Rotating tires?

D

dcampen

New member
When I take my truck to the Toyota dealer for service and have they tires rotated will they normally rotate all 5 or just the 4 that are mounted? I had never paid attention to this with my Camry and expect that they were not including the spare in the rotation.

I figure that if I want the spare included in the rotation I will have to mount it on the truck before I take it in for service. If I always mount the current spare in the same position - say right rear, then 5 cycles of rotation will move each tire through all the positions.

I saw in a Michelin link that the suggested rotation pattern for FWD vehicles is different from the one for RWD or 4WD vehicles. For FWD the front tires move straight back and the rear tires move diagonally forward, with RWD/4WD it is the opposite. Can Toyota Service be trusted to always use the same pattern or should I put marks on my tires before service to double check on them?
 
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Tire rotation

If you are that worried about it getting done right, do it yourself. The rotation for 5 should be in your factory manual. I've done mine that way ever since I had a full size spare. Why have 5 perfectly good tires and only use 4? Don't make sense. Rotating my tires with a jack and 4 jack stands takes all of 15 minutes.

Good luck!

:guitar2:
 
when i had my 98 runner, i never rotated my tires. but then again i got 58k out of the factory tires before i replaced all 4 of them.

btw they were goodyear wrangler rt/s. crappy tires but they did the job for goodyears. i replaced them with the next step down from the revo's since at the time the whole town was out of revo's (oct-03) and no one could get any in till after xmas and i needed new tires before the first snowfall.

i tend to replace tires in pairs (front or rear) if needed or if i drive nicely, they tend to wear evenly and just replace all four at once.

ymmv.
 
I prefer to pay someone to do it right...........



I learned the only way to get done right is
to do it yourself.
I grew up working on my own car,and no one else.
one 10 degree night i had my oil changed and guess
what, that dinghead put my oil drainplug in his airwrench
and just crossthreaded the hell out of it. but as luck would
have it the pan threads are much harder than the plug
threads. new plug and no prob.(((do it yourself))
 
I rotated my tires on my own about two months ago. It was a royal PITA because I had trouble trying to line up the rod with the hole so I could begin lowering the spare. I believe everyone on this forum with an 03+ 4Runner should do a practice run on getting their spare off the rear end underside. You never know when you may need to actually use that spare to replace a flat tire and noone is around to help you out.

Mine was secured so tightly that it left permanent impressions on the tire.
Jon
 
Re: Tire rotation

waskillywabbit said:
If you are that worried about it getting done right, do it yourself. The rotation for 5 should be in your factory manual. I've done mine that way ever since I had a full size spare. Why have 5 perfectly good tires and only use 4? Don't make sense. Rotating my tires with a jack and 4 jack stands takes all of 15 minutes.

Good luck!

:guitar2:
Click to expand...

Good point on rotating the spare, I'm about to do my own tire rotation, and now I will include the spare.


Learn a new thing everyday. :D
 
Re: Re: Tire rotation

Biff said:
Good point on rotating the spare, I'm about to do my own tire rotation, and now I will include the spare.


Learn a new thing everyday. :D
Click to expand...

Congratulations! I've found it has several advantages:

1. You see your spare on a regular basis and know it is good shape and roadworthy.
2. You get more wear life out of 5 than 4, obviously. You paid for the spare, might as well use it.
3. Changing them yourself, you are always ready to change a flat in a flash if need be and not stranded. I changed some old lady's flat a few weeks ago in about 5 minutes tops. Ain't no way she could have done it, much less even picked up the tire.
4. If you lose a tire to damage, no need to have to buy two new tires. Then go back to rotating 5 when you get a new set of tires and include the new spare.
5. It's what the owner's manual suggests, but I seriously doubt few people do.
6. Rotating tires yourself saves you money, probably $100 a year if you have 285 MT/Rs like me, as they seem to charge you by the pound for rotating tires! :jester:
7. It'll get me out of the house this weekend when my mother-in-law is there. Whenever she comes, I rotate the tires! :p

Good luck!

