When is too much over-servicing never enough?

[DV52]

I'm interested in getting feedback from forum members on the mystery (for me, at least) of tire rotation. My Golf has just come-back from its first service and without me asking, or any prior discussion, the dealer has undertaken a tire rotation and balance. The first service was due on the basis of time (i.e. 12 months since purchase) and the car had travelled just over 9,600 kms.

I've checked the manual and it simply says that tire rotation should be done regularly (whatever that means). Is this normal and should I expect to have the tires rotated at every service? If this is indeed standard practice, how many rotations will the first set of tires on my car receive (on average)?

[giveway]

They do it so they can charge you extra. It is not part of the standard service. Also if they are checking the brakes properly they should be taking the wheels off. Which means they are charging you $xx to roll the wheels front to back. Also unless you feel a shudder at speed you probably don't need balancing.


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[giveway]

I normally do t myself as I have a decent trolley jack that I can get both front and rear off the ground at the same time.

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[a239947]

It depends on the wear your tyres are getting. Usually tyre rotation is done regularly but on condition. Its so easy to do that you might as well do it on each service when the car is on the hoistand most places dont charge for it as they have to take the wheels off anyway to check brakes and stuff! You can also do it yourself when you motice the wear on the front to be visually more then the rear. This is usually a good indication that its time to rotate.

this message thrown at you from the window of my flying Golf!

[Snail Style]

Just be careful as all VW's tend to scallop rear tyres, which leads to a tonne of tyre noise when rotated to the front.

[Transporter]

Well, you can't please everyone. rotate the tyres - not good. Don't rotate the tyres - not good either.
What did they charge you for the service anyway?
Judging from the title of the thread, it must've been a lot.

[KWICKS]

Tyre places like Bob Jane will recommend 5000km to10000km tyre rotations and do them for free for the life of the tyres if you bought a set of four from them.

[nat225]

I rotate / shuffle mine every a few thousand K or so. Also use torque wrench to tighten the bolts to spec.

All my tyres are evenly worn

My tiguan and gti have not exploded.. I must have been overservicing.


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[nat225]

But i remember vw underwood qld service offered me to rotate and balance my tiguan when they did 2nd yr service at 16,000k. They wanted to charge for it when they called and said that if not, the tyres would wear out quick (7mm left i measured back then)

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[RubAVeeDubDub]

Well, you can't please everyone. rotate the tyres - not good. Don't rotate the tyres - not good either.
What did they charge you for the service anyway?
Judging from the title of the thread, it must've been a lot.

LOL this is true.
I on the other hand would not be impressed if they didn't rotate tyres.
My mum has a subaru and the stealership rotates them every 2nd service. With the intervals at 10,000kms, it means that the tyres were unrotated for 20,000km. Not impressed.

[DV52]

Well, you can't please everyone. rotate the tyres - not good. Don't rotate the tyres - not good either.
What did they charge you for the service anyway?
Judging from the title of the thread, it must've been a lot.

Transporter: I know very little about this topic but it seems (from responses) that this is one of those issues where there is not an absolute answer. As a rank amateur when it comes to tire technology, the spread of views is very interesting IMO. Can't remember what it cost me to get the rotation done (wasn't much - I think, but it wasn't free either).

Snail Style's response is particularly pertinent (for me) because I have noticed more road noise from the tires since the service was done (what is tire "scallop" anyway and how does it happen on the rear wheels only?)

Anyhow, the principal reason that I posted my request was to learn - by hearing from others. There is much more information in views that are varied than in a litany of posts all containing similar answers (IMO).

[Idle]

When I was young and active enough, I used to rotate all wheels (we had real spares in those days) on every vehicle in the fleet every 10,000 or so.

They definitely lasted longer, but it did mean buying tyres in sets of 5 or 7.

The exercise did me no harm, either.

[Umai Naa!!]

The technician will usually decide at the time of performing the service if it's worthwhile rotating the tyres. They aren't mindreaders, and can't assume that you're expecting them rotated/not rotated.

No point doing them if the rears are already trashed, or badly scalloped.

[greg32]

I haven't noticed any scalloping on the rear of my car. I did get an all wheel alignment at a Bridgestone outlet on their new fangled machine. I also asked for less toe-in 0•5 as I have superpro LCAs that don't move as much as the standard LCAs. They also set the front camber to 1•5 degrees. I do swap front to rear every ~5000

[Transporter]

Transporter: I know very little about this topic but it seems (from responses) that this is one of those issues where there is not an absolute answer. As a rank amateur when it comes to tire technology, the spread of views is very interesting IMO. Can't remember what it cost me to get the rotation done (wasn't much - I think, but it wasn't free either).

Snail Style's response is particularly pertinent (for me) because I have noticed more road noise from the tires since the service was done (what is tire "scallop" anyway and how does it happen on the rear wheels only?)

Anyhow, the principle reason that I posted my request was to learn - by hearing from others. There is much more information in views that are varied than in a liturgy of posts all containing similar answers (IMO).

...and I had an impression from the title of your thread and your first post in it, that you were charged for something that you didn't request and in your view is not needed as you couldn't find anything in the owner's manual. Or am I wrong?