Has anyonre read the 2002-2004 Bentley Service for the MC & MCS where it states that MINI does not recommend rotating the tires on the MINI?

I don't understand this. What is their justification for not rotating? This just doesn't seem right.

My apologies for bringing this subject up again but I've read some threads regarding the to rotate or not to rotate question but I am still left wondering how? (rotation pattern), when? (at what mileage interval?) and why not?

Any thoughts or other threads I've missed that someone could direct me to?

Thank you.

~Paul

 

I saw this in the manual as well. I'm sure someone will chime in how it is a ploy by BMW/MINI to "make more money."

I suspect that since most MINI owners don't plan on or know how to rotate tires that it shouldn't be a concern. The rear tires are canted more than the fronts so swapping front to rear may cause a change in ride quality (after rotation) due to the inner edges of the rears being more worn than the outer edges.

I plan on rotating my new Kumhos every 1500-2000 miles to get the most mileage out of them and to lessen the effect that the rear camber has on tire wear. "Even" out the wear if you will. I have no choice with the Kumhos - due to their directionality - but to swap front to rear. The stock MINI runflats are not directional and can be swapped FL to RR for example.

 

definately sounds like a "buy more/spend more at the BMW dealership" to me

 

I have been rotating about every 2K miles usually because I seem to have the car up on jack stands often (like to play ) My runflats are non-directional so I rotate in an X pattern.

 

OK, so I have ~6000 mi on my run-flats (17" wheels); do you think it's too late for me to rotate them to even out wear? I haven't really looked at them recently so I'm not sure how they are wearing.

 

Has anyone here gone back to the dealers to buy tires I would never buy tires from the dealer It seems to me that Discount Tire/American Tire, The Tire Rack, etc. has much better prices than the dealer.

I did not rotate my first set, nor my second set, but I am rotating my third set

Earl

 

I know I'm **** but, I usually give my tires a quick glance as I approch the car. This way, with exception of runflats, you can see if a tire is low nad what the wear looks like. Just a habit and I do it without thinking about it.
Also check gas gauge before I drive away (thats what two kids will do for ya )
Not to late to rotate, especially if your going to do it yourself. I would assume you have enough tread left to justify the effort or cost if your going to have it done by someone with a lift. Remember to torque lugs bolts to 90 ftlbs.
If your tires are directional, you can only rotate front to rear and that can be done by jacking first one side then the other. If they are not directional, I use the X pattern but this does require having all 4 wheels off the ground at the same time.
Can't stress enough the importance of torquing lug bolts/nuts.

 

The concept of rotating tires is as extinct as bias ply tires. The whole concept of tire rotation was to spread the wear among the 5 tires that came with the car to maximize tread life. When radial tires replaced bias ply tires, the traditional concept of rotating tires had to be changed, since radial tires wore specifically to tire rotation direction, so if you put, lets say, a lft front tire on the right rear, the tire was now rotating in the opposite direction. This was bad for radial tires, so "rotation" now became simply switching front and rear tires on the same side of the car. Some tires even had a unidirectional tread, meant to only rotate in one direction. Because the spare was out of the rotation, space saver spares were introduced, since the concept of a full size tire you never used became moot.

Now. we have run flat tires to complicate the deal. We also have cars with different size tires in front and back, and suspensions that stress the tires in totally different ways from front to back.

Rotating tires does not change the total amount of tire wear - it just spreads it out so you needed 4 or 5 new tires at the same time. Nowadays, in a front wheel drive car, you probably have to replace the front tires twice as often, but the total amount of tire wear, and the total amount of tires needed stays the same. No one makes "more money" from this situation.

My daughters New Beetle has 60,000 miles on it. I have put two new tires on it, and replaced one tire that blew with the full size spare. No one is making a fortune on me. The high performance tires on the Mini cost a lot to replace, but rotating or not rotating won't change your total cost per mile for tires over the long run.

 

If you follow that concept, then you'll be buying new tires every 20,000 miles for the front only and the rear tires will stay the same. I'm a big fan of even wear and then changing all four at the same time. Why have tires with a different number of miles on each corner! I feel much safer changing all four.

