[constipated]

16000km on the Odo.

Concerned about all the stories about inner tyre shoulder wear with the i30 diesel. So far tyres seem to be wearing evenly.

Had the 15,000km service recently. They didn't rotate or offer to rotate the tyres. My Toyota had this included as part of the scheduled service (capped priced service).

Car going in for some other warranty work. Just wondering what people's thoughts were about rotating tyres routinely.

Since I can't see any uneven wear, should I just not touch something that isn't broken, and basically replace tyres in twos when the fronts wear.

Or should I ask for a tyre rotation to try to evenly wear out all 4 tyres?

[baroudeur]

16000km on the Odo.

Concerned about all the stories about inner tyre shoulder wear with the i30 diesel. So far tyres seem to be wearing evenly.

Had the 15,000km service recently. They didn't rotate or offer to rotate the tyres. My Toyota had this included as part of the scheduled service (capped priced service).

Car going in for some other warranty work. Just wondering what people's thoughts were about rotating tyres routinely.

Since I can't see any uneven wear, should I just not touch something that isn't broken, and basically replace tyres in twos when the fronts wear.
Or should I ask for a tyre rotation to try to evenly wear out all 4 tyres?

The choice is yours and there are two schools of thought.

Bearing in mind it is generally accepted that the best tread depth should be on the rear.

1. Rotate to obtain even wear needs all tyres replacing at the same time.  It can cause excessive wear as the fronts tends to wear the shoulders but the rears wear flat so rotating scrubs off the original  front tyre central portion quite rapidly until it is flatter.

2. Don't rotate   Only two tyres need replacing at a time.  Fronts wear faster which keeps the deeper tread at the rear.

[eye30]

Bearing in mind it is generally accepted that the best tread depth should be on the rear.

I would have thought that the deeper tread should be on the drive axle i.e for the i30 the front.

[Phil №❶]

I always keep the best tyres on the front, they perform most of the breaking and steering as well, so they need the best grip in the wet. I do not rotate my tyres, a vehicle I once owned had a nasty habit of wearing the inside shoulder too and when I swapped front to rear, the rear tyres did not scrub the excess and return to even wear. Even with a worn profile, the whole surface of the tyre was making road contact, so the worn area just got worse and eventually required replacing. I found replacing the rears with new tyres, they just simply wouldn't wear out and wore evenly. 

[Dazzler]

I like to rotate (and have always done this without an issue)

Although it does mean having to fork out for 4 tyres at once, insead of two. It gives you the option to swap to another brand or another tread pattern (I like all my tyres to match for looks and safety) 

[Surferdude]

16000km on the Odo.

Concerned about all the stories about inner tyre shoulder wear with the i30 diesel. So far tyres seem to be wearing evenly.

Had the 15,000km service recently. They didn't rotate or offer to rotate the tyres. My Toyota had this included as part of the scheduled service (capped priced service).

Car going in for some other warranty work. Just wondering what people's thoughts were about rotating tyres routinely.

Since I can't see any uneven wear, should I just not touch something that isn't broken, and basically replace tyres in twos when the fronts wear.
Or should I ask for a tyre rotation to try to evenly wear out all 4 tyres?

The choice is yours and there are two schools of thought.

Bearing in mind it is generally accepted that the best tread depth should be on the rear.

1. Rotate to obtain even wear needs all tyres replacing at the same time.  It can cause excessive wear as the fronts tends to wear the shoulders but the rears wear flat so rotating scrubs off the original  front tyre central portion quite rapidly until it is flatter.

2. Don't rotate   Only two tyres need replacing at a time.  Fronts wear faster which keeps the deeper tread at the rear.

All good except this,    Bearing in mind it is generally accepted that the best tread depth should be on the rear.
Whilst there is a school of thought which feels this way, there is a contrary view (shared by me) that the best tyres should be on the front. The issue of putting the best on the back relates to trying to avoid or reduce the likelihood of oversteer which is considered less desirable than understeer. The i30 has, IMO, enough understeer built into it anyway so you would need something pretty drastic to produce significant oversteer.

However as others have said above, the front tyres (especially on a front wheel drive car) do much more - about 3times - work than the rears. Load bearing, braking, cornering all make the front tyres work much harder.
Ergo, put the best tyres on the front. Also, if you are going to suffer a blowout where would you rather it was on your car. Less tread increases the chance of a blowout.

On the issue of "to rotate or not to rotate", Dazz has covered it pretty well. My view is that if you can afford to replace all 4 at once,aim to do so. Which means rotating at 10,000 klm intervals.

[beerman]

I rotate for four reasons.

1) Less time worrying about and buying tyres (life is too short to drink bad coffee and read 3 year old copies of wheels....Sorry Trev), and when the time comes, I believe you can squeeze more margin out of old mate selling them when your buying 4 rather than 2 (look at all the buy 3 get 1 free specials you see around as an example).

2) Wheel alignments are expensive, and if I buy new tyres I'm going to get one, regardless of the car needing it or not.

3) When the time comes for new tyres, I am free to get what I want, because I don't have to worry about matching pattens with whats on the car. Hence if a new tyre comes out that is better than the rest I can go for it, also if there is a particularly cheap (ie value not dodgy) I can take advantage of that.

4) Believe it or not some places check the brakes without taking the wheel off, with a flash light. By getting the wheels rotated, they will actually stick their head in and have a proper look at things, rather than just checking to see if the pads are ok.

[Dazzler]

 

[Doggie 1]

  X 2

[Asterix]

Is it really common in OZ to get an alignment when buying new tyres..

