I am wondering if it is easy to do a tire rotation. How is it done? And what is the recommended mileage to do a tire rotation.

 

You use a breaker bar + socket to loosen all the lug nuts on the car (don't take the wheels off the car)
You raise the car up
You put axle stands on all four points on the car
You remove the lug nuts on each of the wheels and remove the wheels now
Check the tires for uneven pattern etc
You put the front tires in the rear and rear tires in the front
You put lug nuts back on the wheels and tighten with your hands only
You then lower the car back down
You use a torque wrench and tighten the lug nuts to 95 ft-lbs (use star pattern)

If something is odd with the tire wear probably good idea to go get the tires balanced, car aligned etc.

ALSO using chalk or something to write on the tires somewhere helps (like FL, FR, RR, RL) F = front R = right

 

Rotate @ every 6k or every other oil change

 

Just to add to the above description:
- if you have directional tires rotate front to back - back to front.
- if you have non-directional tires rotate front to back and back across to the other side in front - this ensures even wear.
- if you have rims that are not hub-centric (don't fit the axle hub exactly) then don't loosely tighten the lug nuts while the car is in the air and then lower it to the ground to tighten them fully. You need to pull the ebrake and get someone to put their foot on the brake to torque the nuts properly in the air. You run the risk of the wheel not being centered properly to the hub if you don't and the result will be a huge vibration and possible loosening of the wheel.

 

^
you are so smart.

if I am using a hub centric adapter am I supposed to tighten them fully in the air?

 

only time i rotate tires on FWD cars is when the tread on the back is better than the tread on the front, opposite for RWD

ive installed wheels with hubcentric spacers with a jack and tire iron no problem, i just tighten it with all my force with the wheel in the air and after i let it down, tighten it again.

 

If you have hubcentric spacers then your wheel is perfectly aligned when you tighten the lugs. Tighten as much as you can by hand in the air and then drop and torque them.

Most of the time people run into problems with winter rims because often they aren't hubcentric. You have to be very careful to line up the lugs nuts perfectly with the stud holes in the rims and tighten without weight on them.

 

I rotate every summer. When I take my winters off I look at the tread. Better tread on front and the baldies on the back. No way am I doing this every 2 months.

 

discount tire does free tire rotations even if you didn't buy your tires there. get ready for a sales pitch(they atleast try to get you to pay for balancing, if not tires or something) but they will do it for free in like 10 mins

 

^^^That' where I get mine rotated every 6k & rebalanced...