Question on Tire Rotation

[soup1207]

Hi all,

It's me again. I saw some topic about the interval on tire rotation, but then found there's instruction of doing it ourselves. I wonder why would we do it ourselves? Don't we need to do alignment everytime we change our tires? Then we still need to go to auto repair store to have them work on it?

Do you do it yourself?

How much is tire alignment usually?

Thanks a lot to all of you! I find this forum very helpful!

Ricky

[jambo101]

I just get the tire shop to switch em around when i change to winter tires in the fall then again when they change back to summer tires in the spring.
If i lived in a place where i used the same tires all year i think i'd do a rotation at least once a year.. what does your owners manual recommend?

[UberSilver]

You can do it yourself, and an alignment is not needed. If your tires are wearing funny, then you'll need the alignment. When I bought my used Yaris, the first week I had it, I got new tires. The second week I got an alignment. If I hit any major holes or get in a bad wreck, than I'll have the alignment checked. Alignment services charges $60. to do the alignment, but will check for free.

[soup1207]

I see. Thanks for the info. I don't have the manual on hand. but because I just pass it in to the auto technician before and about 8k from now was my last time doing alignment and tire rotation.

However, recently I look at my tire (I seldomly do it before), I feel my back tire wear more than the front on its sidewall. I think I didn't rotate the tire for very long time in the past and so even after 8k driving, the front is still better than the back. but may be a left to right changing is necessary.

I should check back my past tire rotation record. Thanks all. I will learn to do it myself this time. another project after oil change. LOL



Another question about tire. I am about to change my tire actually. I am considering if I should stick with my current 14" wheel or get into a bigger one. 15 /16 if possible.

To increase the tire size to 15 or even more, is it a must to change the wheel also ? Is it only wheel and tire need to be consider when increasing the size of tire (may be more items needed to be change due to that?)? If yes, what are they?

For those of you increased the size, do you notice any benefit from it?

Ricky

[RedRide]

Any shop that tells you that you need an alignment every time you rotate your tires is blatantly lying to you just to rip you off!

Alignment is only needed if there is uneven tire wear or obvious handling problems caused by misalignment or, after replacement of suspension parts that can effect alignment

BTW, I put about 90k miles on my Celica (bought new) when I sold it and never had it (re)aligned . Tire wear and handling was like new up to the day I sold it .

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by RedRide

Any shop that tells you that you need an alignment every time you rotate your tires is blatantly lying to you just to rip you off!

Alignment is only needed if there is uneven tire wear or obvious handling problems caused by misalignment or, after replacement of suspension parts that can effect alignment

BTW, I put about 90k miles on my Celica (bought new) when I sold it and never had it (re)aligned . Tire wear and handling was like new up to the day I sold it .

^^^^^ This (IMO and in my experience). I have over 2 1/2 times the number of miles you put on your Celica on my Yaris and it 'behaves' just as you mention your Celica did at 90k.

[cali yaris]

^ +1

[soup1207]

Really? more than 90k and the tire has very little wear? How do you do it? Driving behavior? Please share it. My car is like 30k now and seems my tire is about to change....

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by soup1207

Really? more than 90k and the tire has very little wear? How do you do it? Driving behavior? Please share it. My car is like 30k now and seems my tire is about to change....

No.. ...........
Even (normal) tire wear was like when the car was new.
I went through about 4 sets of tires.

I change tires when it they get down to about the last 10% of tread as that is where most flats occur and I need good tires for snow.

[YarisSedan]

Id recommend tire balance once a year and a wheel alignment only when you replace your tires or your vehicle pulls steering wheel off centered. Last time i had my alignment done it was 4 years ago i just got tires 2 weeks ago and when they checked it , it was still good and ive had my share of potholes

[karloslatynos]

I've rotated my tires about 1k miles ago but just realised I've done it in wrong order! (shit happens) I've moved back tires to the front and the front ones to the back across instead of moving the front ones to the back and the back ones across to the front (as manual says) Should I put them back & then rotate as manual says or it doesn't really matter and just carry on rotating them in "my" sequence?

[IllusionX]

If your tires are not directional, then it doesn't matter.

[shepd]

In fact, for directional tires, the only rotation that is legitimate is to put the front tires on the back (and vice versa) without swapping sides.

Doing it that way will reduce tire life by a very small amount. I would not bother about it at all. Frankly, the only time swapping sides really makes a big difference is either when your alignment is messed up, or you have a full size spare.