New car, Tire rotation, Who do you use.

[wolf]

Simple question. When ever I buy tires,, free tire rotations are included.
Purchased, new, Subaru, AWD. Where, do you folks go, to have your tires rotated on a new car?

 

[statsman]

Wherever I go to get an oil change. It's up on a rack for the oil change. Good time to have the tires rotated and brakes checked. I tend to avoid the oil changers where the car remains on the ground for just this reason.

 

[Sojourner]

When I bought my SUV several years ago, the dealership included a couple of free oil change & tire rotation services as part of the sale. After that, I looked for Groupons and other local deals for those services. I've recently been going to a little independent shop that does a full synthetic oil change and tire rotation for $40, which is a bargain compared to the $80+ my dealership would charge.

Check out Groupon for oil change deals in your area. Those sometimes include tire rotation, or you can add that for a moderate up-charge.

 

[latexman]

I have my tires rotated by my dealer every 5,000 miles. Oil and filter changes at 10,000 miles. It's a 2018, so far they've all been free (i.e. rolled up in the purchase price). I'll probably keep doing that when it's no longer free. They shuttle me to work and come pick me up. Free tea. Free popcorn. Very convenient.

 

[stepford]

The other car folks here will yell at me, but I don't regularly rotate tires. One of my vehicles has staggered tires (wider in back) so one shouldn't rotate in any case. On the others I just monitor tread wear. If I see 1/8" variation I'll swap front and rear, but I haven't had to do this in several years (30K+ miles).

The car maintenance Gods may now smite me.

 

[mystang52]

I bought a lifetime alignment from Firestone, and it includes tire rotation. If this piques your interest, watch for sales. I got mine at something like $40 off.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

I rotate them myself. Only when they need it. Rotating every X,000 miles doesn't make sense to me, but I look for uneven wear periodically. My car has 168,000 miles and is maybe halfway through its 3rd set of tires.

 

[wolf]

Thanks for the info. Been doing my own oil changes for past 50+ years. May, have to
break down and have oil change done, and pay extra for tire rotation.

All wheel drive, so not good to have tires with "different diameters". If that makes sense. (in past, I would just drive, when fronts wore out, just purchase 2 tire for the front. When they wore out, the rears were about gone, so then purchased 4 new ones).

Or, I guess, I can just pull out the jack, and do my own rotation. (hmm..wonder where the jack is....ha ).....Amazing how "lazy" we've become over the years....

 

[njhowie]

You shouldn't have to pay for the tire rotation - it's included with the oil change at many brand name places.

 

[Jerry1]

Simple question. When ever I buy tires,, free tire rotations are included.
Purchased, new, Subaru, AWD. Where, do you folks go, to have your tires rotated on a new car?

I’d go to the place you’ve bought tires before and talk to them. Discount Tire has fixed my flats and rotated tires on occasion for free. They know how to build goodwill and I do go there for all my tire needs.

I just got done with my “free” services on my newer cars and the last oil change I got was with a coupon to do the rotation also for a pretty good price so that’s the other option.

 

[Midpack]

I do it with every other oil change. So tire rotation is every 12K miles or my car, every 15K miles for DW's. I really can't imagine there's a substantially worthwhile benefit to more often. I suspect I could rotate every 20K miles and it wouldn't make any difference in tire life - as long as you do rotate at some frequency. I believe the drive wheels will wear differently than the other axle and fronts faster than rears all else equal.

 

[foxfirev5]

While I measure my tread depth and rotate as required. The OP has a Subaru. They're very fussy about any variation in tire wear so rotations need to be by the book.

 

[Midpack]

While I measure my tread depth and rotate as required. The OP has a Subaru. They're very fussy about any variation in tire wear so rotations need to be by the book.

Why? IME experience the tread wear warranty on tires isn't worth much. That's just Subaru, or any dealer, trying to extract more unnecessary service $ from you.

The $ reimbursement value of your tires are very aggressively prorated (it's not linear), tire wear has to be completely even across all tires or it's considered your fault, and they all have to get to a dangerously low tread depth before the warranty might kick in. I had some tires that wore before the warranty claimed, and they were evenly worn down to 4/32" but they said I had to keep driving on them until all 4 tires were at 2/32" or less and then come back - that's unsafe IMO (see wet stopping distance below). I usually replace tires at about 4/32."

