A1 Service - Tire rotation?
09-28-2004, 08:46 AM
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A1 Service - Tire rotation?
I just got back from taking my 2004 TL to the dealer for its A1 service. The car has about 6,300 miles and was purchased in April.
The dealer told me that the only service required was an oil change, even though the manual says that A1 includes a tire rotation. The service writer told me that the rotation wasn't due until 10k miles (which I'm assuming would mean a "B" service?).
So should I wait until the next service to have the tires rotated or should I go ahead and do it sooner?
The nice surprise was that the dealer didn't charge me for the oil change since I bought the car there.
The dealer told me that the only service required was an oil change, even though the manual says that A1 includes a tire rotation. The service writer told me that the rotation wasn't due until 10k miles (which I'm assuming would mean a "B" service?).
So should I wait until the next service to have the tires rotated or should I go ahead and do it sooner?
The nice surprise was that the dealer didn't charge me for the oil change since I bought the car there.
09-28-2004, 09:06 AM
#2
Sounds like you have a pretty good dealer there. Gave you a free oil change, and didn't try to make some extra money by rotating your tires sooner than necessary.
My personal rule of thumb is around 7,500 for rotating front wheel drive car tires. To me, 10,000 miles is a little long, but there is nothing in the manual, or any place else that I can find, which gives a hard rule about rotating tires.
Either way, if you wait until your next oil change, assuming you drive the same way you did for the first 6,300 miles, you will have 12,600 miles on the tires, which is definitely too long between rotations, so you should plan on doing it sometime in between, depending on the mileage you personally decide on for tire rotating.
My personal rule of thumb is around 7,500 for rotating front wheel drive car tires. To me, 10,000 miles is a little long, but there is nothing in the manual, or any place else that I can find, which gives a hard rule about rotating tires.
Either way, if you wait until your next oil change, assuming you drive the same way you did for the first 6,300 miles, you will have 12,600 miles on the tires, which is definitely too long between rotations, so you should plan on doing it sometime in between, depending on the mileage you personally decide on for tire rotating.
09-28-2004, 09:17 AM
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I do not have the manual in front of me, but as I understand it...
A = Oil Change (and stuff)
1 = Tire Rotation
On a related note, I recently had the A1 done at my dealer as well (at about the same mileage as you). They charged me $104. That was the most expensive oil change and rotation I have ever paid for. I asked them about the first service visit being free, and they blew it off, and hit me with the bill. Total time 1 hour 15 minutes.
I believe I will be doing the oil changes myself from now on. Fortunately there is a large collection of motor oil related information on this forum; thanks in large part to Road Rage and his RR Journals.
You can find a list of related threads HERE.
Find the RR journals HERE.
A = Oil Change (and stuff)
1 = Tire Rotation
On a related note, I recently had the A1 done at my dealer as well (at about the same mileage as you). They charged me $104. That was the most expensive oil change and rotation I have ever paid for. I asked them about the first service visit being free, and they blew it off, and hit me with the bill. Total time 1 hour 15 minutes.
I believe I will be doing the oil changes myself from now on. Fortunately there is a large collection of motor oil related information on this forum; thanks in large part to Road Rage and his RR Journals.
You can find a list of related threads HERE.
Find the RR journals HERE.
09-28-2004, 04:01 PM
#4
yano jl-your links are not working.
You are correct:
A is oil change and check some things that they check anyway
1 is tire rotation
$104 is outrageous.
You are correct:
A is oil change and check some things that they check anyway
1 is tire rotation
$104 is outrageous.
09-28-2004, 04:08 PM
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i have 6500 miles on my car. I got my A1 at about 6000. When i asked how much A1 is... he said 75 bucks. I said i just want the oil change. he said 25 bucks. $50 bucks to rotate tires? hmmmmmmmmm
10-11-2004, 07:58 AM
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I just had my A-1 service this weekend at 6800. I had a few additional problems I wanted them to address...
1. Rattling noise in the passenger storage compartment (they ordered the replacement and should arrive in a week)
2. Windshield wipers would skip and shake (replaced the inserts)
3. The rubber hole plugger in the arm rest compartment got lose (the replaced the rubber plugger)
4. Vibration in the steering wheel when driving over 60mph (rebalanced tires)
Overall, I was OK with their service. They tried charging me $70 something for the A-1 service but reminded them that the first oil change was free... So, they deducted $27 something for the oil change... Total wait and cost: a little over an hour and $40 something bucks... Not bad... Especially the free extra stuff they did including a free car wash which btw SUCKED!
