Rotated The Tires Today

[ArizonaEnergi]

My mileage is at 9,980 and with months to go before my first oil change in my Energi I decided to rotate the tires myself today. The temperature finally being below 80F in the morning helped with the decision.

 

It took about 30 minutes, with about another 10 in cleaning the rust off the hubs. I have a floor jack and used the method of raising the entire side from the front jack position. My jack had just enough reach to just get the rear tire off the ground.

 

I used the opportunity to see if my mini-spare tire would fit, and it did. Next time I will probably just use a jack stand for the front, which is the first tire to come off. The rotation sequence is the fronts to the rears, and the rears cross-over to the front.

 

All and all a fairly easy job. I used a torque-wrench to tighten to 100#, which ended up being just slightly tighter than I had done with the 4-way. Tire wear looked about the same on all of them with nearly 1/4" of tread remaining.

 

I was surprised at the amount of surface rust on the hubs. Used a wire brush to clean it off. The way the rim is design allows water to reach most of the surface of the hub. I didn't get a picture of the hub, but here's the rim before I cleaned it.

 

[drdiesel1]

Water in AZ :lol:

[jmckinley]

Owners manual says to cross the rears to the front.  LR to RF, RF to RR etc.

[rjam]

Owners manual says to cross the rears to the front. LR to RF, RF to RR etc.

thanks for the post

Edited April 6, 2016 by rjam

[ArizonaEnergi]

From the 2013 C-Max manual, page 335

 

:

[ptjones]

It seems to me that you could crisscross your tires and accomplish everything you need to do.  You change the direction of rotation and move from front to rear. If you have an alignment problem, it won't solve that. :)

 

Paul

[joe]

I recently rotated tires and had an alignment.  The alignment was off a bit on the front but they did adjust the rear too.   Now I'm getting a slight thumping from the front tires.  Would this indicate that the tires have incorrectly worn on one side, and if yes, do they need to be replaced?  Tires have about 11K miles - Michelin

[obob]

I recently rotated tires and had an alignment.  The alignment was off a bit on the front but they did adjust the rear too.   Now I'm getting a slight thumping from the front tires.  Would this indicate that the tires have incorrectly worn on one side, and if yes, do they need to be replaced?  Tires have about 11K miles - Michelin

 

When I rotated my tires the first time the fronts, the old backs, were making lots of noise.  The back tires on the 2013 wear badly.  There is a very extensive message thread on that.   I wanted Ford to align the back but the dealer wouldn't.  I wrote Ford and at first they said they would pay for some of it, then another person took over my case and said if it is Ford's fault they would handle, call before taking it to the dealer.  I called before taking it to the dealer 2-3times and an email and did not ever get a call back.  I unrotated the tires and now just rotate the backs left to right.  The fronts wear faster and I have replacements for the front. The back are still very good, though they do wear on the inside edge.  I did have the tires reverse mounted to help with the evening out - that wasn't all that successful.  My back tires now are pretty quiet using this procedure.  By the way, to align the camber in the back hardware needs to be added, like a camber kit or an arm.  After reading the thread below the adjustable arm seems a good way to go.

 

My thinking on why I did not want the front tires to even out the previous back tires is that the noise is vibration and with the transmissions on the 2013 being as flacky as they are, and not sure if I put enough miles on the car to get the transmission to fail before the warranty runs out, I thought it would make the trans last longer.  I am open feedback on that logic.

 

 

You might want to read this, though my sound was more like a rumble than a thump.

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/5088-wheel-alignment-for-best-mpg/

 

I sense it is likely don't think they need to be replaced.  If they are worn on one side it may be very easy to visually see.

Edited January 8, 2017 by obob

[ptjones]

I had a Camber bracket replaced in the back too.  I think two things are important, one is crisscross rotate your tires and second use 50psi in tires to help wearing out the edges of the tires. This also cuts down on the tire noise. :) 

 

Paul