Quote:
Originally Posted by zero610
It's on MA-33. Am I reading that right?
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Hmm...yeah, you're reading it right. I'm surprised though. Looking at the sidewall, I can see that the word "Outside" is stamped on the tire, which is what indicates that it's an asymmetric tread pattern (i.e., different tread on the inside of the tire vs. the outside). When tires are unidirectional, however, the sidewall is usually stamped with an arrow and the word "Forward" to indicate the direction the tire must rotate in. And I do not see that on the sidewall. I wonder if maybe that's a misprint in the service manual.
Actually, maybe a better way of putting it would be to say that they've worded that sentence really poorly. Here's how they worded it: "Tire cannot be rotated in vehicle, as front tire are different size from rear tire and the direction of wheel rotation is fixed in each tire." Okay, let's think about this. What would happen if the fronts and rears were all the same size, and the tires were unidirectional? Would that prevent us from rotating them? No. We wouldn't be able to swap the left rear with the right front, but we'd still be able to swap the left front with the left rear, and the right front with the right rear. Right? So really, what they should have said is that we can't rotate the fronts and rears because the wheels are different sizes. Period. The direction of wheel rotation isn't even pertinent.
I also looked up the tire at tirerack.com, and they mention it being asymmetric, but don't say anything about it being unidirectional. (
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A)
But hey, I could be wrong. So I guess the safe thing to do is never flip them from one side to the other.