Can I safely rotate unidirectional RA1's

[ryneen]

My RA1's are getting well worn on the drivers side due to clockwise track events. I understand that they are unidirectional and aren't recommended to be rotated. Has anyone heard if it is safe to rotate from left to right? I would like to get more even tread wear, but obviously don't want to jeopordize my safety if it is in fact a risk.
Thanks,
ryan

 

[OneRedNSX]

My RA1's are getting well worn on the drivers side due to clockwise track events. I understand that they are unidirectional and aren't recommended to be rotated. Has anyone heard if it is safe to rotate from left to right? I would like to get more even tread wear, but obviously don't want to jeopordize my safety if it is in fact a risk.
Thanks,
ryan

you'd have to have them unmounted, flipped, and remounted on the opposite side for that to work...

 

[nsxtasy]

The only reason the RA-1 is directional is for the tread pattern to channel water in rain. If you're not driving in rain, it doesn't make any difference. And after you wear them partway down, only the circumferential tread grooves remain, and the shallower lateral tread grooves disappear; at that point, it doesn't make any difference, either.

So yes, you can rotate them from left to right without dismounting them, any time you want; you just won't get the full effectiveness when it's raining if you still have the lateral tread grooves showing. Dismounting them can put the worn edge on the inside, so it may be theoretically preferable, but it may not save as much in tire wear as it costs for the remounting.

Also, you may want to check your alignment and consider adding negative camber. See the recent discussion in the separate topic in the track forum for additional information. (I'm dealing with the exact same thing.)

you'd have to have them unmounted, flipped, and remounted on the opposite side for that to work...

Not necessarily. That would be true if the outer edge is wearing on both sides. However, when running on a track that runs clockwise (like most of the tracks in North America), most of the turns are right turns, so the left side gets a lot more tire wear. I just put 350+ track miles on my set this past weekend, and there is a whole lot of treadwear on the outer edge of the left front tire, but not that much on the outer edge of the right front tire. So even rotating them from side to side without dismounting will even out the tire wear, before the belts have a chance to start showing on that outer edge.

 

[NSXDreamer2]

No, in this case, mounting and dismounting won’t work, as the track layout only wears the one side of the tires, (Since you are running clockwise, I would think that the tire wear is more on your left side of the tires.) Mount / dismount/ switching the tires to different side will put the better tire of the two at the side that matters more. However, you are still wearing the left sides of the tires.

If you don’t have any grooves left, just rotate the sides, that way, you put the better side of the tires and the better tires on the side you need more traction.

I had done that and I found that it does make a difference on handling, (Before I knew I was mounting my wheels on “wrong” side.).

 

[ryneen]

Thanks for your feedback. I was very nervous about mounting my tires on the opposite side and therefore having them run in the "wrong" direction. Do I understand that the Unidirectional aspect of the tire is only for water channeling and not for tire construction and handling? If so, I will not be running in the rain and can safely rotate the tires from left to right without remounting? I hope this is what I understand since my left tires are much more worn than my right tires and it would be good to switch sides to even out the wear.
I'm still nervous about going against the "unidirectional" direction, but it sounds like you guys know alot more than I do.
Thanks,
Ryan Rush

 

[nsxtasy]

Do I understand that the Unidirectional aspect of the tire is only for water channeling and not for tire construction and handling? If so, I will not be running in the rain and can safely rotate the tires from left to right without remounting? I hope this is what I understand since my left tires are much more worn than my right tires and it would be good to switch sides to even out the wear.

Your understanding is correct.

 

[ryneen]

My left rear tire is worn to the circular grooves. However, my right rear tire is nearly new with almost full tread width (I replaced a tire that had a nail in it and I didn't get it shaved). If I'm running in dry conditions, will the full tread tire perform ok if it's mounted in the "wrong" direction. I want to put it on the left side to wear it down some, but I'm concerned if it will handle odd.
* I understand it's ok to rotate tires that are worn, but no one has addressed if it's ok to rotate a tire with full tread width in dry conditions. Please advise.
* Photo's are attached of the worn and newer tire.

 

[ryneen]

NSXTasy
Sorry for being dense. I just read your post. I understand that I am fine rotating. Thanks for the help.
ryan

 

[titaniumdave]

I dis-mounted my RA-1s and had them mounted and balanced for the opposite side of the car to balance wear. I got my tires early season to run in the rain with full tread. After they were through most of the tread on the inside of the tires, I had them swapped. I have kept them rotating the same direction on the wheels, side to side was not the issue. It was to balance the wear across each tire.