Is it safe to run directional tires backward

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In several replies to a thread about my noisy goodyear trippletred tires there has been several recommendations to simply swap them left to right so the directional tire now runs backward. I live in North East North Carolina and we get at times allot of rain. In all likely hood the tires would encounter heavy rainfall and standing water on 55 mph roads. The tires normal use is above 45 mph, we almost strictly highway because of where we live.

Would it seem wise to run a directional tire in the opposite direction considering our high annual rainfall?
 
Thats problem with internet everyones a expert. Directional tires make more noise due to the nature of the beast. Also the lack of cross rotation. Now the tires your talking about are a Directional V tire like the ones i have on my car.

If u encounter rain the Now reversed V will channel all the water to the center thus causing hydroplane condition not too good i'd think unless u have a deathwish. IMO
 
I think TireRack did an article about this very thing, it showed that the tire run backwards were of course not as rainworthy but showed no downside in performance in the dry...noise was increased marginally.

The world will not implode if you run tires backwards....we flip racing tires all the time that have NO TREAD, the only downside is that on tires that have been heavily loaded longitudinally (read: racing with high horsepower and heavy braking) may have "set up" with the rubber and belts, and running them backwards may cause changes in braking performance...usually that was only with Kumho V710 racing tires though.

Go ahead and flip them, just be wary of the above.
 
As far as the tires are concerned, there is no problem with running them backwards.

However, the performance of the tire will definitely be compromised, and given your wet conditions, I would not do it.
 
I wouldn't do it.

I have a coworker who believes in summer/winter tires, so his summer tires were sticky gumball, 200 treadwear, AA traction, directional. IMO this was too much for his Vibe's suspension. He complained that the car would suddenly dart one way or another at highway speed. He took it in for alignment and they said all was perfect, his ball joints were great etc. Put his snow tires on, all good. Got some sensible yoko avids for his next summer set, all good.

I think the super sticky tire was too much for the basic suspension or alignment, just a hunch, and that there were opposing forces, perhaps related to a little toe in, that usually cancelled each other out except once-in-a-while. Or a tire would "load up" and let go sideways with sudden force.

If you run your directional tires backwards, you might run into a similar situation where all is good then suddenly one lets go. IMO the "safer" directional to run backwards (if necessary) would be a normal passenger one not a real sticky gumball.

Just watching tires from behind, a good deal of water is evacuated with the normal cirumferential tread, and the v-grooves *could partially* be a cool design that sells tires in the showroom. You'll notice heavy truck steering tires only have circumferential grooves, of course, by design.

Of course if your tires are on backwards and you're in a wreck, everyone's going to point their fingers at you.
 
I was on another forum where a user was complaining that his super-high end, max summer performance non-rft tires werent performing as well as would be expected and as well as the OE RFT tires.

Within a few posts, someone noted that the tires were mounted backwards, against the rotation pattern.

Believe that fixed it.
 
There are only 2 things affected if a directional tire runs backwards - wet (and snow) traction, and noise.

For practical purposes, the noise problem isn't because of the pattern of the tread - especially the directionality. It's because the tire has developed a wear pattern in the position it was in, and changing the direction of travel will change the way the pavement encounters the tire - and the noise it makes. Non-directional tires will do the same thing!

Wet traction: Many, many years ago, Goodyear produced a wet weather tire called the Aquatred, which featured a directional tread and a channel in the center for the water to go through. I worked for one of their competitiors and we tested the tire in both directions and found a 10% difference - which isn't a lot. I don't think this is significant enough to worry about, except for adjusting the speed when it rains - which is always a good idea!
 
Tirerack tested a directional tire runs backwards:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=188&

Lap time with Eagle F1 GS-D3
Mounted correctly on a dry track: 29.387 seconds
Mounted backward on a dry track: 29.465 seconds - 0.26% slower

Mounted correctly on a wet track: 30.373 seconds
Mounted backward on a wet track: 30.387 seconds - 0.05% slower

----------------

The directional Hankook Ventus Evo is mounted backward on my S2000 now, I don't detect any difference at speed up to 80-85MPH on dry highway, also no difference with fairly high speed turns and tire noise is about the same with normal mounting. The reason I didn't detect any difference because I use only 7/10-8/10 (or less) capabilities of the tires. If I go to the track, the I would not dare to have directional tires mounted backward.

Also, if I didn't read this Tirerack report, I would not try the backward mounting of directional tires.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Of course if your tires are on backwards and you're in a wreck, everyone's going to point their fingers at you.


I think that would be my only concern. To a bunch of uneducated (in tires) jurors and the testimony of one willing "tire expert" from your local tire shop will make you liable even if you are not.

So in the end, it is the same reason why franchise tire shops won't install any tire less than 5/32" trend depth. Not because there is any thing wrong with it, but the possibility of liability will make it not worth the risk.
 
When I had my old 5.0 Mustang I had Ford Motorsport springs that caused the front tires to have negative camber wear, so I always bought used tires and had them mounted.
Once they mounted a pair of directional tires and I didn't notice until 2 weeks later and I left them that way. I drove in the FL rain (70 MPH) with no problems, had no steering problems/noise/vibrations and even hit approx 135 miles per hour with no problems of any kind.

I would not purposely have your Goodyear Trippletred turning backward. Stick with your noisy tires turning the correct direction.
 
I think of one-armed drummer from Def Leppard Rick Allen when I think of directional tires mounted backwards, his vette had gatorbacks mounted in the wrong direction, hydroplaned and nasty crash followed = one arm amputated. I saw the pic of his wreck, noticed it right away.

On dry pavement the effect of running them backwards is minimal, but in rain, snow, of slush, you're creating hydroplaning. An employee with a Prelude mounted his Nokian Hak Q's backwards one winter just because they looked better that way, for a couple days until he white-knuckled a drive from the next town barely averaging 35mph in a 60 zone in a packed wet snowly road condition, and changed them as soon as he got to town.

So, don't do it!!!
 
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i ran a set of directional tires reversed to eliminate the feathering/cupping from lack of cross tire rotations.

no noticeable difference in dry grip or traction. but the wet performance was pretty scary especially if there was standing water on the roads.
 
Yep, you definitely increase the liklihood of hydroplaning on standing water. The reason is that the V-shaped sipes are meant to channel standing water to the REAR as the forward/leading "edge" of the tire contact patch is forced down on it. The balance of evacuation front/back is intended to be biased to the rear (trailing "edge").

If mounted backwards, the V-shaped sipes will cause the balance of evacuation of the standing water to shift to the front, where the tire can hop up on it and hydroplane.
 
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