Michelin 2CTs - direction of fitting?

[Speaky69]

I was given (yes i am a very lucky boy!!) a set of 2CT's the other week, hardly used as they were taken off of a road bike when it was turned to track.

Had a mate fit them the other day and he said they were multi-directional and it doesnt matter which way round theyre fitted. Ive since noticed that the rear does have a directional arrow... and it is the wrong way round.

Anyone know if they are multi directional or should i get him to change it?

[G]

Mine are 100% directional. (pilot power 2cts)

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah he would tell you they are non directional when he has just put them on backwards

[Berlin]

+1 Wrong way

and if you ride in the wet like that the tread will force the water to the centre of the tyre. Not good!

C

[Cymraeg_Atodeg]

I got 2CT's on my Thou', they are directional and it is important to have them the right way around when it is raining. The odd thing is the front wheel has the grooves the opposite way around to the rear... Have fun on the 2CT's, they rock!

[BanannaMan]

It's important to have them the right way around when it's not raining as well.
It has to do with the direction the belts are woven into the tyres. They are much more likely to experiance catastrophic failure turned the other (wrong) way around.

[Speaky69]

Thanks guys, ill be giving him a call later and see if he can change it round ASAP :D

[Cymraeg_Atodeg]

It's important to have them the right way around when it's not raining as well.
It has to do with the direction the belts are woven into the tyres. They are much more likely to experiance catastrophic failure turned the other (wrong) way around.

I was getting more toward the fact that if they are the wrong way around and it rains (which happens a lot in Britain) then the tyres won't clear the water adequately enough to allow grip and our friend here will fall off

[yorkie_chris]

Lots of tyres have reversed tread patterns by design and seem to do alright though...

[G]

They can have, because they are not a flat contact patch like a car. Only a fraction of the tyre is in contact with the tarmac and depending on the angle, massively distorted at the same time. The thread pattern you see whilst stationary is a fair bit different than when cornering hard at 70mph.

[Cymraeg_Atodeg]

Lots of tyres have reversed tread patterns by design and seem to do alright though...

It is not the tread patterns facing different ways I was pointing out, it was that they have to go the "correct way" on the wheel to work properly in the wet. The 2CT's I got have the tread facing the bike both front and rear. Looks odd when sat still

[Dicky Ticker]

The direction arrows on the sidewall tell you what the rotational direction should be

Simples

[BanannaMan]

I was getting more toward the fact that if they are the wrong way around and it rains (which happens a lot in Britain) then the tyres won't clear the water adequately enough to allow grip and our friend here will fall off



Was simply adding to your comment.



The direction arrows on the sidewall tell you what the rotational direction should be

Simples



Yep, that's why they put it on there.

[Speaky69]

Yep, that's why they put it on there.

Agreed.... but it was late at night and dark in a dingy garage, we couldnt see them (ive since found there are 6 on the thing, 1 on each side and 4 on the edge of the contact surface part of the tyre! we both had a good laugh about it when i phoned him this morning and im going to pop over one eve next week to get it sorted :P

[Tim in Belgium]

It's important to have them the right way around when it's not raining as well.
It has to do with the direction the belts are woven into the tyres. They are much more likely to experiance catastrophic failure turned the other (wrong) way around.

Not all tyres have biased belts, hence with some (but not all) tyres it is acceptable to spin them on the wheel and run them in reverse in the dry. This depends on the tyre, and may not be looked upon favourably by the law on the public road and is done so entirely at your own riak.

I've had no issues doing this on track with rear tyres, tested at speed ;)

[Red Herring]

Like Tim I regularly rotate my rear tyre around at lunch time when on track days to try and make it last longer, and I've never noticed any difference. I would however keep a treaded road tyre the right way round as the tread is designed to work in a particular way in the rain.

[Spanner Man]

Not all tyres have biased belts, hence with some (but not all) tyres it is acceptable to spin them on the wheel and run them in reverse in the dry. This depends on the tyre, and may not be looked upon favourably by the law on the public road and is done so entirely at your own riak.




Good morning all.


It certainly wont be looked upon favourably at MOT time either. As, directional tyres fitted the wrong way round is an MOT failure.

Also, insurance companies could use it as a liability cop out in the event of a claim.


Cheers.

[Tim in Belgium]

^ I'd agree with the above.

[Lozzo]

It's important to have them the right way around when it's not raining as well.
It has to do with the direction the belts are woven into the tyres. They are much more likely to experiance catastrophic failure turned the other (wrong) way around.

I'm not so sure about that. We often turn tyres around deliberately on track and race bikes for dry use, with no disasters. It's common practise amngst the pikier racers and cash-strapped trackday fraternity. My mate Danny has won races with his rear Metzeler Racetech the wrong way round.

If it's wet or damp there's no way we'd do it though.

[Cymraeg_Atodeg]

So, as a summary of this thread;

If you are on the road have the tyre the right way around at all time,
If you're on the race track and it is dry, go nuts!