rotating tires on Forester

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

2004 WRX manual - P 9-3:

"The temporary spare tire is smaller and lighter than a
conventional tire and is designed for emergency use only.
Remove the temporary spare tire and re-install the
conventional tire as soon as possible because the spare
tire is designed only for temporary use."

The 2006 transmission and AWD could very well be a different
design to go with the 2.5L engine.

However - there's no way I would buy a car with that ugly
new grill. That thing is just horrible.

I wouldn't either - if I already owned an '04 lol!

Carl

 

[jMon54]

I routinely rotate my tires every other oil change. Since I do this
myself, I know they are getting put back on at the correct torque
settings. Little things like this take little time, do not cost much,
and in the long run save money and time.

'03 Baja
Virginia, USA

 

[Edward Hayes]

I rotate mine also. Not only do I torque the wheel properly but, reset
the tire pressure for the front to rear difference. 12 years or so ago
I had some car maintance done at the dealer that was to include tire
rotation. When I got home I noticed that the tires had not been
rotated (I had marked the tread depth on each tire). The service
ticket was clearly marked rotate tires and I was charged. I don't know
what to do when I get so old I can't do the little stuff anymore.

 

[tom klein]

just to add a word of warning: make sure the wheel nuts are properly
torqued!!!

the last two times i've had the wheels off my car ('02 legacy wagon)
the nuts weren't torqued: the first time i almost lost a wheel on a
long highway trip (both right side wheels were making enough noise that
we thought it was bad wheel bearing - all 10 nuts on that side were
"finger-tight"!!!) and the next time i had the car in for service
(same dealer), i lost a lug nut within a couple of days.

needless to say, i'm not giving THAT dealer any more business, and
i've invested in my very own torque wrench!


........ tom klein

 

[tom klein]

no, actually, 1/4" is only about 0.3% of 82".

a calculator is only as good as the person using it.



........ tom klein

 

[Edward Hayes]

While I agree that 1/4 inch difference in circumference is ideal, the
real world says differently. Tires of the same size from differently
manufactures vary more than that ( check TireRack). I do remember
making the calculation way back on my 215/60/16 Forester tires and my
rotation plan was to rotate whenever the tread depth difference (front
to back) reached ~ 2/32 inch which was near the 1/4 inch ideal.
Seems sort of foolish to me to give a car to the public that has such
a drastic requirement considering most people don't even check their
tire pressures until it's too late. JMHO ed

 

[Blair Baucom]

2005 Forester has a full size spare, at least on the XS model with manual
transmission. I had a blow out at 5000 miles, and the other 3 were well
within 1/4" circumference of the new spare. Put it on the ground with the
other 3, and bought a Kuhmo for a spare which has a slightly smaller
diameter than the originals. I figure this will work until I plan to go to
Goodyear Triple Threads around 30,000 miles, as others have gotten from the
Geolanders.

Blair