i like to do mine every 3k miles.. harbor freight jack.. front jack point . lifts the entire side of the car up.
front off..to back back to front.
other side

finished in 14 min.
have a beer..

oh
wash them and clean the inside so they look pretty .

done

 

I always rotate every 5K miles. This is a FWD car, period.

 

That's what I saw as well. I now have 13K miles on my Bridgestone Potenza non-RF's and am wondiering if it's "too late to rotate" at this point

There is a DEFINITE negative camber angle to the rear tires on the R56 MC. I can see how they would wear differently than the fronts; especially after not being rotated more frequently.

I'll take it to my buddy's for a DIY, or to Discount Tire and have them swapped front to back (uni-directional) and report back when I get the results.

 

I am confused as well; the manufacturer recommends that the tires should not be rotated, but it appears that you want to rotate them?

 

I can't imagine why MINI doesn't recommend tire rotations. The link below from tire rack makes much more sense. I've always rotated mine without worrying about which tire went where before. Since I have three sets of wheels and tires I'm usually switching them enough that they are within 1 or 2 32nds tread depth. Therefore I put the tires with deeper tread on the front (don't do this when the tread depth difference is significant). By the time they are taken off the tire the front tread depth is less than the rear, but still close. In this way the tires are matched until time to buy new ones. I then buy four tires.


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=43

 

My 2009 factory manual recomends rotating the tires every 5,000 miles. It also states to just same side front to rear rotation and never X rotation. The only cars you never rotate are when the front wheels are a different size then the rear such as a late Corvette. The mini has same size all the way around. You just never want to run a tire backwards. You want the arrow pointing in the correct direction. I'm going to rotate mine every 5,000 miles which will be coming up soon.I bought a Torque wrench at Lowes that is american made for less then $90.00 tax included. Torque is supposed to be 103 F-lbs. I also bought a wheel hanger to make the job easier from E-Bay. It sure can't hurt anything to rotate the tires and I'm positive it will help with safty and wear. """JUST DO NOT X ROTATE THEM"""""
Ronnie948

 

The Gen 2 is different!

 

Rotated ours every 7,500 miles and with 18,600 so far, everything is fine.

 

I just did my own tire rotation last weekend and noticed my car now is slightly pulling to the passenger side. I need to test it more thoroughly, but it seemed to be the case right when I test drove right after the rotation. Am I doing something wrong during the rotation that could have caused this?

I used a floor jack to lift the back, then used the MINI jack to lift the front. Swapped front to rear on the same side, hand tighten, lowered front and rear, then torqued. Repeated the same procedure on the other side. Could I have messed up alignment or suspension part by jacking up the car in this fashion?

Plz don't laugh, I know it sounds stupid, but I want to make sure I'm not destroying my wife's ride.

Thanks.

 

You should snug them with the wrench before you lower the car, hand tight by hand does not get the rim seated properly, you might have an off centered wheel thus causing your pull. Jack it back up, loosen the lugs retighten then lower and retorque and test drive. Always use a torque wrench and set per rated settings in workshop manual. Remember most setting are given in Newton Meters, not Pounds.

Cheers
Mr. Jim

 

UPDATE: I took my car to Discount Tire. They rotated the tires, front to back (same side of course...no criss/cross), and I have been driving them without consequence for about 500 miles. No pulling, no tire romp, no nothing....just a smooth ride. Fine at highway speeds, too.

I would recommend rotating your tires regularly on your R56. I waited a long time (about 13K miles as stated above), but there should be NO worries in rotating if you do so every 6000 to 8000 miles, or as suggested by the tire manufacturer.

 

Thanks. Sorry to mis-lead everyone, when I said hand tighten, I actually meant hand tighten with a breaker bar till the stud bolts are snugged. Then lower the car for finally torquing to 89lb-ft, since my torque wrench can't go increment of 0.5 lb-ft.

I will try lifting and loosening and retighten again. Thanks for thre advise.

 

The Torque should be 103 Ft. Lbs not 89.
Ronnie948

 

I don't think anything MINIKJ did is likely to cause the pulling. Probably just hypersensitive after working on the car. It was probably pulling before he did it.

I believe the torque settings are different for the RWhathave you and RWhatever MINIs. 89ft-lbs is close to what I do mine with the older bolts.

When I do a same side rotation I simply use the front jackpoint with the MINI jack and get both front and rear wheels off the ground. Saves a bit of effort.

 

Hi Blue Bonnet:

I did the same as you do. Floor jack rear and MINI jack front. You could be right about me being hypersensitive. Can't help it, drive a hyper-blue . I loosened the wheel bolts and clean both wheel hubs, to make sure the mating surfaces were clean and hand tighten till snug. Then lowered and re-torqued everything back to 89lb-ft. It still seems to be pulling ever so little. Maybe it's time for an alignment after driving 4 years.

BTW, Ronnie, I checked the shop manaul and owner's manual, the bolt torque spec is 88.5lb-ft, unless we are talking different mea. unit. 103lb-fl could stretch the wheel bolts a bit too much.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

SO if i read this correctly everyone is saying don't do the "X" pattern with the rotation? Friends are telling me do to "X". What is the write way to do this on an R56?

 

Our original Dunlop run-flats have an arrow showing tire direction (rotation) which would require a front/back rotation and not the "X" pattern.

 

X pattern rotation are fine if your tires are "non-directional".... whereas "directional" tires should be rotated F <> R only. Check your tires and see which you have.

There's no need for any manufacturer to include tire rotation as part of the service routine. It has more to do with extending the life of the tires and has no relation to safety... so less work/cost to the manufacturer while the vehicle is under FREE service. However, it's a good idea to rotate tires on a regular basis to even out the wear pattern.

 

2002 to 2006 torque is 88-89 ft.lbs. 2007 its 103

 

CORRECT - take a GEN1 to 100+ and risk stripping the damn thing out .....

 

I rotated mine at 9,000 miles, though to be honest I could not detect any visual indication of more wear on the front than rear tires. I rotated them anyway more out of concern about possible rear tire cupping than uneven tread wear. Again, no visual indication of cupping on any of the tires. I moved both front tires straight back, and crossed the rears as I moved them up front.

At 37,000 miles, the front tires were nearly worn-out, less than a 3/16" of tread, with the tread on the edges nearly gone. The rear tires had just over 1/4" and significantly less edge tread wear.

Had I rotated them back at 28,000 probably could have it made it to 40,000 miles. Instead, I replaced the 4 tire set at 37,000 with slightly uneven wear.

Overall, a single rotation in 37,000 miles seems almost maintenance-free compared to some other cars I have owned. Had a 2001 Saturn L200 wagon that the rear tires were destroyed by 6,500 miles from cupping and no rotation.

Incidentally, --Baron Mini in Kansas City had the best price in town on the replacements, a slightly longer lasting Conti model.

 

On page 020-31 of my Bentley Publishers Service Manual for MC 2002-2006 it says: MIN does not recommend tire rotation. Rotating the tires may adversely affect road handing and tire grip.
Wha????????????????

 

No - rotate test drive - it probably will be ok - if not have them balanced.

 

i usedd to be an advocate for rotation but not on the mini . my fronts last maybe 15k and the rears have been on for 60k and are fine . if i were to swap them out all the time i'd be buying 4 tires every 20k insted of 2 every 15k.in other words; these cars eat front tires like nobody's business;why throw good after bad?

 

Is there a formula to arrive at the 20k number... or is it a wild guess?