DCP

Rear tires wear fastest on the inside. Does anyone remount their tires to exchange left and right rears? Anyone know what the cost would be?

Apologies if a repeat question. Search function would not work.

rmillnj

Since many, if not most, high performance tires are directional, there is no way to exchange left to right. Most differences in tread life occur front to back.

BruceP

I think he/she is referring to the tendency of the rear tires to wear more on the inside shoulder than the outside one. In theory, you could swap left to right without changing the rotating direction. But I don't know if it's a good idea or not.

AudiOn19s

Yes there is. You dismount the tires from the rims and swap them from side to side.

I've got a local guy that does it for ~$20 a tire.

-Andy

TheSpeedDemon

As AudiOn19s mentions this can be done, although I haven't done it on my Porsche - new tyres.

Dr_KarlB

I asked the local tire rack installer to do this (dismount, and re-mount correctly oriented on the opposite side of the car)and they refused saying it would be unsafe, and the tire had already "worn in" with the alignment settings etc from the initial install.

nycebo

So I guess the installer is against changing over to winter tires also, what with his concerns about the alignment settings from summer tires? Sounds like a load of BS to me.

newport996

If your tires are ONLY directional, then yes...it will work...some tires are symmetrical as well they have a specific rotation direction AND a specific inside and outside. For example this is my tire the Sport Conti.....

Its designed to have a part of the tread on the OUTSIDE of the wheel and a certain part on the INSIDE of the wheel...flipping them would reverse that and probably produce some interesting handling....

FlashFlash

I have done this on my A4 without any problems. I was getting too much wear on the inside fronts as the alignment couldn't be adjusted closer to 0 degrees since the car was lowered quite a bit.
I can't see why turning around directional tires on a wheel would be a problem, as long as it balanced and torqued correctly back on your car. Of course, new tires are better but why spend more $ when you don't need to?
To reverse all 4 tires, balance, etc. cost me $80 CDN.

newport996

How about this...the tread is designed to evacuate water by channeling it in a certian direction with respect to the way the wheel rotates...you reverse that, it loses its ability to evacuate water effectively, and you have created a situation where ALL 4 tires are prone to losing grip in the wet. Not safe. Thats just ONE example of why its not good to reverse a directional tire.

95M3CSL

You have to consider whether the tires are symmetrical (same tread inside and outside) and directional (the manufacturer designates the direction of rotation on the sidewall of the tire) and also whether you have whitewalls on the inside or outside (hehehe yup, I know, not quite). The assumption below is you have same size tires left and right side. The examples below don't include swapping front to rear since the majority of high performance cars have different tire sizes and in some rare cases wheel sizes front and rear.

symmetrical means same tread pattern across the surface of the tire.
Asymmetrical means different tread pattern across the surface of the tire and manufacturer probably has indicated on the outside of the tire which side is outside and which is inside.
Directional means the tires have been designated by the manufacturer to rotate a specific way and this is usually found on the sidewall of the tire.

1. If your tires are symmetrical and non-directional this should not be a problem. Same tread pattern is presented to the road on inside vs. outside of tire if swapped left to right and vice versa.

2. If your tires are symmetrical and directional this should not be a problem. Same tread pattern is presented to the road inside vs. outside of tire if swapped left to right and vice versa.

3. If your tires are Asymmetrical this also usually means that they are directional as well and this would be a problem (as illustrated by the Conti picture above from newport996). A different tread pattern is presented to the road on the inside of the tire vs. the outside of the tire for various reasons by the manufacturer (i.e. rain/wet handling vs dry handling vs cornering vs sidewall stiffness vs. wear etc.).

Whether under conditions 1 and 2 you want to present a different wear pattern due to usage to the road or not is another question. If the swapping is done somewhere in the middle of the life of the tire it probably won't make a lot of difference. If you are at the wear bars on the inside and then switch this might be more of an issue to be aware of (outer or inner now has much greater wear than before the swap, older tire, harder rubber, change in the handling characteristics of the car that you have become used to).

The tire rack and tire stores are being safe and conservative. Track guys do it all the time to manage wear on tires at different corners of the car. Experienced street drivers do it too with knowledge that the handling characteristics of the tires might be different temporarily or until the tires are used up in comparison with the new set. You'll make an informed choice and deal with the issues I suppose.

I've personally done this on my track car in that past but I had the same size wheels and tires at all 4 corners and swap and move them around to manage tire wear. And, I've done this on my street car on the rear where I've got symmetrical directional tires and an agressive camber and wanted to manage tire life.

Regards,
Marc

CosmosC4S

I have CSC2's as well. Now, Since, I think they are not directional (I don't see an arrow on the side of the tires), can I instead just directly swap the rears to the other side without dismounting the tires?

I've dismounted tires to rotate them on my Bimmer (directional & staggered) before,
and it cost about $60 for 4 tires (including balance) at Discount Tire.

Van

Most asymmetrical are not directional -- they just have a marking "outside" to ensure which side it at the center of the car. These can be rotated left/right -- however most people find their left/right tire wear pretty even.

Symmetrical tires that are directional can be dismounted from the rim and remounted on a rim from the other side of the car safely -- this way the rotation (direction of the arrow) is the same, but the opposite side of the tire is on the "inside"

Symmetrical tires that are NOT directional can be reverse mounted on the same rim, on the same side of the car.

Old bias ply tires, and earlier radials, had problems with belt movement inside the rubber when you rotated them. Due to this, manufacturers had very specific instructions on which tire could be moved where for a regular rotation. These days, tires (especially performance tires) are a much higher quality, and do not have these restraints. The shop that refused to remount the tires is probably working under this assumption.

wdonovan

He's not a surgeon. He's a tire changer. TELL him to do it, don't ask him. Tell him you'll pay him.

95M3CSL

Well, looks like I need to add a new category based on the cosmosc4s question and the picture of the CSC2 tire. 4. It is asymmetrical but it appears to be non-directional. Further support is that the tirerack website does not mention that it is directional, and, the continental tires website does not indicate that the CSC2 is a directional tire. It is asymmetrical (has an inside and outside tread pattern).

"Bionic Contour for precise steering and braking
BiNet tread compound provides optimum traction and handling on wet/dry surfaces
Stiff ribbed tread pattern maintains stable contact during braking and cornering
PURE PERFORMANCE FOR THE TRUE CAR ENTHUSIAST
Asymmetrical tread pattern optimizes each side of tread
Excellent handling and outstanding traction
Bionic Contour (Advanced Mold Concept - AMC) - narrow, rounded ground contact patch when driving
Deformation-Resistant Shoulder Grooves for water dispersion
Asymmetrical with solid outer shoulder for optimum handling.
Extra wide circumferential grooves for efficient water dispersion"

So, this means that theoretically it could be swapped from left to right and vice versa while staying on the same wheel. It will rotate a diferent direction than it had rotated on the opposite side. On modern tires this is not usually a problem. Older tires might have had an issue with this due to construction and technology.

Regards,
Marc