I needed something similar (left, center and right aligned items), but with ability to mark centered items as active. What worked for me was:
http://www.bootply.com/CSI2KcCoEM
<nav class="navbar navbar-default" role="navigation">
<div class="navbar-header">
<button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".navbar-collapse">
<span class="icon-bar"></span>
<span class="icon-bar"></span>
<span class="icon-bar"></span>
</button>
</div>
<div class="navbar-collapse collapse">
<ul class="nav navbar-nav">
<li class="navbar-left"><a href="#">Left 1</a></li>
<li class="navbar-left"><a href="#">Left 2</a></li>
<li class="active"><a href="#">Center 1</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Center 2</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Center 3</a></li>
<li class="navbar-right"><a href="#">Right 1</a></li>
<li class="navbar-right"><a href="#">Right 2</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</nav>
CSS:
@media (min-width: 768px) {
.navbar-nav {
width: 100%;
text-align: center;
}
.navbar-nav > li {
float: none;
display: inline-block;
}
.navbar-nav > li.navbar-right {
float: right !important;
}
}