I have a set of RE-01Rs that have seen mostly highway mileage (about 30K miles) and they have a pretty decent amount of tread left (much more than the top of Lincoln's head on the penny test).

With the stock suspension and alignment settings, the insides of the tires are much more worn than the outside.

Can I flip the tires inside out and run them that way safely?

Thanks!

 

They are directional so you'll have to take them off the wheels and remount them for the other side. Otherwise they will be going backwards.

 

This. I generally did that every 10k on my Evo. Got 20k on my Z1*s.

 

Sweet - thanks!

Yes, I would of course have them remounted - thanks for clarifying.

 

direction only matters in wet. you can ride on them backwards if you want. I got better dry traction out of my falken 912s when i flipped them and they were run backwards.

 

Please don't follow his advice.

 

The tire companies used to advise that if a radial tire was run in one direction it shouldn't be run in the other direction because it would cause problems with the cords in the tire. About ten years or more ago they reversed this advice, saying it was okay to reverse the way tires are run. This advice came from articles addressing tire rotation.

Directional tread is only important for clearing water. So, as long as the roadway is dry it doesn't matter. Probably, if you are thinking of flipping tires, they are getting worn to the place were there isn't a lot of tread left anyway. So, even run the correct direction they may not do a good job of clearing water. The wider the tire the bigger this problem becomes.

So, I'd suggest that whether you do this depends on the use of the vehicle. If your vehicle is a DD and the tread is worn, if you encounter rain then either be willing to stay off of wet roads or buy new tires whether you flip or not. If you are a weekend warrior wanting to get full use out of your tires then flipping is something you might want to try to extend tread life.

 

I'm pretty sure running a directional tyre the correct way is better for road noise too

 

HAHA! +1

Also agreed with RSMike in that you will have far more points of friction running the tread the opposite way it is supposed to roll with the road, and therefore will have more road noise.

 

they are directional for a purpose....
or else they would have just put symmetrical tyre....
obviously they will affect the car performance alittle...

 

Flip them on the rims, that way you will run them in the right direction. Just rotating, without flipping could be a problem in the wet.