Is tire rotation really necessary on Prius?

I save plastic jugs (laundry detergent, empty 5qt Mobil 1 jugs, etc) and use those to collect the oil. I have a Fram Sure Drain on my Ford Explorer so I just connect a hose and drain directly into a plastic jug. For the Prius and Avalon (my GF's car) I use a drain pan and then carefully pour the old oil into the plastic jug. For oil filters, I cut the top out of a used laundry detergent jug and place the filters inside the jug.

Where I live, on trash collection day they will collect used oil from the curbside as long as it is labeled and the cap is taped to prevent accidental spills. I usually just wait until I need to go to the disposal site and take several jugs at one time. There is no charge for recycling oil and oil filters.

 

And when they wear out you've gotten all of your money out them. Then you move the rear wheels to the front (to wear them out and extract all of *their* value) and put two new tires on the rear. The result is maximum value and improved safety.

 

I've been changing my oil for years, but I was always able to slide under the vehicles. I've only had my car less than 2 weeks. Somewhere here someone mentioned the proper jacks/stand you should have; I'll look it up.

Right now I just got mud flaps. Can one safely get the back tires off with the jack that came with the car or should I get the jacks/stands?

I've never changed a tire; got started once. I've been lucky on the road to have gentlemen stop and change flats for me.

I'm independent and hate parting with my money.

 

You can use the jack to lift the rear to install mud flaps, just don't crawl under the car when it is only supported by a jack.

Tips to consider:

Park on a solid level surface (like a concrete driveway) if at all possible.

Block the front wheels with something (you can buy wheel chocks for cheap at Walmart) so the car won't move while jacked up.

Loosen the lug nuts slightly (like a 1/4 turn) before jacking up the car so you can remove them once the wheel is off the ground.

When reinstalling the wheel, try to get the lug nuts snug before you lower the car. You won't be able to fully tighten until you lower the wheel.

Buy or borrow a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts. This is more critical for the fronts because the brake rotors can be warped if they are not tightened evenly. But it is good practice to torque all of the wheel nuts to the proper torque (76 ft*lb)

 

Only hassle with Prius diy oil change is the filter... there's a column of oil above it that runs down your arm as soon as you loosen it. Pep Boys here will take the old oil, I put it back in the gallon jugs the new oil came in. Don't use gallon milk jugs, the oil will degrade the plastic and it will leak if you hang on to it too long. Seems like I can change my own faster than driving down to Valvoline or whatever and waiting for them to do it and driving back home. Plus you tell them don't mess with the tire pressure and they do anyway. And they overfill the oil. And pressure you to get all that other stuff you don't need. I agree about rotation... once I did it, it was not that hard. I just used 2 floor jacks and used the regular jack points below the doors. The small WallyWorld jack fit right in the slots, the big floor jack had a rubber insert I put a thin board between jack and body so it wouldn't cut the rubber or bend the sheet metal on the jack point.

 

Thought about that but the tires aren't getting any uneven wear. The cupping is subtle, literally at every other tread pattern cups the opposite direction. Hard to explain without seeing it. The tire shop looked at it and said instantly, that it was due to the Prius weight bias on the front tires. I'd have thought they'd have wanted to sell me an alignment if that was the problem since they were warrantying the tires.

 

If that bothers you, try using the bottom of a plastic water bottle with an inner diameter larger than the filter, as a tool to rotate the filter and catch the oil that drains down.

 

That's bizarre. What kind/brand/model of tires are these?

 

Well, your mileage may vary. Some posters claim >70K miles on the original tires. I changed the original tires at 15K miles as all four had worn out. This is why I felt it was safe to say that the front tires, unrotated, probably will last 15K miles.

You can see for yourself. Once you have logged 5K miles, measure your front tire tread depth, then extrapolate...

New tread depth is 10/32". Legal minimum is 2/32". When raining, safe minimum is 4/32". When snowing, safe minimum is 6/32" (although some will say that Goodyear Integrity has no safe minimum when snowing).

 

Thanks guys for your help in changing tires/oil!!!

dogfriend, is a torque wrench a big X? Tried to google it, but didn't help. I have one of the X.

My driveway is packed shale, hopefully on the flat area will be okay.

I have a Dodge Dakota and am know about messy oil changes!

 

There are two kinds of torque wrenches: beam and click.

