kevink2

You do know it's safe to swap side to side. If it was not safe, you would see a big directional arrow on the sidewall.

You are forgetting that there is a whole different group called asymmetric tires , mostly non-directional. These tires bias the tread pattern based on need ... square blocks on the outer edge for cornering, and another pattern on the rest of the tire for other needs, such as water shedding. The DWS tires are an excellent example.

ContiSportContact 3

READ the description, they are of the non-directional group. Click on the side view and click again to zoom in ... no directional arrow.


No, these tires ARE directional, as the big V pattern suggests.

Potenza RE970AS


Just a little more reading and you would have been correct!

are you sure about that?

... must have missed his morning coffee


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myinternetsucks

Aligned and rotated side to side, only twice. I guess I'm fortunate to live in Cali where the weather doesn't change too much and the roads here aren't too tore up. Other than that I'm a real stickler about tire pressure (I carry a digital gauge in my glove), but after 32K they really needed replacing. I wasn't down to nothing but pretty close to it. oh also I don't peel out or do a ton of heavy cornering. Also most are freeway miles too and from work which is a 20 minute straight shot.

jetflyboy

Ok, thanks for the clarifications. I needed to get to know more about tires, and that's why I'm here.

kevink2

Thanks for the reply, what pressures did you run, F & R ?

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myinternetsucks

I usually run 2-4LBS over recommended 30-35 is a good starting point.

jetflyboy

Hey KevinK2,

Thanks for all the info. Today, yes today, I realized how mistaken I was in the photos that I posted. For some reason, I forgot the simplicity of how the tires are actually rotated. I forgot that when you move the tire from the left to the right, you are actually turning it 180 degrees, thus the treads are still in the same position they were on the other side facing forward.

You'd think a college grad. at the age of 50 and driving a Mercedes Benz would know that, eh? Oh well...

Thanks again

kevink2

De Nada. That simple side to side swap for staggered tires reverses the process of "feathering wear" which creates noise.

Here's feathering wear felt on the top of the tire by using a light hand pressure on the outer ring of tread, stroked forward and back.

Top of tire, front of car to the right:
. .__ . . __
_/. ./__/../_

Not exact, but you get a rough feel when sliding hand back, and smooth forward. More like a hack saw blade, back vs forward thing.



rotate tires every 5K miles, 10K max. Staggared = side to side, equal size is cross pattern.

staggard with directional tires = no rotation, unless tire is dismounted (not recommended).

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mhad2480

Yep, sucks for me. Oh well, I think next month will be a year since I bought the car & still only 6.8K on the clock. I should still get my moneys worth out of my tires.

RLE

This may be a bit late, but, directional tires have a big arrow on the sidewall pointing in direction of rotation. Others, like mine, are marked "outside" which is self explanatory and means they may be switched side to side which I do twice yearly.

Unless these indicators are present, there are no restrictions. The very old tale of not turning radials the other direction after break-in dates from the earliest days of Michelin radials and has not applied for decades.

My C300 on 18s, due to too much high speed cornering, is getting close to tire replacement time because the front shoulders are quite worn although the tires are still legal at 32500 miles.

I have been researching tires and require something close in performance to my Bridgestone RE-050As which are now NLA. After comparing three tires on Tire Racks's website followed by a 30 minute conversation with them, I have made my choice and will be ordering soon.

Too much is being made of this.

jetflyboy

Thanks a bunch. I think I finally got my bearings on this...no pun intended

Sportstick

....and the winner is?

ShoremNJ

I got around 60,000 miles on my Michelin staggered tires , mostly highway miles. Over due for my next set, I have 152,000 miles on my car now. it's an 08'