RE: Don't Rotate The Tires?!

["Matt Rooke" <mrooke@fcpa.fujitsu.com>]

>I guess I get to be the one to state what nobody else wants to
>bother with: of course you rotate the tires after you get new
>ones!  The 7500-mile rotation is supposedly at the right point
>in the tread life for a rotation for a dealer-serviced car with
>factory tires.  At least, that's my guess.

I didn't initially reply, because I thought there would be a flood
of posts on this.  I really expected an entertaining and informative
"this is what I do" type of thread.  I enjoy them, and by absorbing
and distilling all the data and opinions, am able to make improvements
and cost savings in my own maintenance "program".
So let me describe my experience, with the foreward that I make no
claims as to it's being correct, etc.

I've found by experience with 6 years of owning the cq that tires
last a lot longer if they get rotated frequently. I do it every 5k
when I change the oil, just an easy way to remember and keep track.
If I let it go, after 15-20k the vibration becomes very bad, even
though the tread wear is still quite reasonable.  Frequent rotations
can extend this by maybe 10k. I also try to get a re-alignment and
rebalance annually, usually in the spring after spending the winter
crashing snowplow berms and the like.

Again, this is just my experience with 1 quattro, I would welcome
comments from those with broader experience.

(OK, the '72 Ch*vy I had in high school went through a set of
rears in a summer.  But with a 350V8, Weber 4-barrel, and twin
glass-packs, it was um, horsepower of a different color.)

Matt Rooke
'91CQ