Hi Guys. I have 6100 miles on my mini. I'm going to schedule an appointment for my second oil change for next month when I hit 7k miles. On my last car I would rotate the tires every other oil change (6k miles). Should I rotate my minis tires more often? Or is 7k miles between rotations ok? I've noticed a little more wear on the fronts but It's not an abnormal amount. How often do you guys rotate? FYI my driving style is mostly relaxed. I do a little bit of spirited driving on the weekends.

 

I change oil and rotate tires every 5,000 miles. I don't think there's necessarily an exact time that tires should be rotated. If your tires divide their life expectancy between the front and the rear that's all you're attempting to accomplish.

 

I need to buy a tread Guage.
The front tires work at least 5 times harder than the rears on my car. At just over 1k miles, I can already feel the depth difference with my fingers.

 

My tires rotate every time my car moves. Sorry, I just had a beer.

 

 

...another fine example of exactly why we don't send donkeys to college.

 

 

This has worked for me in the past also

 

I rotate 5K-7K miles.
Currently on 3rd set of tires.
Tires are non-directional.
I bring front tires straight back on same side. Then cross the back tires to the front.
Currently 33K miles on them. They look to have lots of life left in them.

Do the same thing on my 4X4 truck and got 70K miles on the OEM tires.

I have never done an alignment, or had vibration problems, on either vehicle.

 

So the dealer just informed me they don't cover tire rotation under the 3- year no maintenance cost (which I'm learning is mostly just oil changes). I'm taking it in on Monday for an oil change. I declined the rotation because they want to charge me $250ish for tire rotation, balancing and alignment. They said I need to do all that because of the camber in the rear wheels. Is this true? I'm thinking I'll take it to wheel works. They don't charge for an alignment unless they need to do adjustments. Does anyone have any input? How much should I trust the dealer on this?

 

I'd have little trust in that dealer. You don't need to rebalance your tires when rotating and unless you're exhibiting unusual tire wear you shouldn't need an alignment. Rotating tires/wheels is only a 15-20 minute job, if that.

 

My plan is also to rotate the tires and oil change every 5k miles. Alignment checked every year ($60) at a local place.

 

Fwiw, my dealer suggests I rotate the tires myself every 5k or so, and that the car be aligned every 15k miles, give or take.

 

My dealer, Tempe Mini, just charged me $25 plus tax to rotate the tires.

 

I bought a 2 1/2 ton race jack from Sears for around $50 some 70K miles ago (there's still a couple in that price range) and rotate tires myself every 5K. That's 14 rotations. Paying $25 for the service that many times equals $350. That's a lot of beer.

 

The place I bought my tires from does free rotation, although I can do it myself if needed. Paying for it is nuts as most places want eyeballs on your car so they can sell you a brake job or new tires as needed.

 

Mini dealers are extremely expensive (afterall, BMW owns the brand). Find a good local garage you can develop a relationship with and supplement the no maintenance plan by Mini with your local garage. Call around and say that you are looking for a quality shop to start your relationship with and that you want to get your tires rotated and if they'll do it while you wait (they should if they want to develop your trust)!! Tire rotations are quick and inexpensive and an absolute requirement for the run-flat tires that are now on almost all Minis. They will wear super fast on the front.

You still have the Mini maintenance plan for the Service Bulletin work and oil changes but at some point you'll need to find an independent garage that you trust. Otherwise, you will no doubt be paying those BMW service prices for a long time to come.

 

Thanks for the advice! Not a bad idea! I'll look into shops in my area. Thanks!

 

I had new wheels and tires installed at a Tire kingdom. Most of the big shops will offer a tire rotation at a reasonable price. Shop around and get some prices.

The dealership should be able to just swap tries around for a comparable price as the other shops if that's all you want done (perhaps the forget that you're the customer). but apparently yours wanted to take you on a "sleigh-ride" for the extras.

Plenty of dealerships try to drum up unnecessary work to create revenue. Fortunately mine has been very good and doesn't recommend or force the unnecessary just to hear the cash resister ring.

Okay, here's a link for Tire Kingdom tire rotation pricing:

http://www.tirekingdom.com/tires/Tire-Rotation.j

Glad I checked, I get mine done free since I bought my wheels and tries through them. WOOT!.

 

Yeah, I asked my service adviser two separate times if they could just rotate the tires. Both times he told me no and said they would need to do a balance and alignment because of the difference in camber for the rear end. The logic doesn't stick with me, I couldn't get a more detailed explanation of why the camber settings would have any effect on rotating my tires as both the fronts and rears are the same wheel/tire size. If anyone could enlighten me on this it would be great!

 

makes no sense to me either. Wheels a spun balanced off the car..so which one goes on the front or back?

I don't know how a wheel swap from front to rear has anything to do with a tire & wheel that is balanced. Camber setting is what it is regardless of the tire and wheel being on the rear or front of a car.

Could be a store or even corporate policy that all rotations must include a re-balance and alignment. If that's the case, I'll go elsewhere.

 

Alignment won't be changed by rotating tires. Tires won't need balancing unless they were balanced on the car originally--not likely in today's world. I won't rotate my tires until I feel it's needed. I check air pressure regularly, look for issues on tread--front and rear, and then decide to rotate. If one rotates too often, they'll never see an issue, and all it does is maybe get you a few more miles that will satisfy the tire millage warranty. If it will make you feel better, try once a year unless you see a problem--align or balance and make sure tire pressure is checked once a month. Have fun.

 

Your SA was full of s***. It's a common enough to condition. Remember, Service Advisors are not technical staff, they're salespeople. Their job is to sell you service, at the most profitable possible rate that you will tolerate.

For reference, when my wife took in her Countryman S for its first service, they rotated the tires and charged her about $40 for it. Not bad for five minutes work; I didn't gripe because it saved me doing it. Next time in, a different "advisor" offered to rotate the tires for $80. Nope nope nope. Not gonna pay that much for 5 minutes work when the car is already on the lift.

Lesson: many services are priced at whatever the SA thinks they can get you to pay.