Rotate Tyres

[WillWord]

Anyone Rotate their tyres, any real benefits. How much to get a garage to do it. Any pitfalls.

[Full Monte]

Check there not directional tyres, as if they are you cant swap X way just front to back on same side. Please correct me if i'm wrong

[stratosg]

I rotate (to be accurate, swap the front with rear ones in straight not in X pattern) mine every 15.000Km that helps them to have equal tread wear. Every time, job is done by my supplier for free plus he checks the balance weights. I don't think that they will charge for more than 10 to 20 euros for someone that is not thei customer.

Edited 3 May, 2012 by stratosg

[Igloo Vindaloo]

I swap mine front-back every time I change from summer-winter tyres.I think it evens out the wear.

Even without that the Michelin Energy tyres I had on my C3 lasted for 60,000 miles (100,000 km).

But some cars wear tyres quite unevenly - in particular my old Peugeot 205 diesel would chew through front tyres.

Too early for me to say for the Fabia, yet.

[Ad Lav]

I do and will swap my fronts to the back, not sure when, only covered 5000 miles in a year

[MartynVRS]

I've done almost 7000 and I'm thinking of swapping soon

[irfant]

I'm doing it with 10K km intervals

[WillWord]

Thanks, any idea on cost?

[Ad Lav]

You can do it yourself or ask when its in for a service?

£20 tops

[CFB]

I had this done yesterday at STS tyre pros .

I asked them to swap corner to opposite corner and the fitter said that was no longer allowed.

Apparently due to police accident investigators statistics regarding blown out tyres causing said incidents.

It was found that X swapping tyres was a major contribution.

Something to do with stresses on the steel plies being reversed leading to tyre failure.

I wasn't going to argue.

Cost me £13.50

[softscoop]

I had this done yesterday at STS tyre pros .

I asked them to swap corner to opposite corner and the fitter said that was no longer allowed.

Apparently due to police accident investigators statistics regarding blown out tyres causing said incidents.

It was found that X swapping tyres was a major contribution.

Something to do with stresses on the steel plies being reversed leading to tyre failure.

I wasn't going to argue.

Cost me £13.50

You mean you've got directional tyres, and he didn't want to put them on backwards?

[CFB]

You mean you've got directional tyres, and he didn't want to put them on backwards?

nope. i'm not that stupid!

the dunlops i have on the yeti are not directional as such, but the are marked with 'outside'

so swapping corner to corner would not make any difference. :p

[awfabia]

I regularly swap front to rear ON SAME SIDE because lots of tyres are directional. This does have one disadvantage - you have to pay for a complete set 'cos they all wear out evenly. Advantage is that you get the same tread pattern all round, especially if you include the spare.

I got tyre men to put the new tyre off the steel spare onto an alloy so that I'm carrying around a spare with about 3mm and not 'wasting' the value of the lovely new tyre that came with the car.

Briskoda people - go check your spare to see if you have upto £100 in your boot that you could use!

Correct tyre pressures help to economise on tyre purchases as well as getting better fuel economy.

Usually find that, however careful I am, need new tyres about every 25,000 miles. Mine are Continental EcoContact 2s which seem fine for my use.

[awfabia]

Oh, I forgot! My hobby horse is that ALL cars ought to have at least a space saver if not a full size spare wheel. Usually when you get a puncture at speed, by the time you stop the sidewall is destroyed and no amount of tyre foam will get you home!

Another suggestion - try changing a wheel at home to ensure that all the 'kit' (including locking wheel nut key) that came with the car, works.

[curleybar]

Oh, I forgot! My hobby horse is that ALL cars ought to have at least a space saver if not a full size spare wheel. Usually when you get a puncture at speed, by the time you stop the sidewall is destroyed and no amount of tyre foam will get you home!

Another suggestion - try changing a wheel at home to ensure that all the 'kit' (including locking wheel nut key) that came with the car, works.

Good point, my new car has only a can of foam/kit (no spare even as an option) & I am now paranoid that every journey will result in a puncture.....!

[awfabia]

Good point, my new car has only a can of foam/kit (no spare even as an option) & I am now paranoid that every journey will result in a puncture.....!

