Originally Posted By: cjcride
.......In the old days tire belts would "set" and did not take well to spinning in the opposite direction........
Well ........ ah ......... not exactly.
In the old days, small separations would develop on one side of the wire filaments. Rotating the tires in the oppositie direction would result in small separations developing on the other side of the wire filaments as well = full separation. Hence the "rule" to keep tires rotating the same direction.
It's been about 30 years since this was an issue, but the "rule" is still around! (Amazing how that works! I wonder how many other "rules" we have that are no longer needed!)
There is an old wives tale that seems to fall into this catagory as well: That steel belts "shift" or "warp" or "take a set". While it is true that tires can develop flat spots and other permanent or semi-permanent distortions, it doesn't have anything to do with the steel belts, per se - and blaming a tire wear problem on a "shifted belt" is not only untrue, but obscures the real reason.