I need some advice, please, from you great bunch of Mini owners who I'm anxious to meet...soon I hope.
Little Rebel just flipped 6,000 miles and I'm wondering about tire rotation....when to do it and where to do it. Is there anything else I need to know about, or should do, before her first check-up in October? The 12 months will hit me long before the 15,000 miles even with the upcoming Denver trip.
Will absorb and greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks!!!!

 

Hi Little Rebel.
This is my story. I did not rotate my tires until 15K miles.
(Yea, I know you should do it every 5K but I didn't have any issues so why mess with it) I looked in the manual and it didn't say diddly about rotating tries.
Plus I still got 38K out of my run flats which some people say is fantastic.
I only rotated and aligned a total of 3 times I think.
Asfar as where to do it.... there is the dealership ofcourse but they charge a lot! I was told by the dealership that 'anyone' can do tire rotates and alignments. But I don't trust my MINI to just 'anyone' so I succumbed to the dealership a couple times and then a guy up North who works on MINI's constantly. I'm trying to find a local guy in the QCA but no luck yet.
I hoped this helped.

 

I have directional tires so I dont rotate but I do switch season to season front to back. There is much debate to rotate or not, I think what Smokin said would probably be fine, 15k, however I would monitor your tread every month or so take a quick measure of the depth of your tread, and look for signs of issues.

 

I have basic stock tires, not run flats and unfortunately Omaha isn't real convenient to get to for tire rotation. I've also read that anyone can do it but also concerned about someone working on her that isn't well versed with them. They are a different kind of bred.
Thanks much for the advice.

 

If you're in Des Moines, try Beckley Automotive downtown or Dale's Tires on Euclid - they have done my first Mini also my daughters - no problem with either

 

Laura, I do my own rotation every 5K - 7K miles and like D3m0N, my current tires have directional tread so they can only be swapped front-to-back (i.e., on the same side of the MINI).

About the only way an independent shop could screw it up is by over-torqueing the lug bolts -- a common experience if the grease monkey uses an impact wrench. Insist that they use a torque wrench and give them the torque specification for the lug bolts on your MINI (it's 103 ft-lbs for your Clubman) and you should have no problems.

 

Depends on your tires, if you have Goodyear Excellence Runflats from the factory, go to a Goodyear dealer and have rotation done every 5,000 for free....

 

I thought Willis Automotive was getting the MINI dealer in DSM. I called up there last week to make sure that they would service a MINI and they said yes they already do that. Though like someone else said, they will probably charge a lot more.

 

I also heard about Willis. They are supposed to become a Mini dealer by year end but had no clue they were doing any servicing. I signed up on the web to be notified but haven't heard anything. But then they are a dealer......... Appreciate the info, tho!

 

They will service but cannot do warranty work as of yet.

 

A little PSA related to this thread :

If you are in the Davenport/Quad Cities area, my husband is available to work on your Mini. He is a veteran VW mechanic, which have many similarities to the MINI, due to the German engineering, and is now working on Lexuses for his day job. His only experience on Minis thus far is on mine, doing routine maintanence and little mods (changing tires, spark plugs, wiring aux input jack, replacing brake caliper, fluid changes, etc.).

If you are in the Iowa City area, he could do some work there too at his friend's garage.

Contact me if you are interested and I'll get you in touch with him.

 

i will keep that in mind thanks for the heads up