Floor Jack/Tire Rotation

it must be it. it's a compact "racing" one.

 

Yeah one thing: the driver's side is always a little lower, maybe 1/2"

 

Could that depend on the weight of the driver?

 

he meant once you put the car up with the jack, because the jack point is slightly out of center to the right/

 

rotated tires again and used separate jacking locations for each wheel. I used flat bottoms of springs (not sure of the exact terminology) for rear wheels and frame just behind rear mounting bolt for lower control arm for front wheels. Worked like a charm and was super easy. I sequentially raised RR, LF, LR, RF, and RR again to finish. I used this scheme with spare filling the RR spot for the rotation sequence:

 

My Pri approaching 35K mark, out of Toyota Care period and the last service at 30K with transaxle drain and fill performed at the dealer, I am finally ready to take on my first ever rotating tire DIY. I got myself a floor jack, jack stands, and torque wrench. Info in this thread was so useful. I don't have to do oil change till 40K, so that is the next challenge.

 

I just use two scissors jacks. Two on the passenger side first, rotate tires front and back. Then move to the passenger side, same way, front and back. Then I only take the rear scissor jack (from the passenger side), move it to the front drivers side and then rotate the front tires side to side.

 

I have read quite a few other threads on the subject of tire rotation, but could not find a consensus on which rotation pattern to be used. Until now, tires were rotated when they were swapped to snow tires, but they were done at tire shop, so I didn't really know what pattern they were using. Are most people here doing "Forward Cross" rotation pattern instead of Toyota recommended "Front-to-Rear" ? Since I now have a floor jack and 4 jack stands, I was going to follow the Mendel's suggestion to raise all four wheels. So, either patterns are doable.

 

I've stuck with toyota's recommendation, just rotate front to back. Our snows are directional anyway, so it keeps me from getting confused, lol. One advantage: the curb rash tends to be on two wheels only.

Have you taken wheels off already? If not: be ready for possible sticking, ie: you get all the nuts off and it just sits there. I think aluminum rims are worse for this, due to dissimilar metals? There's a couple of approaches to deal with this:

1. Put all the nuts back on, very loose, and lower the car, see if the car's weight will crack the bond.

2. Leave the car raised, with the wheel preferably an inch or less off a slab, put one lug nut on near the top of the pattern, very loose, put some timber backing behind the tire, on the inside, and slide a big sledge hammer across the slab into the back. Takes a certain amount of gusto.

A sparing application of anti-seize compound to the hub and bearing points might help reduce the sticking. I'm on the fence on this, trying to avoid adding grease that might migrate to brake disc, or end up in the environment. Keep it very thin.

Also, before raising the car, be sure to slightly loosen all the lug nuts, so you're not fighting with them when the car is raised.

 

Mendel, a big Thanks for Pro's Helping comments. I have not done the rotation yet. I still have 600+ miles to my 35K mark. A brand new floor jack was just delivered yesterday to my front door. My biggest concern was the jack stand point issue which had been discussed so many time on various threads here at Prius Chat. I like your photo showing exactly where they should go.

 

It's like many things in life.
This means that it really doesn't matter very much on non-directional tires which pattern you use.

I buy my tires from a big box store, and with the exception of the last set that we bought for my CFO's mastodon, I've done so for years. Sam's/Costco will usually have prices that are pretty low - and - I get my tires rotated and balanced for "free" when needed.

I have a good friend that runs a tire shop in our town who is scrupulously honest (to a fault) that I have do my brake work for me.
I felt guilty about not buying tires from him and so I popped for a set of 255/65R18's for the mastodon.
They were somewhat cheaper than the big box store, and he will only take $10 for the rotations (no balance.) I did the rotation myself ONE TIME ONLY because I didn't want to take advantage of his generosity with the low price.
....never again!
For the remainder of the mastodon's present tire's tour of duty (they're at 55K with probably 30-percent remaining tread life) I just pay the $10 every now and then.
BUT.....this still makes the 'cheaper' tires more expensive in the long run even if you account for the fact that the big box store is about 15 miles further away.

So....
Do the big box stores and their 'torque sticks' really do a proper job????

My answer is 'yes'...and I'm the guy who will only let a mechanic---ESPECIALLY A DEALER mechanic, touch my car under duress.
The reason is simple.

Lawyers.

I used to be dubious of the torque sticks, because while it's not critical that lugs be tightened to within one or two ft/lbs of their specified torque, they should all be close to the SAME torque value......so if the college grad that's driving the impact gun grabs the yellow stick instead of the red one, it won't wreck the wafer-thin rotors on your car.

When I was knocking holes in the ocean on my last submarine, I "owned" many of the masts in the sail because they were connected to my gear. I had a special torque wrench that I used for 'breakaway tests' to see if I could re-use the $134.47 stainless fasteners that keep things attached to other things.... (relax! that price was a JOKE!!)
I used to delight in telling noobs to fetch my 'left-handed torque wrench' which was a purpose-built click-type specifically for loosening junk.
Yeah....
I know.
The Russians and Chinese probably just use a beam-type wrench.

Well......I don't have that wrench any more, and so I cannot see if the lugs are torqued to spec.
I'm wont to verify that the lugs were torqued 'at least' to spec, after about 100 miles or so, but I'd be lying if I said that I do this regularly.

The truth is that I've watched them the first few times, and they always have somebody verify that all the lugs are tight and the tires actually got rotated.
They do this because of slip-and-fall lawyers........so I use the big-box stores with confidence.

YMMV

 

Torque wrenches can be cheap but good. I got a 1/2" drive one maybe 35 years back, then recently, especially for lower values, got a 3/8" which went down to 5 ft/lbs. I did some jury-rigged testing, setting both 40 ft/lb, then pulling them (one foot from fulcrum) using a tension scale, torquing on a wheel lug nut. Both clicked around 40 ft/lb, not bad.