[skumar69]

I own a 2 year old Swift LDI which has run 20,000 KM now. It has the stock JK tubeless tires. I used to get my car serviced on scheduled in authorized maruti service station.

To my knowledge, part of the service would have been tire rotation at fixed intervals. Last week I did a self visual inspection of my tires and was shocked to find that my rear tires were in a much poor state in comparison to my front tires. I am not sure now if this is natural, or my tires were not rotated by service station.

That is issue 1.

So this week I went to a dedicated shop in Sector 16, Noida which deals in tire alignment, rotation, balancing etc. and is also a dealer of Bridgestone tires. I asked him to do a 5 tire rotation so that my rear tires could take a rest and front tires could start getting the load.

The guy there refused to do the rotation saying that my rear tires life is finished and I should use them the max I can before replacing, because they cannot be rotated to the front due to safety reasons. Is this true?? Or is he just trying to sell me new tires.

This is Issue 2

I have the stock 165 tires, but I had a plan that if required to change the tire ever, I would have wanted to change them with 185 tires. But, If only two tires are bad, then I will be in a fix.

This is issue 3.

Also, what is the usual life of my stock tires?

Attached are the snaps of my 4 tires. The filenames tell which side tire they are.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by skumar69

To my knowledge, part of the service would have been tire rotation at fixed intervals.

Most MASS guys DO NOT do a tyre rotation. From my experience, I've to check this personally everytime I take my car after a service.

Originally Posted by skumar69

The guy there refused to do the rotation saying that my rear tires life is finished and I should use them the max I can before replacing, because they cannot be rotated to the front due to safety reasons. Is this true?? Or is he just trying to sell me new tires.

No; they're right. Always, the front tires SHOULD have better traction & he's right about it. Remember, out of all the 4 tires, whichever 2 of them are better, use them on the front wheels.

Originally Posted by skumar69

I have the stock 165 tires, but I had a plan that if required to change the tire ever, I would have wanted to change them with 185 tires. But, If only two tires are bad, then I will be in a fix.

Well, you can change the front tires to new ones & replace the rear wheel tires with the existing front wheel tires that are in good condition. However, remember that, it is always adviced to have all 4 tyres in the same size even if they're direct fit, though I do not know the technical reason. For example, 185/70-14 is a upgrade tyre for Swift, so the front CANNOT have 185/70-14 & the rears with 165/80-14. This is what I intent to say.

Originally Posted by skumar69

Also, what is the usual life of my stock tires?

20K for a Diesel car sounds way too less, I could be wrong though. The rear left is the one to have taken all the beating I guess. How about the spare tire? What's its condition?

PS - Just giving you a thought, were you checking your tires after each service? There're chances that MASS could've fitted a tire from a different car by mistake. Just an assumption.

[skumar69]

Originally Posted by aargee

20K for a Diesel car sounds way too less, I could be wrong though. The rear left is the one to have taken all the beating I guess. How about the spare tire? What's its condition?

PS - Just giving you a thought, were you checking your tires after each service? There're chances that MASS could've fitted a tire from a different car by mistake. Just an assumption.

The spare tire is also in good condition. Almost similar to front_right, but it had one puncture so has that red thick wire sticking out from that point.

No, I never checked individual tires after serviceings . Never thought this could have ever happened at MASS :(

[skumar69]

Can I check somehow atleast if all my 4 tires are of the same batch or something?

[aargee]

Originally Posted by skumar69

No, I never checked individual tires after serviceings . Never thought this could have ever happened at MASS :(

No, don't take it seriously, I was just trying to point out a possibility so that you can remain cautious from next time; it might not have happened at all. What might've happened was, your front tires would've worn out bad & the MASS guys would've done a tyre rotation.

I hope you do the wheel alignment & balancing regularly; also, do you experience any shuddering or vibrations at certain high speeds or any pull towards left/right side? If so, then its time to do wheel balancing & alignment as well.

Probably, you can buy the same size of 2 tyres (165/80R14) for the front, replace the rear ones with the front tires to save some cost for now.

Originally Posted by skumar69

Can I check somehow atleast if all my 4 tires are of the same batch or something?

Well, there's a manufacturing month & year stamped on every tyre, probably you can check that. Batch I don't think the batch number will be mentioned on tyre walls.

Pls go through the following threads in addition...
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ing-swift.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-jan-06-a.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-checking.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...nal-tyres.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-your-car.html

[mukeshgoel]

If your spare tyre is almost unused, buy one new tyre of same specifications, install the spare and the new one at the front. Front tyres will go to rear and you are good to go.

Anyways, dealers buy back these stock JKs of Swift at 1k. So, you should get at 1.2 to 1.3k.

Then you will have a satisfaction using all tyres to their full capacity.

Just my opinion and I did that with my Civic before upgrading all tyres (I faced exactly same problem, mentioned in Civic threads).

Edit: just now read about your spare tyre, in that case, the spare and a new one can go to rear. Honda S.S. also did never rotated the tyres of my civic.

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by skumar69

Issue 1: To my knowledge, part of the service would have been tire rotation at fixed intervals. Last week I did a self visual inspection of my tires and was shocked to find that my rear tires were in a much poor state in comparison to my front tires. I am not sure now if this is natural, or my tires were not rotated by service station.

