[chachi]

I've owned my insight now for 2 years (25567 miles) (CVT) still have the orginal tires. I think I've only rotated them 3 times....are my tires in big trouble?

What is your schedule for tire maintenance?
Is 38 pounds of pressure all around good for an insight?

 

[Jim]

tires

Chachi - I think the recommended rotation schedule is every 5,000. That said, I don't rotate mine. It's easier to wear out the fronts and buy and change two tires at a time rather than four. If the rear end alignment is good, the rear tires shouldn't cup.

I keep my tires inflated to 50 psi. 38 seems a little low...

 

[Guillermo]

Is 38 pounds of pressure all around good for an insight?

Having all 4 tires at 38 psi cold is fine since Honda recommends 38 for front and 35 for rear.
It's just that most people on this forum prefer higher pressures because there they notice a reduction in fuel consumption at pressures above 45 psi.
But with these higher tire pressures emergency braking distances will increase specially in the rain.

 

[Guillermo]

Re: tires

It's easier to wear out the fronts and buy and change two tires at a time rather than four.

If you have 5 year old tires in the rear and new tires in the front there is high probability that the rear tires will slide before the fronts causing a spin out on a highway ramp.... :shock:

 

[chachi]

weee!

Thanks for the input!.....I'm going to 45 at least.... :lol:

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

I don't know if this rotation of the wheels is an American / Canadian thing. There must have been a safety campaign over there sometime?? I may be blissfully ignorant, but I don't know anyone here in the UK who deliberately rotates their wheels. The tyres wear out then you replace them...no reduction in safety to my mind. The only 'rule' I know about is to have the same type of tyre per axle.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Interesting.

There are several different abnormal wear patterns that can occur due to lack of rotation. It does vary with tread design and is not really a safety factor but a cost savings one. Since a substantial amount of the tires service life can be lost otherwise.

Wonder what's different in England that makes you guys immune :?:
Rain is a reasonable tire to pavement lubricant :!:

 

[Dougie]

While rotating my tires today, I noticed that the Insight is significantly more front-heavy than I had imagined. If you jack the car up using the front jack point, the back wheel comes up almost as much as the front.

At 10,000 miles I have noticeable center wear on my rear tires. All four at 44 PSI.

 

[Armin]

not really a safety factor but a cost savings one.

This is the part I don't understand. I was always told (by the tire guys back home in Germany) that tire wear increases every time you move a tire from one wheel to another due to the changing wear patterns. Essentially, there is a "break-in period" with every change. So unless it wears very unevenly, a tire lives longer if it's just left where it is.

The increase in wear is especially aggravated when the rotational direction of the tire is changed. That's why I never understood a lot of US shops doing crossover tire rotation.

But then, US shops will also tell you to change oil every 3000 miles. Maybe they're just very creative at job security programs?

 

[jbrasure]

This sounds like a job for MythBusters!

 

[Billy]

........Years ago, cars had a full sized spare. It was fairly common practice to rotate the spare into the equation, thereby increasing total tire life by around 20%.

Tire rotation is somewhat controversial. Personally, I like the idea and do it often on all of my cars. I enjoy doing the work myself. It provides a great opportunity to inspect the tread and both inside and outside sidewalls, clean the wheels & wheel-wells, and have a good look at the brakes.

I believe rotation can increase tire life under many circumstances. For example, if one tire is wearing excessively in a particular area, moving it to another position takes the pressure off that area. (obviously alignment or toe should be checked)

 

[Insightful Trekker]

not really a safety factor but a cost savings one.

This is the part I don't understand.

See:

Two tires or four?
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... 69&start=0

HTH!

 

[kari]

I've owned my insight now for 2 years (25567 miles) (CVT) still have the orginal tires. I think I've only rotated them 3 times....are my tires in big trouble?

What is your schedule for tire maintenance?
Is 38 pounds of pressure all around good for an insight?

oh, my. your post gave me pause, because I've had my insight for roughly 25K (and only 10 months, yikes) and have only rotated them 1x. yikes! They seem to be doing ok, though I will make sure to take a gander at them during my next oil change.

 

[trunkout]

well...

i rotate every 10k....trade off every 10k for oil.....so every 5k it's either oil or rotate....sure is easy to remember......

the only reason i rotate is the back tires feel neglected :lol:

 

[griller]

I rotate my vehicals tires every oil change. With my previous vehical (a pickup) the front tires wore down much more quickly than the rears. The difference in wear was really noticable.
My guess is because 70% of the braking was done by the front wheels. So I really did increase over-all tire life by moving the rear tires to the front.
(picture of L.A. driving pattern: Accellerate like mad to 45mph, travel 1 minute, Slam on brakes. Repeat 50 to 100 times a day.)

Today I rotated the tires (wheels really) for the first time, this being the first oil change. I did not notice any difference in wear between the front and rear tires. But I did notice something else.....

The front wheels were quite pitted on the inside of the rim in the front wheels, but not the rear wheels. Since I am sort of a nut about keeping my cars clean and new looking, I polished down the corrosion on the wheels and waxed the inside (Billy suggested I do this about 5 months ago, boy I wish I had taken his advice sooner!).

I guess the brake dust from the front pads gets wet and creates a caustic or acidic fluid which then eats into the unprotected aluminum rims. The back wheels, being protected by the wheel skirts, don't get wet very often (at least where I live).

Anyway for those of you who do not rotate your tires often... for you it's easy, for your rims...it's the pits... :lol:

 

[james]

Errr... How do you figure that rotating the tires increased overall life? There's the same amount of wear happening, isn't there, regardless of whether it happens at the same (average) rate to all four, or faster on front than rear? Seems like it just means that you have to shell out for four new tires at once, rather than replacing just two at a time.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Did you read the link in my post on page one :?:

Any wear that is more rapid from a lack of rotation will require the tire(s) replacement sooner.

 

[jsanford]

I work in neightborhoods with very spotty pavement maintenance and the entire neighborhood is a construction zone.

Every time I'm due to rotate my tires, I run over something or tear a sidewall on a 3"-deep pothole. I've purchased two pairs in two years; and had three nail patches. :evil:

Fortunately, Insights are common enough around here that the dealer keeps the tires in stock.

 

[james]

"Every time I'm due to rotate my tires, I run over something or tear a sidewall..."

Some people have all the luck. I replaced my two front ones a few months back, after 35K miles plus whatever the previous owner put on them. (Rear ones still have plenty of tread left ) So a couple of weeks ago, when I hit a rock or something hard enough to blow the tire, guess which one it was? A new one, of course.

 

[griller]

LOL,

Rotated tires Saturday, tore a sidewall Monday night.

At least I got to practice changing my tires at home instead of on the road somewhere :roll:

Hey, another thing. Why didn't somebody tell me how much wasted space there is down there in the spare tire storage?

I carry a bunch of stuff for disaster preparedness and that space is gonna come in real handy!