So the boss and I went out to lunch the other day. We were talking about cars (He has a Hyundai Elantra). I was telling him how I had my tires rotated at the local Firestone service center (Its free, I have Bridgestone tires). I ranted on how they chipped two rims while taking out the lug nuts.

He said with my car since its RWD its not necessary to rotate the tires. He said tire rotations was mainly for FWD vehicles since the power of the vehicle comes from the front.

I'm not sure what to make of that. Is this true? Is it a REQUIREMENT to rotate tires?

 

Not exactly true. With FWD, the power and steering are both on the same wheels, so it's even more important to rotate frequently. A RWD car will still wear the tires unevenly if you don't rotate -- usually the rear tires will wear out first. Keeping your alignment within the factory specs is also beneficial to tire life.

Find a local, reputable shop that isn't Firestone.

 

i rarely rotate my tires on my weekend cars... i just replace them when its time. for instance on my FF car, i drive it until the front's gone and just get a new pair. depending on how it drives, i usually put the new pair on the front first to see how it
handles, then if it's too tail happy i put the rear tires on the front, and the new tires on the rear.

i rotate my commuters' tires just to get the max life out of them.

you need to specifically find a tire shop that is fluent with larger wheel sizes
in order to get them swapped without damage to the wheels. most wheel places
can't do it.

 

rotate to even out the wear, period. Unless you are staggered like some of us

-T

 

Since we can't rotate our tires b/c the front and rear are different sizes. Can we switch from side to side?? (left to right and right to left).

 

I believe on this instance you could BUT if you have directional tires you might run into problems.


Thanks for the tips everyone...

 

I'd be b*tching at them for screwing up my rims and tell them you want them repaired. A Sears Tire Shop put scratches on 3 rims when they put new tires on my wife's MDX. I raised a little hell and had them paying for a rental car and repairs the rims.

Also, if you are going to have a tire shop do the swap / install, I'd do a walkaround with the service advisor beforehand pointing out any flaws that are already there. That way they KNOW you are watching and it's gonna be their problem if there are any new scratches.

 

Even with staggard fitment and directional tires you can rotate by removing the tire and remounting on the other side. There is a shop here in Orlando that does all four for $80.00 and doesn't scratch the wheels. My suggestion is to find an aftermarket specialty mod shop. Chances are they do it all the time.

 

What is the name of the shop and its location?

 

Just rotated my fronts a few weeks ago. Alleviated some of the roar that was coming up from the wear on the insides. Rotated them at about 18k miles. Probably should have done it sooner. Did the left to right thing, which in reality is flip the tire on the rim and swap sides. The rears only show wear in the middle, so I didn't see the need to take the expense, since they'll need replaced soon anyway.