Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Just wondering if fitting a front tyre backwards would affect grip?

I am asking after cleaning the garage & looking at the tyre I had on when the incident at the 2008 chrissy track day happened
& was surprised to find that it was fitted backwards.
Could this have been a contributing factor?

Wouldn't have happened on a six Joe

Thanks for the tip Rob, now can we move on & not mention the 6.

Mate, everything I have heard in the past about reverse fitting is don't do it, something to do with the construction etc, do a search on Craig Whites posts here as he has given the heads up from the suppliers perspective before when a similar question was raised

Steel belted tyres from the 70s and 80s sometimes had a problem if they were used one way and then the direction reversed...and fell apart. Modern tyres are not as likely to have this problem but the tread is designed to give optimum grip in one direction. Front for breaking and lateral grip and rear for breaking, accelerating and lateral grip including water dispersal.

Using wrong rotation can stuff this up, particularly water dispersal as wrong way will force water into the centre of the tread, and cause aquaplaning, rather than towards the edge of the tread.

Not sure about all slicks but even though they come with direction arrows we used to use them the other way round in karting without problems.

If it's wet, the water will not get dispersed properly, making it very unsafe.......

supersport guys at PI were running thier tyres backwards to wear out the other side. they arent slow...

Also, the tire says it should be done one way, therefore it should be done one way. If only for the fact that if you have a bingle, some smart legal type may say that the bike was not in proper working order and hit you with the bill.

Had read in a recent article in the horror that putting radials on reverse causes belts to delaminate....radial construction, belts aligned directionally....
The guy writing/source of the article was supposed to be a guru of some sort.
Had to agree with some of it as in the pictures of various wear states, i managed to match my rear wuith the one that was described as 'smooth rider/ everything working well together'......
i like that description. ( even if i do make grandma Kettle look quick )

Wattie wrote:supersport guys at PI were running thier tyres backwards to wear out the other side. they arent slow...

Yeah slicks might be a different story, Wetty showed my a tyre run backwards from PI rd of ASBK last year. Wear looked fine.

Supersport don't run slicks, there generally D211's - treaded. Although not much tread..
But yep, have run slicks backwards a couple of times and after the first few laps there OK. The first laps are slippery as all hell though until the surface wears to suit the new direction.

zxsixr03 wrote:

Wattie wrote:supersport guys at PI were running thier tyres backwards to wear out the other side. they arent slow...

Yeah slicks might be a different story, Wetty showed my a tyre run backwards from PI rd of ASBK last year. Wear looked fine.

is that gilseys one that had holes melted in it??

me think TKA are getting different compounds from side to side, and they fucke3d up;

As previously stated, the only time it would have made a difference is if it was wet, otherwise no issue. The tread pattern, also previously stated is made to force the water away from the center of the tire, thats why the directional arrows. You will notice that the tread pattern on the front tire when mounted properly is opposite of the rear. Front tire for breaking, (in the wet), rear tire for acceleration, (also in the wet).