i did a search but didn't find a definitive response...

i was looking for something used for my brother's ride and i found something with falken ziex 512's that actually have very low mileage on them, but suffered from excessive camber wear on the inside. i would say 90% tread on the outside, 70% inside.

a friend suggesting flipping them from left to right, so that the camber wear is on the outside... is this safe/recommended? will it cause driveability issues?

thanks in advance...

it is prefectly 'ok' to flip the tires in order to even out the wear ... I do it on my tires so, I have a pretty good idea of the effect

thanks luke! :)

Falken Ziex-512's are directional tires. If you flip them, make sure that's a dismount/remount of the tires, rather than just taking off the wheel & tire and rotatating them. Otherwise, you may be in for a surprise in the rain.

now i'm confused.... am i interpreting this wrong? if i'm flipping them from left to right (ie. passenger side tires with driver side tires laterally), with the tread pattern facing the same direction as before, why would it cause problems in the rain? :confused:

If you take a passenger wheel & tire off and put it directly onto the driver's side, the direction that the tire rotates will change. This does not matter with a non-directional tire, but the Ziex-512 is a directional tire. The tread pattern will be rotating in the wrong direcion if you just swap the wheel & tire. To flip the tires from passenger to driver side properly with a directional tire, the tires will need to be dismounted and then remounted. And of course, vice versa. Take a look at the tires on the car, you'll see what I mean.

icic... i get it now. i should have said "flip by mounting/dismounting on the wheels" :o

I'm getting a set of rims/tires that are bald as well. The old owner had soem camber. The inside is more worn than the outside. What I would do is buy new tires ASAP.

Falken Ziex-512's are directional tires. If you flip them, make sure that's a dismount/remount of the tires, rather than just taking off the wheel & tire and rotatating them. Otherwise, you may be in for a surprise in the rain.

Actually, I read a test where they tried the Goodyear Eagle F1-GSD3 mounted the proper way, and then backwards. The tire performed almost identically in the wet and dry. Within .1xx of each other.

Actually, I read a test where they tried the Goodyear Eagle F1-GSD3 mounted the proper way, and then backwards. The tire performed almost identically in the wet and dry. Within .1xx of each other.

All depends on the tire. I can say I have driven the Ziex 512 in the rain with the tread going the wrong way and I could tell a difference. It was easy to tell since they are on my GF's V6 Tiburon, lots of torque very early, and the wheels were spinning like crazy with even a very slow accel. Switch them to the correct direction and it was much better. Don't ask how they originally got switched, I don't feel like going into it.

Actually, I read a test where they tried the Goodyear Eagle F1-GSD3 mounted the proper way, and then backwards. The tire performed almost identically in the wet and dry. Within .1xx of each other.
The difference is the tire's ability to evacuate water and prevent hydroplaning. Dry traction is exactly the same, and wet traction, as long as you don't have standing water, will be similar. But a mismounted tire will hydroplane sooner than a correct one.


An alternative to flipping is to go run a couple auto-x's. Hard corners will wear the outside of your tires REAL fast... ;)