I realised my front tyres are wearing out quite fast and my friend suggested i switch the front and rear tyres around as the rear has deeper threads. I was just wondering how much do this usually cost and do they align the tyres for you as well?

Wat tyres do you guys recommend if i want a change? I want some which last but I'm not tat fussy about its performance as its an old car and I go quite easy on the driving. What are the costs roughly? Am I looking at $100-$150 per tyre? or are there cheaper options?

The tyres I'm using now are from the previous owner and its Bridgestone Turanza GR-50 215/65R14 96H.

Thanks :)

Your V6 has 14" wheels? :redface: thought they all had 15s.


Wheels don't get aligned, your CAR gets wheel alignment done.

Wheels get "balanced", but if you're not vibrating at speed they don't need redoing.



Tyre rotation you can do it yourself quite easily.

Swap the rears to the front: LR -> LF, RR -> RF.

The current front tyres can go to the back 'crossed', like: RF -> LR, LF -> RR

You don't need any special tools, just your jack & sparewheel (to hold the car up).


Or buy any cheap trolley jack for $50 new; now use it with your other jack
and you can take off TWO wheels at the same time. Saves a lot of jacking work.

Or I've got a trolley jack AND a bottle jack... plus the car's jack.
I can take off all four wheels at once - tyre rotation takes like 10 mins.



btw, when you've got each tyre off, take some time to inspect the threads.
Sometimes there's damage or nails you can't see from outside, even if there's no leaks.

you should never swap sides of cars when rotating tyres it makes them wear out alot faster.

rf->rr, rr->rf
lf->lr, lr->lf

any other way is foolish

you should never swap sides of cars when rotating tyres it makes them wear out alot faster.

rf->rr, rr->rf
lf->lr, lr->lf

any other way is foolish

i thought it was because of directional tread. so when the tires facing the right way it channels water, but the opposite way, it does, well the opposite...

you should never swap sides of cars when rotating tyres it makes them wear out alot faster.

rf->rr, rr->rf
lf->lr, lr->lf

any other way is foolish

Wrong.

you should never swap sides of cars when rotating tyres it makes them wear out alot faster.

rf->rr, rr->rf
lf->lr, lr->lf

any other way is foolish

How so...?

nah. mine ain't a V6. 2.6l. pretty small wheels for the car though.

you should never swap sides of cars when rotating tyres it makes them wear out alot faster.

rf->rr, rr->rf
lf->lr, lr->lf

any other way is foolish

i distinctly remember seeing a little pamphlet in Goodyear or somewhere like that which had a diagram on how to rotate wheels and it definitely involved swapping sides. Maybe you mean for directional tyres, in which case you are right.

Tyre rotating depends on the what the tyre maker suggests.Front to back or the drive tyres go back and the non drive tyres swap sides.
http://www.kumhousa.com/Care/TireRotation.asp

U could have told the guy something constructive too......
Directional tyres have markings (arrows or actual text) on the side walls to verify the directions, do not change then from side to side, only back to front.
Non directional tyres, which I assume he would, have can be swapped any which way, it doesn't matter.
Note, when doing tyre rotation, it's good to check balances as well.
The price bracket quoted seems ok for such tyres, the harder they are the longer they last - as a general rule. And such tyres have less grip too, unfortunately.

I rotate mine every 5 G and balance once a year or more frequently if required.


Wrong.

Directional tyres are a big marketing baloney... :badgrin:
let's talk only if your ride comes from the Italian factory with Pirelli P-Zero Neros. :P


...Am I looking at $100-$150 per tyre? or are there cheaper options?

... Bridgestone Turanza GR-50 215/65R14 96H.

Wouldn't be hard to find 14" tyres to fit Magna for ~$100.

Bridgestones in a 215 would be about $140.

If you want big brands like Bridgestone and GoodYear keep a watch on KMart Auto.
Quite often they'll do specials on brandname rubber which are pretty decent savings
over the best price you'll get quoted from Bridgestone, Bob Jane or Beaurepaires.


nb: I don't like tyre mobs touching my car (various weird/bad experiences) anymore
so I'm anal enough to just cart loose Magna wheels to their shop for new tyres.
Not saying they're all bad, its probably just me.

U could have told the guy something constructive too......
Directional tyres have markings (arrows or actual text) on the side walls to verify the directions, do not change then from side to side, only back to front.
Non directional tyres, which I assume he would, have can be swapped any which way, it doesn't matter.
Note, when doing tyre rotation, it's good to check balances as well.
The price bracket quoted seems ok for such tyres, the harder they are the longer they last - as a general rule. And such tyres have less grip too, unfortunately.

I rotate mine every 5 G and balance once a year or more frequently if required.

I thought I'd just let someone else do the work this time, and I would have to agree with the advice you have posted :).

