On 9 Jul 2004 10:03:07 -0700, y_p_w@hotmail.com (y_p_w) wrote:

>I was stuck in rush hour traffic a few days ago, so I started
>looking around. I was looking around, and saw a familiar
>tire - a Yokohama AVS ES100 on the rear of a Civic. I
>had that particular tire on my Integra before it was stolen.
>The car was recovered, but the wheels weren't. In fact, the
>thieves were **ahem** "nice enough" to replace them with bald
>tires on steel wheels.
>
>The strange thing I noticed since were were stopped at times
>was that the rear tire I saw was oriented backwards. These
>are directional tires, and the "chevron" should be pointed
>forward at the top. I thought about telling the guy, but we
>weren't stopped long enough. I'm not sure if they were mounted
>that way (intentionally?) or perhaps rotated that way.
>
>So what's the worst that could happen. My guess is that it
>might not wear as well. Could there be possible safety problems?

Well, that's probably the best. I'm no expert, but I think
directional tires help channel water out from under the tire. If you
reverse the tire and thus the channeling, it will probably do the
opposite and force water under the tire.. Could cause aquaplaning..

They probably had the tires rotated by someone that didn't know how to
rotate directional tires.. (you keep them on the same side)..

That's just my guess..

Randall Fox