Tire orientation question

[Sgt Jiggins]

Hello All,

Several times now, I've seen M35a*s with interesting tire orientations. For example: the driver side will have the proper forward-facing orientation on all tires. And the passenger side on the same truck will have all "backward-facing" (for the passenger side) tires. I've seen it enough now that I have to think it's intentional? Can someone please educate me why this might be?

Regards,
SJ

 

[sandcobra164]

Tires are non-directional and may have been installed on the rims by a dedicated tire shop. They build them all the same way as opposed to individual unit maintenance shops who may take a little more pride and install them according to which side of the truck they are going on.

 

[montaillou]

I have Michelin XL tires and installed them based on the ad pictures by Michelin, however according to their specs it doesn't matter which way the tread is facing.

If you're talking about the stock tires, well, the ND and NDT does stand for non directional.

 

[Sgt Jiggins]

I have Michelin XL tires and installed them based on the ad pictures by Michelin, however according to their specs it doesn't matter which way the tread is facing.

Reading the replies I should've said Michelins (they're not NDTs). My fault.

I did not know that about Michelin's tread though - good to know. Like you, I like them pointed in what I consider the "forward" direction. But there're plenty of folks out there that run them "backward" too I'm coming to find: rock crawlers, some heavy equipment, ...

My main concern was ensuring I wasn't needlessly running the tread off of "backward" tires.

Thank you both!

 

[davidb56]

I have Michelin XL tires and installed them based on the ad pictures by Michelin, however according to their specs it doesn't matter which way the tread is facing.

If you're talking about the stock tires, well, the ND and NDT does stand for non directional.

I thought NDT stands for "No **** Traction".

 

[11Echo]

So the enemy might be confused which way the unit was traveling.

 

[Sgt Jiggins]

I have Michelin XL tires

After digging a bit more into this, I found an answer from the manufacturer (Michelin) to my initial question:

https://www.michelintruck.com/assets/pdf/bulletins/TB_ProperDirectionalTires.pdf

For those tread patterns that are directional anyhow.

 

[montaillou]

You might be interested in the Michelin Truck Tire Data Book, specifically the 2010 edition. You can find a dl to it here: https://www.vrakking-tires.com/175-inch/637-215-75r175-michelin-xta-new.html

I think 2010 was the last year the XL was offered. If you have another model, you can search for the book by year.

Here's a summary chart.
View attachment MICHELIN Truck Tires Data Table.pdf

 

[dmetalmiki]

All Michelin tires we use have arrows and direction of rotation clearly marked on them.