In addition, I would have to add that it is a bad idea to keep stripping tyres off a wheel and refitting, as each time you do this you compromise the integrity of the bead. Unfortunately though if you own directional tyres, to do a proper rotation you need to swap sides (especially if your wheel alignment is set up to aggressive camber or toe angles).

As for balancing, I would have to agree that this is also often overlooked in terms of if you do high performance driving, that your $5/tyre special at BobJane isn't going to be sufficient. What you need is both radial + lateral force alignment which only specific outlets are equipped for (Bridgestone state distributor in Laverton,Vic being one of them).

FWD - Rotate rear tyres to front opposite side. Front tyres go to back.
AWD - Rotate all tyres to opposite side and opposite end.
RWD - Rotate rear tyres to front. Front tyres to to back opposite side.

Directional tyres... I would have to say the best tyres can either be directional symmetric, non directional, or assymetric. Best is no tread at all ;).

Directional tyres are a big marketing baloney... :badgrin:
let's talk only if your ride comes from the Italian factory with Pirelli P-Zero Neros. :P


Wouldn't be hard to find 14" tyres to fit Magna for ~$100.

Bridgestones in a 215 would be about $140.

If you want big brands like Bridgestone and GoodYear keep a watch on KMart Auto.
Quite often they'll do specials on brandname rubber which are pretty decent savings
over the best price you'll get quoted from Bridgestone, Bob Jane or Beaurepaires.


nb: I don't like tyre mobs touching my car (various weird/bad experiences) anymore
so I'm anal enough to just cart loose Magna wheels to their shop for new tyres.
Not saying they're all bad, its probably just me.

okays... they aint cheap at all... lol. would the price quoted include the installation?

oh yeah.. guys... just curious... the threads of directional tyres have to slant outwards towards the rear?



*sigh* having a car is costly... damn... burning a hole in my pocket.. especially with the pertrol prices..

The reason for not swapping sides has nothing to do with directional tyres at all.

this is how it was explained to me by a tyre shop, when a tyre wears it the tread "lays"down a particular way, by swapping it to the other side the tread then has to sit up and lay back the other way(something to do with the rubber) thus wearing the tyre faster.

He was having a good laugh at all the cars that the customers want them swapped side to side on as they get to sell more tyres to the fools. So of course they will tell you todo that gets the manufactures more turn over

Yes and it is due to the tyre wearing unevenly that you rotate the tyres from side to side as well as front to rear, as this distributes the uneven wear amongst all tyres so that you get the maximum life out of all tyres.

The reason for not swapping sides has nothing to do with directional tyres at all.

this is how it was explained to me by a tyre shop, when a tyre wears it the tread "lays"down a particular way, by swapping it to the other side the tread then has to sit up and lay back the other way(something to do with the rubber) thus wearing the tyre faster.

He was having a good laugh at all the cars that the customers want them swapped side to side on as they get to sell more tyres to the fools. So of course they will tell you todo that gets the manufactures more turn over

thanks. that certainly clarified things. I'll switch them around as suggest. FR-RR,FL-RL and RL-FR,RR-RL

thanks. that certainly clarified things. I'll switch them around as suggest. FR-RR,FL-RL and RL-FR,RR-RL


ummm thats not how i suggested, this is front right to rear right, rear right to front right, front left to rear left, rear left to front left, leave the spare in the boot

sorry. my mistake there.. lol

I thought I'd just let someone else do the work this time, and I would have to agree with the advice you have posted :).

Grrrhhhhmumblegrumblegrrr....

I had aggressive camber in my old Cortina, and it used to wear the front tyres pretty bad, but only on the inner edge. So to give the tyres bit more even wear, I swapped them frequently. Even then, they lasted about max 30 G.
Yep, balancing and alignment are very important. Do/check them frequently, max 20 G intervals, I reckon.
But - who would peel off the tyres from rims to change them??? Do ppl like that wash the tyres inside too? Do they change the air as per climatic season (winter air vs summer air)?

But - who would peel off the tyres from rims to change them??? Do ppl like that wash the tyres inside too? Do they change the air as per climatic season (winter air vs summer air)?

People with directional tyres.

And they really take them off the rim to swap???? (I'm trying very hard to figure out why....)


People with directional tyres.

my dads soarer had to get the fronts actually taken off (the tyre) and swapped to the other side. Could not do a simple rotate as front and back were diff widths, and directional. As it is lowered a fair bit, the insides of the front were wearing out, so they took the tyres off and put them on the other side, so where previously it was low now has more tread.

+++--- ---+++
now
---+++ +++---

i think.

Do they change the air as per climatic season (winter air vs summer air)?
Haven't heard of winter vs summer air, but for $5/tyre you could use Nitrogen.

Pro truckies & racecars do. :cool: