Tire Rotation/Balance
 

I'm my 2006 Civic Hybrid, I use to rotate the tires every 6,000 miles rather than waiting for the maintenance code to tell me to do so... I recently purchased a 2009 Civic Hybrid and I'm at the 6,000 mark.

My question, do you recommend rotating them at 6,000 or waiting for the car to tell you too? On my 06 I had to replace the tires due to uneven wear once and it makes me wonder if it was me rotating them before they were ready. Thoughts?

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

I would wait for the MM. Hal

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

I'm starting to lean toward that (saves me time if nothing else cause oil is still at 30%)

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

I think the MM tends to tell you to rotate the tires in conjunction with brake inspection. In my case at least this always has been at alternate oil changes, ie: one service is "A" (oil change only), and the next one is "B" (oil & filter, change, plus front/break inspection, plus tire rotation).

This is a very practical arrangement, if the wheels are coming off for brake inspection anyway, it's the perfect time to rotate their positions.

Bottom line, I would stick with MM's recommendation if it's telling you per above. Or if it's somehow out of sync with brake inspections, I would rotate your tires at every brake inspection.

Our experience, putting on around 18,000 km's yearly, is the MM get's down to 15% every 6 months, with one service being oil only, and the next the oil/brakes/rotation. So our tires are getting rotated once every 18,000 km, a bit more than 11,000 miles. They're wearing pretty evenly, we're currently at about 72,000 km's on the OEM Bridgestone Insignia's.

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

Thanks for all the feedback guys, much appreciated. I talked to Honda yesterday afternoon and they actually recommended 6000 to 8000 miles as well in order for the Tire Life Warranty to be covered. Guess I know what I'll be doing next weekend :)

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

Did "Honda" tell you to follow a specific mileage regimen, and ignore the MM? Was this "corporate" Honda, or the dealership?

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

Dealer ship. They just suggested the standard 6000 but said 8000 would probably be ok too. They suggested that the MM prolly wouldn't show until about 10000.

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

Dealerships are notorious for "accelerating" Honda's official schedules. And even ignoring certain items. The common denominator to many of their suggestions is to shorten intervals, reduce difficult or unprofitable procedures and pushing the quick and profitable ones, improving their financial bottom lines, not suprisingly.

I would just rotate your tires at brake inspections, which in my experience is what the MM dictates.

Just to add: if you're doing this yourself, ie: jacking it up in your driveway, I guess it's up to you, and there's no harm in accelerating the schedule, apart from a bit more wear-and-tear on the lug nuts, jacking points, and of course: your back...

Re: Tire Rotation/Balance
 

Kasey,

Your uneven wear on your '06 may have been due to the well known rear control arm issue with many '06 and '07 Civics. More frequent rotations do not increase wear or create uneven wear.

As others have mentioned, the practical answer is to rotate the tires whenever the car will be up on a hoist for other servicing. Unless the tires are "directional" you should follow a criss-cross pattern. This way they eventually get used in each "corner". As a guide I would rotate the tires at an interval which is not more than one-quarter the estimated tread-life of your tires. (One-eighth would be even better, but who really knows this in advance!)

In my area we mount 4 snow tires (on their own rims) each fall. When I remove my "summer tires" I mark their location so I can rotate them when I put them back on in the spring. Likewise, I mark my snow tires so they get rotated next season. They're directional so they can only move from front to back on the same side of the car.

I have a good floor jack and lug wrench (19mm) so I can do this at home when there is snow expected or when the mild weather returns.

Cheers,

Roger