I recently bought a Oil change card that does 6 conventional oil change for $70, and when that is completed, you get another 6 oil change. that's a really good deal!!!!

Any how, had my oil change the other day at Big-O Tires, and requested for a tire rotation. The next day I noticed that all my wheels were scraped where the lug nuts goes into. All wheels were scraped at different extent. You can't really see it until couple of feet away. Brought it back to Big-O they tried to deny it because it wasn't on paper. But the guy that service my car was standing next to me, and sorta put him on the spot.

I didn't want to make a big deal of it, since it is in a spot that is not easily noticeble versus the outer edge of the rim or some thing. So the owner gave my two free synthetic blend oil change. I really didn't want to bring my G back for any more service there, but I guess I can take these two freebies and use the dealer in the future.

 

If you got the staggered sport 19s, then there is no point in rotating them...

 

Actually there is a difference. Since the tires are not directional, you can get them rotated side to side.
In sence the rear tires will have an accelertion wear, where as the front tires will have a deceleration wear.

Acceleration wear: if on the driver side looking at the rear wheel, the wear of the tread will be on the left side (to the front). if on the passenger side looking at the rear wheel, the wear of the tread will be on the right side (to the front). vice versa with the front tires.

so if the tires get rotated side to side the wear on the tread will be on the opposite side of the tread of the tire.

does that make sense????

 

Honestly, I've heard many stories such as yours at these pop n shops, of course its cheaper to go to one of them but as of all of us having very nice cars, I tend to use the dealer I brought it from with any problems and only them. Its worth the extra $20 bucks if thats what it takes. They tend to take care of my car better and/or you get better results whatever you were having done. But thats just my opinion.

 

Hell no, that doesn't make any sense. Can you explain it in a different way because I have no clue what you mean. Explain acceleration wear and deceleration wear please.

 

All of your acceleration is from your rear tires and most of the deceleration is from the front in terms of braking.

Acceleration wear at the rear wheels:
If you look at a piece of tread on the tire you can see that one end of the tread looks different from the opposite end, probably one high end and one low end. When the tire patch touches the road surface the left side of the tread hits the road surface first causing it to have a rugged wear as to the right side of the tread is a follow through the tire rotation.

Deceleration wear at the front wheels:
This is where most of the braking power is at. So the wear of the tread is exactly the opposite from the rear wheels. As when the car is in motion and brakes are applied, the tread patch touching the road surface will an opposite affect of a acceleration wear.

Hope that makes better sense.

 

If your rolling on stock tires the tread IS directional. You cant rotate them side to side.

 

I don't think it is directional. Didnt' see any arrows, just the tire labeled "OUTSIDE"

 

I'm not sure a dealership or high dollar shop would have been any different, it's always a he said, she said game when a wheel is scratched. No matter how much money a shop/dealership makes no one wants to fork out money for a wheel repair, 9 times out of 10 they will claim there is no way to tell if you brought it in that way. LOL the dealership SOLD me my car with a scraped 19" wheel, didn't notice till I got home. I personally feel Big -O offered great customer service in dealing with this situation.

 

yeah the guy was pretty cool about it, but on the same token I brought the issue to him with out any attitudes.

But I think the guy that worked on my car was a new guy, there was this other guy there helping him out that looked like he knew what he was doing. I wonder if I can request for him to work on my car the next time I bring it for an oil change? Would that be too much to ask for?

 

That makes it directional. You have to demount the tire and swap it to the other side to do the job right.

 

NO. When the wheels get rotated side to side, the label "OUTSIDE" is still on the outside of the car.

Here's an idea; if you took both rear wheels off the car and have a buddy mix the two around (the switch-a-roo game). Would you be able to determine which wheel goes to which side?

 

If a tire has one sidewall that's labeled "OUTSIDE" it isn't directional, the tread is asymmetrical. The OEM Bridgestone 19's are of this variety. Common sense tells you that this type of wheel can be swapped from side to side or front to rear on a car (if not a staggered fitment like ours) without dismounting the tire, if it's mounted on the wheel properly it will still be on the outside no matter what location you put it on the car. It only specifies how the tire is mounted on the wheel, not it's location on the vehicle.

If a tire has an arrow on the sidewall labeled "ROTATION" it is directional. Directional tires must be mounted so as to have the arrow pointing forward. They can be rotated between the front and rear axles of the same side on a car that doesn't have a staggered fitment (our sport 19's are staggered) without dismounting, but will have to be dismounted/remounted when rotating from side to side.

On our cars, rotation isn't practical at all.

I must be dense because I still am not follwing what you are describing. You say that acceleration wear the "left side of the tread hits the road surface first". Huh? Left is relative. Do you mean the inside edge of the tread? Outside edge? The leading side of the tire as opposed to the trailing side? Can you post a picture and point out what you are talking about?

 

Dang!! you're going to make me take pictures and post them.
There are several items that I want to sell on craigslist but I donn't because due to posting of pictures....hmmmmm I'll see what I can play around with.

 

Try to find some online or something. I searched and couldn't find anything about what you're talking about. I really want to understand it because I've never heard anything about it in over 20 years of driving and don't want to stay ignorant all my life.