[spangle1980]

Hmmm ...

I got a set of 698M winters - 245/50r19. They're in the hallway awaiting new car. I was just about to apply the ceramic protector to them and noticed the sticker on two of them (note later ;-). One said rotation left and an arrow. That's odd I thought, then I noticed one of the others said rotation right, with a counter arrow.

Here's the punchline. In my OCD need to see the wheels, I'd removed the stickers from the other two.

I can't see why it would matter since they're not staggered. LUCKILY the Blizzaks on them have rotation indication.

I just answered my own question really in typing this, but this means that you cannot swap sides only front to back :-)

Thank God the tyres had the indication on then!

[skier219]

So those are directional tires that have a bias to the tread and should only rotate in a certain direction.

Directional tires always have that rotation mark on them, regardless of whether the wheels are square or staggered. I've had directional tires on every sports car I've owned in the last 15-20 years, and it does limit how you can rotate.

Non-directional and square and you can rotate any way you want. Non-directional and staggered you can rotate side to side only. Directional and square can be rotated front to back only. Directional and staggered you can't rotate at all.

Side note/trivia -- my farm tractor tires are also directional. You wouldn't think it would matter on a tractor, but the tread is setup to give max traction in the forward direction. Some people don't pay attention when mounting tractor tires and then they lose valuable traction for pulling. Some people intentionally flip tractor tires so they have more traction going in reverse, which can be a necessity for certain uses of tractors (backing out of a material pile in the mud).

[teaston]

Virtually all winter tyres are directional, the only ones I can think of that aren't are the Conti TS850P & TS860S

[sharpharp]

Originally Posted by spangle1980

Hmmm ...

I got a set of 698M winters - 245/50r19. They're in the hallway awaiting new car. I was just about to apply the ceramic protector to them and noticed the sticker on two of them (note later ;-). One said rotation left and an arrow. That's odd I thought, then I noticed one of the others said rotation right, with a counter arrow.

Here's the punchline. In my OCD need to see the wheels, I'd removed the stickers from the other two.

I can't see why it would matter since they're not staggered. LUCKILY the Blizzaks on them have rotation indication.

I just answered my own question really in typing this, but this means that you cannot swap sides only front to back :-)

Thank God the tyres had the indication on then!

Where did you get the wheels and winter tyres from?