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[sethchan]

OK, this may be a dumb question, but since my car had to come with winter tires on, the (Bridgestone) summer tires were put on at a gas station. I can see that the tread is not symmetrical from one side of the tire to the other -- there's an inside and an outside. So how do I know if they put the tires on the right way? Or if the right and left tires should be swapped?

[Rye]

the sidewall will have a directional arrow or wording of which direction the tire should rotate. If it's going backwards....get it taken care of quick. Or if both sides are mounted incorrectly, you can swap sides.

[sethchan]

Originally Posted by Rye

the sidewall will have a directional arrow or wording of which direction the tire should rotate. If it's going backwards....get it taken care of quick. Or if both sides are mounted incorrectly, you can swap sides.

The tires that come with the 135 (in Sweden, anyway) are Bridgestone Potenza RE050 run-flats. Most of what I've found on the net seems to say that they are not directional, and I can't find any indicator on the sidewall.

The only thing it says is "outside." But, I guess, if there is no arrow on the side that says "outside," they are not directional.

Which, though it makes my head spin, makes sense, because if they were directional AND asymmetric, they would have to come in rights and lefts, like shoes.

Whew. Definitely enough thinking for today.

[Rye]

Then as long as the "outside" is on the outside, you're fine. Usually if they're directional and asymetric, they'd just label it directional and make sure they get mounted properly....2 for the driver side, 2 for the passenger side. They don't work like a L/R shoe, you can just flip the tire on the rim and it will be able to go on the other side of the car.

[sethchan]

Originally Posted by Rye

Then as long as the "outside" is on the outside, you're fine. Usually if they're directional and asymetric, they'd just label it directional and make sure they get mounted properly....2 for the driver side, 2 for the passenger side. They don't work like a L/R shoe, you can just flip the tire on the rim and it will be able to go on the other side of the car.

If a tire says "outside" on the outside, the only way they could also be directional is if there were rights and lefts. If you flipped the tire on the rim, the "outside" would be inside. For a tire to be directional AND asymmetrical, you'd have to have rights and lefts.

My head hurts.

[Rye]

True. But you'd normally find one or the other. Or if they were both, they'd make it so that you can easily distinguish which way the tire is suppose to be mounted for a specific side. I doubt they'd put the words "left" and "right" on a tire since there'd be more people mounting them improperly because left and right is different depending on where you're looking at the car. Of course we normally know that left = driver and right = passenger. So to ease that confusion, they just put "outside" or have a directional arrow.

[atr_hugo]

Originally Posted by Rye

Of course we normally know that left = driver and right = passenger.

Is that when I'm in front of the car or behind the car in the UK? ; -)