Tire direction question...

[pitts64]

Hello.
I just bought a set of Westlake SU307 235/70r15 H rated tires... Looking at the photo should the tread pattern be in the same direction on all four tires or opposed?

I was happy to find 15" H rated tires especially at $70 a tire on tireseasy.com
http://www2.tires-easy.com/cgi-bin/rsho ... hrzeugart=

[pitts64]

Here's how they look on my 64 Pontiac...

[GARY C]

Directional tires will have an arrow on the side wall.

[Warpspeed]

If it matters, there will always be either an arrow, or it will say on the sidewall which side faces out.

An arrow means the rotation must be correct. The spare can theoretically only go on one side !
An asymmetrical tread pattern means the tire can rotate either direction, but the outside face must be to the outside, this is now fairly common. The spare can go on either side.

[GARY C]

An arrow means the rotation must be correct. The spare can theoretically only go on one side !
An asymmetrical tread pattern means the tire can rotate either direction, but the outside face must be to the outside, this is now fairly common. The spare can go on either side.

Just curious, if it can rotate either direction why would it matter which side faces out?

[Warpspeed]

Because the tread in the tire is not symmetrical.
Many high performance tires have a more open tread pattern inboard to give good wet weather grip, and a more closed tread pattern with more rubber on the outside shoulder, where wear from hard cornering is often much greater.

With this particular tire, the right hand side would be on the outside of the vehicle.

This is probably a silly and obvious example, a farm tractor tread !
But it clearly shows the principle of single direction rotation.
In one direction the tread will clog, in the other it is self clearing.

There could be some super high performance wet weather tire patterns that are especially designed to clear water away to either side much better in one direction, I really do not know.
But if there is an arrow on the tire, it is put there by the manufacturer for some particular reason.

[GARY C]

Because the tread in the tire is not symmetrical.
Many high performance tires have a more open tread pattern inboard to give good wet weather grip, and a more closed tread pattern with more rubber on the outside shoulder, where wear from hard cornering is often much greater.

Thanks for the explanation.

[MadBill]

I'm not familiar with that specific tire, but it is clearly asymmetric and about 99% certain to not be directional, so I'm sure you'll find no arrow, but there should be an "out" side marked.

[Warpspeed]

Here is a short article....

http://www.barrystiretech.com/direction ... tires.html

[VN3800]

Good easy to understand description.
The original posters tyre is symetric - flip it over its the same. some say the angle makes no difference (down to the left or down to the right) and on the road possibly not. I race on dirt with road tyres max width 205. I've tried and hand grooved lots of them. I studied the tyres we're not allowed - Hoosiers etc to find that most of the patterns with angled grooves - usually towards the shoulders- are down to the right
When your wot down the straight, hit a wet patch and blow away the tyres rear tyres grooved like the first pic will screw the rear towards the pole line and very quickly your looking at the wall

[pdq67]

FWIW, my B-I-L bought a 'Vette years ago that had to have four separate tires on it!!

It was one of the "tip-up" frontend 'Vettes way back when.

pdq67

[pitts64]

Thanks guys, but I wasn't thinking, these tires will only go one way no matter which sidewall is showing...

Turns out my alignment was off, I ended up aligning the car myself at home with much better results...