Has anyone heard this about tire rotation.

I just went to get my yearly inspection from Firestone. I have been using this Firstone for almost 40 years, but now it is under a new owner. I'm having other things done, oil change etc........ The guy comes in and says he can't rotate my tires cause they are over 3 years old. They are tires I got from there and only have 30000 miles on them. They are 70000 mile tires, with plenty of thread. I also needed a tire monitor installed on one of my tires. He said he couldn't do that because they are not allowed to break down tires over 3 years old. I think he is FOS. Oh the tires were bought in 2013. The car dealership has been rotating them since then. Just thought I would try Firestone this year.
I asked him why buy a high mileage tire if it is only covered for 3 years, Plus when you buy the tires it's free rotation for the life of the tire. Which means your tire is now dead at 3 years. I went to the firestone site and there is no mention of this.

Tires are 6 years old and that's the time that is specified to replace. Yeah I can see why. I always check the born on date for tires when looking at used vehicles and if they're over 5 years it's a no go. When you buy new always check when they were made. Really what he says about breaking the bead on a 6 year old tire makes sense. Tires lose elasticity as they age. He breaks the bead on an old tire and then you have a failure wellll. He's doing the CYOA and may well have a directive from corporate to not do it.

For me with tire rotation if they are directional tires and stay on the same side it wouldn't bother me much but if they go side to side which changes rotation direction on a 6 year old tire I wouldn't be comfortable.

What it comes down to is it's actually pretty good advice. You can always find a independent to do the job but I'd think about new tires.
 
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Tires are 6 years old and that's 1 year past the time that is specified to replace. Yeah I can see why. I always check the born on date for tires when looking at used vehicles and if they're over 5 years it's a no go. When you buy new always check when they were made. Really what he says about breaking the bead on a 6 year old tire makes sense. Tires lose elasticity as they age. He breaks the bead on an old tire and then you have a failure wellll. He's doing the CYOA and may well have a directive from corporate to not do it.

For me with tire rotation if they are directional tires and stay on the same side it wouldn't bother me much but if they go side to side which changes rotation direction on a 6 year old tire I wouldn't be comfortable.

What it comes down to is it's actually pretty good advice. You can always find a independent to do the job but I'd think about new tires.
Ten years is generally agreed upon as the maximum safe limit for tires. And you don't need to break the bead to rotate them. I'll defer on breaking the bead in order to replace the monitor -- I don't know if it's safe or not. Me, I'd just buy an air pressure gauge.

Good advice about checking the date of manufacture, though.
 
The age of tires is important when it comes to motorcycles.
Cars, not so much.
I'd pound this outfit into the ground, but only after speaking with corporate.
 
Does not sound right. I buy used tires for my Crown Vic. Tires are often fives years old. Never had a problem breaking or mounting. The rotation crap sounds dodgy to me. Looks like they are trying to get out of providing free tire rotations for the life of the tires.
 
It's 6 years recommended by car manufacturers. I've had a little experience in this area I spent 24 years in inspection at a car plant.

If you drive your family in the car it pays to have safe tires. I like to save a buck but not for something like that. I just got rid of the Michelin latitudes on my Escape with plenty of tread because I didn't like them. I will say I am Persnickety about tires.
 
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All tires have "born on dates", and yes, six years has become the "agreed upon" date from all tire manufacturers, where they can refuse to service any tires beyond that 6-year point. Whether this figure is bulldinky or not is still a matter of debate. Other things affect tire life/safety as well. If the tires were stored near anything that generates ozone (refrigerators, compressors, etc.), that is not good, it causes the rubber to break down sooner.
 
I have been running FS tires for 40+ years. Never had any problem with the store that I use. In fact, a few months ago, I had a problem with a leaking valve stem on an old tire (I don't think it was even a FS tire) and it needed to be replaced. I stopped by there and they replaced it and when I asked how much, the manager said to not worry about it. No charge. As I said, been buying FS for a long time and I don't even know how many sets of tires over the years. I typically have 5 or 6 cars at any given time and all but one are sitting on FS tires.
 