1. Rattling noise in the passenger storage compartment (they ordered the replacement and should arrive in a week)
2. Windshield wipers would skip and shake (replaced the inserts)
3. The rubber hole plugger in the arm rest compartment got lose (the replaced the rubber plugger)
4. Vibration in the steering wheel when driving over 60mph (rebalanced tires)
Overall, I was OK with their service. They tried charging me $70 something for the A-1 service but reminded them that the first oil change was free... So, they deducted $27 something for the oil change... Total wait and cost: a little over an hour and $40 something bucks... Not bad... Especially the free extra stuff they did including a free car wash which btw SUCKED!
10-11-2004, 08:14 AM
#7
So they charged you $43 for a tire rotation, since all the other stuff you had done was either under warranty or free. And they would have charged you $27 for the oil change. Not too bad a price.
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10-11-2004, 09:09 AM
#8
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I've got my second A1 service coming up in three days. My dealer does it by the book. I asked for a tire rotation when I scheduled the appointment and was told that it was included.
10-11-2004, 10:04 AM
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Ron,
Can you tell me more about the tire rotation stuff. What is the reason behind rotating tires? Is it to have them all wear down evenly or are there other reasons. In the past, I guess I would only rotate when I saw some wear. I guess In my mind - if you rotate them at 7500, what do you do at 15,000? Rotate them back? And just keep going back and forth? Or buy new tires. I guess I would have rotated at a halfway point or something.
Just curious. Thanks.
Can you tell me more about the tire rotation stuff. What is the reason behind rotating tires? Is it to have them all wear down evenly or are there other reasons. In the past, I guess I would only rotate when I saw some wear. I guess In my mind - if you rotate them at 7500, what do you do at 15,000? Rotate them back? And just keep going back and forth? Or buy new tires. I guess I would have rotated at a halfway point or something.
Just curious. Thanks.
Originally Posted by Ron A
Sounds like you have a pretty good dealer there. Gave you a free oil change, and didn't try to make some extra money by rotating your tires sooner than necessary.
My personal rule of thumb is around 7,500 for rotating front wheel drive car tires. To me, 10,000 miles is a little long, but there is nothing in the manual, or any place else that I can find, which gives a hard rule about rotating tires.
Either way, if you wait until your next oil change, assuming you drive the same way you did for the first 6,300 miles, you will have 12,600 miles on the tires, which is definitely too long between rotations, so you should plan on doing it sometime in between, depending on the mileage you personally decide on for tire rotating.
My personal rule of thumb is around 7,500 for rotating front wheel drive car tires. To me, 10,000 miles is a little long, but there is nothing in the manual, or any place else that I can find, which gives a hard rule about rotating tires.
Either way, if you wait until your next oil change, assuming you drive the same way you did for the first 6,300 miles, you will have 12,600 miles on the tires, which is definitely too long between rotations, so you should plan on doing it sometime in between, depending on the mileage you personally decide on for tire rotating.
10-11-2004, 10:37 AM
#10
Originally Posted by TBone2004
Ron,
Can you tell me more about the tire rotation stuff. What is the reason behind rotating tires? Is it to have them all wear down evenly or are there other reasons. In the past, I guess I would only rotate when I saw some wear. I guess In my mind - if you rotate them at 7500, what do you do at 15,000? Rotate them back? And just keep going back and forth? Or buy new tires. I guess I would have rotated at a halfway point or something.
Just curious. Thanks.
Can you tell me more about the tire rotation stuff. What is the reason behind rotating tires? Is it to have them all wear down evenly or are there other reasons. In the past, I guess I would only rotate when I saw some wear. I guess In my mind - if you rotate them at 7500, what do you do at 15,000? Rotate them back? And just keep going back and forth? Or buy new tires. I guess I would have rotated at a halfway point or something.
Just curious. Thanks.
1. As you said, the intention is to have them wear evenly. There is a diagram on page 223 of the owner's manual which shows how to rotate the tires. Our original equipment tires are non-directional. You can keep rotating them as long as there is usable tread on each tire. One test is to use a Lincoln penny, stick it in the groove, and if you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, then it is time for a new tire. (I think I got that right this time).
2. Foremost is the fact that we have a front wheel drive car, in which the front wheels do a disproportionate amount of the work since they are both the steering and are the drive wheels. FWD car owners that don't rotate will see their front tires wear out quickly while the rear tires will probably look almost like new.
3. Another reason is that the roads we drive on are not perfectly flat, meaning that certain tires are driving on a portion of the road that is crowned, and the other tires may be driving on a flat part of the road.
4. Yet another reason is that in your daily commuter drive you may make more turns in one direction than the other, or go onto on-ramps that curve in the same direction, putting more wear on one side of a tire than on the other side of the same tire. Rotating them will distribute this wear over a period of time.
