Recommendations needed: Looking for jack stands for DIY tire rotations

1 floor jack, the spare, a block of wood and a torque wrench will do you on a Jetta. you'll spend more time pulling a jack stand in and out that it will be under the car, but of course it is a good measure.

Start with one of the front, take the existing wheel off, put the spare on, then move that front wheel to the back on the same side, take the back to the other front, take that front to the rear and finally that rear back to the front where the spare is... put the spare back up. You'll be done faster than driving somewhere and waiting on it.

Level ground of course and keep your appendages out from under the car.

I concur I don't jack mine on the pinch weld unless using the factory jack.

I have a set of old 3.5 ton craftsman professional, but the mentioned torin are good as are sunnex.
 
Looking at HF options. They have one on sale for $79. I am wondering if anyone has used this long term with success? I know their products have a stigma.
 
Do you mean stands or jacks?

HF Daytona jacks are excellent, i'm not familiar with their jack stands beyond all the recalls but at this point you'd think they would be pretty good.
 
I must be the only one who does one side then jacks up the other and does that side. But I only do front to back rotations so it’s easy. I jack up one side from the middle of the car and place a jack stand on each end then remove the tires, swap them and on to the next side. That’s the easiest way to do it. I have several sets of jack stands but don’t use the antique ones so that leaves me with one set lol. From what I’ve heard Harbor Freight is not a place to buy jack stands. Jacks yes but stands no. I have a set of Craftsman ones from Sears I’ve had for about 8 years. I don’t think they sell Craftsman stands anymore but Husky has a nice set we have some of those at work and I like them pretty well.
 
That's the $1100 answer to a $40 question.

OP should just do front to back rotations-- they're not as perfect as the X-style, arguably, but they're good enough.

Get a second jack for the rear. Lift the front side of the car under the firewall and the rear jack will have very little work to do.

Lifting a car and settling it on jack stands just for a tire rotation seems like a waste of labor to me unless you also want the jack stands for other repairs where you put your body under the car.
Except during Xmas time when they can be had at a steep discount. :)
 
With 2 jacks, put bricks infront and behind both wheels on one side, jack up the other side, rotate front to back, and back to fornt ( but do not bother to tighten front nuts all the way.) Put that side down, brick tires on the side you just did, jack up other side with 2 jacks, put front to back, lower back, brick back, jack up orher front and take its tire off, put back tire on that front, put just removed front on other front, lower front and your done.
 
Don’t think cross rotation is needed on anything I own - so I just use 3T floor jacks …
Not a fan of jack stands in general …
Ramps when I can …
 
I never used a jack stand for tire rotation because I have a compact spare. For just rotation on cars with fix-a-flat, can't you use just 2 scissors jacks with chokes?
 
How much is a set of dead tires off CL? Hub doesn’t need to be correct, just larger. Jack one axle up, swap on dead set, drop. Jack other axle… you get the idea. I do this but I use my other set of wheels, have a set of winter tires and a set of all seasons. Two jacks helps a bit but not a lot.

After reading about HF jack stand recalls I rarely use mine, and use cribbing instead.
 
If the jack that comes with the car is not safe to change a tire then you have problems.
The free jack is ok, just slow, awkward to use, and not great for pinch welds on rusty older cars.

I'm not trying to be a tool snob but a lot of people in this thread are being creative in finding the slowest way possible to do this task with the most minimal tooling. I get there are condo dwellers or whatever but a 2-ton hydraulic jack, 4-way lug wrench, and HF torque wrench won't take much space or money and are handy for other stuff. Watch slickdeals or the rebate forum for deals on jacks plus stands if you think you'll ever be crawling under the car for deeper work.
 
The free jack is ok, just slow, awkward to use, and not great for pinch welds on rusty older cars.

I'm not trying to be a tool snob but a lot of people in this thread are being creative in finding the slowest way possible to do this task with the most minimal tooling. I get there are condo dwellers or whatever but a 2-ton hydraulic jack, 4-way lug wrench, and HF torque wrench won't take much space or money and are handy for other stuff. Watch slickdeals or the rebate forum for deals on jacks plus stands if you think you'll ever be crawling under the car for deeper work.
Right not everyone gets their car sprayed yearly with NH Coatings (or similar) and thus let's the frame and body rust away.
 
If I were in this situation, I will look at this opportunity (justification) to buy more tools! If you need to use temporary spare "temporarily", then get the 1/2 inch 18V brushless battery powered impact wrench to make putting and removing the temporary spare "fun"!
 
The free jack is ok, just slow, awkward to use, and not great for pinch welds on rusty older cars.

I'm not trying to be a tool snob but a lot of people in this thread are being creative in finding the slowest way possible to do this task with the most minimal tooling. I get there are condo dwellers or whatever but a 2-ton hydraulic jack, 4-way lug wrench, and HF torque wrench won't take much space or money and are handy for other stuff. Watch slickdeals or the rebate forum for deals on jacks plus stands if you think you'll ever be crawling under the car for deeper work.
^ 100% agree. I remember using the scissor jack that came with cars for tire rotations for a long time thinking it was fine to get by with and finally springing for a floor jack. The upgrade is well worth it, time savings, stability, etc.

Edit - also fwiw, couple of the harbor freight ones have coupons right now.
 
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I'd like to start doing my own tire rotations, which finds me in the market for jack stands. I have never done my own tire rotations before, I assume I will need 4 total jack stands?

Looking for recommendations. Safety is paramount of course but cost is a consideration as well.

Also, I am unfamiliar with the proper procedure for jacking your car up to remove ALL four wheels to do a proper tire rotation. I don't see how you can do this safely without a lift but I know people do it. Thanks in advance!
Bad idea. You're gonna get tired of that stuff. Buy your tires with a free tire rotation policy......... save your time, money, and, most of all, your back. .02
 
Basicly lift one side do front to back, and back to front ( but if you are going to cross then you do not have to tighten front lugs all the way). Lower that side. Lift other side, do front to back, lower back only, raise other front and remove that front, cross fronts, lower, and you are done.


If you put bricks infront and behind tires left on ground, and are on level surface, you can do it with two of the jacks like those that came with the vehicle, and a torque-wrench with short extension and proper size 6 point socket.

If you never are going under the vehicle during the lift, then it is safe enough without jackstands.

Also, rember to always store torque-wrenches set to 0 or low enough so the internal spring is not compressed. Leaving a torque-wrench with the spring compressed for a long time might cause it to loose calibration accuracy.
 
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