Radial tires

Phil-mar Farms · Mar 2, 2023

The post about mixing oils reminded me of another car care issue. Years ago I heard that you had to keep the radial tires turning the same direction. If you did change the direction the tire wouldnt last long

Vito · Mar 2, 2023

Quite a few of the low profile tires I have bought have directional arrows on them.

Vito

Mike(NEOhio) · Mar 2, 2023

Always heard to rotate front to back only, not to the sides. Supposedly they would come apart if the direction was reversed. No longer true if it ever was.

Steve@Advance · Mar 2, 2023

I have heard that too. Not sure if it's true.

I try to abide by it for normal rotation, but have put many a used tire on, no way to know which way it was run, and can't say it failed because of it being reversed. Too many variables on a used tire anyway, and what would you look for if it did fail?

You do what you gotta do...

MJMJ · Mar 2, 2023

Don t think I ve ever heard that, and it seems unlikely to have any truth to it. Though many tires do have a directional tread pattern, which is the reason for the arrows.

RESLLS · Mar 2, 2023

I remember the first set of radials dad got it 1970. 1969 newport he got new. 6 months old and got rid of the bias ply for a set of Sears, made by Michelin, radials. When rotated at sears the did the x pattern. Couple of trips later, they said no, only front to back. Now tire shops say if it is not a directional or high speed tire, it doesn't matter. I know I've bought used tires and never had a belt separate, except a few Firestone 721 radial. Which were known to do that anyway.

wjytexas · Mar 2, 2023

Back when they first came out that was the message.

NDIHC · Mar 2, 2023

I used to work for Bridgestone/Firestone and that no crossing thing was in response to the ill-fated Firestone 721. Junk tire. Any other tire from any manufacturer that I've worked with says to cross to the drive axle. If 4x4, cross to the primary drive axle. Rear wheel drive cross front to back, back straight to front. Front wheel drive, cross rear to front, front straight back.

MarkB_MI · Mar 2, 2023

It was an issue with the earliest belted radials to avoid tread separation. Michelin has for a very long time stated it has no restrictions on how its tires are rotated. I'm pretty sure no current manufacturer restricts how their tires are rotated.

Denny K · Mar 2, 2023

Yuup. 7 to 1 were your odds of making it home without a problem.

504 · Mar 2, 2023

I agree with every word. I have been crossing rotating tires for 40 years.(check your owners manual for your car)Directional tires and wheels excluded.

Destroked 450 · Mar 2, 2023

(quoted from post at 18:45:06 03/02/23) Don t think I ve ever heard that, and it seems unlikely to have any truth to it. Though many tires do have a directional tread pattern, which is the reason for the arrows.

A lot of the early radials had fiberglass belts, if rotated side to side or x pattern they were prone to belt separation
Michelin was one of the first tire makers to use steel belting which had less separation issues
The shop I worked at in the mid 70 s sold fiberglass belted radials
Once the tires were installed and ran for a while if you rotated so that they were running in the opposite direction, they would ride bad, pull to one side on the steering or separate a belt
We would rotate only front to back
Later steel belted tires did not have the shifted or separated belt issue of the fiberglass belted and thus tire rotation become a non issue

dhermesc · Mar 3, 2023

I remember fiberglass tires - those things were crap. We had a 1974 Ford Gan Torino that my dad went and bought the cheapest tires he could find - fiberglass radials. They rounded out in the center
worse than any bias tire ever did and the car was hand full to drive even on the best pavement - let alone gravel roads. Constant corrections from side to side - just what a 14 year old driver needs to
deal with while bouncing through pot holes.

BarnyardEngineering · Mar 3, 2023

(quoted from post at 15:23:59 03/02/23) The post about mixing oils reminded me of another car care issue. Years ago I heard that you had to keep the radial tires turning the same direction. If you did change the direction the tire wouldnt last long

Yes, when radials FIRST CAME OUT and for a while thereafter. The technology wasn't perfected yet and that was one of the shortcomings.

Fortunately technology has moved on and made that bit of wisdom obsolete.

Radial tires today are directional because of TREAD DESIGN, not because they will come apart. Put them on backwards, and they will not perform as expected, like putting a tractor tire on backwards.

We've got at least another 25-30 years of hearing this, though... Once anyone who grew up with bias ply tires is gone, maybe this will finally die with them/us.

Crazy Horse · Mar 3, 2023

Barney .... is that SOME radial tires or ALL radial tires? Cars and light trucks we're talking right?

Leroy · Mar 3, 2023

Who had the most tires have a belt seperate on one vehical in one day? One day I had 3 tires break belts in one day on a 95 Olds.

BarnyardEngineering · Mar 3, 2023

(quoted from post at 07:43:57 03/03/23) Barney .... is that SOME radial tires or ALL radial tires? Cars and light trucks we're talking right?

Only on the ones marked with an arrow, and all it really means is that if you install the tire backwards and go sliding off into a ditch, you can't sue the tire manufacturer.

My only experience with directional tread is on General snow tires. They work really well on snow and ice. Never put them on backwards to see if it really made any difference.

DR. EVIL · Mar 3, 2023

About 2007 or 2008 VOLVO changed their recommended tire rotating pattern to ONLY front to back, nothing side to side because reversing the direction the way a tire spins or rolls on the road increases the rate the tire wears by a LOT.
I put new Firestone Wilderness AT tires on my '96 F-250, and only rotated them THREE TIMES in 175,000 miles only rotating front to back. The rear tires wore just the tiniest bit faster than the fronts even with Ford's Twin Traction beam front axle. The factory installed Steeltex tires ran a bit over 96,000 miles and I replaced them with the Wilderness AT's, winter was coming too. I put Bridgestone Dueler AT's with REVO on after the Wilderness's. They lasted just over 100,000 miles.
Front to Back is the ONLY way I've ever rotated tires since 1970, car or truck doesn't matter.

Texasmark · Mar 5, 2023

That was years ago. My oldest vehicle is a 2009 Honda and the owner's manual shows you that the radials that come on the car can tolerate any type of rotation.....same with my 2011 Silverado.

BarnyardEngineering · Mar 5, 2023

Your Volvo had tires with directional tread on them originally. Once you put aftermarket non-directional tires on it, it makes no difference.

Radial tires

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