I found an Equinox EV emergency response guide which shows that there are lifting points on the body along the rockers. These are typically marked with a half-moon cutout in the rocker flange. This used to be something that would be shown in the owner's manual. Possibly since GM doesn't provide an emergency jack, they don't specify where jacking should be done. It may be that GM prefers the vehicle be lifted using a hoist on all 4 lifting points, but that's not how I will rotate the tires in my garage.
Equinox EV Lift Points, Jack Stands
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Yeah, not true on a single motor EV or hybrid though. The tires do double duty - propulsion and regen braking. Without rotation, the tires on that axle will wear faster than the undriven axle, and more-so than an ICE vehicle. So it is not just about evening out wear, though that is important also.
What I mean is that the NET wear on all four tires over time is same. Yes tires on the one axle will wear out quicker, but rotating that tire to the other axle does not change the overall tire wear on four tires. If I don't rotate tires, I will have uneven ware on front and rear and will need to change the front tires more frequently for my FWD. But overall net wear will be the same, because un-rotated tires on rear will last longer than rotated tires. The benefit of rotating tires is not for prolonging the tire tread life, but solely for maintaining even wear on all four tires.
I think @Salkin has the winning argument here on all points he mentioned his last few posts.
Frequency of tire rotation does not affect overall life. It's not like oil change frequency. If one could rotate their tires one single time at the half way point in the tire life, they would achieve the same overall tire life as if they rotated at, say, every 3500 miles.
Frequency of tire rotation does not affect overall life. It's not like oil change frequency. If one could rotate their tires one single time at the half way point in the tire life, they would achieve the same overall tire life as if they rotated at, say, every 3500 miles.
That would be valid only if you were driving the others cars, you driving style, same vehicle, same terrain. ;>
2025 Silver Equinox EV LT FWD w/Comfort & Active Safety2 19" wheels Grizzl-E Classic at 24A
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Having very different tread depths front to back can affect handling. Definitely don't have the worn tires on the rear of a FWD vehicle (ask me how I know). You're asking for more than a little "fish-tailing".
If you don't want the expense of buying all four tires at the same time, then let the fronts wear down to what you feel is acceptable before replacement, then switch the rears with the fronts. But if there is any problem with the alignment, the tires will wear abnormally and you may have control issues.
If you don't want the expense of buying all four tires at the same time, then let the fronts wear down to what you feel is acceptable before replacement, then switch the rears with the fronts. But if there is any problem with the alignment, the tires will wear abnormally and you may have control issues.
I agree. I would definitely be concerned about handling issues if I’m not rotating the tires as the pair on one axle will be worn more than the other. Also, not rotating tires will result in more frequent trips to the tire store for another pair.
2025 Silver Equinox EV LT FWD w/Comfort & Active Safety2 19" wheels Grizzl-E Classic at 24A
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Plus you won't get those discounts, say at Costco, for replacing all four tires at once.
There's definitely some good arguments either way. For me, I'm leaning toward not rotating the tires at all, and just replacing pairs of tires when they reach EOL. Benefits seem to be...
1) Skip time and expense of having the tires rotated. Weight of car makes swapping tires at home more problematic.
2) Spread out capital cost of replacing tires. Or, capture any discount by buying qty 4 and store the spare tires until needed. (Someone will inevitably mention tire rot, however I typically bought tires months ahead before my Bolt needed them and never experienced degradation when stored properly. Think about how long all those racked tires at a tire shop sit before sale.)
3) No need to worry about resetting TPS sensors. Each wheel stays put.
Naturally you never let a tire wear beyond a safe minimum tread. I'd have to see convincing evidence that simply having different (safe) tread depths front to rear affect handling that much. Happy to be proved wrong.
1) Skip time and expense of having the tires rotated. Weight of car makes swapping tires at home more problematic.
2) Spread out capital cost of replacing tires. Or, capture any discount by buying qty 4 and store the spare tires until needed. (Someone will inevitably mention tire rot, however I typically bought tires months ahead before my Bolt needed them and never experienced degradation when stored properly. Think about how long all those racked tires at a tire shop sit before sale.)
3) No need to worry about resetting TPS sensors. Each wheel stays put.
Naturally you never let a tire wear beyond a safe minimum tread. I'd have to see convincing evidence that simply having different (safe) tread depths front to rear affect handling that much. Happy to be proved wrong.
2025 Silver Equinox EV LT FWD w/Comfort & Active Safety2 19" wheels Grizzl-E Classic at 24A
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This is anecdotal, but my first FWD was a new 1986 Chrysler K-car. I rotated front to back after about two years, and although worn, still had plenty of useful tread I thought.
Exiting I-95, late in the winter, no snow but plenty of road dust and salt, rear end gave way and swung the car 180-degrees. No damage but my heart jumped out. Would have been disastrous if it happened with cars around. Just that simple but significant difference in tread wear affected the handling to the point of being dangerous.
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I burned through about 12 or 13 company cars and vans while working. I'd say for the most part the tires were not rotated. I know on the latest few front wheel drive minivans, habit was to do no rotations. The fronts would wear first, and be replaced. Then the next time the fronts were worn, the rears would be ready to replace, too, so all 4 got changed. And before any more tires wore out, the vehicle would be swapped for a new one. I wasn't the one responsible for paying for the tires, so maximizing tire life was not a concern. I will say the tires and vehicles worked just fine, and not doing rotations saved a lot of time.
I once bought a new Honda Ridgeline, never rotated the tires, then sold the truck with good looking tires to a dealer 25,000 miles later. Dealer did not measure tread wear before making their offer. I have been rotating my Bolt's tires every 10,000 miles myself, so we'll see if there appears to be any benefit from that. On my personally owned cars, I have lately also been mounting the tires to the rims myself, having grown tired of shops messing up the car or the rims.
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GM owner's manuals lately seem to recommend the same 7500 mile rotation interval on all vehicles, regardless of propulsion type. It seems to be a cut and paste thing for manual writing, or a ploy to get customers in to dealer service departments. EVs are not called out as needing more tire attention.
IOW, car maker's maintenance schedules are a scam and should be ignored? Yikes.
Seriously, the amount of mental gymnastics used to justify not following the maintenance schedule surprises me. On the other end you have people who want to do more frequent maintenance than the schedule calls for. I'll just go down the center lane and follow the published schedule.
Since I have to change tires twice a year, every six months, rotating tires at this interval (not strictly by miles) is sufficient. There is no additional cost or time required for rotation. That will come out to be very close to the OM-recommended 7500-mile rotation interval for us. A bit less than 7500 miles since we don't drive that much most of the time. The only thing I do differently is the rotation pattern. I do not use the criss-cross swap. I stick with the simple front-to-back on the same side. Most winter tires are directional, so a cross pattern does not work anyway. It is much simpler to keep the tire position record if I just mark them FL, FR, RR, and RL when they come off. Just put Front-marked tires on Rear and Rear-marked tires on Front at next year's tire-swap time. Have done that way for years on many cars I have owned, and will continue this practice with our EQEV.
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You suggest something I didn’t say. Coupons, offers, recommendations, advertisements, free inspections, etc. are not scams, rather are product and service marketing.
However, the manufacturer has nothing to lose by over recommending maintenance tasks, even if those tasks may not be necessary. An example is a Honda motorcycle I have with recommended 32,000 mile spark plug replacement interval. The plugs are iridium tipped, and even the plug manufacturer says they should last over 70,000 miles. My plugs have 73,000 miles on them, and still meet the gap specs. So, yes, I am going to ignore that part of the maintenance schedule. I take the schedules as guidelines, then modify that with my observations and experience.
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