Rear tyre on front reversed?

[OldNick]

I know this has been discussed, but I have asked about my own concern about this in threads and had no reply IIRC.There seems to be no consensus, so I am starting my own thread.

I have just had installed a Metz Pilot Activ rear on the front of my triked Valk. The tyre guy insisted on reversing its rotation. The argument AFAIK is that the tyre is designed to take acceleration forces on the rear and that in order to make it suit the front's braking forces, it needs to be reversed....a hotly debated subject.

I have actually seen a post to the effect that reversing radial tyres should NOT be done, forces or no.

I also have asked about water shedding. I look at the track of a tyre, front or rear, and see the tread pattern and feel that I get why it sheds water: the tread starts at the centre, where the road is, and radiates to the side wall, so as the tyre rotates it squeezes the water outward, with the rotation helping by flinging it out....sort of like the bow of a boat. I reckon that if I reverse the tread, that is gong to work a lot less effectively: the tyre rotation will tend to force the water inward, against the action of the tread, both by rotational force and by the squeezing of the tread.

The tyre guy just said that was the way he had always been doing it.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[1dn5up]

Not a tire expert, just a common sense rocket engineer !

Michelin tires have rotation arrows for front or rear application on the same tire . > front & < rear .That tells me that a rear rotation tire can be put on the front backwards rotation,.

[OldNick]

Your puzzlement seems to indicate that an apology may be in order. I will check my tyre and see if it has those. I had not seen it, although I did look for direction arrows.

[1dn5up]

Your puzzlement seems to indicate that an apology may be in order. I will check my tyre and see if it has those. I had not seen it, although I did look for direction arrows.

No apology needed, It just can be a confusing issue

[Tynker]

I know this has been discussed, but I have asked about my own concern about this in threads and had no reply IIRC.There seems to be no consensus, so I am starting my own thread.

I have just had installed a Metz Pilot Activ rear on the front of my triked Valk. The tyre guy insisted on reversing its rotation. The argument AFAIK is that the tyre is designed to take acceleration forces on the rear and that in order to make it suit the front's braking forces, it needs to be reversed....a hotly debated subject.

I have actually seen a post to the effect that reversing radial tyres should NOT be done, forces or no.

I also have asked about water shedding. I look at the track of a tyre, front or rear, and see the tread pattern and feel that I get why it sheds water: the tread starts at the centre, where the road is, and radiates to the side wall, so as the tyre rotates it squeezes the water outward, with the rotation helping by flinging it out....sort of like the bow of a boat. I reckon that if I reverse the tread, that is gong to work a lot less effectively: the tyre rotation will tend to force the water inward, against the action of the tread, both by rotational force and by the squeezing of the tread.

The tyre guy just said that was the way he had always been doing it.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I have run rear tires on the front of my 2 wheeler's for a lot of years. I have one on my 2017 Tri Glide now. I always mount them with the arrow forward, so it will move water toward the outside of the tread. I have also run Car tires on the rear of those bike for the last 14/15 years, so double darkside. I have never had any problems with either tires, and get a lot of miles on both,front and rear. I removed the stock Dunflop front tire at 5,000 miles ,because I hate that brand of tire. Like you I run a Metz Pilot Activ rear, on the front of my trike, and love it. It handles much better. As for your mounted tire, just remove the wheel and turn it around,to run the other way. I have don that on my Kawasaki V2K to stop the Brigstone from cupping.

[OldNick]

Thanks for the reply.

OK. Horse's mouth ("as in right from the ", not some rude reference! )!

I can't reverse the wheel, because the speedo cable is on one side . But as your experience gels with my feelings about water shedding, I will cough up to reverse the tyre.

I have posted a thread about my 1st impressions about the Pilot Activ rear vs my olf Avon AV71 (bike front) tyre. Chalk and cheese. http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threa...711#post520711