If so, then I understand why you pay more per tyre than we do, as discussed somewhere else. I have never heard of any place in DK where they offer an alignment to go with 4 new tyres.

[meehalych]

here goes one advantage of cold countries:
I swap the wheels around every next season, when change the tires from winter to summer and other way round

[Asterix]

here goes one opportunity of cold countries:
I swap the wheels around every next season, when change the tires from winter to summer and other way round

Me too, but I allways make sure the best tyres are at the front, as I share Surferdude's opinion.

But be aware that many tyres have marked direction/rotation. If you have those kind of tyres you can't rotate left/right, only front/rear.

[meehalych]

But be aware that many tyres have marked direction/rotation. If you have those kind of tyres you can't rotate left/right, only front/rear.

sure I am 
moreover I use special labels to indicate the position of each wheel

[Dazzler]

Is it really common in OZ to get an alignment when buying new tyres..

If so, then I understand why you pay more per tyre than we do, as discussed somewhere else. I have never heard of any place in DK where they offer an alignment to go with 4 new tyres.

Any alignment is an additional cost on top of the highe Tyre prices.

If I have no signs of bad alignment (either on the tyre or in the driving),  I opt not to have an alignment when I change tyres...

[Surferdude]

Is it really common in OZ to get an alignment when buying new tyres..

If so, then I understand why you pay more per tyre than we do, as discussed somewhere else. I have never heard of any place in DK where they offer an alignment to go with 4 new tyres.

As Dazz said, it's the customer's choice. But it IS recommended. And an extra cost.
Our tyre prices are higher simply as a matter of economics. A numerically small market, as far from anywhere as it can get. There are many tyre factories in SE Asia and China which are relatively close but those products are much cheaper and probably as cheap as you would pay for similar quality.
For the record, I generally recommend a wheel alignment as new tyres are fitted for one of two reasons.
Firstly, the tyres coming off are worn unevenly (maybe as high as 75% of cases).
If the tyres are evenly worn but the car hasn't had an alignment for a year or two, as an insurance against the new tyres wearing unevenly. Obviously this too is the driver's choice and if they don't want it I'm happy for them to call back in about 5,000 klms for a free visual inspection. We can generally pick up any feathering which would indicate a problem more quickly than the driver would.

[Phil №❶]

I always have an alignment done with tyre purchases, for the reasons surferdude has already posted. The suspension is an extremely hard working component of the car, taking stresses from poor roads and occasional steering abuse, turning without rolling and poor parking, kerbs etc. Tyres cost enough as it is & I'd rather pay the insurance and start with fresh tyres & alignment at the same time. 

[beerman]

I get one done with new tyres too. Just saying that I would rather pay for one every 60k than one every 30k, unless there is evidence of some sort of problem.

[Doggie 1]

I always get an alignment done when buying new tyres too.

[rustynutz]

I don't..... 

I've had a few bad experiences with "so called" wheel alignments so I'm happy to put up with minor uneven wear rather than to risk having the alignment and steering wheel positioning totally screwed up. 

[baroudeur]

All good except this,    Bearing in mind it is generally accepted that the best tread depth should be on the rear.
Whilst there is a school of thought which feels this way, there is a contrary view (shared by me) that the best tyres should be on the front. The issue of putting the best on the back relates to trying to avoid or reduce the likelihood of oversteer which is considered less desirable than understeer. The i30 has, IMO, enough understeer built into it anyway so you would need something pretty drastic to produce significant oversteer.

You will find that all the major tyre manufacturers will advise new tyres/deepest tread on the rear wheels.  Of course, some owners may have more expertise  than tyre manufacturers.  However,  regular rotation means all tyres will have similar tread depths in which case the argument may be inconsequential.

Incidentally, if you buy tyres  from Costco (which only sells Michelin) they will only fit new tyres to the rear and refuse to fit if you object.  Probably owing to U.S. liability laws.  Some people take loose wheels in  to get round this.

[Asterix]

Thanks guys.

I must admit I only get the alignment done if I feel the car pulling to one side or if uneven wear is detected.

[Dazzler]

Thanks guys.

I must admit I only get the alignment done if I feel the car pulling to one side or if uneven wear is detected.

 

[marti30]

I've been told that the reason for having the best tyres on the back is that this is the end most likely to lose grip as the weight of the engine and the braking force is at the front. However, I always have my new tyres at the front and have the wheel alignment adjusted if there is clear evidence of uneven wear.
As I have a proper spare I had that swapped with one of the half worn rears. When the other rear is nearly worn out that can become the spare and the original half worn one can go back on in its place. That way I get use out of the spare before it ages and I have matching rear tyres (albeit with different tread depths for a time). It looks as if the three rear tyres will last at least 100,000 miles.

[Dazzler]

Wow 100,000 miles you must be a very gentle driver  (most I have ever got out of a rotated set was around 55,000 KM's, on our previous Diesel i30  (which without doing a proper conversion in about a third of your 100,000 miles)

[marti30]

The odometer is now on 83,000 miles. In my opinion (and probably a lot of other people's also) my driving at times is really quite poor. The front tyres were replaced at 38,000 and 74,000 miles. It was at 38,000 miles that one of the rears became the spare. The tyre that has always been on the back still looks good. I haven't measured its tread depth recently. My plan is for it to become the spare when nearly worn out.
Another reason for moving wheels around the car is that in some cases the rear tyres would perish before they wore out, as happened to me once when I bought a three year old car that had only covered 10,000 miles. 

[Dazzler]

Thanks Marti Interesting feedback