Are radials uni-directional?

WHealy · 12-08-2003, 06:56 AM

I’m asking because I’ve seen arrows on radial side walls before that I assume are to specify the forward direction in which the tire is designed to travel. I always assume that this was the reason you rotate tires front to back without crossing as one sire travels clockwise and the other counter clockwise.

I just want to make sure I’m not making the winter tire mounting process too complicated. But, I don’t recall posts saying to take this into consideration when putting the new winter tires on for those of us that mail ordered and doing our own mounting.

Any clarification on this would be appreciated.

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Dick Carlson · 12-08-2003, 07:01 AM

Radials USED to be sensitive to direction after they'd been on the car for a while and common rotation was just front to back and not side to side. That problem is nonexistent now and radials can be rotated in the normal fashion. However, some high performance radials (like the OEM Bridgestones on the RX-8) have a directional tread pattern and in that case the direction of rotation should be noted and maintained. I don't believe there are ANY winter tires that are directional, but if they were they'd have the arrow on the sidewall.

silvercloud · 12-08-2003, 08:21 AM

My winter tires are directional

Dick Carlson · 12-08-2003, 08:40 AM

Oops, I should have followed my own advice (which I didn't offer) which would have been to check with your dealer. I just looked at Tire Rack and sure enough, lots of winter tires are directional now.

Still, one should know what he is buying, I would think.

WHealy · 12-08-2003, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dick Carlson
Radials USED to be sensitive to direction after they'd been on the car for a while and common rotation was just front to back and not side to side. That problem is nonexistent now and radials can be rotated in the normal fashion. However, some high performance radials (like the OEM Bridgestones on the RX-8) have a directional tread pattern and in that case the direction of rotation should be noted and maintained. I don't believe there are ANY winter tires that are directional, but if they were they'd have the arrow on the sidewall.

Dick,

Thanks for the info. It's what I thought was the case, but had never heard it anywhere so I wanted to verify. I think there might be a fair number of folks putting tires on vehicels for the first time on their own. Your information could be very valuable to them/me.

Thanks for taking the time to write it down