The "free rotation" bit can be a bit of a scam - wife took her EX in and they told her that she needed new brakes. She called me and I said tell them to just rotate the tires. Got it on our lift in the shop and the pads had 60% left on them w/ plenty of rotor left. They put the lugs on sooo darn tight I had to get a wrench we normally use on tractor tire to get the lugs off!

 

I always do four.
X to the rear and straight to the front.
I don't go by mileage, I go by wear.
No need to rotate them just because.

 

This is true most of the time, and I think folks do use it. But not all the time... off the top of my head I can think of a few reasons, one if you order online, or if your tire shop is say an hour away in my case. Sure there are a couple local places closer but can't get the kind of deal from a place like discount tire or sams in town. I for one dont mind doing some wrenching, and the rotation would conveniently coincide with oil changes.

 

We do 4 tire on all our trucks. What we do is this. Rotate the 4 wheels for the life of the tires. If the spare on the truck is new we will buy 3 new matching to the spare tires and install on the truck. The better of the old tires gets put on the spare wheel. Once there is a used tire on the spare wheel it pretty much stays there for the life of the truck. Our oldest spare is about 20 years old. The spares to get a little deformed on the sidewalls from sitting in the carrier but they still work fine for getting you home. None of our trucks will leave home without a spare, so if we get a flat and use the spare that truck will sit until the flat is fixed and back on the truck.

5 tire rotations always leave one oddball tire out of the bunch that will have more meat on it.

 

Another 4 tire rotation here.
Do it at 5K miles then every 10K until worn out.

The spare? That's what AAA is for.

( ^^ That smartass remark is a surefire way to get a flat 50 miles from the nearest phone)

 

4 tire rotation for me. I do mine myself after having lug nuts tightened excessively tight, or in one case (which I posted about long ago), my front right tire almost fell off as the lugs weren't tightened enough by a local shop. Made it home with 3 out of 8 lugs on (on a 37" tire). With me doing it, I get to blame myself if I screw it up so I take the time to torque every lug to the factory recommended specs.

I also rotate mine at every oil change. I used to do every other but got in the habit with my 2000 that had oversized tires to rotate often.

Someone asked what's the largest spare you can fit, I had a 35x12.50 in the factory spare location, wasn't much room for any bigger. Had to put a heat barrier between the tire and exhaust though, was really close.

 

I do the four tire rotation, typically around 8-10k miles.

 

I do 4 tires @ 5k, so that it matches up with oil changes.