Is your spare tyre directional?

[g3org3y]

After my issue with a puncture I noticed my spare was in a pretty bad state, certainly only suitable for a minor 'limp' home.

Having a look at various online tyre places, I notice that the majority of tyres appear to be directional. Obviously, in a situation where a tyre needs to be swapped in the event of a puncture, a directional spare would only be appropriate for one side of the car.

How much of an issue is it for a directional tyre to be fitted the 'wrong way'. I'm assuming in the dry, not a huge prob, but in the rain presumably the water channels would be backwards perhaps increasing the chance of aquaplaning.

Opinions?

[vit4]

I wonder this a lot about cars in general; developed a slight obsession with checking out other people's tyres recently and notice a lot of them will have one pattern (asymmetrical & directional) which will inevitably be facing the wrong way on one side Does it matter? Would it affect tyre performance?

[dabofoppo]

I once bought an old corsa with 2 directional tyres on the wrong way. One was front right other was rear left and im convinced they were why that car was terrible to drive in the wet once they were on right it was fine.

[mcford]

VOSA consider it enough of a safety risk to warrant it a MOT fail, then again it's the same with space saver spare wheels.

[Vipers]

mcford said:

VOSA consider it enough of a safety risk to warrant it a MOT fail, then again it's the same with space saver spare wheels.

Gov web site states on MOT inspection:-

The tyres and wheels

Their condition, security, size, type and tread depth. Spare tyres are not inspected.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicl...


See page 3 of http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/CONT071791.p...



I guess they would be though if fitted. Or does the spare tyre remain a "Spare Tyre" whilst fitted to a wheel and be exempt from the test, legal question I guess.


Just had my MOT, the testing station moved my National Trust sticker from the bottom right of my windscreen to top left, said it would be an MOT fail. Not that you can see anything more out of that area now it has been moved?

Edited by Vipers on Wednesday 22 June 07:22

Edited by Vipers on Wednesday 22 June 07:22

Edited by Vipers on Wednesday 22 June 07:24

[B'stard Child]

I ran some handed and directional tyres the wrong way round on my track car on the road and on track in order to balance out the wear

They coped just as well the wrong way round as they did the right way

If it's a spare - no probs - you have a 50/50 chance of it being right if it's just directional......

For an MOT probably not

[roachcoach]

@Vipers: I took him to mean having a space saver actually on at MOT time. Maybe not.

/facepalm

reading comprehension FTW. ignore this

[mcford]

roachcoach said:

@Vipers: I took him to mean having a space saver actually on at MOT time. Maybe not.

/facepalm

reading comprehension FTW. ignore this

Sorry I wasn't too clear on that, I did mean that if it was fitted to the car as a road wheel and not stowed in the car as a spare wheel.

Vipers said:

Just had my MOT, the testing station moved my National Trust sticker from the bottom right of my windscreen to top left, said it would be an MOT fail. Not that you can see anything more out of that area now it has been moved?

That was nice of them to move the sticker, if it were an official sticker (tax disc, parking permit etc.) then it would have been OK in the position that you describe. They are not really allowed to move the sticker for you, but should have given you the opportunity to remove it before issuing a fail certificate.

This is a better source of information on the test requirements:

http://www.transportoffice.gov.uk/crt/doitonline/b...

Edited by mcford on Wednesday 22 June 19:05

[Frankthered]

Come on people. There's a difference between directional and asymmetric tyres.

Directional tyres - typically the V groove type - must (legally) only be fitted to one side of the car.

Asymmetric tyres need to be fitted correctly on the wheel - they'll be marked "inside" and "outside" on the tyre walls.

As long as the tyre is correctly mounted on the wheel, you can fit it anywhere on the car.

[velocemitch]

I had this dilemma recently having just one spare and having a set of five tyres fitted. The fitter said they usually set it up for use on the NS of the car as that's the side statistically most likely to puncture. Made sense to me

Obviously I'd get it swapped over if I ended up putting on the OS, but that's just logical.

[fredbrad]

Had a directional front tyre fitted the wrong way round on a Transit Connect van, by one of the well known fitting centres. No one noticed until it went in for a service at main dealer, some 5k miles later.

[B'stard Child]

Frankthered said:

Come on people. There's a difference between directional and asymmetric tyres.

Directional tyres - typically the V groove type - must (legally) only be fitted to one side of the car.

Asymmetric tyres need to be fitted correctly on the wheel - they'll be marked "inside" and "outside" on the tyre walls.

As long as the tyre is correctly mounted on the wheel, you can fit it anywhere on the car.

And then there are tyres that are both dirrectional and asymmetric

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=P...

[Zwoelf]

g3org3y said:

How much of an issue is it for a directional tyre to be fitted the 'wrong way'. I'm assuming in the dry, not a huge prob, but in the rain presumably the water channels would be backwards perhaps increasing the chance of aquaplaning.

I guess less of an issue than when I've seen a space saver fitted to the driven axle of a vehicle.

[Jimmytno1]

I was speaking to a guy a while ago who worked for uniroyal tyres, (who only make directional tyres these days, I think?!) who said directional tyres should always be fitted in matching axle pairs. When I asked him what should happen when Joe bloggs just wants 1 tyre for his mot or whatever, leaving one non directional on the vehicle he said it was the advice of the uniroyal technical department to fit the directional tyre the wrong way round! I assumed he was having a laugh with me but he was adamant that's what should happen. I never followed his advice though, moron.

[forks]

My brother had some directional Michelins fitted to his Golf at a Costco tyre centre. It was only because to me they stuck out like a sore thumb, that I brought there attention to it. As per a previous poster, you'd think tyre places of all people, would know which way round a tyre should go!