Tire Rotation Strategy

[Runt8]

I'm planning on rotating my tires for the first time this weekend. I've never had to rotate tires without having a spare to use, so please tell me if this is a workable strategy. I plan on moving rears forward, and fronts back and across to the other side. I also know the proper method for removing tires (ie, loosen bolts before jacking up, use wheel chocks to prevent car from falling off the jack, etc) so I will not go into that much detail.

I currently have one low-profile jack, two jack stands, and 4 jack pads.

1. Jack up rear drivers side.
2. Place jack stand under front drivers side and remove jack.
3. Remove front drivers side wheel.
4. Jack up rear passengers side and swap wheels.
5. Move jack to front passenger side and swap wheels.
6. Move jack to rear drivers side swap wheels.
7. Put last wheel on front drivers side, jack up rear passenger side enough to remove jack stand.

My primary concerns are using the jack stand and only having one jack. All of my previous vehicles had a spare tire to make use of so I would only jack up one corner at a time, and none of them were stiff enough to be able to jack up the entire side of the car using only one jack. Is it acceptable to jack up the passengers side with a jack stand on the front drivers side?

 

[nvx1977]

it's not that critical to cross the tires with higher performance cars. Check your tire wear, and if it's pretty even, I'd recommend just moving rears front and vice versa. Will be much easier too with a single jack.

 

[Runt8]

it's not that critical to cross the tires with higher performance cars. Check your tire wear, and if it's pretty even, I'd recommend just moving rears front and vice versa. Will be much easier too with a single jack.

I was wondering about that. Surprising (ok, maybe not) that Tesla doesn't publish a tire rotation pattern.

 

[P3D_Denver]

I was wondering about that. Surprising (ok, maybe not) that Tesla doesn't publish a tire rotation pattern.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I think it's probably a little too risky to attempt a 4-wheel rotation without 4 supports. Since you only have 3 (2x jack stands + 1 jack), I'd recommend novox's advice and just to a same-side swap using 1 jack stand + jack.

If you can get a 3rd jack stand then do a 4-wheel rotation (rearward cross, illustrated by P3D_Denver above) next time.

 

[Runt8]

View attachment 385310

Is this from Tesla or just general best practice?

I think it's probably a little too risky to attempt a 4-wheel rotation without 4 supports. Since you only have 3 (2x jack stands + 1 jack), I'd recommend novox's advice and just to a same-side swap using 1 jack stand + jack.

If you can get a 3rd jack stand then do a 4-wheel rotation (rearward cross, illustrated by P3D_Denver above) next time.

The only problem with using more jack stands is that it's difficult (as far as I know) to get two jack stands on the same side when there are only two jack points on each side. The only solutions I've seen are jacking the car up using the suspension (which as far as I can tell requires removing some panels and isn't something I really want to get into) or buying a jack with integrated jack stands, which are pretty expensive. If you know of another way, getting more jack stands isn't a problem.

 

[Gator Rican]

And do we really 'have to' rotate at the 6000 mile mark or can we just do every 10,000?

 

[gavine]

By the way, in my opinion, you can skip every other scheduled rotation. Here’s a thread about it.

Skip Every Other Tire Rotation

 

[woodisgood]

Personally I use two low-profile jacks and no jack stands. This way neither jack is lifting very far. I swap the front and rear on one side (lifting with both jacks), let 'em down, then do the same on the other side, let 'em down, then lift and swap the rears for a rearward cross. I also use a cordless impact wrench to take off the lugs. The slowest part is dragging the jacks around.

Of course, you'd never want to keep the car elevated with just the hydraulic jacks for an extended period of time or certainly not if you were going under the car, but for the small amount of brief lift the tire rotations require it's fine.

 

[Runt8]

Personally I use two low-profile jacks and no jack stands. This way neither jack is lifting very far. I swap the front and rear on one side (lifting with both jacks), let 'em down, then do the same on the other side, let 'em down, then lift and swap the rears for a rearward cross. I also use a cordless impact wrench to take off the lugs. The slowest part is dragging the jacks around.

Of course, you'd never want to keep the car elevated with just the hydraulic jacks for an extended period of time or certainly not if you were going under the car, but for the small amount of brief lift the tire rotations require it's fine.

This is a smart way to do it, don't know why I never thought about it. Guess I was trying to minimize the number of times I had to put on and take off a tire.

 

[brianhill33]

Personally I use two low-profile jacks and no jack stands. This way neither jack is lifting very far. I swap the front and rear on one side (lifting with both jacks), let 'em down, then do the same on the other side, let 'em down, then lift and swap the rears for a rearward cross. I also use a cordless impact wrench to take off the lugs. The slowest part is dragging the jacks around.

