Will I Destroy my Parking Brake?

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Just wondering, since it's a newer high tech car....I have reason to swap my two front tires on my 2013 Camry Auto. The morons at the stealership NEVER switched sides in any rotations!!!!!

Should I use the parking brake in addition to rear wheel chocks? And if so, will I mess up some high tech something or other by using the parking brake as an added choking feature? Or is thre another way of llifting just the front end safely?
 
What does your owners manual say for a tire change? Rotating is really little different from a tire change.

As long as the parking brake is recommended for a tire change, no reason not to use it for a tire rotation.
 
That's what I'm saying. If the parking brake is recommended for a routine tire change, wouldn't you be ok using it for a rotation?

Critical reasoning man, critical reasoning. Take information you know, or can find, like the procedure to change a tire in the owners manual, and apply that information to your rotation question.

Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Hmm. I don't see anything in it about the parking brake and rotations. BUT I think one would HAVE to use the parking brake to change a front flat tire on roadside.
 
why wouldnt you use the parking brake?
its not like you are taking brake rotors or drums off.
 
Quote:
Just wondering, since it's a newer high tech car....I have reason to swap my two front tires on my 2013 Camry Auto. The morons at the stealership NEVER switched sides in any rotations!!!!!


What does your manual say about rotation procedures? It varies from car to car.
My Grand Cherokee says cross
Ford says to cross
Nissan says just front to back, don't switch sides.

I don't have a Toyota manual here.
 
My VW said front to back.

I'd set the parking brake. But what happens on a RWD car when the rear is up? I wouldn't sweat it. Just chock the wheels that are on the ground and or use jack stands.
 
it's becoming more common to not swap sides on tire rotations; so i wouldn't call them morons.

You should think in terms of what are you trying to gain. If you're just doing the rotation because you've always done that rotation, you should reevaluate why you had that belief in the first place..

There are downsides of a tire which spent x miles rotating one direction and then swapped to rotate the other direction. Are those downsides worth whatever it is you're trying to gain?
 
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Yeah set the brake. When a front wheel leaves the ground "Park" won't work anymore as the differential would make the airborne tire spin backwards. Also when it comes to the rear axle your rear wheels will spin with the lug wrench with the e-brake off, so you need it on.

What is your plan to achieve diagonal rotation? How many jacks and stands and stuff do you have?
 
Ok. I'll be using the parking brake with no fear of damage.

Onto my reason for just swapping sides for this rotation......
The car has 20,000 miles and I just discovered through checking the "1" "2" "3" "4".. numbers I marked in marker on an inner wheel weight of each tire when I got the car. I had a speaking suspicion starting with the third rotate that the morons had only switched fronts to backs. Which is not the best policy. These tires aren't even directional like snow tires. So NO logical reason, just laziness. I called another Toyota dealer an the confirmed fronts go straight back and rears cross to the front.

So, the tires are now loud with heel-toe wear. Note : NOT feathering wear. Actual heel-toe wear. My wife drives the car and never told me she hear anything. I checked visually and I'd be [censored]... Heel-toe wear in mostly the inner 25% of the tread.

Lesson learned. ALWAYS check the work. I may even chew some heads. A new car driven only on rural roads by an adult with tire inflation checked weekly.

Also learned that the Camry SE has a terrible rear factory geometry set for sporty feel. With poor tread wear rated Bridgestone EL200's or whatever they are, a bad combination. I have little doubt this could have been avoided by REAL rotations.

For this time I am just switching sides and then starting diagonal the next rotation. Sadly an inner voice knows that even by now a side swap will not counter act the wear pattern alread set in.
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
. The morons at the stealership NEVER switched sides in any rotations!!!!!


Um, before calling them morons did you read your owners manual?

Specifically section 4.3 page 376

This is the relevant section...
toyotarotation.JPG
 
Or, in that case:

A. Everybody doing cross rotations has bee needlessly doing it all these years.
B. The other dealer I called is wrong, as they said, " um yep we cross them... That's HOW you rotate tires."
C. We should accept droning wear starting at 20k miles
D. The manual is right, and I am now changin my oil changes to 10k and tranny change to past 100k

Or :
E. The manual shows basic maintainence for the lightest of duty and results in the most frequent of replacement costs

Lesson learned, expect short cuts and minimum quality from most dealers and the least robustness of maintainence schedules from manufacturers.
 
I was once bitten by tires delaminating after crossing during rotation. Both tires that reversed direction developed bulges on the tread (not sidewall) significant enough to feel like a really bad balance.

This might have been a design flaw, but it's apparently common.. or at least not rare.

That was enough to change my procedure to observe both tire and vehicle recommendations.

BMW recommends that rotation generally isn't worth the expense, but same-side rotation is acceptable when the wheel and tire sizes are the same on front and rear.
 
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Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Or, in that case:

A. Everybody doing cross rotations has bee needlessly doing it all these years.
B. The other dealer I called is wrong, as they said, " um yep we cross them... That's HOW you rotate tires."
C. We should accept droning wear starting at 20k miles
D. The manual is right, and I am now changin my oil changes to 10k and tranny change to past 100k

Or :
E. The manual shows basic maintainence for the lightest of duty and results in the most frequent of replacement costs

Lesson learned, expect short cuts and minimum quality from most dealers and the least robustness of maintainence schedules from manufacturers.




So explain to me again how you know more than the people who designed built and service the car? Maybe there way rotating is adequate and your just wrong?
 
It's clearly inadequate as the tires now have worn unevenly. Which is the whole point of rotation.

A close colleague suffers because her mother's doctor read instructions saying thalidomide was safe for morning sickness.

Sadly manufacturer attention to longevity measures such as regular oil changes and other consumable fluids is distinctly lacking lately. Ther has been no actual mechanical or scientific reasoning to NOT fully rotate tires. No new dangerous discovery, no new belt design that necessitates eliminating cross rotation. Nada.

Bitog members have proof that tranny fluid wears out before 100k and I have proof that not fully rotating tires on a spanking new car causes heel-toe wear which is an industry wide recognized consequence of incomplete or to long delayed rotations.
 
It seems like you need to go work for this dealership and show them how to do it.

The moron person rotating your tires is simply following instructions and trying to make an honest living.
 
What I forgot to mention was that on the last rotation they hit the lug nuts with the impact wrench and the impact torque stick with wreck less abandon. They went in a star pattern though, kudos to them, about 4 cycles with that torque stick just a clacking away. Needless to say, kinda defeated the purpose of the torque stick because each impact past the first few pops does add torque.
 
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