Here is an example of a beam torque wrench. This is inexpensive but not particularly accurate:
Craftsman Torque Wrench - Model 44978 at Sears.com

Here is an example of a click torque wrench. Note that you have very fine adjustments to select the desired torque. When you achieve the desired torque, the wrench will click to tell you to stop exerting force:
Craftsman Microtork® Torque Wrench, 20-150 ft. lbs., 1/2 in. Drive - Model 44595 at Sears.com

I have that latter wrench in the 3/8" and 1/2" sizes. I highly recommend this as the price is moderate while the wrenches are built very well.

 

I am not interested in starting an argument on this but I believe the best tyres should go on the front because the front tyres need to move more water.
Have you ever driven behind another car in the rain and noticed dry lines on the road from the car in front's tyres?
The front tyres deal with the bulk of the water, the rear tyres follow in the reasonably dry tracks of the front tyres. Even around a corner the front tyres make a dry line that the outside edges of the rear tyres run in, it is the outside edges in a corner that provide the grip.

Front tyres wear faster on front drive cars, they handle the lions share of braking, acceleration, and cornering forces while pumping the major part of the water away from the tread, the rear tyres have life relatively easy with less load, cornering, braking and no drive forces. Front tyres tent to wear the shoulders round due to cornering forces while rear tyres wear flatter.
By rotating tyres every 10,000km you extend the life of all the tyres by reducing uneven wear and by having good evenly worn tyres on your car on all 4 corners you improve the balance of the car therefore the safe handling.

I'll keep rotating my tyres every 10,000km or so and replacing all tyres as a set rather than always having half worn or worse tyres on the axle that does the majority of the work.
This is just my opinion and I'm not interested in debating it.

 

A torque wrench looks like this

You tyre shop may use an extension like this

which is calibrated to tighten your wheels to a specific torque using a pnumatic wrench like this

 

Hi Pat,

What is interesting is that tire rotation is very much a geo-specific issue. In the US, all major tire manufacturers recommend frequent rotation. I understand that in the UK, there is less consensus around the issue. What do the Australian tire manufacturers recommend?

I understand your reasoning about why you think the best tires should be in the front. Usually the opposite is suggested, on the basis that most drivers can deal with an understeer situation better than an oversteer situation. Since you frequently rotate tires, this becomes moot.

 

from Tyre Rotation

As far as where the best tyres should be,
Aquaplaning occurs at higher speeds, however the more water on the road the lower speed required for aquaplaning.
Lets imagine in very heavy rain there is 10mm of water across the road, the front tyres need to deal with this water, if they haven't got enough tread depth they will aquaplane. If aquaplaning occurs in a straight line the front wheels will move toward the nearest edge of the road due to road camber, no point braking to reduce speed, the wheels are no longer in contact with the road.
You might notice spray from the side of the wheels of other cars on the road, this spray is the water the tread is pumping out, because this water is pumped out by the front tyres the rear tyres only need to deal with about 1mm of water which means the vehicle needs to travel much faster if the front and rear tread is even than the front tyre aquaplaning speed before the rear tyres will aquaplane.

I have been fortunate that I have only experience aquaplaning twice, both times going up the same hill in very heavy rain and both times it was the front tyres which lost traction and spun and slid down the camber of the road. The loss of drive to the road and the hill quickly slowed the car until grip returned along with control. On both occasions my tyres were legal but due to be changed.

 

A torque wrench is a type of wrench that is calibrated to give a specific amount of twisting force aka torque. The auto manufacturers give the amount of tightening force required for important fasteners like wheel nuts or most engine bolts by specifying the torque.

I have both types that Patrick gave links to, the second type (click type) is much more convenient and easy to use to get accurate values.

 

Thanks for the info and your patience!

The reviews for the Craftsman Microtork Torque wrench, 20-150 ft. lbs, 1/2 drive are not good; say it fails after a while. I'd hate to mess up the tires.

Do you use Sears or another brand? I don't have one of these, but see the need and will add another tool to my collection.

 

Well - Sears Craftsman tools are warranted for life so if a tool fails, I can take it to any Sears store and get a free replacement. <edit - not true for torque wrenches; 1 year for workmanship and 90 days for calibration.>

I haven't noticed any problems with my two Craftsmen torque wrenches. OTOH they are on a light duty cycle, as a DIYer I am not using them every day.

In any event, continue doing your research, and hopefully you will find a torque wrench that you will like.