Simple tire rotate - messed up
10-02-2013, 06:55 PM
#21
Senior Member
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who marks their tires before a rotation. My fear is someone not moving them at all and saying they were rotated. I've worked at a dealership before and know some of the underhanded things businesses do with cars and service. Glad you caught them.
10-02-2013, 07:08 PM
#22
Senior Member
10-02-2013, 11:24 PM
#23
Senior Member
I've done the rotation both ways, have had best results just doing front to back, keeping them on the same side especially Pirellis as they are a directional tire and if you spin them the other direction they wear very fast. I used to work in the tire department at SAMs Club and almost all the tire reps said it's best to never change direction so always rotate front to back only.
10-03-2013, 12:54 AM
#24
I've done the rotation both ways, have had best results just doing front to back, keeping them on the same side especially Pirellis as they are a directional tire and if you spin them the other direction they wear very fast. I used to work in the tire department at SAMs Club and almost all the tire reps said it's best to never change direction so always rotate front to back only.
Type of tire (Symmetric btw): http://www.pirellityre.com/en_IT/bro...d_surfaces.pdf
Tire thread patterns: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=180
Tire Rotation schemes: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=43
2011 F-150 Manual (perhaps it's different on other years), Page 243: http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Fo.../11f12og3e.pdf
Again, do whatever makes you happy. For me, it's what's shown in the Owners Manual.
10-03-2013, 01:49 AM
#25
Senior Member
I have oil change and tire rotations for life from the dealer I bought my truck from. Unfortunately, the first time I took it in for service, the dealer didn't rotate the tires at all. Normally, I'm a skeptical person when it comes to dealerships, but I wanted to give them a chance, so I didn't mark the tires. When I got the truck back, they assured me everything was done. A few days later, I noticed my front tires still had slight shoulder wear and the backs were still square. I used the 'ink dots' that come on tires as a reference and looked at pics I had taken when I first bought the truck. None of the tires had moved. From now on... tires, filters, etc. are all marked. Moral of the story.. DON'T TRUST STEALERSHIPS!
10-03-2013, 01:52 AM
#26
Senior Member
Ha ha, how about you say "let me give you a couple of recommendations. Clean your filthy muck off of my tires".
10-03-2013, 02:03 AM
#27
Senior Member
I got one: vehicle purchased new, returned at 40k to have tranny, tcase, and diff fluids changed....(just because I'm fussy like that and it's a practice that has served me well) anyway, I had not intentionally marked my tranny pan but earlier that year I had stuck a piece of duct tape to it while masking and painting my axle shafts. A piece of the tape was still on there, wrapped over the pan and gasket. Sure enough, it was Still there even after I had bbeen charged for a fluid ---AND--- filter change. Yes,I opted to pay extra to have them do the filter and not just the flush through ATF swap deal. I was pissed. But polite. You could clearly see that the bolts had not been touched, pan not removed, filter not replaced. I got my money back and they changed the filter. Must be they didn't hurt it any as it's still running fine, knock on wood, for its second owner. Won't go there again. Bummer to, as they are local and are usually reasonable on their vehicle pricing.
10-03-2013, 06:18 AM
#28
Senior Member
Grab some of the wife's or girlfriend's colored fingernail polish. Apply a drop to the area where the bolt head contacts the case on a few of the fasteners or on your oil filter in the center of one of the letters. You can then easily tell at a glance if anything has been disturbed.
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ns_redneck (10-03-2013)
10-03-2013, 07:04 AM
#29
Chrisj
This. I had the same thing happen and they told me the same. Apparently they are too lazy to check if they are directional or not. Doesn't really matter though, front to back is the most important. You aren't going to gain any life switching sides anyway unless you have something serious wrong with your alignment and don't fix it.
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kjt8ro (10-03-2013)
10-03-2013, 07:27 AM
#30
Senior Member
I have to agree with the dealership on this one. I never do the criss cross. Directional of course not but depending on the tires, you may cause the belts to become unplaced as they have been torqued or spun in one direction for presumably 10,000 kms or miles. I have seen some tires side walls become bulged and treads become wavy as a result of the criss cross and reversing the torque or spin direction.
