Ok, I did a search and did not find the exact info I wanted, so here goes...

1. What is the tire rotation pattern for our cars? Driver's front to passenger's back and vice versa?

2. If that is the case, how do you keep one half of your car in the air at one time? Jack stands? If so, where can you safely place the jack stands so as to not do any damage to the car? I understand that there is a place for the jack, but I'm novice and could not figure out how to lower the car onto the jack stand in the same spot as the jack.

3. If none of that makes any sense, please suggest an easy way to accomplish the goal.

Thanks!

mb

 

1. Rotate front to rear / same side / every 4,000 mi

2. A floor jack under the front jacking point will lift the entire side of car

Hope this helps...Mike

 

I've been jacking up by the front subframe to get jack stands under the jack points. I don't see a problem with this, but you'll want to use a jack pad to avoid marring the subframe. As mentioned above, this will lift the whole side of the Mini.

 

1. Normal rotation pattern for four wheels is different for FWD, RWD and for directional tires. See-
http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=EZ3&url=/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=43
Rotation like this is best suited to fairly new tires that are evenly wearing, but if your tires are fairly worn (2 years old) or just 2 of the 4 are worn more then it's generally better to just rotate both fronts to the rears on the same side.

2. Doing this type of rotation makes it easy to use a floor jack (not the flimsy emergency hand jack) and wheel chocks to raise one side (both wheels) of the car using the front jacking point. My floor jack has a rubber pad on it but a thin block of wood will also work. For those that have lowered MINIs the racing floor jack doesn't go low enough to get under the jacking point so a thin piece of wood under the front tire will help add some height.

Don't wait for your front tires to show wear before rotating. 3000 miles should be fine but it depends on your tires and your driving style.

Your handling will depend on the condition of your tires. As they wear out the thinner tread depth will aid dry traction but at some point compromise wet traction. Since you want handling to be the same in the front and rear then having tires that are evenly worn would be helpful.

Don't forget to reset your flat tire warning button that often gets activated when jacking your car.

Torque the wheel nuts to about 88 ft-lbs each.

 

Better yet, don't rotate!

 

Yep, here we go!

 

If your tires are directional, you must only rotate front to rear, rear to front.
If non-directional you should rotate front to rear, cross rears to front.
Either way, I'd suggest rotating at least every 5000 miles.