I want to rotate my tires,

Which tire goes where? Is it left side swap front and back and right side swap front and back or is it criss cross front to back?

 

The Tire Rack has a good writeup on tire rotation you might want to check out.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...ral/rotate.htm

 

DaveGS4, thanks for the web site referral about tire rotation. Just last week I took my car in for an oil change and tire rotation and double checked my owner's manual. I had always believed and practiced to cross the tires front to rear but my manual shows keeping them on the same side front to back. This doesn't really make since to me as I thought changing the direction of tire roll would help promote a more even wear. Being a conformist by training....I followed the book. Will see in time.
Brad

 

Thanks for the info!

Appreciate.

 

with a radial tire you definately want to keep it rotating the same direction or you could potentially break a belt. If you have two sets of wheels for summer/winter you should label them when you take them off so you can put them back on again in the same order.
-chris

 

Well,

I rotated my tires and discovered an interesting problem.

Let me explain, maybe someone has an idea.

When I first bought the car, I thought I remembered a very small wabble at highway speeds. It was pretty much for the most part insignificant.

Within a month I replaced the tires and wheels with Einke wheels and Road Hugger tires. I went to a bigger tire with sidewals that were enough to give me about the same original tire height.

I drove the car for a day and noticed the wabble was much more apparent. I kind of attributed it to the new tire, because less sidewall and wider just sort of amplified the original small problem I had.

But I became concerned in a day or two and took it back because I felt the trouble was coming from the left front tire. I told them I thought it was a bad tire and they changed it out. That helped a lot. I felt a definate change in the wabble, but it was still there.

I took it back and they re-balaned all the wheels. They said they found one, the left front that was a little out of balance.

Well, that helped also, but didn't eliminate the problem.

I decided to go get an alignment, hoping maybe that would help. I took it to my Lexus dealer. I knew the tech and before he got started I explained the problem and we took the car for a spin. Funny, while I had a passenger in the car, the wabble was less of a problem.

So the tech suggested we also do a balance because he said they had a state of the art precision balancer and also do the alignment.

Fine we did that and it really didn't change much. The wabble was still there. More apparent when the tires were cold. I just figured I'd have to live with it, so for over a year I drove it like that. Typically at 80mph was it's worst.

Saturday I rotated the tires. I had been so used the the problem that it struck me solid when I drove the car out of the driveway and down the street. I didn't even go 2 houses before I knew that the wabble was gone....or well that it wasn't in the front of the car anymore.

Now there is just the slightest hint of wabble when driving. There also used to be a loud whir-whir-whir-whir sound when the car was moving and that is pretty much gone also, but I can hear it slightly and it's in the rear of the car now.

The problem has to be either the tire or the wheel or both.

If one of the Einke wheels was slightly out of spec, say it was malformed or something, would that kind of problem be found when the wheels are being balanced? I'm not sure what to do next. I'm sure the place I got the tire and wheels from wont be able to do anything.

What do you think the problem could be?

 

I just put on a set on Enkeis in June. I had a whole lot a shakin goin on. It was coming form the back tires. They weren't out of balance, the tire guy forgot the inner hub rings on the back wheels. The manager knew exactly what the problem was. Had that fixed and they were smooth as the stock ride. Not as quiet though, but I knew they wouldn't be.

Take them to a shop that knows Enkeis and have them checked out it you are still concerned.
Mine also have caps that are held on by allen screws. This part can't be on when they balance, but it shouldn't throw off the balance that much, but you never know.

steviej

 

check the rims you may have a bad one....another thing, there's a different type of wheel balancer that puts pressure on your tread while it's balancing to simulate the weight of the car...the fact that the vibration moved with the wheel eliminates the possibility of suspention or bearing problems.....I know it sounds dumb, but a buildup of dirt inside the rim can also cause a wobble.

-chris

 

That machine would be the Hunter GSP9700. I believe the website is gsp9700.com; you can find out a local shop that has one and have them run your wheels+tires on it. You can basically diagnose any wheel or tire problem with that machine.

 

My local tire and wheel installer (recommended by The Tire Rack) seemed unable to get my new Konigs and Yokohamas balanced after four tries. I then took my car to another shop that had the new Hunter GSP machine. Problem completely solved in one try.
BTW, I sent an email to Tire Rack asking why they'd recommend a shop to balance high end tires and wheels that didn't have the latest equipment and go NO reply. Some sort of a kickback situation with their recommended installers maybe?

 

Hummm, I looked this up and found a local tire store. Discount Tire, which are the ones that originally installed the tires and rims in the first place!!!!!

Something is going on......maybe they were just incompetant....twice?

And also I noticed Hendrick Lexus was on that list. They were the second place I took it to get checked out....

 

It's very likely both places did not use the GSP9700...it's more involved than a normal balance (more time consuming), so unless you have a problem that is not solved by normal balancing, I doubt they would use it. I'm surprised at Discount Tire not using it after they did a normal balance though...

Maybe try a local independent shop, who would probably let you watch them use the machine.

 

Well,

I just really have to give Discount Tire a thumbs up.

I took the car in this morning and explained the problem as well as telling them I had a slow leak on the right front.

They fixed the leak, balanced the two rear wheels and didn't charge me a dime. That was great!

They are #1 in my book. I'll be doing business with them in the future.

The tech said that the problem might have been with using "Split Spoke" counter weights. He used the normal "In Line" and the ride now feels super smooth.

I think my problem is history.

Moral of the story: Don't use "Split Spoke" counter weights and always buy your tires and wheels from Discount Tire

I saw some Einke wheels when I was there. The DM5. Sweet....

 

I'm glad everything is settled for you now. Go enjoy the new wheels.

 

This has nothing to do with your wobble problem but I just heard on Motor Week this past Saturday that if you've got a 4 wheel drive car, you need to replace all four tires at the same time, not just 2 at a time because of the wear of the tire. They measured the circumference of the old tire and it was an inch smaller than the new one. They said driving with mismatched tires would cause damage to your suspension? or something like that. Just thought I'd pass that along.