How often should tires be rotated if you have RFs?

What if you have non-RFs?

Thanks!

 

I'd do it every 5 no matter what tires are on there.

mb

 

Rotated runflats-front to rear at 5000 miles on our 06 MCS. Could see a little difference in wear. So I will continue rotating them at that interval until they are kaput.

 

At 2900 miles, my fronts were already showing more wear than the rears, so I went ahead and switched them.

 

What does your MINI manual say?

 

What manual? It comes with a manual?

 

For runflats, don't rotate them. Let the fronts wear out at around 16K miles, put the good rears on the front, then buy new ones for the rear.

Using this method, you'll always keep a fresh set of tires and you'll only have to foot the bill for two at any one time.

I am one of the most gung-ho people on the forum on preventive maintenance, but I'm against rotating runflat tires. I don't want to buy four of these expensive artifacts at the same time.... Since I drive ~30K miles per year, I'm in no danger of having old dry-rotted tires.

Rawhyde

 

chow, you're just making up words again. I've never heard of such a thing. Man-yoo-el?

 

Indeed that can be done and is done by some owners by intent or by accident. Typically the best tread tires should go on the rear axle and the worn tires go on the fronts. This reduces risk of hydroplaning in the rear during poor or wet weather conditions and allows for better traction and control. During good weather the tires will work fine. Sometimes tires are directional so right side tires stay on the right and just rotate front to back.

A good source of runflats that are less expensive would be tirerack.com, talk or email Alex when ready and he'll give you the lowdown on the best options.

Runflats do offer decent overall performance with added convenience and safety if you ever do get a flat in busy traffic, in the middle of the night, in a bad unfamiliar area, or during bad weather. The Cooper S doesn't come with a spare so flat tires are of concern.

For the rest of us having non runflats is a viable option and we have fix a flat, carry our own spare in the boot or pack a cell phone to call AAA or roadside assistance for help. The better selection of tire sizes, better performance or comfort from the non runflats and better options on prices makes that workable.

Tire rotation is done whether runflats or not at about the same intervals. 3000 to 5000 miles is very common if you want. Much depends on how you drive, your tire pressure, and your road conditions. I favor regular rotation and get rid of the runflats ASAP but I live on an island only 40 miles wide and I have a spare car and AAA with 100 mile towing included.

I myself will rotate tires every month or sometimes sooner and I have many sets of tires and wheels to rotate to. The only tires I wear out are my autocross and track tires- been through about 4+ sets in a few years. My road tires usually last, did wear out a set of Yokohama ES100s once (not really that worn but I needed an excuse to buy Bridgestone Potenza S-03s which were vastly superior to the ES100s).

Fronts will wear out faster, just keep your eye on them and check tire pressure regularly for best wear.

 

No, its really true.

MINI DOES publish an owner's manual and every new owner gets one. It has ALL kinds of interesting information in it like TIRE SIZES and when to rotate tires. Its a little booklet usually along with some other MINI stuff that people usually just stuff in their glove box and never bother to open up and actually READ.

But why bother reading when you can just spend time typing up the question on the Internet and wait for somebody to have DONE THE READING for you?

Sigh ... I guess this should be in the rants thread

 

My factory set of Dunlop SP5000 1st gen runflats lasted me exactly 2 years and 23K miles. I rotated them every 5K miles since the car was new.

2 weeks ago, I bought a brand new set of 2nd generation runflats, (R56 MCS takeoffs) Goodyear Excellence RunOnFlat, had them mounted, balanced and the car was professionally aligned on all 4 wheels. The ride and handling are sunstatiantially improved over the stock OEM tires and now my car is even posting better fuel mileage (27 MPG city up from 24 MPG). The new second gen runflats have less rolling resistance = better fuel economy.

I will be more agressive with the tire rotation mileage interval and do it every 3K-4K miles at the absolute latest. I am hoping the new set will last me 30K-35K miles under this new approach.

 

You sure you got a 3 mpg increase just by going to a different tire? There would need be be an incredible difference in the rolling resistance. Maybe the new tires are a bit bigger...or your driving thus far on the new ones is a bit different than the driving in your previous city average?

 

My tires are usually worn out before I get a chance to rotate them more than once.

Just a theory here, but couldnt you rotate at 5k, then wait 10k more and rotate again? It would give the new fronts a chance to wear beyond the new rears. I cant explain with words to well, but I can draw a crude picture for everyone to laugh at if you want.

 

Your tires should "rotate" everytime you drive your car.

Otherwise, you will hear a loud, screeching/scraping noise, and you will smell rubber burning.

-B

 

Well, according to Goodyear, the new second gen runflats have much improved rolling resistance over the old runflats and this translates into better fuel economy. I have had the tires already for 2 weeks and the MPG has improved substantially in my book. My daily driving routine or habits have not changed at all. In all honesty, these new 2nd gen runflats feel more like normal radial tires. May be they are not a good choice for the track, but for spirited street driving they are really good. For instance, on hard cornering these tires don't screech like the old Dunlops SP's used to do, at least not as easily. The ride is fairly comfy and another plus, these babies are not nearly as noisy as the factory runflats.

I will continue to closely monitor the performance of these tires in my R84 16" rims and see how the hold up overtime vs the old set of runflats. Right now I am getting between 297-310 miles per tankful in city driving. Before the tire switch I was getting no more than 250-260 miles per tankful

 

But it allows for interaction with fellow MINI Owners.

 

Yeah, what Miska said! LOL Besides that gets me more hits when I search!
Tires 2-2500
Plug torque same
Oil 5k
Blinker fluid - 10k

Tim

 

BMW never reccomends rotation because so many cars use 2 different wheel sizes and some even have directional tires. Put 2 and 2 together and you'd best be taking that pddle in reverse! But thats why Porsche owners generally keep the technical advoce to the poorch-E boards

I do it every 5k religously now and this is the longest I've ever had a set of tires, and in just short of a year I'm also at more than 50% tread left too!!!!

And I check tourques weekly.

 

BMW doesn't recommend rotation on our MINI's because......

Drumroll please.....they don't want to pay to have them rotated. IMO they could care less if they wear out faster without rotation. They most likely figure they'll get more of your money when you buy a new set from them.

 

And you know this because ...

NM, your probably right

 

IMO = In my opinion.

I didn't state it was fact just my opinion. Which I happen to believe is right in this case.

 

My car just turned over 20k miles, and assuming that the dealer rotated them during the 9500 mile service, that's the only time they've been rotated. Neither the fronts or rears show much sign of wear, even or uneven.

Zip

 

I'm agreeing with you! Thats why I wrote NM

 

The MINI Owner's Manual says nothing, absolutely zero, about tire rotation. It does not say either to rotate or not rotate tires. I've seen people post about asking MINIUSA on the topic, and the official response was that they do not recommend tire rotation.

BTW, the Owner's Manual PDFs for every year 2002-2007 are downloadable from the Owner's Lounge website.

 

Oops, sorry haven't had my meds today chows.