How to use free lifetime rotations/balances?

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I bought a set of Cooper CS5 Grands from Fleet Farm this spring (got a GREAT deal- $300 OTD for 4 225-60R16) and they are now coming up on 6000 miles. Cooper recommends rotating at 5-8,000 miles. They're warrantied to 80,000 miles so I want to make sure I don't void the warranty.

I bought them at Mills Fleet Farm and my install included free lifetime rotations and balancing. I'm not sure of two things-
-how often should I rotate them? Is there any detriment to doing this at the low end of the scale?
-should I use the free balancing if I'm not experiencing any issues? Have them balance each time they rotate? Or do it only if I have vibration problems?
 
Assuming tire warranties are actually worth something, you want to have rotations logged by a authorized dealer at the recommended interval. This way if you get a problem that is somehow related to early wear of a random tire then the shop can help you make a claim.
 
When I had deals like this, I had them balance and rotate every 5K miles. That coordinates with my oil change regimen, so the rotation doesn't get forgotten. Never had a tire shop refuse because it was "too early".
 
My tire shop says 5 to 6K for rotations. So I made it easy @ 115K They had 5K miles on them I'll get them rotated on every even 5K interval on the odometer.
 
Rotate the tires as often as you can for free. Probably every 5 or 6 thousand miles. The only harm to tires usually comes from neglect (not checking pressure or leaving the tires in the same spot too long). I would probably recommend balancing every time if you have the time to wait, the balance is free, and the technician/machine combination are good.
 
I'd also recommend Cross-rotating them for more even wear. On front wheel drive cars the front tires come straight back and the rears are crossed over to the front. I once had the advisor question me on how it's done so be prepared to tell them.
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Assuming tire warranties are actually worth something, you want to have rotations logged by a authorized dealer at the recommended interval. This way if you get a problem that is somehow related to early wear of a random tire then the shop can help you make a claim.

^ This.
 
I have a variation of this problem. BMW does not recommend tire rotation, as the tires (supposedly) take a set at each location. And with my cars fairly wide tires I have had problems when I tried to rotate them.

And I now live in a 'snow tires not required' area. I have no need to go on the road for that theoretical day or two when there might be snow or ice. So there's no need for a seasonal change either.

I bought my current tires at Costco which offers free rotation, balancing and nitrogen filling for the life of the tires. I've noticed from my Honda that they don't check the balance, they just re-balance them.

With no need to ever remove those wheels, how would you suggest I go about accessing the periodic free re-balancing?
 
I usually shoot for around 7,500 miles, but it usually comes down to whenever I have free time between 6k-10k.
 
Originally Posted By: ecotourist
I have a variation of this problem. BMW does not recommend tire rotation, as the tires (supposedly) take a set at each location. And with my cars fairly wide tires I have had problems when I tried to rotate them.

And I now live in a 'snow tires not required' area. I have no need to go on the road for that theoretical day or two when there might be snow or ice. So there's no need for a seasonal change either.

I bought my current tires at Costco which offers free rotation, balancing and nitrogen filling for the life of the tires. I've noticed from my Honda that they don't check the balance, they just re-balance them.

With no need to ever remove those wheels, how would you suggest I go about accessing the periodic free re-balancing?

Just have them re-balanced without being rotated.
 
Originally Posted By: TmanP
-should I use the free balancing if I'm not experiencing any issues? Have them balance each time they rotate? Or do it only if I have vibration problems?

Missed this question.

Might as well have them check the balance every time they rotate. That way you never have to worry about it.
 
I wouldn't balance them if they feel smooth, I don't like having my rims on the balancer more often than needed, I like to minimize the amount of damage a tire monkey does to them.
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Just have them re-balanced without being rotated.

I wonder if they would do only that. I suspect they'd rotate them through force of habit and I'd have a new vibration problem. I could ask I suppose.
 
I did that once where I wanted a free balance but didn't want them rotated, I just marked each tire with chalk (RF, LF, RR, LR) and told them, they got them back in the right places.
 
If Fleet Farm is anything like Discount Tire, you don't have to ask for the tires to be balanced. They do it each time the car is brought in for rotation. It's SOP to do both together.
 
I rotate my continental tires every oil change when the OLM hit 15-20%. Which usually is 5,500-6,500 miles. Got 15K on them now and still got 8/32 of tread left on a 90k tire. I just started working at a dealer and road forced balanced them last week to get rid of a vibration over 70mph. But i normally balance them when i get a vibration.
 
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Getting them re-balanced on every rotation is a good way to get a smooth running set out of balance too. Most OE tires I've replaced have never been re-balanced. I can tell when someone has had free balancing because there will be random weights scattered around the wheel, since some shops just pound on new weights instead of starting over. If your tires run smooth I would only get them checked maybe every 20kmi.
 
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