BTC error or Stupid design? - RE001s

[dsp26]

OK.. before I get into detail the picture below here are some facts:
- Their directional, which means you can't just flip them around.
- Assume UP is forward direction, therefore the left tyre is for the front passenger side
- We can all agree that there are 4 distinct columns of patterns per tyre yeah?


So whats wrong with the the tread pattern?

***EDIT***
my mistake their not 'directional' per say.... the tyres are marked specifically inside/outside
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/dsp26/Maintenance/DSC03647.jpg

[CRXer]

whats a BTC?

didnt u know rain happens clockwise in the southern hemisphere ron:confused:

show us the direction marks on the tyre walls for both those tyres

[aaronng]

That's how it is. Many asymmetric tyres also have that little bit of pattern facing the wrong direction. Same thing happens with C.Drives.

[EG30]

yeap that's right, that's how they are.

they are asymmetric tyres but non directional so not the mirror images of each other as you were expecting. It does look wrong visually but no adverse effects in operation wet or dry.

B/stone do have asym and directional tyre in the form of RE55s, where they have a LEFT and RIGHT version of the tyre. As you could imagine this doubles up their tyre stock inventory, and also consumers cant flick tyres from left to right either. Hence the new RE11S tyre has moved away from this left and right specific design.

[dsp26]

BTC = Bridgestone Tyre Centre... sorry :p

I can guarantee both arrows are facing up/forward on both sides... I assumed there was a separate left/right tyre and maybe the BTC I went to stuffed it up.

Now that i'm getting between 50-75% tread i've noticed the right side loses traction more in the wet... especially on elizabeth drive southbound before the caltex on the right lane when it's flooded. I can where others are coming from now with re001s not having that great a wet grip compared to toyo t1r's.. though when new these were amazing.


Anyways it's just odd to me (referring to the 2nd column on left tyre and 3rd column on right tyre) that the only anti-aquaplane tread pattern on the tyre is the wrong way around for the right. As you can see on the left when water runs through, water would be dispersed towards the gap between column 1 & 2.... i don't see that working on the right side especially since theres a gradual dip at the opposite end to the gap.... meaning at higher speeds, if water is pressured towards the dip... water 'climbs' out of the tread... know what i'm trying to say?

[JasonGilholme]

T1R baby!!!!!!!!!!! T1R!!!!!!!!!

Its as if the water would be pushed under the tyre rather then away from the tyre. Awkward.

[dsp26]

T1R baby!!!!!!!!!!! T1R!!!!!!!!!

Its as if the water would be pushed under the tyre rather then away from the tyre. Awkward.

lol explained it in one sentence and i couldn't in a paragraph.... exactly what i meant!

***EDIT***
my mistake their not 'directional' per say.... the tyres are marked specifically inside/outside

[Alexx]

Yea i queried this before when i saw the design. I personally haven't bought them so i cant comment on their performance, it just seems strange to me to not have the car all symmetrical side to side.

I remember asking someone why their tyres were on backwards by looking at the tread, but no, it was just the BT design. They have no specific rotation direction.

[slidetaker]

This is not uncommon.

All non-directional asymmetrical tyre tread design will have the situation here.

In terms of channelling more water towards the centre, I would say too little to notice. Wet grip mostly depends on tyre compound. With aquaplan, tyre pressure, speed and pavement condition play a much larger role than the dfference in part of the overall tread pattern.

[dsp26]

I thought compound is for dry and tread pattern + compound as a bonus for wet?.. same reason semi-slicks/full -slicks don't have much of a pattern but grip on dry but are so shit in the wet

that column on the re001 i refer to is the only obvious pattern of the 4 that would be beneficial against aqua-plane

[slidetaker]

Wet grip or aquaplan. They ask for different aspects of the tyre to perform.

Wet grip has a lot to do with compound choice and temperature. Porous of the tread and silicon quality and composition. There is wet slicks out there. Search and learn.

Tread design has a higher role in aquaplan. With RE001, channelisation of water from the angular tread design only taking up a small part of the overall tread. Hence, it is not a directional tyre and the effect of channeling water inwards or outwards are small (contrast to Goodyear GSD3). Spacing, width of grooves, tread depth and tyre pressures again has the much higher role in aquaplan.

Sorry haven't got time to explain in details.

[dsp26]

^^^no it makes sense.... cheers

[JohnL]

Keep in mind that tyre moulds are hugely expensive to produce (I've heard figures around $1,000,000 per mould, X the number of moulds required for each tyre size), so a tyre manufacturer would want a compelling marketing reason before committing to producing more moulds than absolutely necessary. Since having a left and right hand version of a tyre will require more moulds...

Note that I said "marketing" reason and not 'engineering' reason. A very major consideration when designing a tread pattern is aesthetic, i.e. will the potential customer like the way the tyre looks. For tyres designed for the high performance market I would suggest that this is probably a somewhat more important consideration than the nuances of water dispertion. I doubt there is really much in it between a good directional pattern and good non directional pattern (not that the above tyres are directional).

[Limbo]

yeah its all to do with costs. Otherwise they may be left with too many of one side and can't sell them