Hi all,

I am looking for new tires, and I read that there are the difference between directional tires and regular tires where you can not rotate directional tires.

What exactly is directional tires? what are the advantages of having them?

 

Directional tires have a tread pattern that is designed to only be rolled in one direction, so that means a tire that's on one side of the car can't be rotated to the other side because it would then be going in the other direction.

I think the advantages are handling and that a directional tire can use the directional tread to channel water from the center of the tread outward more easily. I may be totally up a tree on this though - maybe tirerack.com has some info on it.

By the way, I have directional tires on my car.

 

lex,

directional tyres are the way to go if you want better grips on the road. many years ago, the prices are very expensive, not so anymore.

have you picked out the 18/19s yet? or are you staying w/stock?

william

 

I have settled on 18's for sure, and I was looking at 18x8.5 all around, but now i am debating about stagger setup.

for those that have the stagger 8.5/9.5, what is the maintenance on the tires like? do you only rotate left/right, and not front to back, and also, if you have directional tires, doesn't that mean there is no tire rotation at all?

 

You can't rotate directional tires if they are staggered. I don't intend on rotating my stock 17s. Rotating every 5,000 miles does not extend the usability of the tires long enough to justify the cost and the fact some one is going to be messing with your car every 5,000 miles. Normally a well balanced rear wheel drive sedan should wear the tires fairly equally, unless you do burn outs. Front wheel drive cars wear out the front tires a lot faster, so it would make sense to rotate them.

 

I don't rotate. If you're going to get 9.5" rear rims (which are pretty darned huge) I'm not sure you can find a non-directional tire (275).

 

Lex,

the only maintenance that you can do w/staggered tyres size is reg.checking of tyre pressure and make sure they are well balanced at the shop. it all depends on your priority. to llok good and handles well, you would need to pay a bit more as no rotation is allowed.
actually the price on 275s are not as expensive as before. i will def do 8.5+9.5. if you tyre hook-up in LA, let me know.

btw, i assume perry at longo took care of your ride. i did not had a chance to come and meet you as i am looking for a new ride myself.

william

 

I disagree.

IMO it does make sense to rotate stock 17s. At $175+/tire I'd like to get as much useful life as possible.

The directional force on the front wheel due to initiating turning the car is greater than the rear, so the front will wear the outer edge faster. Rotating them will add additional miles.

And they won't really be "messed with" if all the mechanic is doing is moving the tire/rim from the front to the rear and not changing the tire from one rim to the other. It also makes sense to have them rebalanced while they are being rotated and thus there is no real additional cost.

 

I use a tire depth gage to check my tires and if I were to notice the front wearing the outer edge a lot faster than the rears were wearing I would rotate, but if I don't detect that I will not rotate. I believe in the Murphy law that if any thing can go wrong it will. That is why I try and limit the amount of times that some one is working on my car. A large number of mechanical failures to newer cars can be directly traced to last person that worked on the car. That is why you should never have your car worked on before a long trip, either wait until you return from the trip or have the car serviced well in advance to the trip.

 

Can't argue with a word you've written, especially about Murphy. I'm curious to learn what your tire gauge shows after 15-20k miles.

 

Just in case you thought that only rotation you can do is front to back (for directionals) ...

.. you can have them taken off the rim and flipped, to enable left to right rotation.

Salim

 

Maybe it is too early in the morning for me to think straight, but what good would it do to turn the tire around on the rim??? You still can only face a directional tire in the direction of the arrow on the sidewall.

 

Yes, and that should enable you to move the wheel from one side to another. One type of directional tires are made and how you mount then on the rim, makes them usable for the left or the right side.

Salim

 

Yep what they said is true, directional same side only and thats with same wheels sizes.
If your thinking staggered, I dont know if rolling diameter is a big thing with RWD, but 225/40-18 and 255/35-18 are very close and 235/40-18 and 265/35-18 are very close.
If you go 225's for the fronts you may wish to use an18x7.5-8.0 wheel. 235's can use anything from 7.5 to 9.0. 255's,265's 9.0 min and probably 9.5-10.0.
I used to have S-02's and now have Pzero Rosso's.
The size i use is 235/40-18 and the S-02's provided great dry and good wet grip. The Rosso's ride better, are quieter, but I get the feeling that the dry grip is a little less and the wet will be less. I had to go Rossos since I won them from European Car mag this year. I was looking at S-03's. Toyo's T1s is a decent tire and cheaper than the Rosso's, S-02, S-03, Pilots. But any one of those are very nice. Sorry to ramble on.
Oh and most of these have rim protectors ridges to help from scuffing the edge of the wheels. Another thing, if you get this size and low profile beware car washes!!!!! No matter what they,,, you will at some time get rim rash and will be pissed. Wash the car yourself. Damn still rambling!!!

 

DIrectionals, 17X8 rims, Pirelli P7000 Supersports. Rotate them myself every 5,000 miles, which is about what I put on my GS per season (spring/summer car).

Hydraulic floor jacks make it alot quicker to rotate yourself, takes me about 45 minutes.