[carwatcher]

Today I got the First Service done for my T-Jet.
I have nothing extraordinary to write about. As I visited the dealership after a gap of six months, it felt nice to meet the staff and they were generally very courteous.
But at the same time, the level of service was ordinary. Anyways, in the first service, the car needs to be only 'checked', they did that part normally. The quality of exterior wash and cleaning can be rated 4 or 5 at the best and interior cleaning can be best rated as 2 or 3 on a scale of 10. But I must mention, I strongly feel they are not capable as well as equipped to do a better job, so how would they do it. The workshop looks like a makeshift arrangement, without proper tools, hydraulic jack, etc. One has to see it to believe it. Add to it the Goan attitude where everything is expected to take care on its own. No Enthusiasm, proactiveness, etc. whatsoever.

The bill amount came to Zero and aptly so as I was 0% happy after getting back my car. Next servicing due after 15000 KMS or 1 year.

Meanwhile, I took a TD of Aria and I really liked the suspension (better than XUV5OO), nothing else. Gear was wobbling heavily and if some quality conscious person will take a TD on such a vehicle, he would run away in opposite direction rather than consider to purchase the Aria or any Tata car. Anyway, I mentioned the SR that my buying a Tata car in the next 10-15 years is 0.01% so don't bother to call.

[carwatcher]

I had installed Garmin 2465LM in my Jet.

I updated it with latest map for India but this so called latest map shows it as Sept. 2011 version.

When I use the Navigator on internal roads in Goa which are relatively busy with traffic, the map shows as lost so all in all not found the product (or rather updates) very helpful. Any suggestions from experts.

Meanwhile Jet has crossed 4000 km mark yesterday.

[carwatcher]

Hi all, I need some valuable info.
As the Jet is nearing 5000 kms landmark, I wish to go for tyre-rotation.
So would like your opinion on:
a) Is it right time to go for it or wait for 10K.
b) How to do it, I mean stepney to be swapped with which tyre, if at all.
c) I have a friend who suggests not to go for tyre-rotation as it would be easy on the pocket to replace two tyres rather than all the four in one go. It was advised to him by some tyre shop.
d) I didn't find any alignment issues, so to go for it or not.
e) How much tyre-shop normally charges for wheel rotation and whether it can be done at any puncture repair shop if not opting for alignment.

Thanks in advance.

[AbhishekB86]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Hi all, I need some valuable info.
As the Jet is nearing 5000 kms landmark, I wish to go for tyre-rotation.
So would like your opinion on:
a) Is it right time to go for it or wait for 10K.
b) How to do it, I mean stepney to be swapped with which tyre, if at all.
c) I have a friend who suggests not to go for tyre-rotation as it would be easy on the pocket to replace two tyres rather than all the four in one go. It was advised to him by some tyre shop.
d) I didn't find any alignment issues, so to go for it or not.
e) How much tyre-shop normally charges for wheel rotation and whether it can be done at any puncture repair shop if not opting for alignment.

Thanks in advance.

In my opinion Wheel Allignment and rotation should be done through a computerized system every 5k.

All four tyres to be rotated and the ones which have suffered punctures can either be your next stepney or your rear wheels.

This should cost you 200-300 bucks.

A lot of issues might not crop up. But like they say prevention is better than cure.

Equal ware and balanced ride is important. Please go for it.

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Hi all, I need some valuable info.
As the Jet is nearing 5000 kms landmark, I wish to go for tyre-rotation.
So would like your opinion on:
a) Is it right time to go for it or wait for 10K.
b) How to do it, I mean stepney to be swapped with which tyre, if at all.
c) I have a friend who suggests not to go for tyre-rotation as it would be easy on the pocket to replace two tyres rather than all the four in one go. It was advised to him by some tyre shop.
d) I didn't find any alignment issues, so to go for it or not.
e) How much tyre-shop normally charges for wheel rotation and whether it can be done at any puncture repair shop if not opting for alignment.

