Tire Rotation Strategy

[afadeev]

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

Front vs. rear tires always develop unique wear patterns.
That is partly due to different alignment (more negative camber upfront), partly due to the fact that front bear the brunt of lateral loads during turning. Net-net: front usually wear more on the outside of the tread, rears on the inside. On RWD cars, rear tires wear out faster than the fronts.

Rotating front<-> back evens out the wear, prolongs the overall tire lifespan, and allows you to replace all four (4) tires as a complete set at the same time.

a

 

[Rottenapplr]

I do not recommend using just the double jack method with no stands. My 5yr old racing jack failed on me. It was super scary. No sign of failure it just gave out. And I’ve had 15 plus years of car work experience. I always use a jack. It can always fail, whether it’s the seals or something. But all of a sudden fluid dumped from the hydraulics and the jack lowered pretty quickly. Scary *sugar*.

 

[Nguyenning]

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!

Another dumb question, but how do you ensure you torque the lugs to 129 lb ft? Assuming it involves some kind of device. In which case again, can’t you just tell a reputable shop to do all this?

 

[Rottenapplr]

Another dumb question, but how do you ensure you torque the lugs to 129 lb ft? Assuming it involves some kind of device. In which case again, can’t you just tell a reputable shop to do all this?

There’s a torque wrench. You dial the desired lbs of torque. When you are turning the torque wrench when it hits stated torque number you will feel resistance if it’s a none electronic torque wrench. Other expensive ones will beep. I got mine 15 yrs ago from harbor freights and have used it on 4 different cars (been a tuner since I as 18, now I’m in my 30s. Look for YouTube videos on torque wrench to educate yourself if you are new to this.

Also, harbor freights rock! I’ve had my impact gun for at least 5 yrs with them. Also I have my racing jack from them as well. The quality has gone up with their stuff.

Torque wrench is a must if you work on cars. Each bolt on a car has a specified torque. Over tightening ruin threads that will either pull the head off or ruin the threads. I made that mistake on my first car doing an oil change. Learned the hard way back.

 

[Ciaopec]

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.

<SNIP>

?

Do you have directional tires? I didn't think those could be cross rotated.

 

[Runt8]

Do you have directional tires? I didn't think those could be cross rotated.

Nope, they’re just the stock 18s.

 

[ebmcs03]

I do not recommend using just the double jack method with no stands. My 5yr old racing jack failed on me. It was super scary. No sign of failure it just gave out. And I’ve had 15 plus years of car work experience. I always use a jack. It can always fail, whether it’s the seals or something. But all of a sudden fluid dumped from the hydraulics and the jack lowered pretty quickly. Scary *sugar*.

Where do you put the stands on the model3? No place.

 

[Watts_Up]

Another dumb question, but how do you ensure you torque the lugs to 129 lb ft?
Assuming it involves some kind of device. In which case again,
can’t you just tell a reputable shop to do all this?

Good question. The only way is to get a torque wrench.
For such high torque I would recommend an 18" length, to make if effortless.
It's not very costly, I would recommend one with a carrying box like this one:
Kauplus 1/2-Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench 6PCS SET (10-150 ft.-lb. / 13.6-203.5 Nm)

You should also get an air pressure tester. AstroAI Digital Tire Pressure Gauge
And a tire tread measurement gauge Preciva Tire Tread Depth Gauge, LCD Digital Tire Tread Depth Gauge Tool 0-25 mm
Or a combination of both: AUTMOR Tire Pressure Gauge with Tire Thread Depth

 

[Runt8]

Where do you put the stands on the model3? No place.

You can jack up the front or back enough to put a stand on the same side. Or you can get a jack stand that is integrated with the jack, but those are pretty expensive.

 

[Tron 3]

129 # ft. - sweet, thanks for the torque value @afadeev!

 

[Bmeeks88]

I read a suggestion on this topic. The idea was to use a wheel lift on each tire in an attempt to not occupy the jackpoint. Once the lift is high enough place a jack in the jack point. Anyone thought about this or tried it? Pretty sure you can pick up a pretty cheap one at harbor freight.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Nope, they’re just the stock 18s.

So stock tires. Can rotated side to side?

 

[Runt8]

So stock tires. Can rotated side to side?

Correct, the stock 18s are not directional.

 

[TMThree]

Whats a recommended car jack to use with the rennstands?

I had an Arcan ALJ3T but it's too tall to fit under the car with the renn, and it has two hand grips on either side that are also too wide for the legs on the stands.

 

[afadeev]

You can jack up the front or back enough to put a stand on the same side. Or you can get a jack stand that is integrated with the jack, but those are pretty expensive.

The method that had worked for me on EVERY car I had ever owned, including the TM3.

Put a 2-foot piece of 2x4 over the jack saddle, place it between the jacking points right under the rocket panel, and jack the side of the car enough to place both jack stands under that side of the car. Placement of the 2x4 is critical, as you don't want it to go under the floor of the car where it would damage the floor (or batteries in Tesla's case), or too shallow where it could damage the skirt.

Now, please don't loose your cool, as this is not the officially recommended lifting approach by either BMW, Mercedes, MINI, Honda, or Tesla.
But for what it's worth, it has worked for me for the past 30+ years on the cars that don't have dedicated front/rear central lifting points from the factory.

I google a video illustration on a MINI here:

Consider doing this at your own risk, or not at all.

YMMV,
a

 

[Watts_Up]

Put a 2-foot piece of 2x4 over the jack saddle, place it between the jacking points right under the rocket panel,
and jack the side of the car enough to place both jack stands under that side of the car.

Placement of the 2x4 is critical, as you don't want it to go under the floor of the car where
it would damage the floor (or batteries in Tesla's case), or too shallow where it could damage the skirt.

Can you take a picture or a video showing the differents steps?
- I find the Model 3 to be very low. How can you put a 2x4 between the car and the jack?
- Do you use two jacks, so you can start raising the car front the front, allowing you to insert the 2x4 then?

 

[Keelo Watts]

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.

That's how I did my first rotation with only two floor jacks. However, I picked up a couple jackstands for $29 on Amazon and the for the next one, I'm going to put those under the front lower control arms and then use the floor jacks on the rear and do the swap all at once and save that 3rd lift/swap.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Consider doing this at your own risk, or not at all.

Yeah don't do that. Use the approved jack points. Someone in another thread had Discount Tire do $10k of damage to their car. It's not worth the risk.

 

[Rottenapplr]

Yeah don't do that. Use the approved jack points. Someone in another thread had Discount Tire do $10k of damage to their car. It's not worth the risk.

Wow this car is very particular.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Wow this car is very particular.

Every unibody car has jack points. Obviously you probably can jack it up along the side without too much damage but it's more risk than I would take. Many unibody vehicles have a nice pinch weld along the entire side of the vehicle with reinforced jack points. Using that in combination with a 2x4 would probably be fine. I don't think the Model 3 is the same or if it is it's covered by plastic. Anyway as a general policy it's probably best to use the jack points specified by the manufacturer on any car.