WRX: why same side tires rotation?

[peter]

WRX manual says to rotate tires front to rear on the same side.

The tires look bidirectional to me (standard OEM tires), why is it necessary
to stay on the same side?

 

[albob]

WRX manual says to rotate tires front to rear on the same side.

The tires look bidirectional to me (standard OEM tires), why is it
necessary to stay on the same side?

they are NOT normally 'bidirectional'! usually there is a little
arrow giving the direction of
rotation - hence 'same side'

alan

 

[DG]

what year is this ?

 

[Ginette/Jean]

Never change the rotation of any tires anyway.

Jean Grenier

 

[Alan]

what year is this ?

This is 2004. You been in a coma?

 

[y_p_w]

they are NOT normally 'bidirectional'! usually there is a little
arrow giving the direction of
rotation - hence 'same side'

The stock tires on a US spec 2004 WRX are Bridgestone Poetenza RE92.
These are non-directional tires, and could be reversed if the
car manufacturer calls for it. He was talking about the tires
being "bidirectional".

 

[y_p_w]

Never change the rotation of any tires anyway.

Some manufacturers recommend

My '95 Integra GS-R came with non-directional Michelin XGT-V4
tires. The manufacturer's recommendation for non-directional
tires was to move the front tires straight back, the left-back
to right front, and the right-back to left-front. Of course
the recommendation was different if directional tires were
installed.

 

[Hallan Blaggit]

When you buy your tires, do you make sure that you get two left and
two right ones?

 

[Edward Arata]

In answer to your question.
No you do not have to get left and right ones.
All the tires are the same, just the way they mount them on the rims is
different.
If you think about it there are two possible ways to mount a tire on a rim.
If you call one side of the tire A and other B, you can mount A up or B up.
This determines the direction of the rim and tire on the car.
For this reason on directional tires you have to keep them on the same side
of the car.
If you really wanted to move the tire to the other side you could unmount it
from rim, turn over, and remount.
However this serves no real purpose in my mind.

Refer to http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/general/rotate.jsp
for general rules for how to rotate tires for different drive trains.

Cheers,
Ed

 

[y_p_w]

In answer to your question.
No you do not have to get left and right ones.
All the tires are the same, just the way they mount them on the rims is
different.
If you think about it there are two possible ways to mount a tire on a rim.
If you call one side of the tire A and other B, you can mount A up or B up.
This determines the direction of the rim and tire on the car.
For this reason on directional tires you have to keep them on the same side
of the car.
If you really wanted to move the tire to the other side you could unmount it
from rim, turn over, and remount.
However this serves no real purpose in my mind.

There are many types of directional tires. The most common have a
symmetric pattern along the center length of the tire. Then there
are assymmetric tires. Some manufacturers even make side (left or
right) specific assymmetric tires. Each side is a mirror image of
each other.

Of course some cars even go with different sized tires by design,
although I don't recall an AWD/4WD car with such a setup. Think
Corvette, BMW M3/M5, or any number of exotic supercars. With such
a setup, tire rotation isn't possible.