Should I get my tires rotated?

[tallyho8]

I made the statement that my tires needed to be removed from the rims in error because I had mistaken "asymmetrical" tires for "directional" tires as so many others have. My Coupe comes with both type of tires and I had to check them to see which kind I have and I have asymmetrical tires. These tires have an "inside" and an "outside" so they must be mounted on the rims with the outside facing away from the car and they may be rotated left to right because they are not directional. Asymmetrical tires have different treads on each side of the tires for better all-around traction. The first 2 photos are directional tires and the 2nd 2 photos are asymmetrical tires.

A directional tire is a more commonly used term in the tire industry, I'd suspect that half of the car tires sold today are directional.

A directional tire is different from an asymmetrical tire. Some tires are also directional and asymmetrical.

Asymmetrical tire refers to the tread pattern. Example - R1 tractor tire with chevrons is designed to run with chevrons pointing forward. That's why they don't recommend a simple right to left switch. Now - take the same R1 tractor tire and mold it so the point of the chevron is not at the exact center line of the tire. That's what asymmetrical means. Its supposed to provide superior traction for higher performance applications. Some tires have this design to provide additional traction is wet(rain) & snow conditions also. At least that's how I understand it.

oosik, An R1 tractor tire is a directional tire, not an asymmetrical tire. It is a great example of how a directional tire works. You can swap them left to right but you must remove them from the rims and install them in the proper direction on the other rim so they rotate in the right direction.

 

[tallyho8]

My neighbor had a 2 wheel drive tractor with R1 directional tires. He rotated his back tires around so they were facing the wrong way. When I asked him why he did that he explained:
"My property is very swampy and I was always driving into the mud where I could get stuck and then when I tried to reverse out of the area, my tires just spun because they had no traction going backward and I wound up stuck there. Now I have better traction in reverse than forward so when I am traveling and get stuck, I just put it in reverse and drive away."

Makes sense to me.