Well, at 6 years, I'd also be replacing the tires.
I look at it as a safety issue. You may be aware there are a couple of layers on the tires. First layer is high traction. When that wears thru, you'll get to harder compound that gives the tires the mileage rating, but the traction of course is compromised.
I sell all my tires at about 25K, and buy new.

As far as Firestone, I also will never buy another set of tires from them - they have terrible service. TERRIBLE. After years of getting Firestone tires, one time they forgot to run my card for new tires.
On my way home, they called and said I stole the tires and it was a federal offense and they were going to send me to jail for years. Keep in mind, they had all my info as I had been shopping for years there.
I went back to the store, made sure the tires were paid for and never went to any Firestone ever again, never will.
Ya, they apologized. Not good enough for me.
 
I believe that Firestone is a franchise operation. As such, the service received, and the integrity of the employees depends on the owner. So far, I've had very good, but limited experience with my local Firestone and would use them again for any minor service I might need.(I've bought tires from Discount Tire for many years and have had nothing but exceptional service at all of locations I've done business with.)

I've been screwed, or the attempt was made, by pretty much every other repair shop I've been to. Including the local dealership and christian brothers auto (also a franchise). Fortunately, the dealer I bought the car from (used) is not that far away and is known for it's honesty and integrity. It also helps that my sister is the office manager and would raise heck if something wasn't right. ;)
 
Never heard of a time limit on tire rotation, though at 6 years old they at least warrant a good close looking-at for signs of dry rot or other age damage.
 
Firestone, Goodyear, Monro are all car care centers that will, with straight faces, implore you to change ball joints on brand new cars.

2 weeks ago I had taken our RAV to the dealer for service as they had an oil change special and inspections were due... I knew the tires were close, but well legal (I am a licensed inspector in PA, but not for full test emissions) and they called me that 'we have a problem'. I got there and the service writer had 2 printouts of tires sets I can buy for only about twice what you could get elsewhere. I brought my depth gauge. they said 'hey look, these rears are at a 4 and 'into the secondary rubber' (no such thing) and I said (quite correctly I might add): the lowest measurement is a 4/32, the standard for PA is 2/32 or less in any two adjacent treads so these are legal.

they service writer came out with the service mgr and told me these are not legal. I asked and found out that neither is a licensed inspector and they said its also a judgement call by the inspector. I pointed out (quite correctly I might add) that there is no language for 'judgement call' on tires except for sidewall cracking or injuries, neither of which applies here.. So they had the kid inspector him self come out (I say kid as he was in his 20's and I am in my 50's) and he may or maynot agree with me, but both bosses were there and the job is to sell add ons for this 'free inspection' (more on that later) so the 3 stood there and agreed that yes, my gauge is showing a 4 but that means replace and I quoted (quite correctly I might add) the 'reject if..' portion of the vehicle inspection code. (I scored a perfect on the test both times I took it and will take it again this weekend so there is a small chance I might be right)

So the skinny was, no sticker for me without tires, which I wanted to burn off the last bit of rubber to get new ones as late as I could, given that snow season is essentially over. I even told them this when I brought them the car in the AM. Off to NTB I went who had a buy 3 get one free sale so I got 4 for slightly less than walmart and hundreds less than their price and they had no choice but to re-inspect

now the more on that later part. In pa, all shops must display the cost of emissions (where required) and the cost of inspection. along with sticker cost and tax amount. Toyota does them for $40 emissions, $20 safety. (truth be told, they plug in a scan tool and check for active and pending DTCs, if found the tailpipe tester is over $50K and must be replaced every 2 years so ya, they need to make it pay back), for a grand total of $60. You are allowed by law to get one or the other or both.

