They mounted my directional tires backwards

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Well about a month ago I went to Tire Kingdom and they did my alignment and returned my car with a crooked steering wheel, so I had to bring the car back already once. They also mounted 4 directional tires and it took me since then to figure this out, only because the tires feel like they haven't been balanced right. So I wanted to see if they put my staggered wheels on the wrong sides and it turns out, my "direction" arrows are facing backwards..

I really don't feel like going back to this place since they're unprofessional and it's already been a month and I hate to argue. My question is.. Can I simply take the driver side wheel and put it on the passenger side and vice versa? Eliminating the need to dismount and have the tires swapped? Thanks.
 
Doesn't seem an argument is necessary. The tires are obviously incorrect, Make them fix them.


How is there an argument?
 
Yes, switch the wheels side to side. I can understand your hesitancy to take your car back to a shop that already messed up two simple jobs.
 
This is the reason one inspects before you leave.

Yes, they should do it right. However, things happen. A few moments inspecting before you leave means you can bring it up before you leave and have them address it. Maybe even refund some of installation charges since they didn't do it right the first time.

Water under the bridge now, but remember for the future.

Besides doing this, I've gotten to the point where I'll have the parts store test starters and alternators before I leave with the replacement as I don't want to R&R it more than once. I'll take old brake pads with me to check that the new pads look the same, and so on.

That is the nature of today's world.
 
Another reason I look forward to the day where I have my own tire equipment.
For me its not just the fact that tires were put on the wrong side, thats an easy honest mistake when the kid put the wheels back on the car, you can just move from one side to the other. What if the mounting points for the lift were incorrect and a pinch weld area was damaged or a chip on the wheel from the impact. All kinds of things can happen when vehicles are in the hands of people who could care less.
 
Preface by saying yes they put the tires on the wrong side, a screw up. My son has an Audi Q7 that came from the factory the same way. So not to be cavalier, but [censored] happens. As A_Harmon suggested you can swap the wheels side to side yourself. Or, you can take it back and have them do it. A similar screw up posted here before.

In my son's case he parleyed the factory screw up into some freebies from the dealer.
 
Also make sure they are mounted on the rim properly. In other words, side marked "outside" out. My son purchased new tires at a local Walmart and they had mounted them inside out! This of course took dismounting the tire and remounting!
 
Just swap each side
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Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
What tires did you buy?

They're called Vercelli.


Lots of good info here and I thank everyone who replied. I have swapped the wheels from the sides and they're now facing the right way. I wasn't expecting that to fix the thumping problem but upon removing them, I found that one front wheel had only one whole strip of about (9) 25 Gram weights on the inside of the rim and nothing on the outer rim. The weights were crooked and all. The other front tire normal amount of weight on both the inside and outside of the room. On the rear wheels, there was only weights on the inside of the rim. I think I'm just gonna throw in the towel and take it to another shop to have them balance them again.

received_508061679987413.jpeg
 
Originally Posted by Brandon1023
I wasn't expecting that to fix the thumping problem but upon removing them, I found that one front wheel had only one whole strip of about (9) 25 Gram weights on the inside of the rim and nothing on the outer rim. The weights were crooked and all. The other front tire normal amount of weight on both the inside and outside of the room. On the rear wheels, there was only weights on the inside of the rim. I think I'm just gonna throw in the towel and take it to another shop to have them balance them again.

Having weights on only one side isn't necessarily a problem. With only a static balance you get symmetrical weights - same inside and outside, but with a dynamic balance you often have weights on only one side.

Think of balancing a barbell that isn't fully vertical around a central horizontal axis. Even if perfectly balanced statically, it would develop significant out of balance forces if you spun it. To be in dynamic balance (ie in balance when spinning) you'd have to do more than put identical weights on both sides.

That doesn't explain a weight on crooked however.
 
Originally Posted by Brandon1023
I found that one front wheel had only one whole strip of about (9) 25 Gram weights on the inside of the rim and nothing on the outer rim. The weights were crooked and all. The other front tire normal amount of weight on both the inside and outside of the room. On the rear wheels, there was only weights on the inside of the rim. I think I'm just gonna throw in the towel and take it to another shop to have them balance them again.

The weights shown in your photo could be perfectly fine.
 
I too, had a tire shop screw my tires up recently. Except mine were asymmetrical tread tires put on backward so the tires had to be remounted to correct it. The tire shop even had the audacity to tell me that it didn't matter which way they put it on, and that outside / inside marks were just suggestions for aesthetics!