Tyres don't seem to have been rotated/balanced or even aligned. Rear tyres show more wear on shoulders (edges) but still seem to have some tread left.

Issue 2: The guy there refused to do the rotation saying that my rear tires life is finished and I should use them the max I can before replacing, because they cannot be rotated to the front due to safety reasons. Is this true?? Or is he just trying to sell me new tires.

Well, partly yes. Rear tyres have more wear, but can be used at front if you corner at decent speeds and not at high speeds.

Issue 3: I have the stock 165 tires, but I had a plan that if required to change the tire ever, I would have wanted to change them with 185 tires. But, If only two tires are bad, then I will be in a fix.

If you really keen on upsize, change all 5 tyres now. It's better than changing 2 tyres now and rest later. 185/70R14 is better upsize for swift.

Can I check somehow atleast if all my 4 tires are of the same batch or something?

Read about DOT code in this thread, http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-your-car.html

Originally Posted by aargee

No; they're right. Always, the front tires SHOULD have better traction & he's right about it. Remember, out of all the 4 tires, whichever 2 of them are better, use them on the front wheels.

Actually, opposite is true. New tyres should be mounted at rear & old tyres should be left at front. Most tyre shops in India do opposite most likely to satisfy the customer with instant better steering feel of new tyres at front.
Read this thread, http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...ront-rear.html

[gthang]

Originally Posted by aargee

No; they're right. Always, the front tires SHOULD have better traction & he's right about it. Remember, out of all the 4 tires, whichever 2 of them are better, use them on the front wheels.

Small correction there. Better traction should be in the rear. A loss of control of front is easily correctable whereas rear is not. There are Michelin videos on this and posted elsewhere on the forum.

Guess Sukiwa posted before me.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

Actually, opposite is true. New tyres...feel of new tyres at front.

Originally Posted by gthang

Small correction there. Better traction...elsewhere on the forum.

Whoa!!! Never knew this before; Thanks @sukiwa & @GThang. I guess I'm going to open the other thread, though the questions on my mind has been discussed over there.

@skumar, here're some tyre upgrades possible for Swift - 185/70-14, 195/65-14 & 205/65-14. Pls note that it possible to upgrade even to 15" tires.

[skumar69]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

If you really keen on upsize, change all 5 tyres now. It's better than changing 2 tyres now and rest later. 185/70R14 is better upsize for swift.

Read about DOT code in this thread, http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-your-car.html

Any idea of the approximate cost of Bridgestone 185/70R14 tire?

The shop I had gone to, was oferring Rs. 50 for buying back the tire :(

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by aargee

Whoa!!! Never knew this before; Thanks @sukiwa & @GThang. I guess I'm going to open the other thread, though the questions on my mind has been discussed over there.

There is an existing thread on this topic.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...ront-rear.html

Rohan

[Garipagol]

Originally Posted by aargee

Whoa!!! Never knew this before; Thanks @sukiwa & @GThang. I guess I'm going to open the other thread, though the questions on my mind has been discussed over there.

@skumar, here're some tyre upgrades possible for Swift - 185/70-14, 195/65-14 & 205/65-14. Pls note that it possible to upgrade even to 15" tires.

I would be cautious here. Although in India we do not drive at high speed most of the time, if one is regularly using the highways, it is best to change all 4 tyres. It is likely that there will be some uneven wear on the set under normal conditions - which is why the rotation is recommended but if it is excessive then it may not be a problem of the tyre but the car itself. Uneven tread wear is usually due to alignment problems or even some deep rooted mechanical glitch in the car.

There may of course be some other factors like driving style, load on the vehicle etc which can affect tyre wear, but I guess we are not talking about that here.

In terms of which tyre should have more traction and when , IMHO it will depend on the road situation and I would rather leave it to the car to decide and not compromise that by the choice of tyres. If we are talking about aqua planing issues I would never fit a a pair of tyres which are more prone to aqua plane in wet conditions - either in the front (because allegedly it is easier to control) or at the back.

Tyres can suddenly become life takers/savers. We must be prepared.

Rgds

[skumar69]

Let me add a few more usage information of my car.

Mine is LDI model, meaning Diesel. It is usually driven by 2 people, or max 3 sometimes.

I constantly keep my tire pressures checked, and as per the car sticker on the driver side, front is at 36 psi and rear is at 33 psi. I guess this is more than the regualar petrol varient Swifts.

Hmm, now that I think of it, can this tire pressure be also the culprit, but this is exactly as recommended by my car.

Balancing and Alignment, again I was initially trusting it on MASS, but since last 4-5 months, now I have started getting it done myself on a dedicated tyre shop.

Also, I drive my car myself, and do not drive very fast, but at around 60-80 speed. I never corner at high speeds.

[skumar69]

For the people wondering where I got my services done - It was about 4 times at Motorcraft, near Sector 63 Noida and once a major accident fixup at fasttrack, near sector 63 Noida.

[skumar69]

Here is a bad snap of my spare tire. It seems to be almost as good as new, except for the repaired puncture you see hanging out.

Would it be OK to put this in place of my rear left tyre?