So the bottom line is that rotation is not just a device to make money for the dealer or the tire shop; it is a necessary servicing that is much more important with a FWD car than with a RWD, although it is important with both.
10-11-2004, 10:54 AM
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I recently got an oil change at Downey Acura in California, they told me it was around $75 for A1 service which included an oil change, topping off fluids, plus some other items and a tire rotation, I refused the A1 service and got an oil change only. I think they only did an oil change without topping off fluids and checking other things inside....is this a common thing with Acura because when I had my Honda they topped off fluids and checked that everything was ok.
10-11-2004, 11:02 AM
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Not having the manual in front of me - I did not realize we could rotate to any position - not just a front to back type rotation as with directionals. I always make a habit of keeping my best tires upfront - primarily for steering reasons. Probably goes back to - like everything else - you do what you grew up with...sometimes without even thinking about it. "In the old days" I remember using studded snow tires. I recall as a kid helping my Dad each Fall bringing the studded tires down from the garage attic. So then in the Spring, we would take the studded tires off - then move the existing fronts to the rear and then buy new front tires. I think that was the basic flow. I think because of that I have this matched pair mentallity or something.....front to back only....Thanks for the reply Ron. I appreciate it.
Originally Posted by Ron A
There are several reasons for rotating tires.
1. As you said, the intention is to have them wear evenly. There is a diagram on page 223 of the owner's manual which shows how to rotate the tires. Our original equipment tires are non-directional. You can keep rotating them as long as there is usable tread on each tire. One test is to use a Lincoln penny, stick it in the groove, and if you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, then it is time for a new tire. (I think I got that right this time).
2. Foremost is the fact that we have a front wheel drive car, in which the front wheels do a disproportionate amount of the work since they are both the steering and are the drive wheels. FWD car owners that don't rotate will see their front tires wear out quickly while the rear tires will probably look almost like new.
3. Another reason is that the roads we drive on are not perfectly flat, meaning that certain tires are driving on a portion of the road that is crowned, and the other tires may be driving on a flat part of the road.
4. Yet another reason is that in your daily commuter drive you may make more turns in one direction than the other, or go onto on-ramps that curve in the same direction, putting more wear on one side of a tire than on the other side of the same tire. Rotating them will distribute this wear over a period of time.
So the bottom line is that rotation is not just a device to make money for the dealer or the tire shop; it is a necessary servicing that is much more important with a FWD car than with a RWD, although it is important with both.
1. As you said, the intention is to have them wear evenly. There is a diagram on page 223 of the owner's manual which shows how to rotate the tires. Our original equipment tires are non-directional. You can keep rotating them as long as there is usable tread on each tire. One test is to use a Lincoln penny, stick it in the groove, and if you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, then it is time for a new tire. (I think I got that right this time).
2. Foremost is the fact that we have a front wheel drive car, in which the front wheels do a disproportionate amount of the work since they are both the steering and are the drive wheels. FWD car owners that don't rotate will see their front tires wear out quickly while the rear tires will probably look almost like new.
3. Another reason is that the roads we drive on are not perfectly flat, meaning that certain tires are driving on a portion of the road that is crowned, and the other tires may be driving on a flat part of the road.
4. Yet another reason is that in your daily commuter drive you may make more turns in one direction than the other, or go onto on-ramps that curve in the same direction, putting more wear on one side of a tire than on the other side of the same tire. Rotating them will distribute this wear over a period of time.
So the bottom line is that rotation is not just a device to make money for the dealer or the tire shop; it is a necessary servicing that is much more important with a FWD car than with a RWD, although it is important with both.
10-11-2004, 12:03 PM
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i just took mine in for it`s A1 servicing last Thursday to my dealership (Priority Acura)... everything was free, including the rotation... the Service Manager gave me the service plan to read after i attemped to pay... coincidentally he`s the same guy i`ve been going through for the past 9 years at my Toyota dealership, just newly transferred to Acura...
here`s a runthrough of the service plan:
Priority Plus Customer Service Plan
*Free 2 yr./24,000 mile Factory Maintenance and Service on New Vehicles Including Oil
and Filter Changes
*Free Tank of Gas With Delivery
*Free Lifetime Parts Guarantee
*Free Lifetime Service Guarantee
*Free Extended Evening and Saturday Service
*Free 3 Day Exchange Program
*Free 98 Point Used Vehicle Certification
*Free 30 Day Warranty Used Vehicles
*Free 24 Hour Test Drive
*Free 24 Hour Roadside Assistance
*Free Shuttle Bus to Home or Work
*Free New Vehicle Lost Key Service
*Free Vehicle Detailing with All Servicing
Priority Price Assurance Guarantee
*Bring us an ad from any dealer and we will sell you the same vehicle for LESS! It's
that simple!