It blows my mind that a tire shop that mounts tires ALL THE TIME, can't grasp such a simple concept... It should be second nature.
 
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2
The tire shop even had the audacity to tell me that it didn't matter which way they put it on...


Odds are that CapriRacer would agree with the shop.
 
Originally Posted by CPB
Also make sure they are mounted on the rim properly. In other words, side marked "outside" out. My son purchased new tires at a local Walmart and they had mounted them inside out! This of course took dismounting the tire and remounting!

Tires are either directional OR asymmetrical (or neither). If any were both, there would be lefts and rights.
smile.gif


To the OP, I'm amused by the ersatz Italian name. Are they marked as made in China or Thailand?
 
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2


I too, had a tire shop screw my tires up recently. Except mine were asymmetrical tread tires put on backward so the tires had to be remounted to correct it. The tire shop even had the audacity to tell me that it didn't matter which way they put it on ...



Yes, they messed up the install, but they were sort of right ...

If you did a blind test drive with tires on "backwards ... " or " inside out ... " , I would guess that ZERO people could tell the difference. Unless you are chasing every 1/10 of a second on a racetrack, or trying to drive in the rain at extreme speeds ( which you really shouldn't be doing anyways ... ) , the tire direction makes very little difference in average day to day driving. You are talking about very small differences in performance, beyond the driving senses of the vast majority of drivers.

I know many people who have intentionally mounted asymmetric tires (mostly Michelin Pilot Super Sports ) inside out to better balance tread wear on high performance cars driven firmly. The outside of the tire wears out first, with the inside still having lots of tread. When run " inside out ... ", the drivers could not tell the difference in performance. Again, MAYBE a stop watch could, or maybe a professional race car driver could, but these guys said the tires felt the exact same.

I have run numerous directional tires " backwards ... " . Again, no difference in performance that I could identify in normal driving conditions. They were not louder, didn't hydroplane any quicker, didn't wear funny ... NOTHING. In fact, I did notice that directional winter tires when run backwards actually seemed to have better stopping power on hard-pack snow.
 
Originally Posted by MrMoody
Originally Posted by CPB
Also make sure they are mounted on the rim properly. In other words, side marked "outside" out. My son purchased new tires at a local Walmart and they had mounted them inside out! This of course took dismounting the tire and remounting!

Tires are either directional OR asymmetrical (or neither). If any were both, there would be lefts and rights.
smile.gif

.....


There is such thing as directional asymmetric tires, but they are not common at all. And yes, the left and right are different. Some older Corvettes came with these and had different sizes front to rear, as well - a unique tire for each corner! You can imagine the headaches at the factory getting the right quantity of tires and getting them installed correctly!

[Linked Image from rennlist.com]
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by leeharvey418
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2
The tire shop even had the audacity to tell me that it didn't matter which way they put it on...


Odds are that CapriRacer would agree with the shop.


Not exactly.

First, I think that if the tire has inside/outside markings or directional arrows, the shop should mount them accordingly - no excuses. If they don't, they shouldn't argue - just make it right.

But I will say that many - not all - asymmetrical tires are not so asymmetrical that anyone actually benefits from the asymmetry. In that case, it doesn't matter

Side comment: I find it very interesting that some businesses would rather argue with the customer than fix the problem. I don't understand why they think it is better to compound an already bad situation. Tire shops and auto repair shops seem to be the biggest perpetrators.
 
Originally Posted by MrMoody
Originally Posted by CPB
Also make sure they are mounted on the rim properly. In other words, side marked "outside" out. My son purchased new tires at a local Walmart and they had mounted them inside out! This of course took dismounting the tire and remounting!

Tires are either directional OR asymmetrical (or neither). If any were both, there would be lefts and rights.
smile.gif


To the OP, I'm amused by the ersatz Italian name. Are they marked as made in China or Thailand?



From my reading they are 'Made in China'.....maybe in a town called 'Rome' or 'Naples'.....
 
Originally Posted by geeman789
Yes, they messed up the install, but they were sort of right ..


No, they were not right-- not sort of either. They mounted the tires incorrectly, end of story. One can argue the actual or perceived performance difference mounting correctly versus reversed but that's beside the point. I can run with two/four different brand tires too and not notice the difference, but I choose not to. I pay the tire shop to mount the tires correctly in the way the manufacturer intended and whose instructions are clear as day; they failed to do that. The argument that the inside/outside marking is for aesthetic appeal only is an outright lie and no tire manufacturer would agree with that statement.
 
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