How often do you rotate your tires?

[Kanab]

Just wondering what mileage you rotate and do you rebalance everytime you rotate them? How is the wear, based on your rotatation/balancing routine?

I did a search and can't believe no one has asked this question before on this site. Maybe it's because the 4runner is real easy on tires???

 

[sharp4runr]

I make sure the dealer rotates them at my 5k services, but I've never asked them to do a rebalance or taken it somewhere to rebalance. The car doesn't shake or anything, so I didn't give it much thought.

 

[Kanab]

I make sure the dealer rotates them at my 5k services, but I've never asked them to do a rebalance or taken it somewhere to rebalance. The car doesn't shake or anything, so I didn't give it much thought.

How many miles you got on it now without a rebalance? How are the tires wearing? Even?

 

[HuntRunner]

I rotate every 5K, I have never rebalanced. Tires have worn good.....I have 31K miles on them and will probably get another 7K - 10K before I replace them.

 

[Pupwa]

That's funny you should be asking this question, I have been thinking about this for the last few weeks.The "Passport To Preformance" recomends 5000 mile intrvials. At 4200 miles and 6 plus months of use my ride is great. Tire wear looking good and I am planning to rotate and balance around 5000 when I do the next oil change. I am going for the high end of use on these Michelins. Just want to see how many miles I can get.

 

[Kanab]

That's funny you should be asking this question, I have been thinking about this for the last few weeks.The "Passport To Preformance" recomends 5000 mile intrvials. At 4200 miles and 6 plus months of use my ride is great. Tire wear looking good and I am planning to rotate and balance around 5000 when I do the next oil change. I am going for the high end of use on these Michilans. Just want to see how many miles I can get.

I'm like you, got the Michelins and want to make them last. That's why I'm looking for the sweet spot based on experience for rotation and balancing. I now have 17K on my 4runner. They were rotated at 1K miles (mistake by the dealer) then again at 6K miles and then again at 13K miles, with real good even wear (still look new). No rebalancing so far.

 

[Hitman]

Rotating and balancing the tires really have nothing to do with each other....

If your tires were properly balanced in the first place, and assuming that you never lose a wheel weight, then the tires should remain perfectly balanced for their entire life.

In other words, tires don't lose their balance for no reason.... something has to happen, like throwing a wheel weight or damaging the tire.

I usually rotate my own tires every 4 thousand miles (same as my oil change interval)

 

[Kanab]

Rotating and balancing the tires really have nothing to do with each other....

If your tires were properly balanced in the first place, and assuming that you never lose a wheel weight, then the tires should remain perfectly balanced for their entire life.

In other words, tires don't lose their balance for no reason.... something has to happen, like throwing a wheel weight or damaging the tire.

I usually rotate my own tires every 4 thousand miles (same as my oil change interval)

I did not realize that. I thought that the weights would vibrate out of position and then you would have to have them rebalanced. I guess I won't rebalance until they start to do this http://www.toyo.com.au/tech_info9p1.html

 

[Hitman]

I did not realize that. I thought that the weights would vibrate out of position and then you would have to have them rebalanced. I guess I won't rebalance until they start to do this http://www.toyo.com.au/tech_info9p1.html

If your tires have irregular wear, you probably need an alignment... not a tire balance. Sometimes under or over inflation can also cause irregular wear, especially if its on the center of the tread (overinflation) or on both outside edges (underinflation).

The best bet is to rotate your tires regularly and keep them properly inflated.

 

[Kanab]

If your tires have irregular wear, you probably need an alignment... not a tire balance. Sometimes under or over inflation can also cause irregular wear, especially if its on the center of the tread (overinflation) or on both outside edges (underinflation).

The best bet is to rotate your tires regularly and keep them properly inflated.

I've found that all the Toyota's I've owned had better tire wear then other brands. Think it is because of the suspension system being engineered better? I had 80K miles on some BFG AT/KO's on my 95 Landcruiser and they still had over 50% of the thread and wore evenly.

 

[EDGE]

Maybe it's overkill or the fact that my previous Nissans ate through tires like a fat kid licking the cream off an oreo but I rotated every 2000 miles

I've since changed that with the 4Runner, can't speak for the V6 guys who leave their trucks in 2HI but after some reading I found that the AWD system with the traction control really keeps the tire wear even, so much so that I let the Dunlops go to 5500 miles before I decided to rotate them (that was a 1st) they are wearing even, shocks me how even they are, I know the Audi's with the Quattro AWD rotate their tires every 15-20k and I think someone on yotatech mentioned after he rotated at 15k the tires still looked excellent.

My neighbor had a 2nd Gen 4Runner and a 3rd Gen now, he never rotates and gets crazy mileage out of his tires, I really think Toyota knows how to evenly balance the weight and align these things properly.