Thanks in advance.

a) Yes, go ahead with the tyre rotation. It will help your tyres last longer.
b)Not sure about the stepney, but usually, the front tyres are put at the back without changing the sides (i.e front left becomes rear left...). You can replace whichever tyre looks the most worn with the stepney
C)Not heard of this theory before. But it will lead to your front tyres wearing much faster than if rotated.
d)Rotation is not related to alignment and will not affect it.
e)Rotation is around 25 / 35 per tyre, depending on the car.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

Hi all, I need some valuable info.
As the Jet is nearing 5000 kms landmark, I wish to go for tyre-rotation.
So would like your opinion on:
a) Is it right time to go for it or wait for 10K.
b) How to do it, I mean stepney to be swapped with which tyre, if at all.
c) I have a friend who suggests not to go for tyre-rotation as it would be easy on the pocket to replace two tyres rather than all the four in one go. It was advised to him by some tyre shop.
d) I didn't find any alignment issues, so to go for it or not.
e) How much tyre-shop normally charges for wheel rotation and whether it can be done at any puncture repair shop if not opting for alignment.

Thanks in advance.

a) Go for it now at 5k. 10k is too long to wait for something like a tyre rotation

b) Swap left rear to left front and vice versa. Repeat with right side also similarly. Do not interchange left rear to right front or vice versa. The service centre did this for me and it was pulling to one side later. I had posted about this in my ownership thread also, later I got it swapped properly in Nikhil's tyre shop

c) Not sure why tyre replacement came into the picture here. Rotation is just done to make sure all tyres are evenly worn out by swapping between front and rear positions. If you replace 2 / 4 tyres, you will always have the situation of driving with 2 almost worn-out tyres.

d) Better to get it rotated now since it just ensures even wearing of all tyres. Even better if you get alignment checked up too.

e) Get it done at your FIAT service centre. They will most likely do the rotation and alignment for free (they didn't charge me anything here). It hardly takes 10 minutes so they may not even need to open a job card for this. Walk in on a less-crowded day and get it done, my suggestion

[carwatcher]

Thanks for detailed reply.
But still I want to know whether any particular tyre to be swapped with stepney or not as all five tyres are of same size and as the car was 2011 manufactured bought in 2012 and we all know that tyres develop cracks etc if not used for long time.
Even if Fiat does free for me its of no use as we have only one dealership that is 35 Kms one way so 6lts of Petrol + 3-4 hrs + incompetent staff if too much to ask.
What my friend recommended is that if you don't do rotation you can replace (when the situation arises) only two tyres that are worn out first and then the remaining two after an year or so. This is just to bifurcate/postpone the expense which has to be done on the tyres anyway. Nothing more than that. And yes I don't have any puncture on any tyre till date thankfully. Touchwood.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

a) Go for it now at 5k. 10k is too long to wait for something like a tyre rotation

[motionfreak]

hope this helps

[carwatcher]

Originally Posted by motionfreak

Attachment 991026

hope this helps

Thanks but even from this its not clear that where should spare wheel go for front wheel drive cars.

[motionfreak]

rear right, i think the arrow needs to be in opposite direction
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/iipcache/146231.jpg

[carwatcher]

Originally Posted by motionfreak

rear right, i think the arrow needs to be in opposite direction

I think both the drawings are not same. One shows front left should go as spare and other shows it as front right.
Or maybe the first drawing assumes that the car is viewed from top and second one assumes the car is viewed from bottom or vice versa.
Quite confusing for me.
PS: After studying the drawings and previous few posts, I can summarize that rear ones should go front with rear-right as front-right. Anyone of the front ones can be used as spare. Only thing to be noted is that right one shouldn't go to left, that's it.
It'll be surely confusing next time as compared to this time.

[aks_karthik]

It's very simple rotation and I have done it all my previous services and Service people do recommend this.

FR <-> RR
FL <-> RL

[khoj]

This rotation pattern holds good only when your vehicle is equipped with Uni-directional tires (tires that can rotate in only direction).

Originally Posted by aks_karthik

It's very simple rotation and I have done it all my previous services and Service people do recommend this.

FR <-> RR
FL <-> RL

Attachment 991030

[motionfreak]

I feel the new tyre ie spare shoould go to free axle. in your case rear wheel.

[aks_karthik]

Originally Posted by khoj

This rotation pattern holds good only when your vehicle is equipped with Uni-directional tires (tires that can rotate in only direction).

Ofcourse, But this is the normally practice in all Service Centres.
Again this rotation won't affect Wheel Alignment too as per the SA. But I am not confident in his words, But for me, fpr last 3 rotations, It haven't affected by Wheel Alignment and all my tyres are in same shape and worn off after 47K kms in Odo.