Directional tires and AWD

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
2,789
Location
California, USA
I ran directional tires on my previous car (which was FWD) and despite not being rotated side to side, they wore evenly and lasted long enough. My current car is mechanical AWD, so it's important that the tires are rotated regularly and wear evenly. I wasn't too worried about it on my previous car, but I'm not sure if maybe I just got lucky.

Is direction/nondirectional just not worth worrying about as long as alignment is OK, or is it pretty common to see poor wear characteristics when tires can't be rotated side to side?
 
I never had any problems on either of my Audis. We just rotated front to rear each time. If the AWD system is not 50:50, you might experience slightly more wear on the axle with the higher distribution of power. My 2011 S4 wore the rear tires a hair faster than the fronts as a result.
 
How evenly the tires wear will depend on the car, the alignment settings, how you drive it, etc. If you drive it hard and the tires wear significantly to the outside on one or both ends, it wouldn't hurt to add some negative camber to get the tires to wear flat across the surface. Just rotate front to rear to keep the overall wear rates even and you should be good.
 
I hate directional tires!

If the only decent tires available in the size I needed were directional, I'd get them at Walmart, where they include lifetime balance and rotation, meaning they'll remount the tire and put it on the other side.
 
In my last car, a Subaru STI, the tires wore evenly. The torque was split to a rear bias, which seemed to counter the additional wear on the front tires from steering. The difference was the rear had more negative Camber, though inner tread wear was still pretty close, front to rear.
 
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
I hate directional tires!

If the only decent tires available in the size I needed were directional, I'd get them at Walmart, where they include lifetime balance and rotation, meaning they'll remount the tire and put it on the other side.




Wouldn't that put the tires inside out?
 
Originally Posted By: CHARLIEBRONSON21
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
I hate directional tires!

If the only decent tires available in the size I needed were directional, I'd get them at Walmart, where they include lifetime balance and rotation, meaning they'll remount the tire and put it on the other side.




Wouldn't that put the tires inside out?


If they're directional and symmetrical, there's no inside vs outside. If you dismount it and remount it on the wheel the other way, you can now put it on the other side of the car and have it still be rotating the correct direction.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
I hate directional tires!

If the only decent tires available in the size I needed were directional, I'd get them at Walmart, where they include lifetime balance and rotation, meaning they'll remount the tire and put it on the other side.


No, they'll take the easier route and put the right rear on the right front and vice versa. I extremely doubt that they would dismount and remount each tire to put it left to right.
 
Originally Posted By: tommygunn
I hate directional tires!

If the only decent tires available in the size I needed were directional, I'd get them at Walmart, where they include lifetime balance and rotation, meaning they'll remount the tire and put it on the other side.


To the best of my knowledge, ALL tires are directional once they are used. The force from braking is much greater than accelerating and once the tires belts are pulled for stopping they can and many times will be damaged if the rotation direction is reversed, like rotating from side to side without remounting so as to keep the direction the same.
 
Thats just not true,
otherwise you could never cross-rotate.
When you cross rotate the tires you cross are now going backwards as you mentioned.
However almost all cars mention cross rotating as the preferred method. Maybe back with old bias ply tires...
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA


To the best of my knowledge, ALL tires are directional once they are used. The force from braking is much greater than accelerating and once the tires belts are pulled for stopping they can and many times will be damaged if the rotation direction is reversed, like rotating from side to side without remounting so as to keep the direction the same.
 
Directinal and asymmetric tyres are better than old technology tread patterns.

I have found that performance orientated tyres tend to be directional and I would move them front to back on the same side.

But the wife current Dunlop Blue Response tyres are an Eco sport tyre(apparently) and once mounted you simply have an inside and outside marked on the sidewall so you can rotate where ever you wish.

I do remember that the Subaru dealer used to swap fronts to backs at every service on my WRX and Legacy, they also used to report the tread depths as part of the service.

I must admit that the Subarus were the first car I rotated tyres on.

I no longer rush around and must admit I have not really seen much difference in tyre wear front to back except on the Clio but that was more shoulder wear relating to a heavy Diesel engine, fwd and lots of U Turns when the wife's going from client to client.

Come to think about it I can't remember seeing a tyre that doesn't require specific fitment in years.

I firmly believe that asymmetric and directional treads are a step forward in both performance and safety.

