Community Forums

gsgriffin · 08-11-2017, 04:49 AM

Just curious to know if I'm screwed or not. Needed my tires rotated while on a trip far from home. Went to a shop. They rotated the whole wheel and not the tires. I realize this is not a big deal on a car and normal, but isn't it proper and normal to rotate just the tires on a 6 wheel Class A? I had 4 polished wheels facing out. I now have for unpolished wheels showing and WHAT I'M REALLY AFRAID OF....the polished wheels that were up front are now sandwiched face-to-face with the duals in the back.

Are my polished surface front wheels just by being tightened on now forever damaged? They were polished all around the lug nuts In the back, there is a large center cap that would cover the whole surface, but the front was exposed and polished all around each nut.

Only driven 5 miles on them. Will be driving right back this morning. Hope to get a knowledgeable reply or two before I return and talk to the shop and have them tell me its OK.

WillandJane · 08-11-2017, 05:06 AM

Why would you let them tell you it's ok....their your wheel....your paying for it though you may have to pay again for what you want because you drove it away like that.....I can't really tell you weather or not the rotation is correct though I have heard that it should not be necessary on a 6 wheel coach to rotate them back to front. They should be wearing some what evenly in the back. If the fronts are showing wear on the inside or outside edges than something is wrong with your balance or alignment. I would more likely try to find that problem and of course at cost, replace the front tires IMHO.

WDK

marjoa · 08-11-2017, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsgriffin

Just curious to know if I'm screwed or not. Needed my tires rotated while on a trip far from home. Went to a shop. They rotated the whole wheel and not the tires. I realize this is not a big deal on a car and normal, but isn't it proper and normal to rotate just the tires on a 6 wheel Class A? I had 4 polished wheels facing out. I now have for unpolished wheels showing and WHAT I'M REALLY AFRAID OF....the polished wheels that were up front are now sandwiched face-to-face with the duals in the back.

Are my polished surface front wheels just by being tightened on now forever damaged? They were polished all around the lug nuts In the back, there is a large center cap that would cover the whole surface, but the front was exposed and polished all around each nut.

Only driven 5 miles on them. Will be driving right back this morning. Hope to get a knowledgeable reply or two before I return and talk to the shop and have them tell me its OK.

Your post is a little confusing for me to understand exactly what you're saying here, but it—sounds like—you don't have a clear understanding of how tires are supposed to be rotated—even on cars—and the tire shop you used doesn't know how to properly rotate tires on a MH.

When you rotate tires, you unbolt the whole rim & tire from the hub and then swap out side-to-side accordingly. You don't dismount the tire from the rim.

Not sure what your MH chassis recommends as far as rotating procedure is concerned, but I've attached what the procedure is for my MH if you choose to do that. I know a lot of folks here don't even rotate their tires if they're wearing evenly and besides in most cases with MH's, tires usually go DOT outdated before rotating is even a consideration.

BTW...
Put your MH information into your signature
It only takes a couple of minutes to fill out your signature with other information about your MH. This will really help for all future posts too.
You do this by:
1) Going to the top of this page and click the top left tab named “User CP”
2) Scroll down and click “Settings & Options”
3) Click “Edit Signature”
4) In that text box type all the information about your MH. Year, model, length, mileage, any aftermarket extras installed and so on.

gsgriffin · 08-11-2017, 05:38 AM

Sorry to not be clear enough. The why for the rotation?....the tires are almost 5 years old, I don't have time in the trip to wait for tires to be shipped to the town in Canada I'm driving through, have unusual wear on one side of front tire, can easily make it back home after 3,000 more miles if tires are rotated....not very expensive to do.

Yes. It needs alignment most likely. Not really good options around here to do so. Have a two day journey until I get to the next major city. Don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere because a front tire is too worn on a side. Someone else was willing to pay for the rotation for me. Basically, switch around the tires, finish the journey, get new tires when I get home to a trusted shop.

Now, back to my question, with polished rims, they moved the front to the back. The rims polished surface when on the front is now sandwiched on the back so the polished surface is facing the inside wheel. Is this OK or will it damage the polished rims?

I do understand how tires are rotated on cars, but a Class A with dual back and on side polished/chrome aluminum rims appears to require an actually moving of the tires to rotate front to back. I had 4 beautiful polished surfaces. After rotating rims (which requires them to also be flipped inside to outside), I now have 4 unfinished surfaces facing out.

Hope this makes more sense and my original question can be answered.

gcamper · 08-11-2017, 06:16 AM

The Michelin tires on our coach have rotation arrows indicating which direction the tire should be turning going down the road. The only way to keep the arrows going in the correct direction would be to keep them on the same side of the vehicle. (Front to back) so it seems to me to keep rims in place tires would have to be removed from rims.

JumboJet · 08-11-2017, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcamper

The Michelin tires on our coach have rotation arrows indicating which direction the tire should be turning going down the road. The only way to keep the arrows going in the correct direction would be to keep them on the same side of the vehicle. (Front to back) so it seems to me to keep rims in place tires would have to be removed from rims.

If the left rear outside polished is swapped with the right front - correct rotation.

If the right rear outside polished is swapped with the left front - correct rotation.

