Please clarify the situation with the tires-
1. do they get rotated or not
2. are they unidirectional or not
The manual is no help. Thanks

 

1) yes - the tires are rotated side to side.

2) not unidirectional - looking from the rear of the car, the drivers side outter grove flows down and on the passenger side the outter grove flows up. When the tires are rotated, this will still be the case.

Also when you buy tires you buy 2 front and 2 rear, but not 1 front left, 1 front right...

 

There is a diagram in the manual under the tire rotation section that specifically shows side-to-side rotation. I believe if you look at the Service A and Service B schedules, you'll see WHEN they should be rotated.

 

This is hilarious.... my dealer emphatically insists unidirectional tires, no rotation. So it appears you may be running in place.

 

BTW, this is for the Michelin, I don't have Continentels:

Driver:

Passenger:

 

Or in one fast cirle :lol: :lol:

Next time you're down at the dealer ask them the part number for a front right tire, then ask for a front left, I bet they give you the same number. :wink:

 

this is directly from Michelin. I ran across this question a couple weeks ago, so i emailed them. they say no rotation...

Mark:

Thank you for visiting our Web site and sending us your e-mail.

The Pilot Sport PS2's that are on your Chrysler Crossfire are directional tires that have an asymmetrical tread pattern and can not be rotated side to side. You will not be able to rotate tires on this vehicle.

If you have additional questions, please respond to this email
or you may call us at 1-800-847-3435 (toll-free) between
8:30AM and 6:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday to allow
one of our Consumer Relations Representatives to assist you.

Michelin North America
Consumer Relations Department

(Please Do Not Delete the line below.)
Email ID: 1142412

 

This is unbelievable. Go out and LOOK at your Pilot's, you will see clearly molded into the sidewall it says "OUTSIDE" on the outer sidewall. If you rotate the tires to the other side, "OUTSIDE" will still be on the outside. And look at the pic's just above, from the tread pattern they are obviously the exact same tire (i.e. not a left and a right). True unidirectional tires would say left & right or passenger & driver, not "OUTSIDE".

Call Tire Rack or go to their web site. Look up the tire, try to order just one. See if you are asked "left" or "right". You won't, cuz it doesn't matter.

And I'll say it again, the manual clearly depicts side to side rotation. Pg 148 states "Rotate your tires at intervals shown on the maintenance schedules." and has the mentioned diagram.

 

I think the reason the manual recommended side to side rotation is due to the constant load on the driver side which can give a different wear of the tires than the one in the passenger side.

 

Rotate them if you want to. Unless you make more right turns than left or vice versa, it won't matter much. Side to side rotation is an option, but why bother?

 

Different rotational direction makes a difference. When you rotate side-to-side, the moved tire will rotate in a different dirrection than is did prior to the rotation.

If you have tire cupping happening on the front tires, then after rotation, they will rotate differently and so the cupping will be reversed and even out.

 

Sorta the same concept of why NASCAR drivers sometimes only change 2 (the outsides), since other than road courses they are always turning left (wearing the right side tires much faster). Applying that concept to MY driving, I make a LOT more right exits onto cloverleaf ramps (where I tend to not brake, just downshift) than left exits onto cloverleaf ramps. Rotating side to side will even out the wear extending the life of the entire set, otherwise I'd be going through left side tires a lot faster than rights.

While I don't pretend to be a NASCAR driver, I do sometimes try to impersonate one on the weekends (ask Ron H or T or REDCROSS about the "camper truck"), and I did drive by a Holiday Inn Express yesterday (oh yeah, I turned right as I was passing it ).

 

Not really the same concept, the cupping isn't due to too many left or right turns, some cars just cause the tire to "cup".

My Tahoe for example, I need to ensure the tires get rotated, if I don't I'll see the inside edge of the front tires tread starting to wear with a "cupping" look. I've had the alignment checked and all is fine, it's just how it wears the tires.

If I keep the tires rotated, before the cupping is noticable, then I get better wear from a set of tires.

 

If you rotate the tires you will be seriously messing up your speed rating.

 

What does tire rotation from side to side have to do with a tires speed rating??? You lost me on this one.......

 

Did anybody think that "outside" is instructions for mounting the tire on the rim. If they are asymetrical, they can only be mounted with outside to the outside of the rim. I would go with the manufacturers (michelin) recommendations. After all the chrysler manual called for 6 1/2 quarts of oil.

 

Answer to previous quote on speed rating: It won't have any effect if you dismount the tires and swap rims, but they weren't designed to do that.