Guest awlittle Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 So...I just realized the motorcycle shop put my rear tire on backwards. I've put nearly 8000 miles on it so far, so it is about done; in my defense the vast majority of that was in 2 weeks immediately after getting the tires put on. I'm a little pissed because of safety concerns, specificially wet riding. Honestly I didn't notice any lack of performance, a bit of slippage and squirming when riding hard towards the end of the tire life, but assumed that would occur regardless. I think this guy is a great mechanic and imagine it was one of the younger new guys working there. Just goes to show even a good shop makes mistakes and you should check everything yourself. REALLY didn't think I needed to check that, though. I'm sure he'll make it right when I talk to him about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer sirimiri Posted February 18, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted February 18, 2007 Still, those little "direction of rotation" arrows....are kinda hard to miss <_< Funny, I guess you can see the safety factor now inherent in modern technology? Not that we should all go out and mount our tires backwards and use 15 year old, vine-ripened helmets.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer fallzboater Posted February 18, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted February 18, 2007 Not all wheels are marked with direction arrows, but I think the VFR's are. I also believe that at many shops, the "good" mechanics are not the ones mounting tires. As always, it's better to do the work yourself, but mounting and balancing requires about $200 worth of tools. I'm lucky that a friend bought them recently, so I just have to buy weights. I'm convinced that motorcycle tire tread patterns are mostly styling, anyway. The tread area to void ratio makes a difference, but since moto tires have a round profile, it'd be very difficult to make them hydroplane no matter which way the grooves are pointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULEWZ Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 I change about 12 tires a year and always check the arrows. The only problem I have is finding the heavy mark on Pilot Powers. Most tires have a yellow or red dot, but not these powers. <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer TommyHoffman Posted February 18, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted February 18, 2007 I am pretty sure that the tread patterns are desinged to force water away from the center of the tire. I know that the Z6 tires are designed to run as a mached set, the front tire clears water for the rear. Beyond clearing water they don't do mutch, other than look cool. I can't imagine a reason that running the tires backwards would hurt anything when running on dry pavement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Stéphane Posted February 18, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted February 18, 2007 Look at it this way. It was safe backing out of the garage. When I had my TZR250, I would buy a front tire and put backward on the rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Still, those little "direction of rotation" arrows....are kinda hard to miss <_< Funny, I guess you can see the safety factor now inherent in modern technology? See? This is why hospitals now take a marker and actually mark the arm or leg that is to be operated on. Too many people were coming out of ORs with surgeries performed on the wrong arm or leg! As for the tire being mounted the wrong way: At least it was OK on the bike. I'm sure you would have noticed it if it had compromised your safety. When I had a new rear mounted last month I double-checked that the tire shop that did it put the tire on facing the right direction. They did. Funny thing, too, since it's just an auto tire place and I only took them the wheel. They must have figured it out from the swept direction of the spokes on my rear wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keny Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 When I had a new rear mounted last month I double-checked that the tire shop that did it put the tire on facing the right direction. They did. Funny thing, too, since it's just an auto tire place and I only took them the wheel. They must have figured it out from the swept direction of the spokes on my rear wheel. Auto tires also have directiomal tires, even not all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keny Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 There is motorcycle tires on the market that have non directional tread and still a direction arrow on the sidwall. Some even have front and back arrows (mostly slimer bais tires) and they point in different directions. This make me belive the biggest reason for a direction is the carcas is built so its taking more force one way whit less movement in the tire. I also belive the treadpatern is a more design thing on motorcycles, but also to move big amounth (sudden heavy rainfall) of wather away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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