Where is the problem, except for the 2 inside duals mounted on steel wheels.

aether_one · 08-11-2017, 07:00 AM

If you now have 4 unpolished exposed wheels it sounds like the just swapped the rear outside tire to the front, which requires both tires to be "flipped" and if they are on the same side of the coach as originally, they are now rotating the opposite direction than they were originally: a big no-no for radial tires.

ru499 · 08-11-2017, 07:24 AM

Never rotated tires on a M/H or a truck. Why???

gsgriffin · 08-11-2017, 07:25 AM

Rather than adding a thousand words to try to describe this to everyone that has an opinion or a criticism, I've added pictures. I'm really hoping to get an answer from someone who has worked in the industry of changing tires or has done this and knows the outcome (good or bad). The purpose of this forum is for people that don't know the answers to get good answers from other's experience or expertise. While I thrive on condemning, critical, mocking or abusive responses (not that any of you would ever do that), I'm hoping that there still might be a response that can tell me either: "Yes, this will damage the polished side of the rim now in the back. Switch them back immediately" or, "No, this is fine for a 3,000 mile trip and you can switch them back to the correct locations when you buy new tires in a couple weeks at the end of your journey from a trusted local shop".

The attached photos will help everyone else understand the question I'm asking of the experts or those than have done this before. You can see how on a Class A rim, the front and rear wheel (same rim) are flipped between a recessed orientation (in the back) and a flush rim orientation (in the front). The wheels in the back in the recessed rim orientation were nicely polished all around. The wheels in the front were nicely polished on the flush side. The back sides of both (aluminum rims) are bare aluminum with very fine little grooves going around. I believe this is common on cars are well....one side is finished, because the inside of the rim is never expected to be exposed. In a front to back rotation, to keep the polished sides out, you would have to rotate the tires on the rims. Get that now. Didn't know the other sides were not polished until after they rotated. Not an expert. Haven't done this before.

I was doing the rotation as a precaution. If I was driving in the States between major cities with lots of options in truck stops, I would probably go and keep driving without touching the tires, but the wear sign on the outside of one front tire was making me nervous. I'm heading out on a leg across nothingness of Canada and don't want to be hundreds of miles from the nearest city and have a front tire blow or get dangerously thin.

If we can get past the why and focus on the question of "Is this going to damage the polished side of the wheel that is now sandwiched in the back?" I would really appreciate a reply (hopefully this morning before I head back to the shop) from someone who knows definitely what the answer is....prefer not the guessing and assumptions....I can do that as well. My guess is it is problem, but if I can avoid the time and making a fuss because it doesn't matter, I would prefer that. I can drive 3,000 miles with ugly wheels. Any experts or people that have done this before?

Crasher · 08-11-2017, 07:38 AM

I also had unusual wear on the outside of one front tire. I helped to swap the tag tires with the steer tires. When we pulled the wheels off, I could see that I would not be able to polish the other sides of the wheels, so it was a simple thing to dismount the tires and keep the wheels in their original positions. If you have the shop put the wheels back into the original positions and then dismount the tires that you want to switch, it's not that big of a deal. If you only have one worn front tire and you are getting new tires, why not just swap the worn tire with a good one and drive home? No need to rotate all of the tires.

I think I would rather get the polished surface of the front wheels back in the open now rather than after a 3,000 mile trip. In theory, they should be ok, but if you are concerned, as I would be, better to do it now.

jim27358 · 08-11-2017, 07:43 AM

I would think that the ones with the polished sides either facing another wheel or the wheel hub stand a good chance of being scratched. The only way to rotate tires on polished aluminum wheels is to have the tires removed from the wheels and reinstalled where the polished side is out. I would have it corrected trying to remove scratches is a royal PITA. Happy travels.

gsgriffin · 08-11-2017, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crasher

I also had unusual wear on the outside of one front tire. I helped to swap the tag tires with the steer tires. When we pulled the wheels off, I could see that I would not be able to polish the other sides of the wheels, so it was a simple thing to dismount the tires and keep the wheels in their original positions. If you have the shop put the wheels back into the original positions and then dismount the tires that you want to switch, it's not that big of a deal. If you only have one worn front tire and you are getting new tires, why not just swap the worn tire with a good one and drive home? No need to rotate all of the tires.

I think I would rather get the polished surface of the front wheels back in the open now rather than after a 3,000 mile trip. In theory, they should be ok, but if you are concerned, as I would be, better to do it now.

Thank you for giving some experience on this question. Much appreciated!

wredman · 08-11-2017, 08:08 AM

What experience,

what you are asking is, has anyone sandwich bolted a polished surface wheel, driven 3000 miles, removed, and verified there are no scratches that could not be easily buffed out.

gsgriffin · 08-11-2017, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wredman

What experience,

what you are asking is, has anyone sandwich bolted a polished surface wheel, driven 3000 miles, removed, and verified there are no scratches that could not be easily buffed out.

Or similar experience, yes. In theory, the rims sandwiched should not move or shift at all, if they are tight. It is possible that there will be no damage.? If someone has rotated polished rims and had no ill effect, I would like to know. If someone has rotated rims and had problems, also nice to know. If someone has worked in a tire shop and knows with certainty the answer, also nice to know. If nobody has ever done this and doesn't know and is only guessing or assuming, I don't want to know. Sometimes what may seem obvious or can be assumed it not always true.