Took my SE to Performance Tire for 1st rotation and balance check at 8000 miles. They are telling me that I should do at 4000 miles not beyond 5000 miles.
They seem to think it is critical on my car, going over that milage limit will casue the tire edges to "feather" and give problems later on. I did buy lifetime rot/bal for tire life for $100. So not in their interest to have me come in so often?
Any comments welcome

 

It's always in their best interests to get you in as often as possible. They can inspect your tires more often and maybe convince you it's time to replace them ... they may find evidence of uneven wear and maybe sell you an alignment or new struts ... they may find a puncture and get a repair charge ... as much as anything else, you just get used to the idea they are the tire place, and when it's time, they hope you'll come to them.

I've heard and read all the arguments for rotation, but to tell you the truth I'm a non-rotator. I just let the fronts wear out, then replace them. Then, when the rears wear out later on, I replace them. That way, I seldom have to buy more than two tires at a time.

Rotating will buy you a little more time by evening out the wear. But it will also introduce more potential problems, by having your wheels mounted and remounted a number of times, by switching the physical location of tires that have "bedded in" to a certain location on the car, by requiring re-balancing, etc., etc. Each of these operations can potentially get done wrong, and/or introduce new problems.

I say if your tires are performing properly on the corner where they are now ... leave 'em alone.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Mike

 

I also bought tire rotation and balancing before on my camry. The next tiime you go for balancing and rotation, they would tell you that they are busy or leave your car, plus the balancing and rotation is only good on your current tires. Discount tire have specials on balancing and rotation for less than $20.00 every month in my area. If you are a paying customer, they would do it right away.

 

Too bad you guy's didn't live in the North West, Montana, or Northern California. We have a tire chain called Les Schwab. They do all that stuff free. It's supposed to be just for people that have bought their tires through them, but they carry most brands, and can order any brand of tire you want. They never check for paper work, because they really don't care.

 

[FONT=Impact]Yea, I rotated my wheels myself. A great time to clean up and paint the hub surfaces of the rotors...$100;No Way

 

I get sick of waiting and waiting and waiting at all those tire places with lifetime rotate/balance......

It's best to rotate/balance the tires AS NEEDED. If you car feels fine and you get the tires balanced it could end up worse than before, esp. if the car sits for a long time before they take the tires off.

A lot of softer, high performance tires can flat-spot easily if they sit. The only way to get an accurate balance is for the tires to be warmed up for at least 10 minutes. Drive the car and immediately put it on a lift.

I think Infiniti dealer producure is to test drive every car before rotate/balance. Not sure if they actually do it..... worth asking for at if you have balance problems. I doubt tire places would care.

 

For this post, I will put my comments in these {brackets}.

{I believe that this is the case -- it certainly makes sense.}

{This used to be my position -- buy 2 tires rather than 4 -- until I totaled a car when it hydro-planed due to water on the road and not enought tread on the rear tires, even though they were not worn to the "wear bars." I was then advised -- by an auto technical expert -- that vehicles are much more stable and predictable if the tread on the front tires and the tread on the rear tires are as close to the same as possible. Also, that you should replace your tires before they wear down to the "wear bars." For the best performance, you should replace all 4 tires at the same time -- this will ensure that the tread depth and pattern is the same on all four wheels.}

{The "little more time" is true, but consistant, even tire wear front to back is more important for safe vehicle operation. The "potential problems" come from incompetant technicians at the tire store/dealership. If you can't watch the whole operation, I suggest you do the rotations yourself. I have a floor jack and jack stands, and it gives me a good opportunity to inspect each tire carefully for nails, cuts, bulges, etc. When I rotate my tires, I switch the front with the rear tire on the right and then switch the front with the rear tire on the left. That way the tires that have become used to rotating in a certain direction are still rotating in that direction.}