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bootymac wrote:Having used both, I personally think a jack and jack stands are far more convenient and versatile. However, I also do all my work on a flat surface.
The central jacking points make it stupid easy to raise either end. Five pumps and the car is high enough for me to put jack stands in with enough room to work underneath.
I stopped using ramps when they wouldn't clear all of my vehicles. It's also a pain to start the car just to drive up ramps every time I wanted to work under the car.
But I recognize the appeal of ramps and their use. To each their own
If you see my driveway you'll also avoid jacks as much as possible. I don't own a large hydraulic jack right now though I want one in the future. Once I have a garage with a level surface, I think I'll be more into jacks and jack stands. Ramps have served me well in my less-than-ideal driveway wrenching situation.
I really do want something like your low profile hydraulic jack though. I pet one every time I'm in HFT and whisper to it, "I'll take you home one day."
KuroNekko wrote:I really think that for me to rotate them again myself, I'd just want a heavy duty jack and 4 jack stands. A level surface is also a must.
Acres of flat concrete at my house. Small floor jack, two jackstands, two ramps. I'm usually home on weekends, give me a call if you need to do something.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Should be a convenience store, not a government agency
KuroNekko wrote:I really think that for me to rotate them again myself, I'd just want a heavy duty jack and 4 jack stands. A level surface is also a must.
Acres of flat concrete at my house. Small floor jack, two jackstands, two ramps. I'm usually home on weekends, give me a call if you need to do something.
Thanks for the offer. I think I won't need to use jacks in the near foreseeable future as nothing requiring the removal of the wheels is coming up. I used the parking lot of the CP Youth and Family Services building for my tire rotation as they have a flat parking lot nearby and no one is there after 6pm on most days.
KuroNekko wrote:So I rotated my tires myself today for the first time. What a major pain in the ass. I usually have a shop do it for the convenience, but after watching the last guy do it at NTB so slowly and apathetically (not to mention not as advised by the owner's manual), I wanted to do it myself.
I drove my car to a level parking lot and used a small hydraulic jack, a jack stand, and the Kizashi's emergency scissor jack for the first time. I hate the way you use the lug nut wrench and the hub cap pry tool as a crank. It's just awful to use as they come loose frequently and cranking takes much longer than a traditional crank tool would.
The jacking points on the Kizashi are also miserable. There is no space to jack the car on the boss and then also put a jack stand there. The central jacking point for the rear is so far up that you need a full size garage jack to use it. I had to use both the small hydraulic jack and the scissor jack diagonally on the bosses to put in a jack stand yet on another side. This was the only way I could get two diagonal wheels off the ground simultaneously.
Now I see why the guy at NTB did the front to back/back to front instead of the diagonal cross-swap as indicated in the owner's manual for non-directional tires like our OEM Dunlops. He was also using a hydraulic jack on the ground instead of a lift.
Honestly, having the car on a lift and getting them cross-swapped is well worth the $20 shops charge.
I was wondering how the others here rotate it themselves. Honestly, I can only see it being easy if you have a full size hydraulic jack and have 4 jack stands. You'd only have to jack the front and rear at their centers once and place jack stands all around for all wheels to come off simultaneously. Then, you could do a diagonal cross-swap rather painlessly without wasting so much time jacking the car up and down on different sides.
I also want to note the owner's manual is very confusing. It says to not use the boss for the car's scissor jack with jack stands. However, in the graphic, that's where the jack stands are supposed to go. Huh?
See below (taken straight from the owner's manual):
Capture.JPG
Welcome to my world! I don't let tire shops near my tires except to change the physical tire anymore. I take the tires off, put them back on, rotate them, and decide when the tread is bald enough to warrant replacement.
Ideally cross-rotating does get the best life out of our tires, especially with the alignment issue. But I could care less and have always just rotated front to back, especially since I'm usually driving on directional tires. I've not done it yet on the Kizashi, but hope to wear the tires out before I have to.
I also remember that very confusing part in the owners manual about the jack points. From what I recall, it didn't say that in the service manual.
KuroNekko wrote:Honestly, I can only see it being easy if you have a full size hydraulic jack and have 4 jack stands. You'd only have to jack the front and rear at their centers once and place jack stands all around for all wheels to come off simultaneously. Then, you could do a diagonal cross-swap rather painlessly without wasting so much time jacking the car up and down on different sides.
Yup, this is usually the case with DIY tire rotations. Even with the proper jack and 4 jack stands, it can be tedious.
Yep, even with jack stands it takes time. I've usually found that it's easier to use the spare and then move the tires around one at a time until they're all in place. This way, you always have a tire in your hands that needs to go on somewhere. It's 6 tire changes, but you get really good at using the factory jack (if you're using that).
This is one of the main reasons I was strongly considering a mid-rise lift at my place in HSV.
twoqttsdad wrote:I like to use the temp spare when cross rotating. I just use it as a starting point and end up using it twice just to hold up the car. The stock jack works fine without having to use jack stands since I'm removing and replacing one tire at a time.
My preferred method.
I also forgot that I have two sets of wheels and tires thanks to the snows. I'm sure that will come in handy. I know I'd use my factory wheels on cars that I have an aftermarket set.
KuroNekko wrote:I use ramps for everything unless the wheels need to come off. I find ramps much safer and more convenient than jacks and I also do most of my work on an inclined driveway. Ramps with wheel chocks are my preference.
Me too. They're so much faster too as driving up and down them takes less time than even positioning the jack.
There's actually a company that makes a set of ramps that allow you to get to almost lift heights. They're called raceramps, but are almost as expensive as a lift.
KuroNekko wrote:I used the parking lot of the CP Youth and Family Services building for my tire rotation as they have a flat parking lot nearby and no one is there after 6pm on most days.
I thought I was the only one that is doing this! I used the parking lot here at the lakefront to work on the headlight bulb since we have such dismal lighting in the garage. I plan to use it to swap to the Bridgestones too!
Had the day off so I rotated the tires on the Kizashi at 7500 miles. The job took about 30 minutes including raising the car and checking tire pressures after rotating. A lot easier than what I'm used to thanks to the central jacking points.
I used a breaker bar to untorque all the nuts before lifting both the front and rear (need a low profile jack and four jack stands). Then I removed all the nuts a socket adapter with my cordless drill. I rotated the tires according to method C in the image below before reinstalling the nuts with my drill. Finally lowered the car and torqued all the nuts.
An actual impact driver would work much better than my drill. The drill twists violently when fully torqued so I have to tighten slowly.
Last edited by bootymac on Tue Aug 05, 2014 3:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
I really want to get a low profile full size jack. The only reason I haven't got one is because I probably can't take it with me when I move eventually.
Anyhow, I believe the tire rotation pattern differs depending on whether you have AWD vs. FWD and whether the tires are uni-directional or not. I recall seeing that in the owner's manual.
I also experienced tire balance issues after rotating my wheels. I can feel and hear that they are out of balance. I've got to get that remedied.
I am honestly just trying to get all the life I can out of these Dunlops. They are just miserable in terms of ride quality and wear. However, I think their grip is good though they are not like they used to be when newer.
Given I'll still be around Maryland for the winter, I may end up getting All Seasons instead of Summer tires. We'll see how these Dunlops hold up until then.
I thought I was the only one that is doing this! I used the parking lot here at the lakefront to work on the headlight bulb since we have such dismal lighting in the garage. I plan to use it to swap to the Bridgestones too! 