Well, I am very psyched tonight, having done my first ever tire rotation all on my very own!! I have RFs, and my car had 23K on it before I even knew it. Don't cringe or yell at me guys - I just plumb forgot about the whole tire rotation thing, and thought that it had been done at my Mini service interval. Nope! A pal pointed out to me how the front tires were wearing much more than the rear (natch) and so I figured it was high time to rotate them. I didn't want to wait too late to do it, and put bad tires on the rear, and it was getting close. I also have an order for brake caliper paint on it's way to me, so I figured I'd have to get up the guts to do this sooner or later anyway

After perusing every NAM thread there was about jacking the car, I bought a collapsible breaker bar ($14) tire jacks ($18 a pair) a tube of anti-seize, a can of brake cleanser, a rubber mallet and small wire brushes. I already had a $30 torque wrench, a small piece of 2 x4 and my uncle's old floor jack from 30 years ago. I took a deep breath, and went at it. After I cracked the lug nuts of the wheels on one side, I drove the car back and forth just a bit - over about 4-5 feet - about 3 times. Now I was ready to start..

I tried the point on the subframe that Randy Webb suggested, but the whole side didn't lift (maybe 'cause it's a Cabrio and heavier?) - only the front wheel lifted - and that just looked too off-balance for me. So I found a point on the side rail, about a foot from the front jacking point towards the center of the side of the car. That spot worked great, and before I knew it, the side of the car was well off the ground. I stuck the jacks under the jacking points, and let the floor jack down just enough to let the car rest on the jacks - but left the floor jack in place just in case.

I was ready with my feet and rubber mallet, but shockingly, the two right wheels came right off! I took the opportunity to give them a good cleansing on the inside. I cleaned the brake calipers with wire brushes and the cleanser, and they came out great. Checked my brake pads, and found they were still about 7/16 of an inch thick (still thicker than the backing plate). I wire brushed the hub, and placed a TINY bit of anti-seize compound on the wheel where it contacts the hub (I used a pea-sized amount for the whole area - just enough to coat it lightly). Switched the rear wheel to the front and vice versa, and hand-tightened the lug nuts. I was very careful to press at the four "compass points" of the wheel as I tightened and re-tightened the lugs (and installed them opposite e/o first) becasue I wanted to be sure that the wheel was properly snugged up against the hub. After both wheels were on, I took out the tire jacks and let the car down slowly, and then torqued the lug bolts to 80 ft-lbs. (about 110 Nm according to my torque wrench).
On the opposite side of the car, I had to wail away at the tires with my rubber mallet and kick the wheels repeatedly before they would come off. (Well, two out of four ain't bad.)

I noticed this on the left front brake pad, and don't recall seeing it on the other pads - am I being paranoid, or is this improper wear?
There is a radius to the top of the pad ...



Any experts out there who can tell me if this is indicative of a problem?

Whew! I feel great having accomplished this. I just hope that I tightened the lug bolts properly and that the wheels don't fly off the car while I am going 70 MPH I'll probably have nightmares about that tonight!

Thanks, everybody!!

 

I can't tell exactly from the pic, but it looks like the pad is beveled at the
edge which is a common thing found on both original equipment and aftermarket pads. I checked my early build '05 and it doesn't have beveled pads, so perhaps given my poor eyesight and total lack of comprehension of all things photographic you may indeed have odd pad wear. Sorry I couldn't be any more vague for you, but it's 11:00 PST and I'm beat.
Buenos Nachos

Later

 

Ahhh...it could definitely be just a beveled edge. I assumed it was a radius made from wear, but it is pretty evenly bevelled along the top of the pad. I have all stock pads, maybe one of them had a bevelled edge and the others didn't? Or maybe I just missed it on the others? (I don't think this is the case, tho - I think it would have noticed it).

 

My '05 stock pads have a bevelled edge that looks just like that, It is normal, absent any other weird noises, marks, or change in stopping efficiency, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Looks like a normal Jurid pad to me.

 

Just so you know, now that you have rotated, if your rear tires are significantly more worn than the fronts on your FWD vehicle, you shouldn't have only rotated all four tires, but rather you should have moved the rears to the front and replaced the fronts with new tires on the rear. Ain't nuthin' worse than going into a high speed sweeper in the rain, and having your back end come around on you because there isn't any tread left on the tires, causing you to hydroplane out of control.

 

Ditto on the above information - I've seen it happen first hand. A friend in a FWD Civic SI was driving in front of me after he had just rotated his tires because the fronts were well worn. We didn't know any better, we figured the fronts need the grip to pull the car. As we were driving (I was behind him) he was going around a very gradual curve in the wet, probably about 5mph under or right at the 35mph speed limit on the road. BAM, quicker than he could react, the rear lost grip and started coming around, he corrected the wrong way, spun, and went into a sign.

I learned: Don't put worn tires on the rear, get educated about how to correct in emergencies.

mb

 

One other thing about your rotation. I wouldn't recommend placing the jack on the rocker panel. Good way to collapse it. Use the jacking points. It may be the fact that the convertible is reinforced that kept that from happening.

 

Great information. But if I use the floor jack on the jacking points, I have a cup-shaped lift sitting under a rectangular point, and that seems pretty unstable - plus, even if it fit, how would I get the tire jack under the jacking points? I did this because many others on NAM have used the rail just behind the jacking point as a spot for the floor jack...

Also, I am actually going to be ditching these tires very soon, becasue they are RFs. I want to have non-RFs put on the car at the time of my JCW BBK (and also change to 18 inch JCW wheels). I really wanted to practice a rotation since I wanted to be able to get at the rear calipers to paint them, and wanted to see if I could successfully jack up the car. I'll be doing the painting in a week or two, and after reading these comments, maybe I'll switch the rear tires back to the front while I am at it!

Thanks!

 

Please accept my apologies. I some how read side rail as rocker panel. Tihs danm dilecysea of mnie.

My rocker panel warning still stands for anyone else who is tempted to use them.