Tirerack says they are not, even though they have a directional arrow on the side wall. They said that Kumho is still using an old side mold logo that has the directional arrow from the Victorracer, but that it does not apply to the new ECSTA V700's.

Is this correct?

 

I've always considered they were directional since the full tread pattern will change orientation depending on the side of the car you mount them.



Honestly though, in the dry or if your tread is worn/shaved enough, it really makes no difference. If you are in the wet or on gravely surfaces, it would help a little to have them correspond to the directional arrows.

Perhaps the person was thinking about the symmetry of the tires. The Victoracer V700 is asymmetric while the Ecsta V700 is symmetric. "Flipping" them on the rim, while full tread may give wierd results.


Modified by XrcR6 at 10:32 PM 10/15/2003

 

They are directional, but I have run them backwards with good results.

 

there's an article in a magazine i can't remember ( ) about a tire i can't remember ( ) that tested said directional tire the right way and wrong way, wet & dry. from what i remember from their conclusions, practically no difference in dry, little to no difference in wet.

fwiw, azenis don't have left and right, but, for arguements' sake, the tread on the right side of my car goes like this ^ and the left go like this v. i believe my re-730's had arrows indicating direction of spin.

in short, in the dry you're fine.

 

I think that was Tire Rack's John Rastetter (sp?) column in last months Grassroots Motorsports.

 

i got it now.

grm, sept 2003. 'dear john' section

"on dry roads and in moderate rain at city speeds, directional tires do not provide much of a wet traction advantage. however, for driver's who spend a lot of time the highways or at higher speeds, directional tires will better resist hydroplaning."

the tire tested was a eagle f1 gs-d3 on a mustang.

 

yeah, local toyo distributor said to me that for the case of ra-1 specifically, the direction only matters for wet, dry doesnt matter at all. so he advises to flip the tire for longer life and not worry. and i would also agree with just my intuition that it would not make that much a difference in the wet anyway.

 

the ecsta can be flipped. the tread pattern is for water evacuation on a full tread. if it is for dry driving they can be flipped on the rim for longer life.

tire rack is correct about the sidewall moulding, however it is more for a brand new tire going on the correct side. after they are used or shaved and used it won't matter.

~jay

 

flipping your tires to extend life is all good. R compound tread is pretty much holographic anyway...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GRM Scott &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">flipping your tires to extend life is all good. R compound tread is pretty much holographic anyway...</TD></TR></TABLE>
hol·o·graph·ic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hl-grfk, hl-) also hol·o·graph·i·cal (--kl)
adj.
Of or relating to holography or holograms.
also hol·o·graph (hl-grf, hl-) Of or being a document written wholly in the handwriting of the person whose signature it bears: a holographic will.


huh?

 

hologram = 3-D images. As in the tread on the tire is so shallow, it is mostly an illusion.

At least, that's what I think he meant.