Just hit 5000 miles. Anyone rotate their own tires?

I rotate my own... did it at 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k and then at 50 I decided to wait till 55k and then probably change them out by 70k...

I have 4 boards made from 2x8's that I put in front of the tires, then drive the car up on them before I start. The clearance is so low it's so hard to get the jack under and easier if I use these to bring the car up just that 1.5 inches before I start.

Loosen the nuts on rear driver wheel.
Use Jack to lift up that side... I jack on the carrier for the shock absorber, take that wheel off and then lower that wheel onto an actual jack stand.

Check the tire pressure on that tire, get it ready to install.

loosen the front driver wheel nuts, jack it up, take off that one, put on the one I got from the rear.

Check that tire for pressure, loosen nuts passenger rear, jack up that one, swap tires...

Check tire pressure, swap that one with passenger front..

Check passenger front pressure, put it on drivers side rear.

So, the back wheels come forward, the front cross over on the way back.. I jack it up with a cheap hydraulic jack on places fairly near the wheel itself and I only ever have 1 jackstand that just holds the original corner up where I started. The rest of the time, I'm taking one off, putting one on..

Probably doesn't make sense to get the car up on 4 jackstands with all 4 wheels off..

 

I'll be rotating mine this weekend, using the spare as a placeholder as I don't have any jack stands. Front to back, no side to side changes. In another 5,000 miles I'll put the back ones back on the front and the front ones back on the back.

-wiiprii

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Green Hokie @ Jun 13 2007, 01:03 PM) [snapback]460958[/snapback]</div>

I have 2 jacks, so I put one jack under the jack point on the rear, and jack both rear wheels off the ground. Then I take the other jack, and put it on the "frame rail" on one side of the car just behind the front wheel, jack that wheel up, and swap the wheels on that side -- I can't reach the center of the cradle that the owner's manual recommends with my floor jacks. Then lower that front corner and repeat for the other side.

I always rotate front to back, unless the owner's manual indicates otherwise.

If I only had one jack, I'd jack up the front corner at the frame rail, put a jack stand there, remove the front wheel, jack up the back and swap wheels, then lower the back, then jack up the front again and remove the jack stand. Then rinse and repeat for the other side.

 

i rotate mine every 5,000 miles and i use two floor jacks to support it. i believe this to be minimal risk since i am never in a position to be pinned by the car. the front support has i believe 4 bolts heads sticking out that shows where the joint on the frame is. that is what i use to line it up with.

 

I did front-to-back fairly recently since I've now got the Hydroedges
which are directional tread, so you can't cross them. For each side
I stood the tires up tread-to-tread next to each other and took
pictures straight down through the grooves to see if I could detect
any differential wear between front and back. I couldn't, and that
was probably 6000 and change miles after buying them. My driving in
general is fairly low-load so I could probably drop to an every 10k
or 15k with no ill effects whatsoever.
.
_H*

 

I have no comment on your question, but I just had to say that I love seeing another Hokie here!

Jennifer and Chris
Class of '96

 

1. Secure the emergency brake.
2. Block tires (chock block).
3. Loosen nuts on front and rear wheels.
4. Jack under midpoint on side of vehicle.
5. Lift vehicle (one side)
6. Remove nuts, switch wheels (front to back, back to front).
7. Secure nuts on each wheel.
8. Lower vehicle slightly.
9. Secure nuts further.
10. Lower vehicle completely and check nuts.
11. Do same to other side.

I rotate tires at every oil change interval. Cheaper and quicker to do it myself. Also gives me an opportunity to inspect parts of the vehicle I don't normally look at.

 

Rotating tires on a fixed schedule reduces safety. It is safer to rotate tires only as needed to keep the *less* worn tires at the rear. You want the best traction in the rear to reduce the chances of fishtailing or spinning out.

 

What's this all about? My tires rotate whenever I drive.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Jun 15 2007, 10:27 AM) [snapback]462318[/snapback]</div>

I disagree, I put the best tires on the front to have best traction on the wheels that steer and drive the vehicle. Rear wheel slides are easy to correct for by countersteering but if you slide the front you loose steering control of the vehicle. This is particularly a problem for FWD cars in snow. It may help that I grew up driving RWD cars in the snowbelt and would take the car out every snowstorm to practice in empty parking lots. I still despise FWD.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Jun 15 2007, 09:34 PM) [snapback]462800[/snapback]</div>

Hmm, I also grew up driving RWD in the snowbelt. And I got real tired of my Jeep spinning out whenever the pavement was less than perfect. Keeping the better tires on the rear reduced that noticeably.

 

skruse...Where is the midpoint jacking point you refer to. Is it marked? I didn't see it in the manual.

 

Bump.

skruse...Where is the midpoint jacking point you refer to. Is it marked? I didn't see it in the manual.

 

Use a nylon block or a Piece of wood between the car and the jack. I bought a nylon jack block at Pep Boy's to keep the paint on the jack point.

Always use a jack stand after you jack up the car for safety sake.

Blue