When I accompanied my nephew to buy a used Fabia, we asked the dealer and he obtained a space saver & tools from a breaker's. The breakers are glad to sell space savers as they are practically all unused and they would have to pay to dispose of the tyre with the environment tax. Don't forget to buy the jack and wheel brace,too.

[Rsrob]

I do rotate and will swap my front to the back the car is in for sevice next week so they are doing it for me

[logiclee]

I swap front to rear and back when I swap Summer and Winter tyres.

Both Fabia's were ordered with a full size steel spare, my Passat came with a full size alloy spare. Hate the foam idea but some cars dont even have a spare wheel well.

Cheers

Lee

[Auric Goldfinger]

I had this done yesterday at STS tyre pros .

I asked them to swap corner to opposite corner and the fitter said that was no longer allowed.

Apparently due to police accident investigators statistics regarding blown out tyres causing said incidents.

It was found that X swapping tyres was a major contribution.

Something to do with stresses on the steel plies being reversed leading to tyre failure.

I wasn't going to argue.

Cost me £13.50

Modern radial tyres should always be swopped front to rear on the same side as they learn to rotate a certain way. As stated above, in theory the tyres will be rolling backwards if you swop corner to corner

This applies to none directional tyres, obviously you can't swop directional tyres unless you take them off the rims and refit

[skoda1982]

tyre fitter near me said no need to change them as it is cheaper for 2 front tyres than all four

[logiclee]

tyre fitter near me said no need to change them as it is cheaper for 2 front tyres than all four

But usually works out more expensive in the long run as you get a good discount on four.

Plus if you decide to change brands to try something else at least you get a matching set. I hate mismatched tyres, my bro-in-law siad the car he bought wasn't handling very good. He had 4 different tyres by different brands, two were directional, one asymmetrical and one standard and all four had differing tread depths. I said is there any wonder?

Cheers

Lee

[tlx]

I was surprised to find that the full size steel spare ordered with my Fabia FL is marked like a spacesaver, i.e. 'do not exceed 80kph/50mph' and is rated H, a lower speed than the other tyres. Hence it cannot be rotated with the other tyres. This does seem rather odd - why supply a full size spare wheel and then fit a 50mph rated tyre? It doesn't seem to make any sense. Could a standard tyre be substituted, perhaps by a worn original tyre, making the speed of use unlimited - a much more satisfactory arrangement?

[logiclee]

I was surprised to find that the full size steel spare ordered with my Fabia FL is marked like a spacesaver, i.e. 'do not exceed 80kph/50mph' and is rated H, a lower speed than the other tyres. Hence it cannot be rotated with the other tyres. This does seem rather odd - why supply a full size spare wheel and then fit a 50mph rated tyre? It doesn't seem to make any sense. Could a standard tyre be substituted, perhaps by a worn original tyre, making the speed of use unlimited - a much more satisfactory arrangement?

Yours is an Elegance, is your steel wheel 16"?

[CFB]

I was surprised to find that the full size steel spare ordered with my Fabia FL is marked like a spacesaver, i.e. 'do not exceed 80kph/50mph' and is rated H, a lower speed than the other tyres. Hence it cannot be rotated with the other tyres. This does seem rather odd - why supply a full size spare wheel and then fit a 50mph rated tyre? It doesn't seem to make any sense. Could a standard tyre be substituted, perhaps by a worn original tyre, making the speed of use unlimited - a much more satisfactory arrangement?

it's the same on the previous ford focus models.

the tyre and rim are exactly the same as the standard steel road wheels on the cheap spec cars so can be obviously be used at speeds up the the rating on the tyre.

by the way, H is rated at up to 130mph so you should be fine

they put the 'max 50mph' label on to cover their @rses.

[philhoward]

Imagine the phone call to the AA/RAC/whoever...

"I've had a puncture. The foam keeps spilling out all over the road. Can you come and fix it?"

What IS the normal procedure these days when that happens? Do they remove your tyre and take it/you to the local tyre place nowadays or just carry a collection of different space savers with them? What happens if you have a blow out/sidewall destroying puncture at 10pm?

Only ever had two episodes - and both times when i'd left the spare out of the vehicle!

Edited 4 May, 2012 by philhoward