Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Sunday November 3, 2024
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
Click here to visit TireRack
Tire & Wheel Forum sponsored by The Tire Rack

Losing traction? Need new tires?
Click here to visit the NASIOC Upgrade Garage...
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC Technical > Tire & Wheel

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-20-2003, 09:00 PM   #1
bcristea
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 11343
Join Date: Oct 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Royal Oak, MI
Vehicle:
2008 STi
DGM

Default STI Tires?

Just a quick question,

Are the factory Bridgestones different for left and right hand sides?


I just noticed that my left (driver side) tires have a tread pattern that feathers towards the front and the right hand side tire pattern feathers towards the rear?

I'm just wondering if they make a left and a right tire and if I got 4 right hand ones?

Any idea's?

Thanks,
bcristea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2003, 09:45 PM   #2
sc00by71
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 5362
Join Date: Apr 2001
Chapter/Region: NWIC
Location: Olympia WA USA
Vehicle:
2004 OBS
Green

Default

They are not specific left or right but are directional. If you look you will see "outside" on the outer sidewall as long as they are not installed inside out they are fine.
Shawn
sc00by71 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2003, 11:05 AM   #3
bcristea
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 11343
Join Date: Oct 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Royal Oak, MI
Vehicle:
2008 STi
DGM

Default

My sidewalls are facing the correct way, its just that tread patten is reverse from left to right hand side?

I'll have to find another STi in the area and check out the tires.

Thanks,

Brian
bcristea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2003, 03:45 PM   #4
MKIVSupra
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 4441
Join Date: Feb 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Wheeling, IL
Vehicle:
2004 WRX STi
WRB and Gold

Default

I know exactly what you are talking about. I brought this up on another forum. I had to stare at the tires for a while because I thought I was seeing things. I guess it does not matter but it surprised me when I first noticed it.
MKIVSupra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2003, 06:59 PM   #5
Malcolm WRX
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 41574
Join Date: Aug 2003
Vehicle:
2016 WRX
WR Blue

Default

Quote:
Originally posted by sc00by71
They are not specific left or right but are directional. If you look you will see "outside" on the outer sidewall as long as they are not installed inside out they are fine.
Shawn
How can they not be specific left or right AND be directional, if one side of the tire is labeled OUTSIDE? This is confusing.
Malcolm WRX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2003, 09:05 PM   #6
bcristea
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 11343
Join Date: Oct 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Royal Oak, MI
Vehicle:
2008 STi
DGM

Default

This is exactly my point!

The left and right side tires are the exactly the same! But they should be different!

When looking at the rear tires side by side the pattern is exactly the same! They should infact be different. (like S03's)

Left side tread should feather back and right side tread should feather back. Not left forward and right back?

Is everybody's the same way or just mine?

The Left side tires will chunck faster than the rights!

Brian

Quote:
Originally posted by Malcolm WRX


How can they not be specific left or right AND be directional, if one side of the tire is labeled OUTSIDE? This is confusing.
bcristea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2003, 09:48 PM   #7
sc00by71
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 5362
Join Date: Apr 2001
Chapter/Region: NWIC
Location: Olympia WA USA
Vehicle:
2004 OBS
Green

Default

I suppose calling them directional was poor wording. Mine look just like every other one. Direction meaning outside mounted to the outside. Yes as you walk around the car they flip 180.Any tire that has a pattern than isn't uni-directional will look off comparing left to right as they are rotated backwards from each other. I am sure the tires were designed that way but what do I know.
sc00by71 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2003, 09:57 PM   #8
bcristea
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 11343
Join Date: Oct 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Royal Oak, MI
Vehicle:
2008 STi
DGM

Default

I sounds like everybody's is the same.

Looks like bridgestone did not want to make a left and right hand tire for the STI, unlike S03's.


Thanks,

Brian
bcristea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2003, 09:26 AM   #9
robmarch
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 18713
Join Date: May 2002
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: Time is the Enemy
Vehicle:
06 CRV
04 STi

Default

Quote:
Originally posted by Malcolm WRX


How can they not be specific left or right AND be directional, if one side of the tire is labeled OUTSIDE? This is confusing.
symmetric - Left and right are the same tire
asymmetric - Left and right tires are side specific

directional - arrow on the sidewall indicates direction of forward travel
non-directional - tires don't have a preferred rolling direction

"this side out" - mount this side towards the outside of the car.


It looks like the STi's tires are symmetric (even if the tires aren't physically symmetric - like tires of this class usually are), non-directional (since the tread pattern rolls one direction on the left side and another on the right side due to the next characteristic), and mount with a specific side out, probably to put a rigid external sidewall and different tread blocks out at the edges, to reduce sidewall flex on turn-in, while letting the internal sidewall be more flexible to account for camber.
robmarch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2003, 11:19 AM   #10
bcristea
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 11343
Join Date: Oct 2001
Chapter/Region: MWSOC
Location: Royal Oak, MI
Vehicle:
2008 STi
DGM

Default

OK,

Tires are Asymmetrical but not Directional.

This means that you can rotate these tires any way you want?

Next question: Why develop an Asymmetrical non Directional tire?

Brian
bcristea is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2003, 01:25 PM   #11
robmarch
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 18713
Join Date: May 2002
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: Time is the Enemy
Vehicle:
06 CRV
04 STi

Default

They are not physically symmetrical, but are used as symmetric tires. You can indeed put any tire in any position on the car, since they are all mounted "this side out".

Maybe subaru balked at the idea of having L and R specific tires to stock, and it probably doesn't impact dry handling too much. Wet handling was probably down on their list of concerns.
robmarch is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Stock STI tire trade in at Discount tire sc00ter Tire & Wheel 8 01-17-2007 03:14 PM
So Cal: I need One 05 Sti Tire or rim with tire Awdturbowrx Private 'Wanted' Classifieds 3 03-22-2006 04:41 AM
FS NJ-> 4 Stock STI Tires 225/45 R17 off of a 2006 STI...800 miles on the tires saad Private 'For Sale' Classifieds 5 03-19-2006 01:18 PM
TX: sti rearseats, sti tires, wrx wheel and tire, fuel pump, sti utec, and more WRXout Private 'For Sale' Classifieds 7 08-25-2005 08:00 AM
FS: OEM STi tires, Rota Tarmac 18" with tires, Omori Gauges, Subarubucks wrx what Private 'For Sale' Classifieds 28 08-03-2005 05:46 PM

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:57 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.