rotating tires?a c

[aebstract]

Hey guys, about to rotate my tires and have seen that there are specific things to take note of for how you can do it. I was gonna criss-cross them, but I want to make sure that is what I should do? Should I keep them on the same side or criss-cross? 09 spec v stock tires.

[aebstract]

Okay this really sucks, I need to rotate my tires tonight before morning, I didn't think about locks on the wheels. Where the hell is my key for it? Should it be somewhere by default in my car, or is there a good chance it's at home hidden somewhere? s***! =[

[Faja]

LF to LR, RF to RR, LR to RF, RR to LF. Hope I'm on time... GL again!!

Wheel lock should be in the glove compartment

[aebstract]

LF to LR, RF to RR, LR to RF, RR to LF. Hope I'm on time... GL again!!

Oh you got all the time in the world, I can't find the damn key. If it's not in my car I have no idea on earth where it would be.. I can't recall doing anything with it and I figured it was just somewhere in a standard place on my car? Completely forgot about wheel locks f***

[Faja]

If not in the glove compartment or middle console, check where your spare is. Other than that, I think you're screwed!!

[aebstract]

Ya for sure, I checked the glovebox. My car is almost 100% clean of ANYTHING. So if it was, say in the center console, I'd definitely know it. Dealerships are closed on Sundays.. Maybe there will be a tire shop open somewhere? Don't they have some sort of universal keys or something?

[Faja]

If you have a socket that will fit on it very snugly, hammer it in and then turn and see if you can loosen it. Or get a vice grip and one of your 300 lbs friends and see if he can twist it off.

PS: make sure you have the normal nuts in case you break any!!

[aebstract]

Well, I've got the spare kit that came with the car.. but the key didn't seem to match up, you would think it would. Since that's the only thing I think that has a key in it.. notice how I kept it in my car? I just can't see why I would have it at home. (I'm at work right now, so I'll check home later which will suck if its there)

The lock is perfectly round, so a socket going on it wouldn't help Oh well, I'll figure something out.

edit: wondering, how come you said to put the front wheels on the back, same side, and switch sides bringing the back to front?
Modified by aebstract at 6:25 PM 3/6/2010

[Faja]

So that after a few rotations all the wheels would have been on each hub.

PS: I was talking about the spare tire - check in there for the wheel lock.

[djtorello]

sometimes its in the book in the glovebox.

[aebstract]

The front tires tread is different from the back, like side to side its a different pattern. Is it safe to switch the fronts and back? I'll get a picture in a second.



left is back tire and right is front tire
Modified by aebstract at 7:25 PM 3/6/2010

[djtorello]

do you have a Camber problem with the rear?

[aebstract]

Not that I am aware of. Here's a photo from the rear of each. The left side has the front wheel on it and the right side is still the rear wheel.

[aebstract]

I think my front treads were just so low that it looked different. Those notches go away after a certain point in depth, and I felt the edges and could feel little bumps where it was.

[aebstract]

done

[Faja]

Hey you didn't say how you took the wheels off??

[lino]

Glad that's done and over with

[nametakennow]

Wait, are your tires directional? If you cross-rotated them, you could have set yourself up for weird handling or possibly dangerously slick tires in the wet.

Front-to-back with directional tires.

[Showcase]

It dosent matter which tire goes were... the fronts look diff because they are worn down and the grooves in the tread are worn out. This means you SHOULD rotate them. you can have 4 different tires on the car and rotate them any which way you want. it wont make much of a difference.

[Showcase]

Wait, are your tires directional? If you cross-rotated them, you could have set yourself up for weird handling or possibly dangerously slick tires in the wet.

Front-to-back with directional tires.

all tires are directional. As long as there mounted on the rim with the outside of the sidewall facing well... out.... then no matter were you mount your rims they will face the same direction everytime.

[Faja]

Nametakennow is correct. If you have directional tires, they should stay on the same side not crossed as the tread and grooves are meant to go one specific direction. I gave OP the rotation for normal tires just assuming that he had his originals on - didn't even think about directional tires!! Thanks for pointing that out Nametakennow.

[nametakennow]

all tires are directional. As long as there mounted on the rim with the outside of the sidewall facing well... out.... then no matter were you mount your rims they will face the same direction everytime.

I used directional as short for unidirectional, which indicates that they designed to rotate a single direction. If you unmount and remount the tires, then yes, you can cross-rotate unidirectional tires. However, if you're just swapping the wheels and tires together, a unidirectional tire needs to go front-to-back.

IIRC every tire I've owned was unidirectional. They're quite common in tires that are designated "High Performance" (or UHP/MP), even all-seasons.

[Showcase]

hmm guess i learnd somthing new today!

[ABNRML4U]

So, where did you find the wheel lock? Plus did you put a little bit of greaseon the wheel studs? {threads}.