I emailed Mini Usa cause I wanted to know if tire rotations was covered under the free maintenance plan. My reply was Mini doesn't recommend rotating tires.....so why the heck would Irvine Mini Cooper asked if I wanted the wheel balanced and tires rotated for $99 other though money gouging.

 

Easy Money!!

 

MINIUSA has flip-flopped at least a couple of times on recommending tire rotations. When I purchased my MINI in 2005, there was nothing in the Owner's Manual about tire rotation, and people who called MINIUSA were told that tire rotation was not recommended. A couple of years later, I was surprised to see signs at the dealer advertising tire rotations, and I discovered that the 2007 Owner's Manual recommended rotations every 3K to 4K miles. Now it appears that they have changed back and the 2009 Owner's Manual says nothing about it.

 

I don't care what MINI says. Just do it yourself front to back...clean up the wheels while they are off. Do one side at a time.

 

I don't see how tire rotations could hurt.

I usually rotate my tires, it just seems to make sense.

But I am not paying anyone to do it. Also gives you a chance to look at them and see how they are doing. And as MI MINI says, easier to clean too.

 

I still think tire rotation is a good thing to do, it does even out wear front to rear which is important.

 

You rotate tires because they don't wear even. The MINI is no exception. MINI also says to change the motor oil when the OBC tells you to, which works out to be about every 18,000 miles with average drivng. Does anyone honesty go that long before changing their oil?

 

maybe they think if you dont rotate you will wear out 2 faster, and then they will tell you they can only replace all 4 cause if you just replace 2 it may set of a wheel sensor due to the size difference between and new and old tire. Bottom line in my opinion, it is always about the coin, so as other have stated, R O T A T E em

 

I agree with what everyone else has said. For one $99 for a rotate and balance is crazy, I'm sure its because their labor rate is so high. Rotating is even more important in a FWD car since the weight of the engine is over the drive wheels so they will wear faster. If you don't go to MINI for your new set of tires, most shops will rotate and balance free for life, so no problem there. If you go through tirerack check with your installer and they may do it to, if not I'm sure a tire shop can do it for under $99. I also don't do my oil when the OCBD says. I change at 5k but no more than every 7,500 miles.

 

Sure it does - Page 102:

 

Go ahead and rotate the tires it will make them last alot longer.

MINI doesn't recommend it because then they would have to pay for it under the maint plan. Simple numbers game for them.

 

There's the school of thought to NOT rotate tires, then simply replace the front tires first when they wear out. Saving you the time, labor and expense of rotations.

http://www.tiresnotes.com/tire-maint...-tires-346.php


More reading related to replacing only 2 tires:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=52&

 

When I first rotated my tires during a tech session, I was warned by other club members that because of the different camber, the handling would be adversely effected for about 500 miles. Sure enough, every time I rotate, the car does not handle properly for a little while.

I can see how MINIUSA would rather not have customers deal with that. Like the oil change intervals, there's really no conspiracy here. If you are fine with the reduced handling for a few weeks, go ahead and rotate them. I should also note that once I ditched the run flats, the issue was less pronounced with regular tires (at least as far as I could tell).

 

BMW was recommending not rotating tires in the early nineties. There was no free maintenance nor run-flat tires.

 

Most people won't rotate often enough, specifically when the tires are brand new, and most vulnerable. If you delay - 10k for example might create a wear pattern that would cause vibrations when rotated.

 

MINI oil change interval under "free" or pre-paid maintenance will bring you to the dealer the first time somewhere around 12 to 15 thousand miles

tire rotation is recommended every 3 to 5 thousand miles ... is that a maintenance item?

MINI does not want to see you that often

hence "MINI does not recommend tire rotation"

 

tire rotation is not free. irvine mini said it would cost $99 for tire rotation and wheel balancing

 

BMW has taken the path that not rotating provides the best handling. On a FWD car it also provides short front tire life. I rotate about every 5-7,000 miles and I have non run flat tires.

 

I had my first oil change on my 08 MINI Cooper S this morning and figured I may need the tire rotation and balancing while I'm there, so I asked the my service representative if he could do that for me. He says it's $99 for tire rotation and balancing and I thought that is a lot of money to spend for the labor. Do any of you guys do it yourselves? I was going to do it, but he said I might get a lot of vibratoins. Whatever. What a rip off. Any suggestons?

 

Unless you're feeling vibration from the wheels chances are the balance is OK. I like to rotate tires at every oil change since it gives me a chance to inspect the brake pads and check out things behind the wheel. Only takes about 30 minutes with a floor jack and some stands.

Eric

 

My wife and I rotate our own tires every 5000 miles. We have the original run flats on the cars. We clean the wheels very good and wax the inside and outside of the wheels. It keeps em cleaner and the brake dust comes off much easier. We move the front tire to the opposite side on the rear and move the rears to the front. We rotate this way each time.
My wife's car has 28000 or so miles on it and mine had almost 20000 and the tires look brand new. I don't anticipate buying new tires anytime soon. The run flats work well enough for us. We don't track the cars but just have fun driving them. We do the rotation ourselves. We put the car up on 4 jack stands move the tires where they are supposed to go then wash and wax each on and reinstall. I have never seen a need to re balance and have never noticed any degraded handling at all. I have to reset the TPM after the rotation.

It takes us about 1 1/2 hours to do the rotation. It's fun. I get my wife to actually help with the rough stuff. We wear gloves to keep the brake dust off the hands.

Regards,

Pat

 

FWIW you would not want to do this with directional tires; instead it would be a same side rotation (eg. LFR to LRR)