R56 Owners Check Your Tyres

[farquahar]

3 weeks and 250 miles into R56 MCS ownership and its time to give it its first wash and brush up only to find my run flats (which are handed and directional)on the nearside are rotating the wrong way. it seems my car has been fitted with 4 offside tyres so perhaps there are others out there with the same fault. makes you wonder weather mini quality control need to be brought in early one morning and marched up and down for half an hour to keen them up a bit

needless to say my dealer will be getting a call monday a.m. i'm not sure what the safety implications are of running directional tyres the wrong way at high speed but perhaps someone on here might have technical knowledge on this

[robdjones]

I posted the same problem in this thread ( http://www.mini2.com/forum/2nd-gen-f...ling-away.html ) yesterday as I had my MCS in at the dealer for unusual vibration/shudder when pulling away.
I took delivery on 21st December and have covered 2,000 miles with my tyres rotating the wrong way

[farquahar]

this makes two of us, how many more?

[Martin F]

What tyres are you on? My Dunlops have an Outside and an Inside but I can't see any rotation direction markings.

[farquahar]

dunlop 17" on crown spokes ,the directional arrow is the dunlop "D" within an arrowhead that should point in the direction of rotation.

[robdjones]

Quote: Originally Posted by Martin F (original)

What tyres are you on? My Dunlops have an Outside and an Inside but I can't see any rotation direction markings.

To be honest I didn't notice this myself, the dealer did and told me this was the cause of the vibration/shudder when pulling away. I have noticed an improvement since it was in last Thursday. My Dunlops are on web spoke's BTW.

[Restyle]

It seems this situation can be quite dangerous.

Care must be taken to mount the tyre correctly on the rim as performance can be reduced dramatically should the direction be incorrect

If a directional tyre is fitted to the wrong side of the vehicle (which means it rotates in the wrong direction) the tread pattern won't improve handling at all — instead it may make the vehicle unstable at high speeds. It won't remove surface water from the road, reducing grip.


And dont think that having their direction corrected will fix things

In addition to that, the internal structures of a radial tires will develop an affinity for going in that one particular direction once they've been mounted and driven for a while.
If you remove the tire and place it on the other side of the vehicle, making it run backwards compared to its original direction of travel, the tire will experience significant internal friction and heat, and could cause the tire to blow out.

I think the best advice for anyone in this situation would be to get their dealer to replace the affected tyres with New ones

[farquahar]

thanks for that Restyle, ive only done 250 miles but i will insist on new tyres, christ knows what bmw would face if somone was killed or seriously injured as a result of an accident caused by this error.

[robdjones]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, well in my case it is.....

Here's the Dunlop page for the R56 tyres which also describes them as asymmetrical, which it seems in most cases means it doesn't matter which direction they rotate.

Dunlop Tyres UK

This is Dunlops page that describes the difference between asymmetrical and directional tyres.

Dunlop Tyres UK

So it seems so long as it says "outside" on the outside (duh!) then it should be fitted ok.

I can't tell if mine were wrong before it went into the dealer, but they all say "outside" now.

Finally, this is the Dunlop page describing the sidewall markings. It should say the word "Rotation" inside an arrow if this is applicable;

Dunlop Tyres UK

And the arrow on the Dunlop "D" is the corporate logo..

[Restyle]

If youve got a directional arrow like point "J" below, then the tyres are directional & should be checked

[Martin F]

I am confused about this.

The Dunlop tyres on my R56 MCS are 205/45R17s and are indeed assymetric. Here is a photo of the tread pattern. They are SP Sport 01 DSST



The outside of the tyre is on the left in this picture and the tyre is clearly marked "outside" and "inside"

Every tyre has Dunlop written on the side and before the word Dunlop is their logo as shown below



All my tyres have this logo this way round and i have two spares which are the same. And the Dunlop website is the same so i am not convinced that this is intended to indicate the direction of rotation. When tyres are directional they are much more clearly marked. Here is an example from a Michelin tyre.



So I think these Dunlop tyres must be mounted with the outside on the outside but do not believe they are also directional. Indeed if they were dealers would need to carry 2x as much stock.

[Restyle]

MartinF, Dunlop SP Sport 01 tyres are Assymetric but NOT Directional
See >> Dunlop SP Sport 01Tread Design

Farquahar & RobJones, What tyres are fitted on your cars?

[KenL]

My 16" wheels are Goodyear Excellence Runflats, anyone know if the are directional?

[Martin F]

Quote: Originally Posted by Restyle (original)

MartinF, Dunlop SP Sport 01 tyres are Assymetric but NOT Directional
See >> Dunlop SP Sport 01Tread Design

I agree, did I suggest otherwise? If I did it was the exact opposite of what I intended.

[tiger333888]

guys, after reading this post, i made a dash to my garage to check my tyres - yes I have the same tyres as martin and having studied the pattern, I too became confused as they are assymetric which suggest a directional rotation is essential if they are to perform as designed...

however...i jumped on the dunlop website and found this section:

Dunlop Tyres UK

this clears it up (although there is some contradictary info on the site) - and states the tyres our mini wears are not directional so we are all safe, so long as the wording 'outside' is on the outside...phew....can sleep now. check out the link!