 

Dear JoeDentist & maneeto:

Thanks for the input. I see that both ways of thinking have merit. A guy I work with has a Honda Civic and he says he does not rotate and changes just the fronts; the rear tires last a long time. He says he does not rotate be/c hates the way the car feels after rotating. The tires wear differently due to the fact that the front and rear suspension are set up with different camber etc. The different wearing the tires have undergone no longer fit the suspension any more and after rotating--he says the car handles like crap.

I don't know about shelling out cash for 2 new tires every 30,000 miles. Do you think a happy medium would be to rotate frequently to avoid the uneven wear the front and rear suspensions will create and thus minimize the car handling like crap??

 

as a guy who just recently rotated.. i can add some small advice

one is be ready for the rear end... the rear end will imediately feel loose... especially if you got an aftermarket sway bar.. i had the sway bar adjusted to the middle when i had my tires done, and it was one of the biggest mistakes i've ever done (if you do a 180 on a quiet street when turning at 'fast' speed then you'd know!)

two is vibrations... even with perfect balancing, vibrations got pretty bad for some reason all around... before once my tires settled the vibrations was not at all intrusive.. but when i rotated them it became quite bad.. of coze it has again settle.. i wonder how it'd feel when i get my summers back on!

hope this helped

 

I didn't rotate my first set of tires--stock runflats. By 19,000 hard miles, my fronts were nearly bald and my rears had atleast 80% left. I decided to get rid of them and go with Yokohama AVSE100's, and I rotate every 3000 miles--front to back. I have not noticed any sort of vibrations, or looseness. My tires have been wearing evenly--I now have 27,000 miles---so that makes 8,000 miles on my Yoko's, and they still have lots of life left---which I'm thankful for. I hope to get atleast 20,000 out of them. The one thing I do miss about runflats is that I didn't worry much about punctures--which I've had 2 punctures in the last 8,000 miles.

But as far as tire rotation goes, rotating allows you to get familiar with the car, to give them a thorough cleaning, and even time to inspect your brakes if you want. I recommend it.

 

I have rotated my tires every 5000 miles,don't notice any real difference.
The wear on the tires is quite even,they all look the same to me,and like OxtaneGuy says,good time to clean them inside and out.
I jack up the front,remove wheel,put on the spare,then do the back swap,go back to the front,swap the spare out,repeat on other side.Easy like cake

 

Oh that's a good idea--I ended up just buying another jack---so I use the MINI jack for lifting the front, and the 2nd hydraulic jack for the rear so I can lift the entire side---you can buy a jack, plus stands, wheel chock, and other odds and ends from Pep Boys for less than $50.

 

I just put my jack on the side-front jack point, and can get both the front and rear tires on that side of the car off of the ground at the same time.

Autocrossing has made me a mini-tire-changing expert in only 6,000 miiles of ownership

 

Yep, tells you how stiff the chassis is on these cars.

 

As JoeDentist, up the thread states, tire rotation as somewhat fallen from the pure science. BMW has not recommended rotating tires for many years, figuring wear out the tires on one axle and replace. I did that fort the majority of the original run-flats, until I couldn't stand it anymore. In the long run, I think you will get a little more mileage out of all the tires if you rotate regularly, probably every 3-5000 miles, then replace all at the same time. I went to some slightly lighter TSW wheels and Yokahama Parada Spec II 215/40 tires about 6000 miles ago, and rotated them after 5000 miles, and they look even and smooth--no cupping--and no change in driving feel. I now have the original wheels and run-flats stacked in the garage--two worn just about to the wear bars; the other two with about 30% tread remaining. Front wheel drive, suspension set up, how hard you drive the car, typical road conditions where you drive--I think it comes down to what suites your psyche and neighborhood. Keep on Motoring and keep a grip!
kgspin

 

kgspin:

I have decided to rotate every 3-5000 mi already so after your post I feel more confident in doing so. I rotated about 1-1/2 weeks ago and the car handles fine with no noticeable change. I had about 6000 mi on original runflats already and they were mostly highway miles. Wear looked pretty even as well.

Thanks for the help

~Paul

 

Yeah, it's great. I used the spot shown on this website for raising the MINI during oil changes: http://www.webbmotorsports.com/forum...topic.php?t=10

I just kept jacking until I had both tires off the ground and high enough to throw both jackstands under there (one on each jacking point).

Thanks for the tip!!:smile: