Rear tyres on backwards????

[Welsh-Rich]

I notice something while cleaning the car the other day.....my rear tyres seem to be on backwards :?

The rotation arrow is pointing the wrong way. I've never noticed this before and was wondering if it will cause any problems?

It came like that from the dealer, as I haven't changed the tyres at the back yet, plus it's been into Honda for a service and another garage for some fitting of random parts and no body has picked up on it!

I've not noticed any adverse handling, but then I wouldn't know any different at the moment :roll:

Suggestions welcome!

 

[dobber]

CHANGE THEM!!!

Make sure that you swap them over so that they rotate in the correct direction. The tyres are designed to take tresses and forces in that direction, also th egrooves aid in water to stop aquaplaining .

 

[Welsh-Rich]

That was my initial thought :?

Not able to get them done for a few days or so yet though.

Can I just swap the wheels around, or just swap the actual tyres? I'm guessing they'll need to be rebalanced either way?

 

[SJ_Skyline]

IIRC, with directional tyres, the arrow should point in the direction of travel at the top of the wheel and point behind the car at the bottom of the wheel.

Thus when on a wet road, the point of the arrow is coming down first into the water and the weight of the car causes pressure to force the water up the sides of the arrow or V and out. If the tyre is fitted back to front, the water is forced up the channels of the V to the point which is directly under the centre of the wheel. With nowhere to go, the water is squeezed under the tyre causing you to aquaplane.

Change them!!

If it's the two back or two front tyres then you should be able to swap the wheels from either side.... :?:

 

[truffs]

tyres wrong way = disaster waiting to happen!!!!! Change them ASAP

 

[Welsh-Rich]

Cheers guys...will need to try get them changed tomorrow now - as have bit of a trek to BTCC on Sunday.

Bit worrying as I've had the car for 3 months now....really should have looked bit closer :roll:

 

[Evil_Weasel]

I had the same thing happen on my last car. Had new tyres fitted by Kwik Fit and for 9 months I failed to notice the arrows on the Michelin Sports at the front of the car were pointing in the wrong direction. 8-[

It was only when I took my car in for its first MoT that it was pointed out to me. They very nicely swapped the tyres round for free as part of the MoT, because they cited the aquaplaning problem (as described here above) as the real priority to swap them over.

Trouble was, I had never noticed any problems, even in extreme wet conditions. It was only after they got swapped over that I could have sworn I noticed some degradation in the car's handling... :? Consensus here at work was that it was probably down to the 9 months of tyre wear. Sort of like wearing a worn-in pair of shoes on the wrong feet! :wink:

 

[truffs]

the rears are slightly cambered, therefore when they were changed over the ride would have been crap due to the wear on the tyre wall. :lol: i found this when i changed my rears to the front that had been on the rears for approx a year. (understand?!?!?!? 8) )

 

[Welsh-Rich]

ok, fully understand that now

So what's the best way to combat this?

Swapping the wheels over should mean that they are still on the same camber when they change sides? With just the tread facing in the other direction?

Not sure there is a point to just sapping the tyres over, as that will affect the lot. Or do I just get new tyres? But don't fancy that as I only changed the front two few weeks ago

 

[truffs]

swap them over and see what its like to drive.

I

 

[dobber]

Swapping the 2 rear wheels over will sort this out without effecting balancing or anything else (unless there is excessive wear on the tyres possibly). All your doing is effectivly changing its rolling direction.

 

[Welsh-Rich]

That's what I thought...just need ot find a spare jack now

 

[jonster]

You could use your spare wheel to perform the operation with one jack.

Jon

 

[Welsh-Rich]

I didn't think about that!

Cheers

 

[truffs]

:xhaha2:

 

[SJ_Skyline]

Or bricks :wink:

 

[P15UL T]

a couple of my tyres are like this just now so i havnt pushed the car much, but have had it skip out on me a few times in the wet. i have put this down to the tyres as they are also mixed but i have new alloys sitting there, just need to find time to put them on.