Has anyone done their own tire rotation here with jackstands?

[Sportage EX]

Looking under my '12 Sportage it doesn't look like there are any good jack points for jack stands while doing the rotation. Has anyone done this at home or is everyone taking it to the dealer every 5k miles?

[1saxman]

I take it either to the dealer or my tire shop. Both do an excellent balance job. I do not rotate without a rebalance, and on the EX I didn't rotate the first time until about 16,000 miles. The fronts wear faster than the rears on mine, but wear is even on all tires. I'm trying to get five years out of the tires so I don't have to buy any before trading it around June of 2016. So, I'll probably rotate again around 25,000 and get an alignment at that time just to be on the safe side.
But no, it has been a few years since I jacked a car and rotated the tires myself, and I have a heavy-duty floor jack, stands and air tools. For $39.99 for rotate/balance, plus all the free checks they do (tread depth, brake pad thickness, chassis bolts, washer fluid top-off, car wash, etc.), I'll run it by there every time. This dealer also gives me oil changes and state inspections for free, so I don't mind giving them any business I might have.

[Wry 'Cuda]

I can't see the need to rotate tyres as frequently as 5000 miles. I've just done it at 15,000 km on one car and found that there was only a minor difference in wear between front and back. Front tyres had slight wear on the outer edges due to cornering (definitely not under-inflation).

Our Cerato will get its tyres rotated when it returns "home" at about 25,000 km. It just hasn't been practical for my son to get it done before that. I'll be including the (unused) spare in that rotation. When checked at 15,000 km there was no evidence of uneven wear, except that the fronts were wearing faster, of course. I'm quessing that might be the last rotation and by 50,000 km we'll need to buy a pair of new tyres and the best of the OEMs will go on the back and to the spare.

I use 2 jacks when I'm rotating tyres. I normally keep tyres on the same side rather than a complete "cross-rotation", so 2 jacks gets the job done more quickly than shuffling around with the spare.

[Sportage EX]

Thanks, but that doesn't really help me figure out if there are jack points under the car that will be safe to support the car on jack stands. It doesn't look like it other than the thin strip of welded metal right behind the front wheel well and right in front of the rear wheel wells which will not help when you'd have the jack in this place to jack the car up higher than the jacks which you'd normally find points to placethe jacks further in under the car ideally on part of the frame.

Originally Posted by Wry 'Cuda

I can't see the need to rotate tyres as frequently as 5000 miles. I've just done it at 15,000 km on one car and found that there was only a minor difference in wear between front and back. Front tyres had slight wear on the outer edges due to cornering (definitely not under-inflation).

Our Cerato will get its tyres rotated when it returns "home" at about 25,000 km. It just hasn't been practical for my son to get it done before that. I'll be including the (unused) spare in that rotation. When checked at 15,000 km there was no evidence of uneven wear, except that the fronts were wearing faster, of course. I'm quessing that might be the last rotation and by 50,000 km we'll need to buy a pair of new tyres and the best of the OEMs will go on the back and to the spare.

I use 2 jacks when I'm rotating tyres. I normally keep tyres on the same side rather than a complete "cross-rotation", so 2 jacks gets the job done more quickly than shuffling around with the spare.

[Wry 'Cuda]

Originally Posted by Sportage EX

Thanks, but that doesn't really help me figure out if there are jack points under the car that will be safe to support the car on jack stands.

I'd try a nearby section of the welded strip, using rubber pads to spread the load.

[conwelpic]

the owners manual only suggests every 7,500 miles or 12 months

Check at the dealership garage to see where they support the vehicle with all the wheels off the ground when they do the same thing.

[engineered]

Jack points are clearly shown in the manual. It's on page 6-10 on my 2012 manual.
Kia Owner?s Manual

[Dr Bob]

Originally Posted by engineered

Jack points are clearly shown in the manual. It's on page 6-10 on my 2012 manual.

He knows that. He's just wondering how to get the car up onto stands using a single jack which ideally should use the same jacking point as the stand.

Sounds like a bit of a tricky proposition to me. Need to be careful that car doesn't fall off stand while the opposite side was being jacked.

The alternative is to use a spare (or borrowed) wheel while the others are being swapped around. Needs double-lifting of at least one corner.

[Sportage EX]

Thanks Dr. Bob. You are correct the only jack points in themanual show the same jack points I mentioned and would not be idea for trying to get a jack stand in basically the same spot as the jack itself will be. I'll probably just use the spare which brings another question to mind. Do we Sportage owners with the EX or SX that have 18" rims even HAVE spare tires? I was reading on the Optima forum and was dumbfounded that the Optima Limited or Hybrid do NOT come with spares at all just a can of Fix A Flat and a cheapo plastic compressor. Now that I think of it I never checked under the styrofoam tool caddy under the carpeting to see if there is an actual spare tire or donut under there. If not then I'm basically at the mercy of the dealership.

[engineered]

ahh, ok. Sorry, I misunderstood. That's definitely more tricky. I usually just use the spare tire to rotate tires. However, once my winter set arrives it will be a piece of cake.