If you buy tires at Costco, they rotate/balance them for free for the life of the tire. I tend to do rotations every 6K or so, but if the tires appear to have even wear after 25K, I usually don't bother with rotating.
Well, sort of.
Some years back, I took my FWD van into Costco for tire rotation for tires I bought there. I get back from browsing the store while I wait, and they say they can't/won't rotate them, because the fronts have a bit less tread than the rear, and that can cause the car's rear to break out on a hard turn on snowy roads.
OK, but if you rotate them, they will soon wear more on the front, and the problem resolves itself - oh, but unless I monitor and catch them before they become less than the rear, you won't rotate them then either?
edit/add: And if the ones with less tread go on the front, they wear faster anyhow, they'll always have less tread - so how can I ever get them rotated?
I paid to have them rotated at my independent shop, they say they never heard of that before.
It's not totally unfounded, but is it really worse than having the worn tires on front, which hurts me getting going
and braking in snow? I can almost always plan ahead to go slow into a turn, but I have to accelerate and I'm more likely to have to brake suddenly than make a hard, unexpected turn.
Since them I discovered TireRack.com, and my independent shop works with them. I like Costco, but no tires for me.
-ERD50