iy

iTrader: (1)

So, I got around to rotating my wheels this weekend. Took the front wheel off, then the back. I'm running Black Racing Pro N1 wheels, BTW, with an 8mm spacer (I think?) in the front. Anyway, the front wheels and the back are different! The front wheels have lug holes wide enough to take a nut with extra threading that goes through the spacer. The rear wheels take a regular conical / ball seat acorn nut. So they can't be rotated front and back. And since (I think?) my tires are directional, I can't rotate left to right either.

So what's the deal? Do I need to pay $100 to get my tires rotated? Do I not worry about rotating? What's the deal?

Edit: What are the consequences of not rotating? Is it just worse wear? If I get 15K out of my tires vs 20K I don't think I care to rotate them, if it means taking them off the wheels. But I am worried about damage to the drive train. I measured wear and they were pretty close, certainly within 1/16" of each other. What do you guys think?

iy

iTrader: (1)

Bump.

No one? So do I go to a tire shop and have them rotate my tires for $100?

Protostar1

iTrader: (4)

You should really post pictures of exactly what you are talking about. People love pictures and it would help a lot as I am not totally sure what you are describing. I THINK you either have different offsets front to rear or you simply have different lugs front to rear with possibly longer wheel studs in front. The offset would prevent rotation front to rear but the studs and lugs situation would not.

Not rotating will mean worse wear and you may eventually have 1 or 2 tires that are cached and 2 that need to be thrown out. On AWD cars, its is important to have similar rotating radii but within 1/16th of an inch you will be fine.

boostedtres

iTrader: (4)

like the above poster said, not rotating will just kill tire wear. also depends on what kind of tires you have, how much you paid, etc. i have re-01rs and since i want them to last as long as possible (dont make them anymore, love the tires) i am care to rotate according to wear. if your within 1/16 i wouldnt worry about it, jus check them now and again to make sure two arent getting worse. sounds like 100 bucks to rotate tires everything few thousand miles is wasted money.

also, pics would help. sounds like you just have longer studs to get through the 8mm spacer you have up front? therefore the normal length studs in the back wouldnt be long enough to fit the fronts? kinda confusing, but if thats they case you may be stuck because directional tires need to go front to back for sure. what kind of tires do you have?

you can always pop them off and see if they fit, and then go from there! gl bro

iy

iTrader: (1)

I'll try to get better pictures. But I'll explain better...

I have same-length studs. But, a spacer in the front. So, the lug nuts in the front are shaped such that they actually go through the wheel and faster to the threads under the spacer.

The hole in the front wheels around the stud is significantly larger than the diameter of the stud and allows the (tapered) lugs to go through the wheel. The lugs thus have a primary "seat" and fasten the wheel to the spacer, yet have a tapered section that extends past the wheel to fasten to the threads behind the wheel, under the stud.

In the back, the holes in the wheels are just large enough for the stud. The studs have a normal ball seat and clamp the wheel to the hub.

I can't rotate front to rear because, if I did so, I could not use the longer tapered lugs in the front (they won't go through the smaller hole in the wheel). So I am not using as many threads on the front studs. I think this is by design. The larger offset in the front is afforded by the spacer.

Sorry if I am not explaining this well. This is the first time I've taken the wheels off the car and so I'm a bit puzzled by the situation as well.

iy

iTrader: (1)

This is exactly what it is. The front lugs look like the back lugs except they have an additional tapered section PAST the ball seat, which goes through the wheel and sits inside the spacer (to capture more threads). The rear lugs are just regular ball seats.

They are Kumho MX tires. Pretty good tires but not too expensive (<$600 for the set). I may just have them rotated at 10K or something.

Protostar1

iTrader: (4)

If I understand what you are getting at, the rims are actually machined or molded differently front to rear and as such have specific lugs. If this is the case, you are likely boned. I have never seen this happen on a set of matching rims...