Can my Toyota remind me when I need to rotate my tires?

I just bought new tires and the guy at the tire store told me that the reason my old tires wore out so quickly was because I never rotated them. I had no idea. They said I should have my tires rotated every 5000 miles but I'm never going to remember that, and I don't drive a consistent number of miles each week to figure out when in the future that'd occur. Can my Toyota Camry remind me when it's time to rotate the tires?

Dave's Answer:

Answer: Yes!

I don't have a Camry, but I do have a 2008 Toyota Highlander with the fancy (read "ridiculously overpriced") mapping and navigational system included and one of the many features of this device that I imagine 99% of people ignore is that it can keep track of dates and mileage events so you can keep the car properly maintained.

The irony is that I too just had to get new tires. Every 30K miles. Common problem with the Highlander because of its weight combined with the thinness of the tires = faster tire wear. But I'm also not diligent about rotating my tires, though I know I should do a better job. Result is that while I might get 35K or 40K out of my tires, this time I had to replace them with only about 29K miles on 'em. Ugh. Expensive.

The Toyota nav system has an entire maintenance tracking system that's just one button away...

Push the "INFO" button and you'll find a whole new world, especially if you've never looked in that area before:

Tap on the "Maintenance" wrench to set your tire rotation reminder (you can explore the other areas on your own time :-)

That's what we want. Look at how many things this device can track. Impressive. But, really, who sets a date/mileage mark for replacing their windshield wipers? Well, maybe everyone else in the world but me.

"ROTATION" is the choice we want, it's the middle of the first line. Tap on it...

As you can see, there are two ways you can set up a reminder. Either by date (which means you need to ensure your car knows the current date and time, btw) or by distance traveled from this moment in time. Since you're supposed to rotate your tires every 5000 miles, let's set it based on distance. To do that, tap on "Distance".

Enter the desired distance you want to go before the rotation reminder pops up...

Looks good. Tap "OK" to return to the previous screen.

Perfect. Oh, except for one more thing. Tap on "OK" to move back to the main maintenance page, because the entire maintenance reminder tracking system isn't actually enabled yet.

Look in the top right corner...

That's it. Tap "ON" and you'll have a reminder pop up on your navigational computer system screen when you hit that 5000 mile mark. At any time you can also go back down this path and see how many miles are left on your reminder countdown too.

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Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics (Article 10426, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: car maintenance, car reminders, navigational systems, toyota camry, toyota highlander, toyota map system, toyota navsys
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Reader Comments To Date: 3

Ed said, on July 16, 2012 2:40 PM:

Hi Dave

Interesting article: I never realised that car manufacturers had got into that level of reminding people about stuff (My default maintenance reminder is the flashing red light that says "stop ze car dumbkomf unt change ze oil"

Anyway have you thought about using a task manager to do this type of thing eg set up a recurring reminder to change the oil etc on the 3rd Saturday every 2 months

This can be added onto all that other domestic stuff - like "clean ze gutters you feelthee peeg". (That would be once a year for me).

and hey why not combine it with your work stuff so you see everything on one easy screen, coming at you like a conveyor belt of reasons to be cheerful. With email reminders when stuff is due, and so on.

there are quite a few task managers out there including - ahem, my own baby Dooster.net

anyway Just sayin...

Dave Taylor said, on July 16, 2012 3:32 PM:

Nice plug, Ed. The issue with what you're suggesting - which I already have with the slick Apple iOS 6 "Reminders" feature - is that I'm talking about an event tied to a specific mileage event, not a certain period of time elapsing...

Ed said, on July 17, 2012 9:12 AM:

Thank you Dave.

Yes I understand what you're saying. I guess the issue is whether you'll be able to quickly assign that tyre rotation task to someone else eg the guys in the white boiler suits that you have scurrying around inside the hollowed out volcano.

With tools like Dooster you can quickly assign the task to someone else. Otherwise the in car reminder might just blink away on the dashboard. Yes it's a weak point. But one worth making in order to solidify the plug ;-)

re iOS 6 "Reminders" feature. When I last looked at that the recurring was fairly limited ie it was only weekly / daily / monthly etc. For a real business tool being able to set recurring for eg Only Tuesdays - or the 2nd Monday of every X months is an advantage

Here's what our baby does in that dept https://dooster.tenderapp.com/kb/tasks/recurring-tasks

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Can my Toyota remind me when I need to rotate my tires?

Reader Comments To Date: 3

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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