1973 Sepia 911S

[RSTarga]

Ed & Harvey,
I too had 2 Uniroyals throw treads in the middle of Mexico and ended up driving 300 miles to Laredo on a pair of VW Safari tires, the only 15" diameter available in Mexico at the time.
I hope there is a tire expert out there who can tell us for sure about rotation of radials.
The only tire rule I can confirm firsthand is NEVER mix radials and cross plies. Even on separate axles!

[RSTarga]

Well I guess I dated myself the front to back was at the beginning of radial tires.
Here's the scoop straight from Bridgestone

[M_deJong]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=43

I think its only recently that cross rotating radials has become commonly recommended.

[Sepia911S]

Thank you for the help ... especially the links ... I do need pictures to understand all of this. I'm glad I posted the question. The tires were not rotated today ... but next weekend.

[JohnT]

The only caution that I was given by manfacturers was to keep the same direction. When we rotate, we dismount and inspect the tire and wheel, then put the tire on the diagonal keeping the direction the same but changing inside to outside.

Harvey,

When I raced on Michelin TB and SB series treads and slicks, they were installed to rotate opposite directions front and rear. The arrow showing the direction of rotation was always backwards (front facing at the bottom) when mounted on the front axles.

I was told this was for maximum traction for acceleration on the drive axle and maximum traction under breaking on the non driving axle (2WD cars). I never questioned this - but maybe it was just a huge practical joke on "that American Guy"............... ?? I was faster in those days (remember - The older I get, the faster I was.... ) so perhaps this was to slow me down a bit?

And perhaps direction of rotation doesn't mean much in the rain (it was Great Britain after all!).


johnt

[Sepia911S]

It was a clear, cold day in Chicago. I didn't rotate the tires but a friend and I did take some photographs of the car.

[mimimemegna]

Wonderful... a car camouflage in the wood

[Harvey Weidman]

John,
Race tires and their voodoo is best left to racers. When mounting race tires, Roger Kraus indicates the position and direction on the tire. I have even seen some compounds varied from front to back. I just follow his recomendations.
My apology for the side track from this wonerful car's thread.
H

[edmayo]

Son of a gun Candyce, you're quite the photographer! Maybe you could give Randy Wells some tips

[Sepia911S]

Son of a gun Candyce, you're quite the photographer! Maybe you could give Randy Wells some tips.

I wish I could take credit for the photos. My friend, Helen, took the pictures. She did a marvelous job! I was the crew chief. We read some of Leonard Turner's articles in Panorama and looked at photos in Esses ... and just tried to copy some of the ideas, angles, and techniques.

I did not recognize the name Randy Wells so I googled him and found his web page. Now, I need some action shots!

I am getting a bit carried away with all of this ... great fun!