But the dealership advertises 'free safety inspection with the purchase of emission inspection'. The cost for emission? $60. but wait! didnt the sign say?.....never mind. The QAOs in allegheny and westmoreland cty PA enforce jack schitt.
 
it's gonna get worse as we age. I'm 65, i do all my own work, including tire replacement and rotations. The place i get inspections done i've been going to for decades. I stand around my car in the garage area when it's being inspected, I walk under it when on the lift, He knows I know cars, but either way, he's honest. But he's my age and has been talking about getting out of the business. That'll be a real dilemma for me as i know there's very few if any honest inspection stations around , they won't be letting me into the garage, and i'm not known for keeping quiet when someone is lying to me.
I'm not gonna be happy.
 
jf, as evidenced by the posts to date, this tire dealer is in the game of selling rather than maintenance. There's no $ in the latter.

A call to Firestone HQ will prob back the dealer, as profit margin is foremost in their minds.

In the last while I've gone with the Hankook/MichelinNokian lines, and have little in the way of probs. I've also found that selecting the right dealer is often just as important as the brand of tire that ya go with.

In terms of the lifespan of the ten years mentioned, that might be a go with the older ones, but with the materials used in today's market, they tend to go with the softer grip which in turn wears faster. I'm not certain of the UV effect, but it's working on the tires all the time as well. Six years tends to be the arbitrary time to get rid of tires.

Q
 
One fairly recent development I've see is the recommendation that your better tread should always go on the back, regardless of whether your vehicle is front or rear drive. Theory is, the back end tends to be lighter and can always use the extra grip ...

Kinda bass ackwards compared to the way most of us were taught to do it.

The reason I heard you're supposed to put your best tires on back is that in the case of a tire failure, having a tire go out on you on the back of the car is more likely to cause you to lose control of your vehicle than if one goes out on the front of the vehicle. Sounds plausible, but............

For me ( on a front wheel drive car) it's those front tires that do all the work. The back tires just 'loaf' and don't wear much. So I tend to want my better rubber up front.
 
One fairly recent development I've see is the recommendation that your better tread should always go on the back, regardless of whether your vehicle is front or rear drive. Theory is, the back end tends to be lighter and can always use the extra grip ...
I think the actual rational is that more grip in the rear will deter oversteer (the rear of the car losing traction and come around) which for most drivers is harder to recover from.
Having less traction at the front can lead to understeer - which is easily recovered from by just slowing down.
 
I see a lot of negative posted about Firestone. Honestly I never really consider them because of the cost. However I will say the only set I owned were great.

My new 2000 Silverado came with the infamous Firestone "wilderness" tires. I never had a bit of problem with them, and I finally changed them out at 85k miles.
 
I buy my tires online and take them to George's who is a local independent shop and not too far from me. George's 'main stem' guy named Ian takes care of whatever I need done. Place looks like hell but they sure know tires and I've been a customer for over 30 years too.
I got sick of dealing with tire 'centers' and/or franchises. Worst experiences I ever had in my life.
Plus, you couldn't chain whip me into a Wal-Mart even if it were all for free.
 
You would have to bludgeon me over the head, inject me with a date-rape drug and hold me at gun-point to even get me into a Firestone shop. Their reputation preceeds them and their tires are garbage--I could do better at Homey Depot in the lawn and garden dept.

That said--it is a total line of BS that they can't rotate your tires due to age. Welcome to the "real world"--nothing is "free". If they offer free inspection, you can pretty much guarantee that there will be $1K in required or recommended services attached to it--it is what it is--and buyer beware.

Back in the late 80's, I had a brand new car that needed to be inspected within 6 months (inspection date was determined by your last name, not date of purchase/registration). I took it to a local shop, rather than the dealer and it failed--"mis-aligned headlamps"--suck what?--it was less than 6 months old and never wrecked--go tell GM that they can't align headlights at the factory. Took it to dealer and they didn't even look at it--just put a sticker on it for me--no charge.
 
3 years on Firestones !

And he lived to tell the story.

Set of Generals ordered from the internet. That's what I did.
 
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