Jump to content
CBR1100XX.org Forum

Directional car tires


blackhawkxx

Recommended Posts

Put winter tires on the front of wife's car this year and found out that they are directional tires. So I can't rotate them side to side and the right tire will wear out well before the left. My question is, can I do it anyway without it affecting the performance too much? Has anyone tried it? They are Firestone Winterforce that have small square block type tread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't do it, buddy had someone mount directional tires on his jeep wrong,

Within 50 miles he had lost 3 0f 5 wheel studs, on one wheel and 2 on another.

These were 33" a/t tires but still, was an eye opener

I'd be willing to entertain the possibility that the guys who put the tires on backwards might have also failed to install the wheels correctly. Correlation ≠ causation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anything is possible.

It was my first day at a new job, we headed to lunch and noticed the missing studs, drove to the nearest shop a few blocks away.

The mechanic noticed the tires being directional. Replaced the studs and re mounted the tires. We had never heard of it, normally it's "white letters in or out?"

Took a few hours to replace and remount the tires correctly. If I remember correctly one of the rims got messed up and we had to use his spare rim.

This was yrs ago.. I do remember my new boss pulling up looking for us, we were just sitting on the curb, jeep on floor jacks..

Great first day..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Put winter tires on the front of wife's car this year and found out that they are directional tires. So I can't rotate them side to side and the right tire will wear out well before the left. My question is, can I do it anyway without it affecting the performance too much? Has anyone tried it? They are Firestone Winterforce that have small square block type tread.

You can rotate side to side, but you need to dismount and remount the tires.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can rotate side to side, but you need to dismount and remount the tires.

With the winter tires, I also bought new wheels so the tires would not have to be dismounted.

I have done things in the past when I was in a pinch that everyone said wouldn't work and it did. I thought that using a directional tire the wrong way, I might suffer some traction loss but I wasn't sure.

Edited by blackhawkxx
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can rotate side to side, but you need to dismount and remount the tires.

With the winter tires, I also bought new wheels so the tires would not have to be dismounted.

I have did things in the past when I was in a pinch that everyone said wouldn't work and it did. I thought that using a directional tire the wrong way, I might suffer some traction loss but I wasn't sure.

I'm sure that you will loose at least some traction if you mount them backwards. Depending on the design it maybe a lot.

Why not just drop them at the shop when you pull them off for the summer and have them switched. I know it's not ideal but winter tires backwards maybe worse than all seasons.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Running them backwards is no real issue for the tire and you'll generally just loose some resistance to hydroplaning, general traction probably won't be effected at all. If the car is wearing one side a lot faster than the other I suspect an alignment issue. Does it wear smoothly and evenly across the tread? If not, align. You could have them dismounted/remounted to rotate them and keep the direction normal if you want. As for the jeep that fell apart, it wasn't the direction of the tires, it was the guy who installed them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't do it, buddy had someone mount directional tires on his jeep wrong,

Within 50 miles he had lost 3 0f 5 wheel studs, on one wheel and 2 on another.

These were 33" a/t tires but still, was an eye opener

I'd be willing to entertain the possibility that the guys who put the tires on backwards might have also failed to install the wheels correctly. Correlation ≠ causation.

Nailed it.

Running them backwards is no real issue for the tire and you'll generally just loose some resistance to hydroplaning, general traction probably won't be effected at all. If the car is wearing one side a lot faster than the other I suspect an alignment issue. Does it wear smoothly and evenly across the tread? If not, align. You could have them dismounted/remounted to rotate them and keep the direction normal if you want. As for the jeep that fell apart, it wasn't the direction of the tires, it was the guy who installed them.

Yep... +1 to all that.

dismount and remount = total wast of money.

...

Now with all that said, I'll add, most people only rotate the tires in order to Flatten the tread back out, so that their steering & handling feels great, and because they believe that they are extending the life of their tires. One of those is correct... the handling part. Rotating your tires to extend tread life... is an Awesome sales pitch by tire manufacturers... too get you to by more tires.... which is what they do... they sell tires. Whoa.. what a concept.

Edited by EVLXX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now with all that said, I'll add, most people only rotate the tires in order to Flatten the tread back out, so that their steering & handling feels great, and because they believe that they are extending the life of their tires. One of those is correct... the handling part. Rotating your tires to extend tread life... is an Awesome sales pitch by tire manufacturers... too get you to by more tires.... which is what they do... they sell tires. Whoa.. what a concept.

Tire rotation DOESN'T extend life? I suppose that's true, but if you don't rotate tires, two wear out sooner and then you have two new and two old tires. Overall, isn't it better to have 4 tires of equal wear than 2 with disproportionate wear? How much more life do you gain by not rotating tires?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think rotating wears tires out faster. If you have one that wears fast because your alignment is fucked and you only replace the one regularly it might be cheaper than putting that wear on all 4 by rotating, but paying for an alignment would be cheaper and smarter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I sold winterforce tires for years. They must be unmounted and remounted to run the right direction when flipping sides. Take a look at the seppes in the tread. You notice the design of the million of little ridges are running ONE WAY. Youll lose traction and life if you run them backwards. If they are already studded, youll lose studs more often as well. There has been debate for years in the industry, but some tire manufactureres claim that running their tires one direction then changing that, increases the chance of belt bunching, or cords piling up. You CAN run them in reverse, just like you CAN run on a flat tire. Just saying that its negating the price you paid for the rubber, if you do... Winterforce tires kick ass by the way, excellent choice."3d directional tread" theres a reason they stated that. Just run your hands down the tread. Youll feel the difference in the wrong directions lack of tack. Similar to mounting rear tractor tires backwards i would suspect. Rotating tires extended USEABLE tire life. It keeps tires from wearing unevenly across the set, and help prevent tread feathering (which cant be rectified once it begins. As for rotations to sell tires. I call bullshit! We rotated tires for free, it took 20 minutes on a rack that could generally be generating revenue. We wouldnt do it for free and waste our time if it didnt make a difference. Of course i only aligned cars on 3 seperate machines for over 8 years, so i really dont know shit.

post-3948-0-78185400-1428684480_thumb.jp

Edited by Hooplehead
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

This is totally unrelated to OP, but putting car tire(s) on motorcycle is retarded. No, you will not die instantly with the car tire but it ius still retarded.

BTW, the rider in post 22 sucks, counter-leaning and other wrong things of that nature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use