Rotate toilet flange?

I replaced our old toilet with a new Kohler Cimmarron toilet last night and in doing so I discovered why the toilet tank of the old toilet wasn't, and the new one isn't, quite parallel to the wall--the flange is set so the toilet hold-down bolts can't be placed equidistant from the wall. The flange would need to be rotated a bit to fix this, but it's not going to budge. Is there an easy way to correct this? It's a tile floor that was added recently, so the flange top is level with the finished floor. I'm pretty sure the flange is ABS, 4 inch. It's on a concrete slab floor.

You actually have two problems to deal with. The flange is supposed to set on top of the finished floor, not level with it, and the orientation of the flange bolts. One possible solution is to remove the flange completely and install a new on. Since you are dealing with a 4" drain, you can use a flange the inserts inside the drain pipe. While removing the old flange will be a PITA, the biggest problem will be anchoring the screws. There are a couple of ways this can be done, but here's what I'd do. I'd drill new holes around the flange so that the screws would be spaced between the old holes. For anchoring into concrete, I use a rotor hammer drill with a 5/16" SDS bit the will easily drill into concrete. Then 3/8" lead ferrels for the #12 SS screws. Basically after I drilled the new holes in the flange, I would orient the flange so the flange bolts were in the proper location, mark and drill one hole, put the ferrel in place and insert a screw. Then mark the rest of the hole sites, remove the flange, and drill the remaining holes, install the rest of the ferrells. Then install the flange, gluing it to the pipe then screwing the ring down. You might not have to drill the new holes in the flange is the new flange holes are already spaced differently from the old one, you just need to avoid the old holes unless they line up perfectly with the new flange. Hope this is not too confusing, but I have used this method to anchor may things to concrete with great success. It does help to have access to a rotary hammer drill, but they can be rented.

Thanks, Gary. That sounds like it certainly would work. I'll look at it again and decide if it's worth the trouble. I'm a stickler about things being straight, level and true, but most people just using the bathroom wouldn't notice this.

As for the level of the flange, now I'm wondering if I have an actual seal to it with the new toilet. The toilet came with a wax ring with plastic horn (it was a Kohler "complete solution" with everything needed in the box) but I didn't pay attention to its thickness. It seemed to install just fine, and there is no evidence of a leak. But I don't know for sure if the toilet horn is actually in contact with the wax ring. I guess time will tell, right?

First off, the flanges with the horn are often a cause of leaks! A toilet basically directs the waste to the middle of the pipe, so you often don't notice any leaking unless there is a blockage. But, it could be leaking sewer gasses, which are unhealthy.

You could add an extender ring on top of the exisitng flange if it is currently flush with the floor. Ideally, the flange should be installed on top of the finished floor, as Gary indicated. The extender will have its own set of bolt slots.

flange

Unless the flange has a "loose" metal ring that could be rotated after the anchor screws are removed, you have to remove and replace the flange in the proper orientation.