When I had my Echo, I used to get the tires rotated with every dealer service or oil change. Despite that, the tires wore out after 30,000 miles.

With the tC, I haven't been getting dealer rotations because I have been taking advantage of the free dealer oil changes (and that doesn't include a rotation). Well, I went to the dealer to get my final free oil change today, and the tech got ____ed about the fact that I haven't rotated the tires yet. I ended up saying fcuk it and I let the dealer do the tire rotation for $16 this time.

Just wondering if it's bad to go 15,000 miles without a rotation. All four tires look and feel absolutely identical, with no uneven wear. They also all have lots of tread left. I mean, 16 bucks is nothing, but it still seems like an unnecessary expense.

I'm just not a wheel and tire guy, so I don't know this stuff. :lalala:

You do know that you can rotate them yourself for free right?

Yeah I do know that, thanks. I don't have the time nor the desire to jack up the car and do it myself. The dealer fee is not a big deal since it's such a small amount, but I wondered if it was really necessary.

it isn't about tread depth, it is about evenly distrubuting the tire wear. and since you asked, here is a perfectly good example of what happens when you don't rotate your tires:

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=198619

rotating tires expecially important on front wheel drive cars because the front tires do all the work, accelerate, brake, turn and carry the engine.

Geeze, that looks like a pretty extreme case. I would notice something like that long before it became a problem. My tires look great, inside and out, and there is no noticable difference in wear between any of the tires.

Btw, doesn't something like that happen if you don't get the wheels balanced and aligned correctly?

You mean the 10-15 minutes it takes to do it yourself every few months? Seriously thats about all the time it takes and since you are in LA its not even cold out.

Yes its important and will help them last longer assuming you keep them inflated properly and arent abusing them. Your front wheels do a lot of work on a FWD car. They move the car and steer the car. This means a lot more wear than your rear tires that are pretty much just along for the ride. If you were to actually measure the tread depth on the inside, middle, and outside you will find the the fronts are most likely less and possibly uneven. They would wear out several thousand miles sooner than the rears if you never rotated them.

Well basically the back tires wear with a clean square edge to them and the fronts get a round edge..........the tires need rotated regularly to clean the edges up and cut the tire back so it does not feather........although it is not always visable.......it can be felt.........

did not rotate my tires on my work car for 15000mies till yesturday and all day now i hear bump bump bump when driving.........it is the faether wearing back off.......by the time it does this I will lose a lot of tread that if rotated will still been there...........

rotate them...........especially soft tires.........or they will not give you the full amount of life or safty.........

if you got the money and dont mind paying, let them do it every oil change.

Yeah, I guess I will start doing that from now on. I don't mind letting the dealer do it for a few bucks.

When they do the rotation, they swap both fronts to the back and also swap left to right, right?

depends on the tire i think, if nothing on the tire then i believe in an X?

Yep if they do it right the backs and fronts go in an x so the tread is reversed to wear the other side of the high points......this is why mine are making noise.......gotta wear off thge high point.......lots of freeway driving the next week for me..........

Well mine were rotated for the first time and the ride sounds exactly the same as it did before. No difference in tire noise. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am dropped on TRDs and I got a fresh alignment at that time.

I have a theory that the lack of tire rotations is one reason scion decided to change their "3 free oil changes" into "2 free services" they include the tire rotation which is good for the customer, and they don't have to supply a 3rd oil change.
I'm sure money had to do with it as well but this is purely speculation.


If I remember correctly I think the manual said front right to back right. and the same with the lefts. It was my understanding that you were to go in an X as well but maybe this isn't the case on the tc.

I never rotated my tires, the fronts only lasted 15K daily driven.. the rear are still on about 20K

Did you drive hard? I don't beat on my tires and they look almost as good as new after 15,000 miles. But back when I had my Echo, I rotated often and drove with care, and yet the tires turned to crap really quickly. I wonder what other factors are involved here.

I have a theory that the lack of tire rotations is one reason scion decided to change their "3 free oil changes" into "2 free services" they include the tire rotation which is good for the customer, and they don't have to supply a 3rd oil change.
I'm sure money had to do with it as well but this is purely speculation.