My ES300 I still rotate every 2000 miles but because it's FWD and it has performance tires on it but I might extend the rotation to every 4000 miles cause the tires don't seem to be wearing, remember the Nissans haunted me with tire wear.

Now I've never had my wheels rebalanced, 1 you don't need to unless you loose a weight and you pick up a vibration or shimmy and 2 the only thing it does is destroy the lip on the rim cause the techs beat the hell out of the wheels to get weights on and off, my 4Runner needed an alignment at 8000 miles, my dumbass took it to toyota thinking they would do a perfect job, got the truck back with 4 scratched rims, minor but it pissed me off, lession learned that next time skip the free work and pay 40 bucks to the guys who know and respect me and baby my rig, I've never had a damaged rim until my 4Runner and thanks to Toyota all 4 are equally damaged.

My Nissans ate through tires, their problem was they could not correctly align a car which was an obvious flaw but Nissan never had the balls to step forward and make a fix, my x-gf 350z was never driven hard except for me and the front tires had the same issues as my 96 Pathfinder, my 00 Pathfinder seemed to be fixed but then a 2000 Maxima I had destroyed tires, seemed it was either or with Nissan, they all had tire problems

 

[sharp4runr]

How many miles you got on it now without a rebalance? How are the tires wearing? Even?

Looks like other people have covered it already, but I have about 14500 miles (due for an oil change and rotation soon). I haven't had a rebalance yet. Tires are wearing very evenly though I have to say the Dunlops have very short tread. I've seen the Revos and they have very DEEP channels.

 

[Thai]

Every 6000 miles...because that's when i change my oil.

 

[EDGE]

Every 6000 miles...because that's when i change my oil.

Are you 1 of those people who change their oil inbetween the dealer changes:arrow:

 

[Thai]

Every 6000 miles...because that's when i change my oil.

Yup...and based on my observation of their general competence, i may just skip it all together and do it on my own. It is so sad.

 

[ToolmanJohn]

Every 5K miles

I just do it. Hate doing it in the winter though. I have to do mine this weekend, I'm getting the oil changed tomorrow after 5K (20K miles on the odo). I won't pay a shop $$ for something I can do in 45 minutes. I also rotate the spare as well. Have never needed balancing. If they do not vibrate, it's a waste of money.

 

[EDGE]

Yup...and based on my observation of their general competence, i may just skip it all together and do it on my own. It is so sad.

Aren't you the same guy who was telling BMW owners on the m3forum to just stick to the 1 year oil change that BMW offers and that changing the synthetic is a waste at such a low mileage figure.

You went on to point out that synthetic needs a break in period and protects better with some mileage on it, you also added that you where not going to question the engineers who built the cars cause they know best, and you would leave the oil in according to BMW guidelines cause it was in the manual.

You have now changed your thinking

HMM HMM HMM:arrow:

 

[EDGE]

Re: Every 5K miles

I just do it. Hate doing it in the winter though. I have to do mine this weekend, I'm getting the oil changed tomorrow (20K miles). I won't pay a shop $$ for something I can do in 45 minutes. I also rotate the spare as well. Have never needed balancing. If they do not vibrate, it's a waste of money.

You change your oil every 20k, damn

Im being sarcastic, I doubt you change it every 20k

 

[ToolmanJohn]

Re: Re: Every 5K miles

You change your oil every 20k, damn

Im being sarcastic, I doubt you change it every 20k

Nope, every 5K, just like the maintainence schedule says. Never loses oil, never changes color. Also lube the drivetrain joints.

Actually, Toyota does say 7500 mile intervals, unless you fall under the special operation conditions. So I'm being generous to the dealership and oil companies when I do it evey 5K.

 

[Thai]

Edge, you have a good memory. However, you misunderstood me. With my BMW M3, i had no intention on keeping it past the warranty period...the engine was just too unstable (high-strung) for long term durability. Since i was going to get rid of it at the end of warranty, i do not see the need to pay $$ to those crappy BMW dealers for oil changes...in fact, they damage my car while evaluating a speaker rattle!!

For my G-wagen, i do intent to keep it until it breaks. So, i support the every 5000-7500 changes. Since MB changes oil every 12-13,000 miles, i figure 6000 mile interval is a good number.

According to some people, synthetics do NOT need to be changed often (aka 3K miles). Instead, you should top off your level as needed and change the filter often (every 5K miles?). Then you can extend the changes to every 10-15K miles.

For me, i figure that 6K mile oil change interval is anal enough...but not too anal.

Aren't you the same guy who was telling BMW owners on the m3forum to just stick to the 1 year oil change that BMW offers and that changing the synthetic is a waste at such a low mileage figure.

You went on to point out that synthetic needs a break in period and protects better with some mileage on it, you also added that you where not going to question the engineers who built the cars cause they know best, and you would leave the oil in according to BMW guidelines cause it was in the manual.

You have now changed your thinking

HMM HMM HMM:arrow: