Tires ~ Inside-Outside
 

Yesterday, I learned something (new to me) and thought that I would share:

I had purchased a 2015 Sport this past February and the car has been a pleasure to drive... with one minor exception = from day one, it has had a very slight drift to the left during both city and highway operation.

Was in the dealership's area and decided to stop in to check out the 2016's, while there I mentioned the drift issue to the service manager and he asked me to pull the car into the garage so that they could analyze the situation.

Diagnosed: My car came with MIchelin Primacy MXM-4 tires which were mounted at the dealership prior to my purchase... whoever had mounted the tires had them on backwards, i.e. these tires have an Outside and an Inside distinction and are marked on the sidewall accordingly... once the tires were re-mounted properly = no more drift.

I always wondered if it really mattered if unidirectional mounted wrong. Now I know. Thanks.

Interesting! Is it only the Sport model that has the directional tires?

That's a good question, Biffy..

The 2015 model Sport normally came with Bridgestone tires and it is my understanding that they could be mounted either way, however, what happened in my case was that the week before I purchased my Sport (according to my salesperson) someone came onto the dealer's lot and stole 4 sets of wheels/tires... my car happened to be one of those affected. When the dealer replaced the wheels/tires, they ran out of Bridgestone and had to put Michelin on my vehicle, these particular Michelin's are directional due to the tread cut designed to dispel water.

Also, many steel belted tires have a directional arrow printed on the side wall to indicate mounting position... the arrow pointing in the direction of rotation when the vehicle is moving forward

Not calling your dealer a liar, but I am very cynical and typically don't trust what dealers tell you. And obviously, not all Dealers and their Mechanics know what they are saying or doing! Anyway, my regular Accord EX has Goodyears on it. My next question is if the tires are mounted "inside-out" is the directional arrow now on the inside?

The Michelin tires on my car do not have the Arrow on them, they are simply labeled Outside & Inside

I will be rotating my tires later on today. I will definitely pay attention to the markings, if any!

Update:

I called Michelin and they advised me to contact the dealership about replacements, I then called the dealer and they have agreed to mount 4 new tires at no cost

Primacy MXM4 tires are asymmetric, not directional. So YES, they are marked "outside" & "inside". That's different from directional tires which are marked with an arrow for their rotation direction. I just looked at them on TireRack, and the tread doesn't look asymmetric at first glance, but the description says it is.

Thank you, Jim

Could you please explain the difference between asymmetric and directional?

Both Michelin and Honda have agreed that the tires needed to be changed after having been driven inside-out for 2,800 miles.

Just came back from the Honda dealership with 4 new tires. I don't think they would have changed them if it weren't for a safety reason