Michelin XL Tread Direction?

[dropaduece]

Dear Fellow Members,

I am getting ready to mount some michelin xl tires on my m35a2 and am not sure which way the tread is supposed to face. I could not find any rotational markins on the sidewalls. Are they direction specific? Is there a prefered way? I have seen pictures on the internet with them facing both ways. Any information or advice would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

Seth

 

[jblack6527]

As far as I know, the Military considered them to be non-directional.
I personally think they should be mounted like a standard directional tire, with the "V" facing forward. I'll try to find a pic.

EDIT: like this:
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?t=28047&highlight=michelin

 

[Westech]

here on post.. the tires are what ever way they get put on. No rime or reason.

 

[DanMartin]

I struggled with this for a while...I don't think it really matters. The used tires I got for my deuce looked to be used in both directions.

I've seen several M35A3s with 14.50R20s on them....every one that I saw had the tires mounted one way on the wheels...which means that they went one way on one side, and the other on the other side. I thought about this for a while...two things came to mind:

• It's easier to mount tires all one way and not keep track of directions
• If you have the tires mounted "one way" where the tread is opposite for each side, the tracks in the sand/dirt/snow cannot be used to determine which way the vehicle is moving (getting back to the whole non-direction tread thing).

Of course...Occam's razor applies here...it's probably the former rather than the latter.

Now...when I had my tires put on (14.50s) I had half mounted one way, half the other so they would "match up" and look nice for my tastes.

So...taking the long way around the barn...it does not matter really. I went with a typical mounting seen on most directional tires ("V" inward) for mine...but it does not really make much difference IMO.

 

[Elwenil]

If it were me, I'd mount them all in the same direction on the rim. This does mean the tires would go in opposite directions on either side but it would also mean that you could easily put the spare on wherever without having to dismount a tire at some point to point them all back the same way again.

 

[dropaduece]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the feedback. Decisions.....Decisions....Hmmm

 

[shootiniron]

I've always heard that the're a directional tire with the "V" flared to the rear of forward travel. Thats a reason the XZL's came on scene so to speak as they are a non-directional tire and may be rotated from side to side with no concern's.

 

[Capt.Marion]

They are Non-Directional. You can run them all facing them the right way, and then when you need you can rotate them. Won't look perfect, but, you know...