Tire Rotation

Shh…I don’t think policy makers want people to own things long term, it’s bad for their economy, good for ours though lol!

Following the ’08 financial collapse, they held hearing with the auto industry leaders and I watched in horror as they literally scolded the automakers in capitol hill for making their vehicles last so long! Lmao!

Their concern was that they needed to get out of the recession by making vehicles last less and people would halve to buy more often, go figure.
And now they have invented this thing about us going all EV to pick their economy back up and getting rid of the ICE, so there’s that.

 

I just have it done when needed at the specific oil change while it is up on the hoist.

 

I've been doing it as per the manual, (front to back), but only do it once a year when I do my oil change.

I only put on 10K kilometres (6k miles) a year, living so close to work and when I go Mall Crawling....

 

I worked in a service station from 81-90. I was trained at the time that it was the advent of radial tires that caused the change from use of the cross to straight up and back. Bias Ply were swapped side to side and front to back.

 

I get a lot of heel-and-toe wear on the tire lugs, so I cross them when rotating. Have for years on many cars with radials, it does not harm the tire.

 

I know this is not a tire rotation post but I noticed my factory spare is stored with the valve stem up. And the manual says to store it like that. Now how in hell can you check the pressure in your spare without having to drop the spare down. I dropped mine down and turned it over then cranked it back up. Seems to store just fine that way. I check my spare tire pressure about twice a year and keep about 42 lbs in it. I might go years and not need it, but any tire will not seal perfectly and lose air over time.

 

I know this is an old post, but that is exactly it. In the early days of the steel belted radial it was feared that crossing them could cause problems. The reason being is that when you put a tire on the other side they roll the opposite direction and it changes the forces applied. People were afraid of metal fatigue. Kind of like when you keep bending a paper clip that it eventually breaks. You would have thought they realized that the tires were made with spring steel, no different than the leafs or coils their suspension was riding on. In any case, it was severely taboo to even suggest a cross rotation. These days the modified X is the common suggestion. This means that each tire spends time at each corner.

Does a front to back rotation hurt or help? Who knows. It doesn't create a safety concern which is probably why Toyota sticks with it. I could only imagine the number of calls they would field from people if they suggested a modified X and they really don't care about your tire wear. In reality on a rear wheel drive, rotating really isn't necessary, and certainly 5k is over kill. Front wheel drive, different story. Fronts on those will last about 25% as long as the rears if you don't rotate.

It is a myth that you can even out wear by crossing them. Once a tire is worn, the rubber is gone. It doesn't come back and it won't even out.

I'm sure @tacman19 has fielded his fair share of rotation questions.

 

A downside to doing what you did is that adding air if the tire is tight against the bed could stress out the chain/hoist system or the tire. Just as quickly as you lowered it down to flip it, you could check the pressure and air it up real quick. I don't know the exact reason why they send them the way they do although I can see the benefit to having to lower the tire, air it up, then tighten it back into place. If you're only doing it twice a year, then that's not much hassle.

The other reason would be so the hoist pulls on the backside of the rim and doesn't mar up the front side, but it's an ugly steel wheel so that shouldn't matter much.

 

I see do your point, but I did air it up to 42 lbs after I flipped over and then cranked it back up. So I figure if I keep about the same amount of air in the tire there shouldn’t be that much stress on the hoist. And you are correct, it is a steel rim painted black, don’t care what it looks like. I guess a lot of folks don’t even check the spare, my neighbor saw me flipping my spare and said “I have never checked my spare, I’m sure it’s fine”. I said how do you know it’s fine.

 

I need to take that bet to...me and you could make some side money

 

I rotated my tires for the first time today. Toyota did it the first time. I did it like I have always done it, back to front and the front cross to the back. I called the dealer for appt. for free oil change and rotation. I was told they were booked through mid July, so I did it myself and will change my oil this weekend. So much for the free oil change and rotation, they talk a lot of hype when you buy the truck but then it’s “later gator”. And I put a tiny dab of anti seize on the wheel studs. I always did that. It may effect the torque value a tad but I ain’t running at Talladega.

 

Wet torque reduction using anti seize compound is 25-30% of the dry torque spec.

 

Your post got me curious about exactly what was my torque when using a little anti seize on the wheel studs. A friend from church who is a retired mechanic from American Airlines has a high dollar digital dual-direction torque wrench and we checked my lug nuts. All of them were between 85.2 - 85.5 ft lbs. (spec is 83 ft lbs). I can live with that. Those workers at Toyota are running those cars through there like an assembly line rotating tires and hammering on those lug nuts with a 1/2 inch drive air impact. So we checked his Highlander lug nuts which Toyota had recently rotated and his torques were around 110 ft lbs. not even close to spec.