i just bought three, distributor i bought them from only had these left.

i know they are meant to ride outside and inside, but what about direction?

 

No they are not directional. Good luck tracking down your last tire!

 

Try sears to find the last tire.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chuckus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just bought three, distributor i bought them from only had these left.

i know they are meant to ride outside and inside, but what about direction?</TD></TR></TABLE>

did you get them at martino tire? If not, try them

 

No, they are asymmetrical tirs, on one side it should say "this side in" or "this side out."

also I know you can order them through discount tire. I dont know a price though

 

yes, i got them from martino tire, sucks that they only had three though, warehouse guy told me he sold almost all these tires on saturday

 

I'm pretty sure he knows azenis are asymmetrical by the way he describes them. His question was whether they are directional. And the answer is no.

 

well if u wanan get all technical I think they are directional but since ur onlt supposed to put them on one way then direction should not be a problem

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RiCE On IcE 2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well if u wanan get all technical I think they are directional but since ur onlt supposed to put them on one way then direction should not be a problem</TD></TR></TABLE>

azenis are not directional. they can be rolled both ways fine. i think someone failed logic and visual persception at school ... not to mention spelling

 

The azenis that get mounted on the passenger side are identical to the azenis that get mounted on the driver side. That, coupled with the fact that there is an "inside" and an "outside" stamped on the tire, means that they are manufactured to roll both directions, i.e., they are not directional. Like Soup said, they also perform well (at least in the dry) when you flip them on the rims, contrary to the inside/outside stamp.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Batoutahell &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The azenis that get mounted on the passenger side are identical to the azenis that get mounted on the driver side. That, coupled with the fact that there is an "inside" and an "outside" stamped on the tire, means that they are manufactured to roll both directions, i.e., they are not directional.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Okay, just to provide a slightly more complete explanation - and I realize that most of you (including the original poster) are aware of this, but not everyone...

Some tires are directional (also called rotational). This means that they are designed to rotate in one direction but not the other direction. The Bridgestone RE010 in the stock ITR size is one of these, as is the Yokohama A032R track tire. The design often is done this way to create tread grooves that, during rotation, move from the center of the tread to the edges, to shed water on wet roads. A directional tire can be used in the proper direction on either side of the car; however, to move it from one side of the car to the other, you would need to flip them (dismount and remount the tire on the rim) in order to keep the proper direction.

Here is a photo of the tread pattern on the Dunlop SP9000, which is a directional tire



As you can see, when rotating in one direction on wet pavement, water in the tread pattern would be spread out from the center to the sides (good, to avoid hydroplaning); when rotating in the opposite direction, water in the tread pattern would be brought from the sides to the center (bad, because it would increase the chance of hydroplaning).

Some tires are asymmetric. This means that they are designed for one side to be on the outside and the other side to be on the inside. The Falken Azenis is one of these. The design often is done this way to create a smooth tread pattern on one edge, and more tread blocks on the other edge, to assist in cornering. An asymmetric tire can be used in the proper direction on either side of the car, and tires can be rotated from one side of the car to the other without dismounting, still keeping the proper orientation of outside vs inside.

Here is a picture of the Falken Azenis:



As you can see, it has larger tread blocks along the outside edge of the tire for increased lateral grip.

Finally, some tires are rotational and asymmetric (although it may not necessarily be obvious from looking at them). The sizes of Bridgestone RE010 for the NSX are one of these. When ordering such tires, you have to order a left tire or a right tire, because each tire is designed to be used on a particular side of the car. The design is done this way to maximize handling by combining the advantages of a rotational design with those of an asymmetric design. Such tires cannot be rotated from one side of the car to the other, and can only be rotated front to back if both ends use the same size tire.

As bataoutahell notes, you may be able to get away with using some tires in ways other than the way they were intended, depending on your use and how severe the design is. For example, you may have relatively few problems using a rotational tire in the wrong direction on dry pavement, but they could be a major problem in the rain.

EDIT: Added photos.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

azenis are not directional. they can be rolled both ways fine. i think someone failed logic and visual persception at school ... not to mention spelling </TD></TR></TABLE>

Guess u got an A in being an ******* eh? give a guy a break
And because of the "outside" "inside" they really can go in only 1 direction, so they would actually be somewhat directional.

 

Let's just stick with tires, okay?

(The crowd groans over the pun, but hopefully forgets about responding to the flames...)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RiCE On IcE 2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">And because of the "outside" "inside" they really can go in only 1 direction, so they would actually be somewhat directional.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No. The word "directional" has a very specific meaning in tires and refers to their design characteristics, as I have described above. The Falken Azenis Sports have a tread pattern that can go in either direction of rotation, and they are not directional. They are asymmetric.

 

Good explanation above, Ken.

If azenis were "directional," then 2 of your 4 tires would be mounted with the "outside" stamp on the inside of the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soup **** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

azenis are not directional. they can be rolled both ways fine. i think someone failed logic and visual persception at school ... not to mention spelling </TD></TR></TABLE>


Hey Soup you spelled perception wrong.............dumb ***

 

haha @ ^^^ Tom got owned

I want new tires.

 

so what ^^ he is saying makes sense... with azenis you can interchange all 4 rims anywhere you want as where directional tires you can only have it on one side of the car.. correct???!!

 

Wow! This thread started 6 years ago...

 

Correct. More precisely, with directional tires, they should only be placed on one side of the car, unless you remove them from the rims, flip them over, and re-mount and balance, which would then enable them to be used on the other side of the car.

 

Talk about bringing up old threads. LOL

 

Hey nsxtasy, do you know if BFG KDW2's are rotational and asymmetric?

 

directional.



as you can see in this photo, they are designed to roll one way.

 

Rotational (directional) but symmetric (i.e. NOT asymmetric).

The easiest way to tell is by looking at the sidewall markings. Tires that are rotational/directional almost always have an arrow on the sidewall showing the direction that the tire rotates when the car is moving forward. Tires that are asymmetric almost always have a labeling on the sidewall saying "THIS SIDE FACES OUTWARD" (or INWARD). Tires that are both rotational and asymmetric usually have that labeling ON the arrow.

 

Okay thanks for the good info guys

 

every tire is rotational