louis1128

have any one done that, i have a 7500 maintenance soon, they told me i have to rotate it?

mysql101

yeah. Just jack up one side of the car, take off front and rear wheels, and swap. Tighten the lug nuts, and remove the jack.

h0rde

the dealer rotated mine at my second oil change (around 6,000 miles)

PoLaK

iTrader: (1)

The Dealer Should Rotate them for you during your 10,000mile.

fredraction

I always thought that modern tires become "biased" toward one direction of rotation. Moving tires diagonally would reverse the rotation (unless you pull them from the rims and invert them). My habit has always been to move front to rear on the same side of the car.

8_wannabe

fredraction is right; you have to keep them on the same side. Just swap front and back unless you pull them off the rims. I don't know if the tires are biased, but the rims are.

I have talked my dealer into doing it at every 5000-mile service interval at no charge. I've got 18K miles and they're looking a bit worn. anyone know how much mileage to expect out of the originals?

Edit Ok, I just looked... they are biased. I have the Bridgestone and direction of rotation is indicated. Don't swap sides!

PoLaK

iTrader: (1)

Guess i was wrong im having an off day.

mysql101

You can't swap the wheels diagonally because they can only rotate in one direction. If you swap sides, the wheels will essentially be spinning reverse, which isn't going to be good.

red_rx8_red_int

Unless there's snow on the ground. IIRC, the stock tires are much better in reverse in the snow. People were writing about backing up for several blocks because moving forward they just slided all over the place.

fredraction

I can't imagine that this "backing up in snow" has anything to do with tire bias; it’s doubtful that the tires would be up to the speed needed to show the affect of biased tires spinning in the opposite direction.

The trick about backing up in snow is that then you’re essentially driving a front wheel drive car and are being pulled through the snow, not pushed.

w2aew

Just rotated mine today, at 11.5K miles. I noticed the rears were worn a little more than the fronts.. Just do a front-rear swap since the Potenza's have a directional tread. Be sure to evenly re-torque the lugs in a star pattern, preferably using a torque wrench to get everything consistent. It should only take you 1/2 hr or less working alone. I used both the included scissor jack and my floor jack (with a rib cradle) to raise one side of the car at a time. If you only have the one jack, you can use the spare temporarily...

Like Whoa

i didnt get a spare tire with my car =( i got something else and its wierd

shelleys_man_06

I rotated my tires after my first oil change.

Old Rotor

I brought my 8 in at 11k and asked my dealer to rotate my tires. They did and did not charge me. The front both wore 2/32 on inside and 1.5 on outside. The rear wore 4/32 outside and 3.5 on inside. So I figure on getting 20 to 25k on them. The good part of the last half of tread is they are like shaved race tires(if they are wareing evenly). Bad thing is there is less rubber so ruffer ride and not as a secure feeling(watch out for sharp things and pot holes). I'm looking for new tires already...Brigestone RE750?....should be better on miles, maybe even double the miles I will get on OEM....any one try these???

TRZ750

I rotate my 8's tires front to rear every 5K. It is best to do this often before wear at one spot sets in.

Actually the direction of rotation can vary by manufacture and what they design into the tire, not just radial or bias ply. Commonly the tread pattern is designed to handle water best from one rotation direction. This usually means you want front to rear rotation. Structually the major load on the front is reverse from the rear as the fronts do most the breaking and none of the accelleration (on a rear drive cars like the 8). So some manufactures will want the tires rotated cross wise to keep the major load the same direction on the tire. Many manufactures will not worry about this load reversal for street cars as most drivers are not abusive compared to sport cars (like the 8) or for racing.

vegas RX8

I had dealer rotate tires at 9000 mile service

Kwullen

I have mine rotated at each oil change - 3750 miles. It costs 25 bucks, with no rebalance, but with these high dollar tires I figure it's money well spent. They keep trying to tell me that they have to be balanced each time they're rotated. I just tell them to try that line on someone who doesn't know that if it don't shake, they're not out of balance. If it changed when you rotated them, they'd have to be balanced on the car.

Razpewton

I paid extra and got the self-rotating tires.

Shooter

just rotated for the first time at 6800 miles.....tires werent worn at all just felt like it was time to rotate 'em......better safe than sorry.

red_rx8_red_int

You could be right. My first thoughts were that the tire is directional for ultra-high performance summer use, and, as such, was useless in snow going in the proper direction, but going in the opposite direction was better in the snow (e.g., didn't snow pack the threads). But I could be totally wrong, it might very well be the physics of pulling vs pushing (fwd vs rwd) that accounts for this. With a 50/50 weight distribution the usuall advantage of having extra weight over the drive wheels for fwd cars does not help. So I don't know.

RX8_Buckeye

Is it possible that they might need to be rebalanced for a rotation? The reason I ask is that my car was fine before the rotation, but after the rotation the noise inside the cabin has increased significantly. It is very noticeable on very smooth pavement, where one would expect to have a quiet ride. Instead, there is a fairly loud noise that definitely has frequency components proportional to vehicle speed.

Could it be that the wheels/tires become imbalanced over time, and the imbalance is accentuated after the rotation since each wheel/tire is now in a different location and experiences different suspension loads?

twheeler

I called the dealer to have my oil changed yesterday and asked about tire rotation. The person in the service department said that they recommend rotating at 6000 miles. I told her I have 5300 miles and she suggested getting it done now, which I plan to do. It costs $19.95 for the dealer to do it. Hope this helps.

ALMOST8IT

Sears automotive will inspect and rotate the tires for FREE... I only have 2800 miles on my car so it isn't time yet, but they rotated my miata tires for free as often as I showed up.

RX8_Buckeye

No purchase necessary? Anyone can just show up and they'll do a free rotation? What's in it for them?

Labop

Les Schwab (west coast) does that for free as well. What's in it for them? Customer service. If you as the customer see that they do that for free, and it's a quality job, you are more likely to see them if there's something wrong that needs to be paid for, or you want to buy new tires... etc.

It's a pretty effective marketing tool. I had them rotate my tires three times in my accord, when I needed new brakes, I went back to them instead of somewhere else.

Edited for grammer... DOH!