Reversing CR500 direction on wheels?

[SouthernBanana]

A well known garage in the Herts area said that in the wet, if using CR500s, it was a good idea to swap the two front wheels so that the tyre treads looked as if they were pointing backwards. Has anyone else come across or uses this theory?

 

Also, in the wet, (on a circuit) where do people tend to set their rear ARB?

[Shaun_E]

Doesn't sound quite right - in the wet you want the treads to disperse water as designed.

I know that the racers run them the "wrong" way round in the dry as they had instances of them delaminating under very hard braking in hot conditions.

 

Yellow SL #32

 

Edited by - Shaun_E on 23 May 2006 09:42:37

[SouthernBanana]

Shaun, completely agree. The same garage - who also look after several academy cars - didn't seem to know too much about LSD setup either.... hmmmm.

[robmar]

i crashed at spa with my cr500's at the front pointing the wrong way

 

which is the excuse i have always used rather than the lack of driver talent

 

 

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[Stuart Faulds]

Direction seems to make negligible difference to wet performance, but the tyres are designed to run the opposite direction on the front to the rear under normal conditions - unfortunately convincing MOT testers of that is more hassle than it's worth.

[dave1968]

i suspect same garage told me to run my 021s wrong way round at the front. have to admit have had no problems with doing so in 6500 miles. i suspect the commenst re the right way round is best for the wet are true though

[Bertfatal]

The guys who run the cars for Caterham at the factory trackdays run the CR500s backwards in the dry but put them on the correct way for the wet.

 

Bertfatal

[Mike C.]

I understood that the tyres could be reversed in the dry to even out wear, with no ill effect. In fact, some people have said that it improves braking performance.

 

In the wet, I think I'd rather have the tread dispersing the water.

 

Mad Manx

[AndyBooth]

When i got my car the CR500's were on against the direction of rotation. It's definately something that racers do, as it was an ex race car. The reason we were told was because of the construction of the tyres, that when raced in normal direction the extra heat created in a race situation can cause the tyres to delaminate

 

Don't know if this is true but it's what we were told!!

 

 

Shiny Red with Black Bits. Photo's to prove it!

[Peter T]

With a tread wear factor of 20 do they last any longer being fitted the wrong way round ??

 

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[MikeW]

AndyBooth

it is true and it has an additional advantage that you can swap tyres as well ( LR to RF etc) We did put them on the right way round in the wet

 

MikeW

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[oldbutnotslow]

I asked this question some years ago and the answer I was given by Avon was that reversing in the dry has the effect of stiffening the tread pattern = better (marginal) handling under braking. As most of us are never at 11/10ths I doubt that we would notice any real advantage.

Fit the correct way for the wet though.

 

Grant Taylor

OBNS Motorsport

 

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[AndyBooth]

Bye eck, something I'm actually right about

 

Now that dosen't happen often 😬

 

 

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[Bertfatal]

Can you reverse other directional brands of tyre successfully or is this purely a CR500 thing?

 

Bertfatal

[Graeme Smith]

It's purely a CR500 thing in that they are prone to delaminating (on the front wheels only) when run the correct way round in the dry. There's no reason to do it on other tyres!