Directional or Asymmetrical tyre pattern

[cy294]

Evening all,

Just wondering what the experiences of you good folks are, about directional or Asymmetrical tyre patterns?

I am keeping with all season tyres. A lot of the tyre brands are directional and even though I've read the pros and cons. I wanted to hear it from fellow T6 owners and what their views are.

TIA

 

[Yzfr1]

I always used to go for directional when I was younger. Now I've changed to asymmetric...... No worries about putting wheel on wrong side.....that's always a bonus!
I found no difference in performance between the two either....but I'm no racing driver....just a humble t6 and wee fiesta owner.

 

[Village]

Yeah agree with the above; directional is a bit of a ballache because it's no good for a spare and you cant rotate corner to corner

 

[TitanCamper]

Or you could just get 4 directional tyres in Kwik Fit and let them fit them the wrong way round....I know, I know, but it was a Sunday and I had no choice.

 

[Village]

Or you could just get 4 directional tyres in Kwik Fit and let them fit them the wrong way round....I know, I know, but it was a Sunday and I had no choice.

Hah! I’m intrigued as to why you had no choice...

 

[chriscroft]

I'm defiantly directional, all-season.
So much better in deep water/snow/mud/ice; and as for summer use, well it's a van so I don't need state of the art summer performance; spare wheel...any tyre will do.
As for cross cornering the tyres, I got 40k miles out of my last set (still 3mm left) without cross-cornering, so why bother. Thats my reasoning (mine has only a 20mm drop so kind on tyres)

 

[TitanCamper]

Hah! I’m intrigued as to why you had no choice...

Bit of an long story but my Mum called me to say she had a n/s/r puncture (sidewall) and when I took the tyre off, realised both rears were close to the limit. I had been thinking about putting on all seasons anyway and as she was going away on holiday the next day, my only choice on a Sunday afternoon was Kwik Fit.
I never use Kwik Fit as I know a guy who used to work there and the stories were quite incredible but I thought, "How can they f*ck up 4 tyres?", especially when I'm buying them online. It's just fitting. Wrong!
Ended up buying 4 Michelin cross climate online and took the car in for fitting. Dropped the car off at my Mum's that night and decided to double check the tyres / locking wheel nuts etc. Apart from fitting H rated when I had specified and paid for V, the front were back to front. Blooming obvious on a cross climate as well.
I called the next morning and they offered the price difference for the H rated as a refund and swap the front wheels. I obviously told them to ram it, and had to wait a few days until the V's came in.
Useless. I assume they get away with this all the time.

 

[cy294]

Thanks for the replies. My worry is just that about directional, you are limited and to be honest, I've never had directional tyres before. Only niggling thing is the directional brand I'm looking at is rated at C for fuel, whilst the asymmetric is rated E. Is there that much of a difference in MPG? Surely not?

 

[cy294]

Another query to all you good folks, if a tyre has the correct load rating. e.g. it's a 235/55/17 with 103 rating. Does it need to be XL as well?

Thanks all.

 

[Pete C]

Thanks for the replies. My worry is just that about directional, you are limited and to be honest, I've never had directional tyres before. Only niggling thing is the directional brand I'm looking at is rated at C for fuel, whilst the asymmetric is rated E. Is there that much of a difference in MPG? Surely not?

I doubt it will make much difference. Speed has a much greater effect on mpg on a vehicle like a T6.

Pete

 

[Pete C]

Another query to all you good folks, if a tyre has the correct load rating. e.g. it's a 235/55/17 with 103 rating. Does it need to be XL as well?

Thanks all.

No.

Pete

 

[cy294]

No.

Pete

Thanks Pete for your responses.

 

[chriscroft]

As I understand it, an XL tyre is designed to better carry a higher permanent load. So if you pretty much run your T32 close to its max axel load constantly, then an 103XL would be better suited with its stiffer side wall; other wise you don't need it. Having said that my tyres are 104XL's and I run lightly loaded, and personally I'm not aware of any down side.

 

[Pete C]

I can’t find a proper reference anywhere that explains unambiguously what XL means.
So I just go with the numerical load rating.
I suspect that all tyres above a certain numerical load rating are XL, but like I say, there doesn’t appear to be an industry standard for this.

Pete

 

[dubber36]

Back to the original question. I once found directional tyres to be useless when I was reversing a not especially heavy trailer on wet grass with my old Passat. I've never noticed the same thing with asymmetrics.

 

[cy294]

Thank you all for your replies. Still haven't got round to ordering the tyres as having used the van much. Going with asymmetrical tyres - all season ones.