Your MINI service manual indicates that a (free) tire rotation is not due until your odometer hits 55k miles. Is it true that BMW made cars (not including MINIs) are not covered for tire rotation? Does camber and differential wear between front land rear wheels have anything to do with this?

Many of us are now approaching or have gone past the 10k mileage in our odometer. What are you doing about tire rotation? Or do you feel it is unnecessary, and if so , why?

 

My MINI has softer non runflat performance tires, and is lowered with HR springs. Consequently it has about 2 degrees negative rear camber. This will cause excessive rear tire wear. Rotation front to back will even out the wear, as the fronts tend to wear on the outside of the tire, and the rears will wear on the inside. I am rotating every 3k miles. While I think you could get away with as much as double that milage, (6k) I drive the car hard, and want to maximize the wear of my softer non runflat tires. The more frequent rotation interval will give more even wear.

 

I upgraded springs to H-sports and found that they were at negative 1.5 degrees camber. I had everything aligned and made the rear camber negative 0.5 degree. I would recommend rotating the wheels every 5000 miles or so for best tire wearing. If you belong to COSTCO then they will rotate tires for free as a member- if you are a member at Sams club you might ask about this benefit. Balancing is extra but only is needed on the fronts

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ALOHA

 

>>Many of us are now approaching or have gone past the 10k mileage in our odometer. What are you doing about tire rotation? Or do you feel it is unnecessary, and if so , why?

At about 5000 miles my fronts were about 75% worn out. I rotated them then, rears are the worn ones (dunlops, stock) and it doesn'tmake too much of a negative difference. Well, the only problem i encountered was there was ephemeral water coming out of a blind turn in the canyon, so my **** swung enough for hte car to be sideways, but quickly corrected it. Other than that, the rear has been tucked in, the front doesn't understeer anymore, and the tires last A LOT longer. I can't imagine driving it for 10k miles w/out rotating (i have 6k now), these dunlops would die! So yes... of course it is necessary to rotate, it's a simple matter of going down on your knee and inspecting how your tires are wearing all around.

Oh yea, and another thing, those 2nd gear tire chirps occur much less simply b/c the front has traction, this is even better for accelerating quicker.