Grit dog wrote:
And to dispell another myth posted by BigToe, there is no harm in using directional tires backwards other than less than “optimal” traction that is provided by the design of the tread.
Here is the Product Bulletin Issued by Michelin on April 29, 2019:
The C-metric sizes of the MICHELIN Agilis® CrossClimate® tire line utilize a directional tread pattern. These tires have arrows molded into the sidewall of the tire to indicate the intended direction of rotation.
To maximize tire performance, it is important that directional tires be mounted correctly on wheels to ensure that the directionality is respected when mounted on the vehicle.Pairs of steer tires and pairs of drive tires should be mounted such that one tire has the arrows pointing clockwise, and one tire has the arrows pointing counter-clockwise. For vehicles equipped with dual rear wheels, two rear tires should have the arrows pointing clockwise and two rear tires should have the arrows
pointing counter-clockwise.
To optimize wear performance, it is recommended to operate directional tires exclusively in their indicated direction, at least during the first 50% of treadlife. However, once directional tires are worn to greater than 50% of their initial tread depth, there is no negative effect of running them in a direction opposite to the indicated direction of rotation.
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Not a myth. Simply the straightforward (haha) directions (haha) from the tire manufacturer.
1.
Optimizing wear performance sounds like a good idea, because tires to be too expensive to waste by not following the instructions, thus increasing the likelihood of the tires wearing out prematurely.
2.
Optimizing tire performance sounds like a good idea, because lives are too important to put at risk by not taking advantage of all the tire wet traction engineering one paid for with the price of the tire from installing them the wrong way.
3. In my RV usage case, the tires will never reach 50% tread wear before the tires age out. Therefore, if I were to buy directional tires, I would be stuck using them directionally for their entire service life, as they will never wear down to the point where directionality no longer matters.
4. The tire manufacturer knows more about the tires that they engineered and built than I do, so I'll follow their instructions.
Edited to add URL Link to Michelin's Agilis Cross Climate C-Metric Product Bulletin:
Agilis C-Metric Rotation Bulletin pdf
