A tale of two MT treads: your input, please

[michaelgroves]

Besides issues of rotation and reverse driving, what are other disadvantages of directional tires? Seems to me that if those two are the only issues, the benefits may actually outweigh the drawbacks...

What are the benefits? Reverse driving and the lack of versatility (spare only suitable for one side, can't rotate etc.) are the downside of unidirectionals, and for an expedition vehicle, the compensation would have to be significant, IMO.

Gotta drag this thread back out... A couple of people stated that directional tires can't be rotated as much as non-directional... If you are on radials, there is no difference! You should not be rotating in an x patern. Only back to front. Side to side or the x rotation is only for bias ply tires!
Rant over...

Why? I can see why crossplies should be rotated side to side and back to front, but I don't think it's a problem for radials to be fully rotated. I like rotating a set of 5 tyres, too.

 

[mauricio_28]

what are the benefits? Like turbine blades, like a propeller, like a paddle, like the aerodynamic profile of a wing, like a water wheel, all of which are designed with movement in one direction in mind, a benefit of a tire whose tread pattern is optimized for travel in one direction could be improved traction over non-directional designs.