Tires: rotating fwd tires, tread depth gauge, autoparts store

Question
I have a 2002 Altima that came with Bridgestone Tourenza(sp) tires. They are wearing very evenly at 30K miles. The tread is identical in depth from front and back. Should I rotate them anyway? It rides so nice the way it is I hate to alter that part of it. Also how many mile can I expect to get from these tires(205-65R16)?  Thanks in advance.

Bill

Answer
Bill,

Yes, you should rotate them regularly.  Aside from evening out the wear rate, you also prevent each wheel position from wearing a unique pattern into them.  That eventually leads to irregular wear and noise and vibrations.

How many miles?  Since you know the wear rate is about the same (which can only really tell by measuring the remaining tread depth), then the only additional info you need is the original depth depth. which should be about 10/32nds.  But I'm going to bet you only looked at them to guess they have about the same depth - Bad, bad, bad!!!  The eye can be completely fooled.

Go buy a tread depth gauge at the local autoparts store, and I'll bet you'll find the front tires are much more worn than the rears (unless they've been rotated).

Hope this helps.