I bought my used Goodyear Eagle GS-D3 from a board member a month ago and after mounting them and balancing them I found out 2 of the 4 tires have flat spots. No big deal, I thought. A few hundred miles and a few burnouts would fix this. Not so. The vibration at low speed is unbearable. I surely can't take these to the Dragon so I am forced to buy new tires.

Come Sumitomo HTR ZIII from Tire Rack. I got 'em Thursday and just now noticed that there is no directional sign on the side wall. Instead it says, "INSIDE" & "OUTSIDE". Now putting them side by side, shouldn't the thread pattern be facing the otherway on one of tires? Is this how it is supposed to be or Tire Rack sent me one wrong tire?



I can't be having this much bad luck before the Dragon.

 

If I was you Ray I would call tire rack and see what they say. It doesn't appear as the tread is directional. But then again why would it say inside and outside . My bridgestone tires are clearly marked for direction and if you look at the tread it has an obvious tread direction. I know this is a stupid question did you read the manufacture information that comes with the tires?

 

They should be fine. Having "Inside" and "Outside" indications on the tire don't necessarily mean they are directional. Just put the Inside on the inside and the Outside on the outside and you're good to go. If they were truly directional, then the distributor would need to send you the correct ones. But with yours, any 4 will do.

My Azenis RT615s are like that as well. I've seen some other tires that also follow this route.

 

Tire Rack customer servise is closed until tomorrow. The mfg info mentions nothing about the thread pattern. Davizzle just told me that the OEM RE050 are the same. Can someone confirm this?

Edit: Thanks shamoo... I should be good then. *sigh of relief* Damn tire technology.

 

Your fine dude. the tires are not directional but Asymetrical. As long as the sidewall doesnt say ->Rotation-> it can go on either side. Just put them on with respect to the inside/ outside designation. BMW uses the Potenza REO50a and i was thinking the same thing when i was under a car.

 

Asymmetrical! That's the word I was looking for.

 

on the re050A

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tec...e.jsp?techid=39

that tells u everything

 

Old thread, I know.

Just got a set of these and was eequally confused. The tread looks directional to me, but the "inside/outside" marking flies in the face of that.

I'm seeing other indications on the web that this is not a directional tire. So be it. I now have them waiting to go on my car, but they will be rotating in opposite directions on eithe rside of the car.

 

tirerack confirms what you guys said earlier... It's asymmetrical, but not directional. It's weird, that tread looks like it's meant to roll in one direction, but hey.... who am I to tell Sumitomo what they're designs look like.

 

These tires are so good (for the money) that I bought another set.
The first set lasted me exactly 5 years, almost to the day. I should be good until 2018. LOL