Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 13:52:42 -0700
Reply-To: Bill Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bill Davidson <wdavidson@THEGRID.NET>
Subject: Re: Align and rotate
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I would really like to give the business to the Ma and Pa
> shop down the road, but I'm planning on traveling and reloacating soon
> and I'm thinking that maybe I should go with a larger supplier (Like
> Sears or NTB) so that they will do free rotations for me.
The most important factor is what dealer will even carry (or order) a tire
that is appropriate for the Vanagon... so it may well end up you don't have
a choice of dealers... concentrate on the tire first.
But I wonder
> if that is really neccessary. Couldn't I rotate my tires myself ?
Sure, I do. And it takes less time that waiting for them to do it at the
tire shop... but is is a bit of work... maybe 30 or 40 minutes or maybe an
hour depending on how you work and what tools you have.
The
> big questions are as follows:
>
> 1) When you rotate tires, do you have to re-balance them?
NO.
>
> 2) What is the proper rotation? I always thought that it was a kind of
> criss-cross rotation, but looking in my VW owners manual last night,
> they say keep the left tires on the left and the right tires on the
> rigth and just switch the front tires with the back tires. ???
Forget the manual... way out dated.. .modern tires are rotated from left to
right... makes for more even wear pattern and longer lasting tires. There
was a post on rotation pattern this morning. It would normally go something
like: RF to RR, RR to LF, LF to LR, LR to Spare, Spare to RF.... make sure
you do it about every 5,000 to 10,000 miles and make sure you do the same
rotation pattern each time... write it down in your owner's manual so you
don't forget it.
>
> 3) I know that when you get new tires, you should get your front end
> aligned. Does this also apply when you rotate your tires?
No, you don't need an alignment with new tires unless you get a tire with a
significantly different diameter. No alignment needed when rotating tires
either.
>
> 4) How hard is an alignment to do myself?
Forget it. The key is to find ANYONE who can do it.... only a very few shops
do a good job at aligning the vanagon... ask the list for someone in your
area before deciding where to take it.
Bill
> Any help appreciated.
> Peace - donna
> '84 Westy (Pepe)
>
