Tire rotation/First service/Warranty?

[Dave Rudy]

A set of loosely connected questions... I'm taking our car into the dealer tomorrow for the 5,000 mile service. They gave me a coupon for free oil change service at purchase which doesn't cover tire rotation. I'm used to rotating every 10,000 or even more. The guy at Toyota said if I don't rotate at 5,000, I should rotate every 10,000 to evenly distribute the wear, but 5,000 is the recommended distance. I figure the improved lifetime I may get out of the tires won't make up for paying for rotations three times a year.

Is it fine to skip recommended rotation? Not just for the car, but in terms of my warranty. My maintenance guide says if I get my service or repairs somewhere else, Toyota can't deny a warranty claim. But if I skip a recommended maintenance item, like every other tire rotation starting with this first one, could it lead to issues in the future?

[firepa63]

You can do the rotation whenever you want without affecting the Prius warranty. Toyota does recommend every 5K miles for rotation, but a 10K interval is also fine. You will find that the OEM Integrity tires don't last too long. Just be sure to keep them properly inflated, which means keeping them above the Toyota recommended pressures. I keep mine at 40 front / 38 rear. I also used these pressures on my 04 after I found that using Toyota's recommended pressures lead to premature tread wear. BTW, I also skipped the 5K rotation on my 09.

[icarus]

I wouldn't let the dealer do ANYTHING on our Prius unless they are going to pay 100% for it! Find out what the local tire store charges for Rotation,,, I'll bet you the dealer is twice as much!

Icarus

PS. Look at this way, at $20 per rotation, if the crappy O.E.M tires last 35k,, that would be 6 rotations or $120 plus taxes. Are you going to save $120 worth of wear on the O.E.Ms? The dealer will try to talk you into alignments all the time too!

[Dave Rudy]

Thanks for the reassurances, I just didn't want to be misled tomorrow. I have kept the tires inflated at 42/40 since we brought it home. I'll take it to the dealer for 15k, 30k, 60k, etc, but not the more regular stops.

[lefat1]

Originally Posted by Dave Rudy

Thanks for the reassurances, I just didn't want to be misled tomorrow. I have kept the tires inflated at 42/40 since we brought it home. I'll take it to the dealer for 15k, 30k, 60k, etc, but not the more regular stops.

If you do a search on the site, you'll find an excellent post by Galaxee re:service requirements. Almost nothing other than oil changes are required until 60k miles I believe.
Don't forget the service writers are on full commission, so it behoove them to up sell.