Blown tire disrupts rotation pattern

By Doug McAllister

Q. I am looking for some buying advice regarding tires. I have a 2009 Rav4 Sport with four-wheel drive and a rear-mounted, full-size spare. I have owned the car since it was new, and have done a five-tire rotation at the scheduled tire-rotation times.

At about 40,000 miles, I hit a hidden road hazard and had to get a tire replaced. Although the set of tires had about 32,000 miles on them (four-fifths of the 40,000), there was still a good amount of tread life on the remaining four tires. Even though I was able to find the exact brand and model tire, I was told by the dealer that doing the replacement wasn't advisable because the new tire was not the same size as the others because of the wear on the originals. To ensure that my anti-lock brakes, traction-control system and four-wheel drive would function correctly, I was told to keep the new replacement tire just as a spare and do a four-tire rotation for the remaining life of my other four tires.

Here is my dilemma: I am at the point now where I need to replace the tires on my car. Their cost, installed, will run about $200 per tire. One tire dealer said I should just buy four tires and keep the spare I have. I cannot match the make and model of my current (never used) spare, so I would continue with a four-tire rotation with the new set of four tires.

Although it is more expensive, I am considering buying five tires and going back to a five-tire rotation. My thought process is that should I encounter another damaging road hazard, I will still have four tires of the same size and can continue like I did on my first set. If I only buy four new tires now, and have another damaging road hazard again, I may need to replace all four tires even though only one got damaged, because a new tire would not be the same size. That four-tire replacement would be at a much greater expense than an extra $200 is now.

What is your opinion?

A. There is certainly no right or wrong here. You could build a case for going either way.

If it were me in your position I would save the $200 and begin doing four-tire rotations for the next set of tires. The other thing I would do to mitigate some risk is to make sure you buy the road hazard warranty with the new tires so you are covered if something does happen.

By the way, the advice you got on not rotating a new tire in with the other tires that were at 32,000 miles was absolutely correct. There is a difference in circumference between a new tire and a worn tire, and it can cause wear and other problems with the components as you mentioned.

• Douglas Automotive is at 417 W. Main St., Barrington, (847) 381-0454, and 123 Virginia Road, Crystal Lake, (815) 356-0440. For information, visit douglasautomotive.com. Send questions to underthehood@dailyherald.com.