Quote:
Originally Posted by Socom
BMW policy is no rotate and I believe it's do to customer complaints whose tires were too worn to begin with and as a result caused ride problems after the rotation was done. That being said you should rotate every 5-7k miles. If its any consolation I could get 35k off staggered setup which you can't rotate.
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Having read owner's manuals for three different BMWs from the 80’, 90’s and 2000’s, BMW was more specific in earlier owner's manuals regarding their reasoning for the no-rotation policy. BMW believes that tire rotation may undesirably change the handling of the car if the tires are rotated, which disturbs the "set" position the tire has developed over time. Also BMW believes that the cost the owner spends to have the tires periodically rotated does not provide any economic benefit because the amount of useful life the tires may gain is less than the cost of the rotations. I'm sure BMW also assumes the car stays in alignment during the period the tires are in use.
That being said, if you rotate your tires as a DIY activity then it is beneficial to rotate the tires. No car ever stays in perfect alignment and rotating the tires is a good way to avoid expensive re-alignments to keep the tires from abnormal wear by remaining in place. I got rid of the staggered setup on my car so I could cross rotate tires, and I notice a 5,000 - 7,000 increase in the life of a set of tires.
I’d say that buying a decent floor jack, four jackstands, and an impact wrench, would be paid back over 3 or 4 sets of tires (by extending each set’s lifespan), and would be a good investment in building a tool set for DIY’s. Some of the newer cordless impact wrenches are capable of breaking loose wheel bolts and make the job of removing wheels quite easy and quick.