:guitar2:
 
I just did 5K service on my 2004 SR5 4WD last weekend. Had the dealer rotate the tires, but did the rest myself. The dealer's normal policy and special price of $9.95 is for a 4 tire rotation. I feel the same as others out there about the advantages of 5 tire rotation and paid $27.95 to have them do all that. I don't know what rotation pattern they used, but the one in the owners' manual doesn't make any sense to me. It looks like you rotate three tires on the passenger (spare to back, back to front, front to spare) and two on the drivers side (swap front and back)! Can anybody explain the logic of this?
 
Jim said:
I just did 5K service on my 2004 SR5 4WD last weekend. Had the dealer rotate the tires, but did the rest myself. The dealer's normal policy and special price of $9.95 is for a 4 tire rotation. I feel the same as others out there about the advantages of 5 tire rotation and paid $27.95 to have them do all that. I don't know what rotation pattern they used, but the one in the owners' manual doesn't make any sense to me. It looks like you rotate three tires on the passenger (spare to back, back to front, front to spare) and two on the drivers side (swap front and back)! Can anybody explain the logic of this?
Click to expand...

Spare to front right.
Front right to rear left.
Rear left to front left.
Front left to rear right.
Rear right to spare.

I think that is right. I always have to get out the pattern to actually do it each time, as it is confusing.

:guitar2:
 
Brian, your pattern makes sense to me, but I just went out and checked the owners's manual again. The pattern in the manual has no crossing in it. On the left, you simply swap the front and rear tires. On the right side, you put the spare on the rear, move the rear to front, and move the front to the spare. Three tires on right, two tires on left - nonsense!
 
Biff, I think Jim is referring to the system that enables you to program three garage doors into your car. I just got that installed yesterday. It goes on the panel where the sunroof button and glasses holder is. It costs $98 for the part. You need a whole new panel with the three buttons on it. Well worth the money if you have more than one garage door!
 
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Owners Manual rotation pattern.

Yes. the rotation pattern in the Owners Manual seems strange. When I have the dealer rotate my tires I think I will exchange the spare with the left rear myself and bring the Service Rep. a diagram showing the 4 tire rotation pattern that I want. Also, I will figure out some unobtrusive way to mark the tires so that I can check on their work.
 
Biff, I Private Messaged a reply to your question the other day in case you didn't see it. Mark86 is right, I added a new map light plate assembly to get Homelink. FYI, there is lengthy thread on this where someone mentioned ordering the part on-line from one of the OEM suppliers for around $73. Do a search on Homelink. There several versions of this part (2 colors, with and without moon roof, with and without homelink), so make sure you get the right part number.
 
FirstToyz said:
which tires wear out faster?
I know on a FWD car, the fronts wear faster.
On a RWD car, the rears do.

I was thinking since a truck is so heavy in front, maybe the fronts wear faster or since it is aRWD, the rears wear faster?

In 4WD mode, do the fronts wear faster?

Stupid questions that I must know!:p
Click to expand...

It has been my experience that the fronts generally wear faster, RWD/FWD/4WD, it doesn't matter unless there is a mechanical problem or you like to leave rubber on the road when taking off. I think the fronts tend to wear faster because of cornering forces. As for rotation methods, I like the 5 tire method with the crossing sides. I'm not sure why Toyota is now recommending keeping tires on the same side when rotating unless it has to do with the direction of travel issue. It is my understanding that keeping tires turning in only one direction goes way back to the early history of radials. With the advances in tire construction, I don't think that is an issue any more.

I went to the Bridgestone site, and they have a very good tire maintenance section with specific info on tire rotation. For 4wd with non-directional tires, they recommend moving the fronts to the rear but crossing them, and moving the rears straight to the front without crossing. If you wish to add the spare in the mix, put it on the right rear and put the left front in the spares place.

If interested, the site is: http://www.tiresafety.com/service/serv_nav.htm

I think I'm gonna do it their way.
 
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