Of course, you'd never want to keep the car elevated with just the hydraulic jacks for an extended period of time or certainly not if you were going under the car, but for the small amount of brief lift the tire rotations require it's fine.

This is exactly how I have done it on my wife's M3 LR RWD. Planning to use the same strategy on my first rotation on the M3 MR RWD. I use two of these:
1.5 Ton Aluminum Racing Floor Jack with Rapid Pump®

and two of the hockey puck jack point pads.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

The only problem with using more jack stands is that it's difficult (as far as I know) to get two jack stands on the same side when there are only two jack points on each side. The only solutions I've seen are jacking the car up using the suspension (which as far as I can tell requires removing some panels and isn't something I really want to get into) or buying a jack with integrated jack stands, which are pretty expensive. If you know of another way, getting more jack stands isn't a problem.

You would have to have one of the integrated stands for the 3rd one. Jackpoint only sells in pairs, so that might be expensive. Rennstand sells individually (The RennStand by Safe Jack).

Another option that might be less expensive would be to pick up a used wheel/tire.

A final option would be if you're thinking of getting two sets of wheels/tires for summer/winter, then you can use a wheel/tire from the other set to do the rotation.

The double-jack method described above is really cool -- it minimizes equipment required and instead trades it for an extra put-on/take-off.

 

[woodisgood]

This is a smart way to do it, don't know why I never thought about it. Guess I was trying to minimize the number of times I had to put on and take off a tire.

Certainly can't take credit, saw it on here or maybe YouTube. All I can report having done it twice this way now is it's easy-peezy. I wasn't comfortable lifting the whole side of the car from one jack point, and didn't want to shell out for Rennstands until I decide to do more involved work on this car...

 

[Dre78]

FYI:

 

[Ilikestuff]

I have a full size spare. Im just going to do one at a time, where I put the spare on first and take it off last after going through the rotation one by one. That way I only need one regular jack and one hockey puck thing. No jack stand.

 

[Nguyenning]

Dumb question, but why not just take it to Discount Tire or somewhere similar? (or even Tesla service center)

 

[Leafdriver333]

Dumb question, but why not just take it to Discount Tire or somewhere similar? (or even Tesla service center)

because they don't use designated jack points.

 

[astrowunder]

How bad is it to not rotate? I thought that was the new suggestion on some cars. I'm at 13k miles and my tread wear is very even right now.

 

[afadeev]

Dumb question, but why not just take it to Discount Tire or somewhere similar? (or even Tesla service center)

Because you can do it at home in ~30-45 mins, and taking it to a tire shop will take hours.
Also, if you rotate your wheels, you KNOW you torqued the lug nuts to spec (129 lb. ft). A tire shop will either under or over-torque them.

Since there is so much debate on the subject, here is what I've been doing for rotating or swapping wheels on all my cars for 30+ years:

1. Loosen the lug nuts (or bolts) while both wheels on the same side of the car are still on the ground. 1/8 of a turn will do it.
2. Place quality jack (3+ tons, not the cheapo Harbor Freight @#$%) under either jacking point. Front usually works out the best.
3. Jack one side of the car. All modern (post 80s build) cars have stiff chassis, and placing jack under either front or rear jacking point will raise both wheels. Don't raise too high - just enough to be able to rotate the lowest wheel.
4. If you have a cordless impact gun, zip 5 nuts/bolts off in 15 seconds, put them into a magnetic tray sitting on the jack (else 1 nut will tend to roll away). Nuts can also be removed by an adopter in a cordless drill, or by hand (slower).
5. Roll the wheels front<->back, bolt them back up, torque lightly by the impact gun.
6. Repeat on the other side of the car.
7. Torque all wheels to spec (129 lb.ft for Model 3).
8. If you are swapping wheels (winter<->summer, or summer<->track), this is a perfect time to check and adjust the tire pressures.

If you do this often enough, have many cars, or own winter/track wheels, you will want to invest into a quality cordless impact wrench, and a quality torque wrench. Start research from here:
Best Cordless Impact Wrench of 2019: (See our Top 7 Picks)
Impact-Wrench Comparison: Seven Electric Models Tested - Gearbox - Car and Driver

I like Snap-On, and both have been bullet-proof for 15+ years (lifetime warranty on top of that).

HTH,
a

P.S.: If you are on track, and need to swap wheels side-to-side to even out the wear, definitely use 4 quality jack stands, never just the jacks!

 

[zhu-]

How bad is it to not rotate? I thought that was the new suggestion on some cars. I'm at 13k miles and my tread wear is very even right now.

No need to rotate if they're even. Seems to be the case for many AWD Model 3s.