Is it just BMW that does not recommend tire rotation?

In article >,
zerouali > wrote:
> Tyre rotation seems to be a mainly American thing, no one else ever
> really mentions or uses it, as far as I've seen. Any particular reason
> for this?

Dunno. The last UK car driver's handbook I can find (and I've got a fair
old collection) where tyre rotation - including spare - is recommended
dates from the mid '50s, when crossply tyres were the norm. And 3000 mile
oil changes.;-)

Perhaps the US isn't as up to date as most think? ;-)

--
*If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Huh? We're at least 50% Japanese, whether Euro or American, japanese create
all these headaches. My both Nissan and Oldsmobile had rotation in service
manual as required

"zerouali" > wrote
> Tyre rotation seems to be a mainly American thing, no one else ever really
> mentions or uses it, as far as I've seen. Any particular reason for this?

The main rationale is to maximize tire mileage/life. On a FWD car, the
fronts always wear more and won't last as long as the rears. On a RWD
car, the rears wear more. And the spare tire doesn't wear at all.

Floyd

"ray" > wrote in message
...
> Steve wrote:
> > Shaft Drive wrote:
> >
SNIP

> I think the Acura NSX had a unique tire at each corner as well.

Forgive my ignorance but, in using the word 'unique' are saying that each
tire is actually manufactured differently? And if so, how does one replace
a single tire? Do you request a left rear, front right, etc...?

RichieP

"RichieP" > wrote
> "ray" > wrote
>> Steve wrote:
>> > Shaft Drive wrote:
>
>> I think the Acura NSX had a unique tire at each corner as well.
>
> Forgive my ignorance but, in using the word 'unique' are saying that each
> tire is actually manufactured differently? And if so, how does one
> replace
> a single tire? Do you request a left rear, front right, etc...?

That is exactly the case. The NSX (and many other high performance
cars, including BMW's with different-sized front/rear sport packages)
have uni-directional tires. That means that the tires can be on only
one side (left/right) of the car. When, in addition, the tires at the
front and rear are different sizes, that means that no tire can be
used *EXCEPT* at the corner it is designed for. The NSX ('91-'94)
has 205/50ZR15's front, 225/50ZR16 rear (IIRC), and the OEM
tires (Yoko & Bridgestones) are uni-directional.

If you trash a tire, you should replace both on that axle if they
have been worn much - say about 75% left. You do have to
order the right one for that corner.

FloydR - used to have an NSX

In article >,
zerouali > wrote:
>Tyre rotation seems to be a mainly American thing, no one else ever really
>mentions or uses it, as far as I've seen. Any particular reason for this?

The idea is to have all tires wear approximately evenly, so that they
all wear out at the same time. Then you can replace them with a matched
set of new tires, rather than have two new tires and two partly worn old
tires (or having to waste some of the tread life of the old not worn out
tires).

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In article >,
fbloogyudsr > wrote:
> On a RWD car, the rears wear more.

On both my E34 and E39, all tyres wore out pretty well at the same time
without rotation. It of course depends on driving style and power of the
vehicle. But with a 50/50 weight distribution it's what you'd expect, in
theory.

--
*Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article >,
says...
> In article >,
> zerouali > wrote:
> > Tyre rotation seems to be a mainly American thing, no one else ever
> > really mentions or uses it, as far as I've seen. Any particular reason
> > for this?
>
> Dunno. The last UK car driver's handbook I can find (and I've got a fair
> old collection) where tyre rotation - including spare - is recommended
> dates from the mid '50s, when crossply tyres were the norm. And 3000 mile
> oil changes.;-)
>

Come to that, 3000 mile tyre changes on a Mini Cooper 'S' ISTR


--
Paul Mc Cann

In article >,
Paul Mc Cann > wrote:
> > Dunno. The last UK car driver's handbook I can find (and I've got a
> > fair old collection) where tyre rotation - including spare - is
> > recommended dates from the mid '50s, when crossply tyres were the
> > norm. And 3000 mile oil changes.;-)
> >

> Come to that, 3000 mile tyre changes on a Mini Cooper 'S' ISTR

The *wheels* didn't last that long on the first Minis running crossplies.
Seems the designers thought the buyers of this tiny car would slow down
for corners. Of course they might have if the brakes worked. ;-)

--
*Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 5/14/2005 4:15 AM, Thomas & Sons Cycle Shop wrote:
> In article >, "Dave Plowman (News)"
> > wrote:
>
>>>Do any other manufacturers other than BMW not recommend tire rotation?
>>
>>Tyre rotation hasn't made much sense since ever.
>
>
> I agree. So does BMW.
> Even for same size unidirectional tires on all four corners.
>
> According to BMW, the only time tire rotation makes sense on a
> rear-wheel-drive performance vehicle is if you do it yourself every 3000 miles
> (before any wear becomes too great to affect handling).
>
> On rear-wheel-drive performance automobiles, once you pass the 3000 mile mark,
> you start noticeably wearing the rears in the center and the fronts on the
> side. At this 3000-mile point-of-no-return, adverse handling will occur if you
> rotate.
>
> If you do rotate within the 3000 mile limit, make sure you readjust the
> pressure differential between the rears and the front or you'll have other
> handling problems you didn't bargain for.
>
> Also, if you do rotate, use any pattern you like (crossing sides at random,
> using the fifth tire, changing rotation direction, etc). Studies have shown
> that none of these rotation patterns adversly affect anything and none are any
> better than any other rotation pattern. Again, if you pass the 3000 mile point
> of no return, stop rotating for the life of those tires (should get you at
> least 30,000 miles depending on how aggressively you drive).
>
> If you have a front-wheel-drive econobox (all fwd cars are compromises for
> the sake of costs), things might be different though I've no experience with
> low-performance fwd cars.

Can you point me to the BMW site the recommends no tire rotation?