Tire rotation question

I have the same problem. My 94 golf III manual also says that the tire shouldn't be diagonally rotated and follow the 'arrow' sign on the wheel. Are you sure that the mannual says the arrow on the "tire"? If I'm right, the mannual says arrow on the "wheel". So I cheched the wheel but I can't find any arrow. Is anybody have clear information on this?

thanx.

William Masl> Hey Gang,

Radial tires have been front to back rotation forever.

i think the deal is--radials are not specifically built to turn in on direction or another, BUT, once they have been installed on a vehicle and turned in one particular direction, then they should stay on that side of the car forever.

of course, it is ok to swap for the purpose of doing a quick test to see if a tire problem is causing drifting, etc.

Not true, some radials have to be installed in the direction of rotation or the ability to move water directionally away from the tire won't exist.

The manual for my '84 Rabbit diesel says the same thing... "tires should be kept on the same sides." In the long run, it probably doesn't matter that much how you rotate your tires...

Tony Kimmell Towanda, IL '96 Chevy C-1500 '66 Buick LeSabre '84 VW Rabbit diesel '81 VW Rabbit diesel

So far as I know VW has always recommended this rotation pattern... maybe they don't realize we aren't using bias ply tires anymore... my manuals for my 87 cabriolet say the same thing as the one for my 81 rabbit, as my 72 super beetle, as my 70 squareback... but if you get your tires rotated somewhere they ignore the manufacturers recomendations... especially the one about not using air tools in the removal and installation of lug nuts :'(

Guess you wouldn't be taking your car to ANY shop around here, then. Every shop I've ever seen or worked in does it this way, and I've yet to see a lug bolt get overtigtened.

I personally don't know why people get so uptight about impact wrenches. Now if you're using just the impact with no torque stick, THEN I can see why someone would get pissed. But with a torque stick, there's no way the nut can be overtightened, since the sticks are calibrated to tighten the bolts to slightly less than the specified torque. Then you go around with the torque wrench and tighten them to the exact torque.

Now, when you're talking lug BOLTS, I never use impacts on them, because I've broken a few off in the hub and that is a major PITA to get out (stupid design, why can't they just use studs and nuts like everyone else???).

I know there are alot of shops out there who hire people who don't know the first thing about using air tools and whatnot, that seems to give the auto repair industry a bad name...

-- Tony Kimmell

No, I was making reference to almost every other vehicle in the world. VW and a few others insist on useing those stupid lug bolts that always break off in the hub and are a pain to remove. If a stud on a regular car breaks, you just hammer it out and press a new one in. Hell no, if a stud breaks off in there, you're in for a fun time of using easy-outs.

Exactly why are you afraid of torque sticks? They don't tighten the bolts any tighter than you would with a lug wrench. Isn't the point of people's hate towards impacts that they think they will break or overtighten the lugs? I guess I just understand the concept of torque sticks beter than some people.

-- Tony Kimmell

they dont ALWAYS use torque sticks when they are supposed to... min wage tire people couldn't really care less about what happens to your car... they just do the tires and stick them back on the car... i don't want them to screw up my bolts/rims/ whatever with the impact.... manual says not to use it so dont friggin use it!

Tony Kimmell schrieb:

That's a pretty small world you're referring to, isn't it?

I would go as far as saying that the vast majority of passenger cars outside the US is equipped with lug bolts.

Why do they break in the first case?

Yuck - I wouldn't want to drive in a car that had a wheel stud "hammered" out.

As long as you don't pack any dirt in the bolt-hole before overtightening the bolt the remains will come out as easy as it could be: With the bolt snapped there's no force binding the remains it to the hub.

Ingo

I've never had a problem with lug bolts... only lug nuts/studs... we don't sell lug bolts at the FLAPS I work at... nor have I ever been asked by anyone if we carry them.... I do sell several lug nuts.studs per day though...

Third: You get a flat tire and can't get the wheel off to change it because it tightened too much.

That's why I carry a homemade breaker bar in the spare tire well.

Cheater pipes or standing/bouncing on the lug wrench are great ways to overtighten lug bolts, much better than using an impact gun. I've had cars that my impact gun couldn't remove lugs and I ended up having to use a breaker bar with a cheater pipe on it and stand on that to loosen the lug bolts.

At this point in time, I would think every shop that has air tools to have torque sticks for tightening down lugs. They don't cost much at all, so even the shade tree greese monkeys should have them by now.