Relative wet stopping distances from 70 mph:

• New tire 10/32" tread = 195.2 ft
• 4/32" tread = 290.0 ft
• 2/32" tread = 378.8 ft - almost twice as far! And this is the tread depth the tire company will insist you drive on before the warranty might apply.

Rotating tires often to preserve your warranty rights is a waste of time, money and effort IMO.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tires/why-tread-life-warranties-are-next-to-useless

 

[Gumby]

I rotate them myself. Only when they need it. Rotating every X,000 miles doesn't make sense to me, but I look for uneven wear periodically. My car has 168,000 miles and is maybe halfway through its 3rd set of tires.

I also rotate my own tires. Keeps me up to date on the tire wear, and also lets me check the brake pad wear as I am doing it. I follow the manufacturer's recommended interval.

 

[foxfirev5]

Why? IME experience the tread wear warranty on tires isn't worth much.

The $ reimbursement value of your tires are very aggressively prorated (it's not linear), tire wear has to be completely even across all tires or it's considered your fault, and they all have to get to a dangerously low tread depth before the warranty might kick in. I had some tires that wore before the warranty claimed, and they were evenly worn down to 4/32" but they said I had to keep driving on them until all 4 tires were at 2/32" or less - that's unsafe IMO (see wet stopping distance below). I usually replace tires at about 4/32."

Relative wet stopping distances from 70 mph:

• New tire 10/32" tread = 195.2 ft
• 4/32" tread = 290.0 ft
• 2/32" tread = 378.8 ft - almost twice as far! And this is the tread depth the tire company will insist you drive on before the warranty might apply.

Rotating tires often to preserve your warranty rights is a waste of time, money and effort IMO.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tires/why-tread-life-warranties-are-next-to-useless

It has nothing to do with tire wear. It's all about strain on the Subaru AWD drivetrain. Not to slam Subaru but this would be true on any true AWD system. Google it, uneven tread depth on AWDF vehicles.

 

[Walt34]

We have it done at the local independent shop where we have all service done. If you buy the tires there, rotations are free. So is fixing flats, but that's only happened to me one time that was fixable. The other time the nail was in the sidewall, so not repairable.

 

[MRG]

It has nothing to do with tire wear. It's all about strain on the Subaru AWD drivetrain. Not to slam Subaru but this would be true on any true AWD system. Google it, uneven tread depth on AWDF vehicles.

+1

Not good for AWD or FWD to a lesser extent.

 

[Music Lover]

I have a floor jack and an electric impact wrench so I rotate tires myself. Usually I just swap winters to summers and mark them when removing them so I can "rotate" them when they go back on.

 

[jazz4cash]

I’ve never noticed so much sensitivity to “variation in tire diameter with 4/AWD” as around here lately. I guess I don’t know much about the Subaru system, but I don’t buy it. Are they also sensitive to variation due to tire pressure differential? Does the TPMS alert when the pressures are unequal?

 

[Music Lover]

Most TPMS systems alert when it reaches a low threshold. Mine tells me the actual pressure in each tire but will also alert when the pressure is low. I check it regularly and keep all the tires within a pound or 2 of each other.

Different size tires or different circumferences due to low pressure strains AWD systems. Get a tire gauge and check them on a regular basis.

 

[RobbieB]

Whenever. From time to time. Sometimes never.

 

[Winemaker]

I change my own oil, rotate my own tires, and replace my own brake pads. For 44 years now.

 

[badatmath]

I suck I don't rotate them any more. Don't drive that much and don't care that much.

 

[Telly]

I change my own oil, rotate my own tires, and replace my own brake pads. For 44 years now.

Same here, just boost the number of years to 50

 

[rk911]

Simple question. When ever I buy tires,, free tire rotations are included.
Purchased, new, Subaru, AWD. Where, do you folks go, to have your tires rotated on a new car?

my regular shop. in terms of a vehicle with a warranty i only return to the selling dealer for warranty items. my regular shop handles all scheduled and preventative maintenance. and in some cases i do maintenance more frequently than recommended. we keep vehicles ~15-yrs.