Tires that are one direction rated.

[James-Thornton]

My Dad just bought four tires for his Focus. Bell Tire sold him one direction tires. He does not need and did not want tires that could be used on a Corvette. He has never gotten a speeding ticket. He just wants to be able to rotate the tires and get maximum milage out of them.                                                  Do You really have to not cross the tires from right to left or left to right? They have the fish scale feel and need some attention now.  He only goes around town. He feels taken advangage of by the tire store.   Any help would be appreciated.          Thanks                                                                                                                                             James Thornton

[Ford_Dude]

Hi James,
Don't know what brand of tire he has. Our place sells a lot of directional tires along with asymetric tires. Are you saying the edges are feathered on the tires ? Run your hand down the tire one way and its pretty smooth and the other way is pretty rough ? Well you might be able to dismount the driver's side tires and remount them so the direction is proper for the pass. side. Personally I don't see why you can't rotate the front tires to the rear and vica versa.
I would talk to the tire shop and see what they will do for ya.

Ford_Dude

[opelgt]

I work at a large tire shop. Most vehicles don't recommend cross over rotation. That was mostly for older vehicles that had a normal full size spare and the spare was rotated onto the vehicle. These days, without the spare needed in the rotation, just rotate front to back. Directional tires are great for this as they only go on one side of the vehicle, no need to mark them. Also, we have found that when tires are crossed over side to side, more often than not, the belts start to separate. Having directional tires doesn't mean that they are "race car" tires. You have to check the speed rating for the tire to determine that.

[James-Thornton]

Dear OpelGT:
       I would like to know where I could learn about tires and the causes of their problems. I am not saying that the belts would separate. But why do they. What influence does the tread pattern have over the belts?                                                   Thanks
                                                           James Thornton

[opelgt]

Probably lots of sites, from manufacturers to dealer sites with FAQ links.  In general, the tires wear in a particular way when on one side of the vehicle, and swapping them over to the other side will cause a different wear pattern. Some factors are turning more one way than the other, drive wheel as opposed to a non-drive wheel as in front wheel drive vehicles, alignment angles(never exactly the same from side to side), etc.

[NickD]

How about owning a vehicle that not only has directional tires, but much larger tires in the rear?  Can switch from side to side by dismounting the tire and reversing it, but this can wreck the tire even more as that rubber does harden with age and cracks will occur in this process.  This is further augmented by the fact that these are very expensive tires and it's best not to rotate them period.

Major cause of of uneven tire wear is that the vehicle is not properly aligned or other suspension problems, like a strut that is a bit looser causing more vertical tire movement.  Rotating tires doesn't cure this problem, just hides it.  One advantage of rotating tires it at least the wheel is removed every 5,000 miles,  if left alone, can rust solid to the hub so you can't remove it.  But most of these tires are dirt cheap compared to these high speed rating directional different sized tires that you cannot rotate.

So I don't fool with rotating and use anti-seize to make sure the wheel doesn't rust on, if I spot uneven tire wear, time to check stuff out.  A really major cause of tire wear is a heavy foot on the gas and brake pedal, not even rotating can solve that problem.