Tire Rotation on Gen Two

Are they directional? If they are, they have an arrow on the sidewall pointing in the direction of rotation.

 

The manual says front-to-back. I do not earn what they pay the Toyota engineers, so I DO hope they earn it. So, I follow their instructions. Hope yours are not "welded" on as mine have been.

 

front to back is fine. you're just evening out the wear so you can replace them all at once.

 

When I encounter "welded", which seems to happen more frequently with alloy rims:

1. Have the offending wheel just an inch or so off the slab. (slab preferable, asphalt in a pinch, not so good on dirt)
2. Place a 2x4 piece on edge behind the wheel at base.
3. Leave ONE lug nut in, at a top location, and very loose, just enough to be secure.
4. Take the largest sledge hammer you've got (or go shopping for a good sized one), lay it with head about 2~3 feet inboard of the 2x4.
5. Swing it in an arc across the slab, aiming for 2x4 at centre of wheel.
6. Repeat if needed with more force, but it'll usually break it loose the first time. The top lug nut keeps it from possibly taking off.

 

I leave 1 lug on and just donkey kick the tire. if that don't work I have a big no-bounce plastic mallet and I wail on the inner side of the tire. that always works.

 

Someone (or two or three someones -- Patrick Wong might be one?) told me that for welded wheels to just loosen all the nuts and drive down the street a bit. That has worked. Backing up a few feet and braking hard a few times worked once, but never again.

Last time I rotated, I cleaned off all the gunk with a wire brush and put anti-seize on all the wheels -- that was in Jan. We will see what the summer brings. Of course, the cleaning and anti-seize was recommended by "whomever(s)" a few years ago, also, but at that time I was too lazy to take that extra step. Since then, I have "reformed."

 

There is nothing wrong with using an X rotation on non-directional tires. It is true that the Toyota maintenance recommendation is front to back on each side - and that procedure is easier to implement when DIY if you lift one side of the car at a time.

However if you notice unusual wear on one side vs. the other, the X rotation will help to even out that wear. I've done that procedure on occasion. In that case, I would raise the front of the car using jack stands placed at the points intended for the scissors jack. I would raise the rear of the car at the center rear jacking point with a hydraulic floor jack (look under the car for the inverted "tower" pointing down, that is the center rear jacking point). Now all four tires can be removed and swapped around.

 

No, I do not. The torque spec does not assume lubricated stud threads. Just use a 1/2" torque wrench set to 76 ft.-lb when tightening. Use a 1/2" breaker bar if needed when loosening the wheel nuts.

 

probably depends on wheel size, material and such.

 

Torque for the lug nuts is not all that important, I don't think as long as you are not off by whole lot. Having said that, I am sure I am wrong.

If I remember correctly, when I was trying to find the torque for the Camry, I looked at a Dorman (I think) chart that had hundreds of car models and it listed lug nut torques that ranged from like 50 ft-lbs to something like 300 ft-lbs ... as Bisco said, depends on the vehicle.

Before I bought my highly accurate and very expensive HarborFreight 1/2-inch torque wrench (seven dollars?), I always just jumped up and down on the lug wrench and called it good when I changed the tires around. Once I got the torque wrench, I managed to figure out my jumping up and down method resulted in a torque of around 80 ft-lbs. Which was close enough for me.

So, now my torque wrench is in Oregon and I am in Iowa and I am back to jumping up and down on the lug wrench. No harm that I can see.

BUT, as Patrick said, NEVER lube the lug nuts. It's a safety issue. I asked my mechanic about doing that several years ago and he looked at me in horror that I even suggested it.

 

most shops use an impact gun to put lugs on, so they will be tighter than spec. if the tech isn't a douchebag, he will use a torque stick so the lugs won't be way too tight.

as far as lubing lugs: with open lug nuts or rusted or partially cross threaded studs, sometimes lube is a good thing. with prius lugs, you normally shouldn't ever need to lube the studs.

 

My backwoods tire guy that I used for a few years always used the impact thing to get the wheel snug and then used a torque for final tightening. I think he had a different brand torque wrench than my HarborFreight model

When I had Goodyear FuelMaxs put on at Sears some 15 months ago, I would be surprised if those guys even knew what torque was...

 

a lot of guys just don't care. only concern they have is that the wheel doesn't come off when your driving and then you sue them, so they crank em on extra tight with the impact.