If I remember correctly I think the manual said front right to back right. and the same with the lefts. It was my understanding that you were to go in an X as well but maybe this isn't the case on the tc.

i got an '08 but they r still supplying me with the 3 oil changes oh yeah and the reason they don't rotate them in an "X" pattern is cuz the tires aren't uni-directional meaning they have to be rotated on the same side in order to have the tire going in the right direction.

hmm odd. the dealer i bought mine from said that scion doesnt give out the 3 free oil changes anymore, instead they give out the 5k and 10k services free.

I got snapped by a Toyota tech! By not rotating my tires and improper inflation....his estimate for new tires turned into 1,500 without balance.

Learn from my mistake!!! Cause our tires aren't cheap. The cheapest ones I have gotten a estimate were Hankooks extreme summer of $62.00 per tire. I gotten a flat and replaced it with a Firestone Firehawk summer tire of price tag of $189.00 while still being on my three OEMs. That was in July and kept driving on it. Couldn't afford the 1,200 price range so I kept holding on until "Old Man Winter" came around in December. Got estimate for all seasons Hankooks for $540.00 barely had the money. I went with 60k maintainence at the dealer late December; they rotated them (I hope) and with yesterday's and last week's snow storm...I kept sliding across intersections even with early braking.

I'm getting them rotated again tomorrow.

In other words...I'm not playing around with my car's tires anymore. I wouldn't be suprised if those OEMs caused my struts to go out. I shocked the tire shop with those OEMs...they were like "Wow! How in the hell did you drive in the rain????"

dealers try to ____ you out of money cuz they said that same thing on my last oil change. i told them ill keep that in mind and i did it at home. but good habit is to rotate tires at every oil change.

The tire shop that I bought my Hankooks from is a big regional name shop. That does alot of custom wheels for any athlete from a Chicago team sport. These guys have been around for least 30 years and they also do dealer business too.

But their sales guy shook his head (Yes that's right) at me and my brother in law when my brother in law said to me "Since you're low profile; you have to rotate them ALOT more than passenger tires. Or you'll get uneven tire tread wear."

So that's been stuck in my head for now on.

i get free life time oil changes with my car... Yayyy how much does toyota charge to mount and balance tires new ones onto stock rims

^^^ how r u getting liftime oil changes!?

Daytona Toyota thats what they offer i guess.... never payed for one yet and 25k i just rotate tires every time.

Luck, but just beware repair shop will miss up something and you will pay big for it. csunited14

I would def recommend rotating tires on a regular basis to get even distribution of wear and longer tire life-

and i don't blame RodC for not wanting to do the rotation himself-- $16 aint bad and I don't feel like getting my car up on the small little jackstands i have to rotate the tires on my own when the guys at the dealer can do it for me when its there getting serviced anyway :) Guess I'm lazy hehehe

Luck, but just beware repair shop will miss up something and you will pay big for it. csunited14

Why would i need to beware... if they dont do something right i will blame them but they are like well oiled machines there... and they dont skimp on my car bcuz its free oil change they do same service for every daytona Toyota car

Doesn't Discount Tire do free rotations? I know the one by my house does... Even if you don't buy from them. You can still take it in and get a tire plugged or your tires rotated for free.

tire rotation is really important for me..

i have lowered car and aftermarket wheel.. well.. my drop isnt that big.. i have hotchkis springs with tokico shocks.. and i had falken 452 tires.. never rotated... after 10 k miles i had to change them!!!!! they bold inside and out.....

so now i got my new falkens 512's ( cant afford the 452's...)

so after 8 k miles the front started to look bad.. okay.. i went to toyota.. they were really nice to me.. they told me they will rebalance and rotate it for free just pay for the allignment.... after 3 hours they told me they not gonna be able to do the allignment because im lowered and i have different kinda wheels...i need to take it to a performance shop....

okay... i did.. and what i can tell is: my tires were eaten up because toyota made a sloppy job when they put the tires on.... all my tires was balanced wrong. the surface of my tires are waive............. they balanced it.. rotated it + alignment.. all together was 85 bucks.. of course it wasnt at the toyota.. i will not go back to them again with any of these needs...

but i will do the tire rotation and allignment at every oil change.

its a MUST for lowered cars!!!


ONE MORE THING!!!!!! check your tire pressure often!!! every 2 weeks at least!!

that little tire pressure pen is like 4 bucks..

as i heard the nitrogen for the tires is bullcrap.. its not better than the regular air.