should the tire be flipped around?

[craigmcd]

Hi All, 

I just had four Kumho tires put on our 2005 Outback. It is a matching set of tires of course, but when checking the torque and pressure about a week after installation, I noticed two of the tires (on opposite corners if I recall) say “outside”, very clearly and conspicuously. The whole experience at Pep Boys sucked, and I am reluctant to go back. I assume two of the tires are mounted incorrectly. Is this an issue I should press with them, or just let it go? Thoughts are appreciated. thanks. C

[1 Lucky Texan]

I'd give them a chance to fix the issue I think.

 

If there's more to the story than just the flipped tires and you want to avoid PepBoys,, take your car to a Discount Tire. Great folks. They might get a chuckle out of 'one-upping'  the competition.

[coryl]

I have the performance Bridgestone Potenza "reverse pole" tires on my Subaru and they are confusing on an AWD vehicle to rotate and it's taken me a bit to figure things out. I was so confused initially that I contacted my expert tire  friend to confirm that they had been installed correctly because they didn't look like I'd expected in direction yet they were.

I'd definitely call/contact the manufacturer for information.

Edited September 9, 2018 by coryl

[nvu]

Get it fixed, the tires will wear unevenly.  Also check if you have directional tires, not only is there an inside/outside to those, but also a directional rotation arrow.  Those would come in sets with 2 left and right sides.

[craigmcd]

I did verify today that the inside of two tires is marked “outside”. I did not see rotation direction, but I’ll have a look at that. Thanks so much.

[coryl]

I just went outside to look at my tires and I'm back in confusion with even mine. I don't think mine are right as I initially thought they weren't.

The pole position tires I have are directional and asymmetric. Ffs I'm looking at them closer tonight and they are all outside yet direction is not correct. The crazy part is that the direction appears as a fancy design so is confusing.

Omg I'm so pissed. Going to speak with my friend tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. Thank you Craigmcg for bringing up this thread. 

 

[coryl]

I sent my friend an email and I'm waiting to hear back. The tires should all read outside and the direction arrow should all be facing the direction forward as the wheel turns.

[coryl]

On all tires. Appears not in my case.

 

[craigmcd]

The FAQ at kumhotireusa.com says this about "tire patterns", there are three kinds:

Asymmetric - the tire will have "outside" printed on one side (and they should say "inside" as well, but my tires do not). A properly mounted tire will show "Outside" when mounted on the car. An asymmetric tire will have differences in tread pattern design between the inside and outside tread area, which necessitates proper mounting.

Directional - A directional tire will have an arrow and the word "Rotation", indicating the direction the arrow should roll when the car is moving forward. Most directional tires appear to have a "V" design in the tread.

Symmetric - A standard tire which will not have any of the above printed on the sidewall.

So in my case, two tires a mounted incorrectly. Coryl, you probably won't see both the word "outside" and "rotation" on the same tire.  I have had directional tires in the past, and they are marked very clearly.

Later, C

[Numbchux]

Yep, Asymmetric and directional are different. Direction usually has a clearly directional tread pattern. Assymetric is usually more subtle, and the tech has to be looking for it, I've seen really good techs miss it, but of course a novice tech is more likely to miss it.

How much it matters will be different from tire to tire, but ultimately the tire shop missed it, and should correct it.

 

There is such a thing as directional AND assymetric, which means the right and left tire will be different. I had a set of Kumho VictoRacers several years ago for Autocross that were like that. I opted to warn the shop that mounted them when I dropped them off. But obviously that's very uncommon.

[craigmcd]

Good additional info, thanks. I figured some manufacturer must make that kind of tire. C

[coryl]

12 hours ago, craigmcd said:

The FAQ at kumhotireusa.com says this about "tire patterns", there are three kinds:

Asymmetric - the tire will have "outside" printed on one side (and they should say "inside" as well, but my tires do not). A properly mounted tire will show "Outside" when mounted on the car. An asymmetric tire will have differences in tread pattern design between the inside and outside tread area, which necessitates proper mounting.

Directional - A directional tire will have an arrow and the word "Rotation", indicating the direction the arrow should roll when the car is moving forward. Most directional tires appear to have a "V" design in the tread.

Symmetric - A standard tire which will not have any of the above printed on the sidewall.

So in my case, two tires a mounted incorrectly. Coryl, you probably won't see both the word "outside" and "rotation" on the same tire.  I have had directional tires in the past, and they are marked very clearly.

Later, C

I went in to see my friend, and did a bit more research. My Potenza pole version tires are asymmetrical and not directional, so as long as all 4 tires say outside on the outside they are correct and they are. The confusing part was the arrows going in different directions on either side of the car and the sips not symmetrical in direction. Clearly the design arrows are there to confuse people. Almost all of my tires, Blizzacks, Re71r, Dunlop Z's, have all been directional, so I believed the Poles were too and especially with what I felt were directional arrows.

Anyways, I'm glad you figured out that your tires were installed incorrectly so you can get them fixed! I am now much more informed about asymmetric tires thanks to you.