…

With full size matching spares I’ve always done a full 5 tire rotation for the various reasons listed previously. That’s how dad did - that’s now grand did it - that’s how I do it guess Sadly staggered tire sizes on my wifes Porsches or BMWs or Audi’s over the years didn’t offer that luxury… fair trade off for what did/do IMHO.

With mindful tire pressure monitoring and some tires on my Toyota FJ I’ve run them long enough that the tire shops here in Colorado wouldn’t rotate them as they were considered too old (6 years if I recall) for liability reasons. With 55~60K miles the rubber didn’t owe me favors and it would be time for new skins anyway. In fact I had instances where the tire shop gave me a few bucks per tire for my old ones; not a material $ amount but saved disposal fees and bought me lunch

Even with the new trailer I’ll be rotating three tires - same logic. I don’t get any money back for not using the spare tire so might as well run them all. Ideally I’ll have all matching wheels+tires between the Defender and Trailer but’s that yet to be determined…once they all hit North America I’ll sort that out.

Sadly rubber has a shelf life whether I run it or not, so 5 tire rotations have yielded more mileage per set in my use cases.

Bottom line - to each their own.