I Don't Have to Rotate My Tires?? Have You Heard This?

Hi all,
For a number of reasons I have "divorced" the BMW service center I have used for years. I took my Z4 into my new service center today for an oil change and asked that they rotate and balance my tires while they were at it.

The technician asked me why I was rotating and balancing my tires. I told him my previous technician recommended this every 7500 miles. New guy says that when BMW chooses tires for a particular model, the tires shouldn't have to be rotated for the life of the tires. In fact, he said it would be a bad idea. Has anyone heard of this? I was thrilled, but still feel a little odd about skipping it.

Originally Posted by Shabooty

Has anyone heard of this?

Yes. If you look in the manual, rotating the tires isn't on the list of items to be done at a service.


Rotate or not is the subject of many long discussions.


Many Z4's have larger tires in the rear. Can't rotate those.

You can only rotate side to side in the Z4, not front to back because of the staggered sizes. Rotate or not, it's your call. Rotating will increase the life of the tires, but realize that when you do, it'll be a while before the contact patches are fully contacting the road because of the opposite camber of the right and left sides. You may notice decreased handling properties, depending on how hard you push it.

I take back what I said. If you have OEM tires, you can't rotate them at all, not even side to side, because they are staggered and unidirectional.

Originally Posted by jparnes1

...not even side to side...because...unidirectional.

On the 35is w/19's there is no directionality shown on the tires that I could find. It has outside marked, but not an arrow for direction which is typical on directional tires.

Personally, I wouldn't want to rotate side to side even if the tires aren't directional.

I don't like reversing rotation.

Yah, agree on not recommending to rotate left to right.

I rotated my OEM runflats to the garbage can and rotated in 4 new Michelin Pilot Super Sport non runflats.

BlueZ4AZ, that made me laugh! I have been thinking about pitching my run flats because I've been told that's why my ride is so rough. Driving over the slightest road imperfections really makes my teeth rattle. It's very annoying.

Are you on 19's? M-Sport suspension??

Originally Posted by Shabooty

BlueZ4AZ, that made me laugh! I have been thinking about pitching my run flats because I've been told that's why my ride is so rough. Driving over the slightest road imperfections really makes my teeth rattle. It's very annoying.

The new tires make for a smoother ride and the car handles much better.

AndrewDebbie, I have 17s and no sport suspension.