I've got an 03 MCS with R90 wheels. I need to rotate my tires and was wondering if anyone knew if I could just take both the tire and wheel off and then rotate them. As opposed to just taking the tires off of the wheels and doing the standard tire rotation. I figure it would be easier to take the whole wheel and tire off as one unit and rotate them around... but I'm not sure if the wheels have different sizes and they would therefore not function in a different position than they are now in. Anyone insight would be appreciated! Motor on!

 

Rotate the wheels with the tires. Look to make sure your tires are not directional, even if they are directional you still can move from front to back just not side to side.

 

I have never taken the tires off the wheels to rotate them. I just move the entire wheel to the new spot.
Am I missing something here?

 

Some cars have different offsets on front wheels compared to rear. If that was the case, you couldn't just move the tire and wheel.

 

I rotate my tires w/wheels... front->back, back -> op. front (non-dir. tires).

I usually do this when I put snows on for the winter, and the 'rains' on for summer... but since your in CA, this wouldn't really work for you

 

Never heard of taking the tires off and rotating them and not the wheels. The wheels are the same size, and the tires should also be. You can look at the size of the tire to make sure.

Just rotate the tire/wheel assembly either from front to the rear or, of you prefer and the tires are not directional, (also indicated on the tire), then you can cross-rotate.

I just rotate mine from front to rear every 5,000 miles.

 

I'll give you a for-instance of where you'd do this...

Say you have a Porsche 944 Turbo track toy...
The street tires are directional, and the fronts wear 245/40R17s and the rears 275/40R17s...

you don't want the skinny tires on back, and you can't put the left on right UNLESS you dismount and put the "inside" to the "outside" (to make them spin the right way...)

This makes the VERY large assumption that the tire is symetrical left-right...
I have tires that are clearly maked "inside" and "Outside," so I cannot rotate at all...

but I have no idea why you would have this setup on a MINI, unless you dumped a 335i motor in the place of the rear seats...

 

Another reason not to buy a Porsche (now added to the "can't afford one" previously used).

 

I don't rotate at all....once the fronts get kinda low on tread, I toss, and move the rear wheels to the front, and put the new tires on the rear...there is some controversy as whether the best tires should be on the rear or the front, but I think they should be on the rear

 

I think they should be on the front - that's where the power is applied. But really umberto, you are rotating, just with new tires.

 

oh yeah, I guess I do rotate, kinda half way though as the rears always move to the front, but the fronts never go to the rear as they get thrown out.

I agree...it makes sense to think the fronts should have the tires with the deepest best tread as the fronts do the pulling and the steering. But, the thinking is that if the rears have less tread than the front, then you might be more apt to get dangerous oversteer and dangerous loss of control. There was another recent thread on the tires/wheel forum with some good links/videos on this subject from Michelon and Tire Rack

 

Actually, I think it's another reason in favor of buying a Porsche. I hate feeling guilty for not rotating my tires regularly.

 

Funny, I just rotated mine today!
Be sure to look at the sidewall for "outside" and direction arrows before commencing. I use a floor jack (not the emrgency use only jack with car) on the front and do both wheels. It takes me about 20 minutes.

 

I rotate mine every 3000-3500 miles. I cross the fronts to the rear and then the rears up front.

For example:
Front Left wheel goes Right Rear
Left Rear replaces Front Left wheel.
Front Right wheel goes Left Rear
Right Rear replaces Front Right.

This is only good with non-directional tires. The tire will have an arrow on the sidewall that tells you the direction it needs to rotate while driving. On the MINI, all wheels are the same offset, so you don't have to worry. So in a year, the tires have been in every corner of the car at least once and they wear out more evenly.