Priority Plus Pricing
*$19.95 Oil And Filter Change No Matter Where You Purchased Your Acura Car!
here`s a runthrough of the service plan:
Priority Plus Customer Service Plan
*Free 2 yr./24,000 mile Factory Maintenance and Service on New Vehicles Including Oil
and Filter Changes
*Free Tank of Gas With Delivery
*Free Lifetime Parts Guarantee
*Free Lifetime Service Guarantee
*Free Extended Evening and Saturday Service
*Free 3 Day Exchange Program
*Free 98 Point Used Vehicle Certification
*Free 30 Day Warranty Used Vehicles
*Free 24 Hour Test Drive
*Free 24 Hour Roadside Assistance
*Free Shuttle Bus to Home or Work
*Free New Vehicle Lost Key Service
*Free Vehicle Detailing with All Servicing
Priority Price Assurance Guarantee
*Bring us an ad from any dealer and we will sell you the same vehicle for LESS! It's
that simple!
Priority Plus Pricing
*$19.95 Oil And Filter Change No Matter Where You Purchased Your Acura Car!
10-11-2004, 03:36 PM
#14
Gorron-topping off fluids should be included in the oil change, unless something needed an abnormal amount, in which case there is probably something wrong with it and warranty should cover it.
TBone2004-I've been through all that, including the studded tires. But with FWD it is hard to keep the best tires on the front because they will wear out so quickly. Some people leave them there all the time and just replace both front ones, and the back ones will be good for a long time.The rotation diagram in the manual shows the front tires going directly to the rear, and the rear tires going diagonally to the front.
tizo-Is the "Priority Plus Customer Service Plan" free?
TBone2004-I've been through all that, including the studded tires. But with FWD it is hard to keep the best tires on the front because they will wear out so quickly. Some people leave them there all the time and just replace both front ones, and the back ones will be good for a long time.The rotation diagram in the manual shows the front tires going directly to the rear, and the rear tires going diagonally to the front.
tizo-Is the "Priority Plus Customer Service Plan" free?
10-11-2004, 09:00 PM
#16
Instructor
Originally Posted by TBone2004
... I always make a habit of keeping my best tires upfront - primarily for steering reasons...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...ral/rotate.jsp
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...llnewtires.jsp
10-11-2004, 09:02 PM
#17
Registered Member
Yep. I just rotated my wife's tires on her BMW a week ago Saturday. I have an air pump in my garage so the job, while a pain, is simple. One other reason to cuss German engineering. Her 328i doesn't use lug nuts like jus about every car I've ever seen. It uses lug bolts! Makes it real fun when you are installing the wheels back on the car. Imagine doing this at night with a flat tire.
Even though our tires are not unidirectional, I have to admit, I rotate on the same side and don't cross-pattern my rotation.
Even though our tires are not unidirectional, I have to admit, I rotate on the same side and don't cross-pattern my rotation.
10-14-2004, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Ron A
tizo - Is the "Priority Plus Customer Service Plan" free?
yup... it`s my dealership`s standard policy...
10-15-2004, 08:18 AM
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'preciate the links - not sure if I should read them cause it might make me cranky. That does not make sense to me - to keep best rubber in rear. Unles I am running sprints or something up in Orange County! 
Originally Posted by 93SHOcar
FWIW, here are some are some links from Tirerack. They cover some reasons for rotation. Also, the 2nd states that if you are only replacing one pair, the new tires should go in the rear even on a FWD. Not sure if they have convinced me but worth a look.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...ral/rotate.jsp
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...llnewtires.jsp
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...ral/rotate.jsp
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...llnewtires.jsp
10-15-2004, 10:00 AM
#20
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I have free oil changes at my dealership for as long as I own the car. I bought it at Castle Acura, in Delaware. That is probably the only good thing about that dealership. I'm hoping their service dept. is better than their sales dept.
10-16-2004, 07:03 PM
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I'm going to go for my A1 service next week assuming I can get an appointment. I plan on just changing the oil, which I was told would be free. Also going to have them fix my rear deck rattle and the fact that it doesn't recognize driver 2.
I was not planning on having the tires rotated at 6k miles. Just too soon. I'll do it at the next oil change which should be around 12k. If they charge me $50 I'll just do it myself.
I was not planning on having the tires rotated at 6k miles. Just too soon. I'll do it at the next oil change which should be around 12k. If they charge me $50 I'll just do it myself.
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