Have noticed them fitted incorrectly more than once though
 
My standard lecture on rotating tires begins with the idea that every wheel position has a unique wear characteristics - but that the BIG differences are front to rear.

Put another way, cross rotating isn't nearly as important as front to rear.

If you've read my web pages, you'll know I am not a fan of either directional or asymmetrical tires. In my view, those don't give the average motorist enough improvement to bother with the additional complication.

So for the OP's question: If you can avoid directional tires, I would suggest you do. But if you have directional tires, there is no overwhelming need to cross rotate.
 
Not to hijack but what are complications to "average motorist" when using asymmetrical tires?
I see a point in directional that when mounted on wheels the assemblies become right and left sets.
However asymmetric tires can be used in any position. I see issue for the tire shop that must hire people who can read "outside" but these are not "average motorist" but people in tire business.

Krzys
 
Originally Posted By: krzyss
Not to hijack but what are complications to "average motorist" when using asymmetrical tires?
I see a point in directional that when mounted on wheels the assemblies become right and left sets.
However asymmetric tires can be used in any position. I see issue for the tire shop that must hire people who can read "outside" but these are not "average motorist" but people in tire business.

Krzys



Not much. The rotation pattern is a bit different and hence they may not last quite as long, but that's about it.
 
I really have no issues with directional tires. Maybe because I'm the lazy brustard who only rotates front to back. My experience is small, with the personal fleet of now four, and 3 sets of snows. (seems like most are now directional)

Oh and that said I also believe directional tires don't give "average motorist enough improvement".

Choose the tire for your needs. I do this and end up with directional tires. It is what it is.
 
To the best of my knowledge, ALL tires are directional once they are used. The force from braking is much greater than accelerating and once the tires belts are pulled for stopping they can and many times will be damaged if the rotation direction is reversed, like rotating from side to side without remounting so as to keep the direction the same. [/quote]

While this used to be the belief, it was disproved some time ago. It's been at least 10 years since tire manufacturers told tire stores that there is no reason to keep tires on the same side of a car while rotating.

This may have been true when radial tires were first introduced, but tire manufacturing methods today produce tires that are far superior, and show no tendency to delaminate, as was believed in the '60's and '70's.
 
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
My standard lecture on rotating tires begins with the idea that every wheel position has a unique wear characteristics - but that the BIG differences are front to rear.

Put another way, cross rotating isn't nearly as important as front to rear.

If you've read my web pages, you'll know I am not a fan of either directional or asymmetrical tires. In my view, those don't give the average motorist enough improvement to bother with the additional complication.

So for the OP's question: If you can avoid directional tires, I would suggest you do. But if you have directional tires, there is no overwhelming need to cross rotate.


What are these "additional complications" with directional or asymmetrical tires, that you speak of? The only complication I can think of, is if you do a 5 tire rotation. With compact spares, almost no one does that any longer. Is it more difficult to do a front to back rotation, as opposed to a rear to front & front to opposite rear?
 
Quote:
What are these "additional complications" with directional or asymmetrical tires

1--confirm that the doofus in the tire shop mounted the tire in the right position (I spotted it on a set I bought before they were bolted on)
2--incorrect tire rotation pattern (I saw that while in a tire shop)

For the unwashed masses of tire buyers, the benefit isn't worth the trouble.
 
Originally Posted By: Ken2
Quote:
What are these "additional complications" with directional or asymmetrical tires

1--confirm that the doofus in the tire shop mounted the tire in the right position (I spotted it on a set I bought before they were bolted on)
2--incorrect tire rotation pattern (I saw that while in a tire shop)

For the unwashed masses of tire buyers, the benefit isn't worth the trouble.


If the tire tech can't figure out front to rear & rear to front, for directional tires, then how the h#%% are they going to figure out rear to front & front to opposite rear, as should be done for a proper 4 wheel rotation?
21.gif


Anyway, that's one of the reasons that I always go to Discount Tire. While no one is exempt from making a mistake, the tech's there seem to care about what they are doing, and trying to do it right. I never get that "it doesn't matter" attitude, that I have gotten from other auto repair shops.
 
Guess I won't worry about it too much.

The reason I posted on this is specifically because so many of the options -- especially in "performance" tires/sizes -- seem to be directional. It would probably take extra effort to avoid them on my next set.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top