Are Falken 615 tires right and left hand specific?

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

I'm puzzled and need someone who owns four of these tires to answer a question for me. When I look at a pic of these tires, the tread is clearly directional, and looks to me like there should be different tires for the left and right side of the car because they are also asymetrical. My confusion lies in the fact that none of the websites show part numbers for left and right hand tires. If there is only one part number, how do you order two left tires and two right tires?

 

[Jeff@Tri-Point]

I'm puzzled and need someone who owns four of these tires to answer a question for me. When I look at a pic of these tires, the tread is clearly directional, and looks to me like there should be different tires for the left and right side of the car because they are also asymetrical. My confusion lies in the fact that none of the websites show part numbers for left and right hand tires. If there is only one part number, how do you order two left tires and two right tires?

No they are not, you just have to make sure the outside/inside are right.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

Thank you, but I am more confused than ever. Because they are directional and asymetrical, if all four tires are identical, then on one side of the car the water channels point towards the front and on the other side they point towards the rear (assuming you do the inside/outside placement correctly). My wife ordered four of them for me and they arrived late yesterday. I set them up as if they were on the car, so I have confirmed this visually. This difference with the direction of the grooves is by design and is acceptable?

(dunno)

 

[Mike240SX]

Tires themselves don't have "left or right" sides, even directional ones. Remember they can be mounted either way on the wheel.

The grooves should be the same direction on both sides. You should also see an indicator arrow on the sidewall telling you which direction they should be rotating. If they're not correct, whoever mounted the tires on the wheels messed up.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

Tires themselves don't have "left or right" sides, even directional ones. Remember they can be mounted either way on the wheel.

The grooves should be the same direction on both sides. You should also see an indicator arrow on the sidewall telling you which direction they should be rotating. If they're not correct, whoever mounted the tires on the wheels messed up.

That's just it though. These tire sidewalls are labeled as inside and outside. They can only be mounted one way on a rim. The channels are diagonal, not straight, so if you spin the tire 180 degrees to put it on the opposite side of the car, the direction of the channels is reversed. It makes no sense to me to make a performance tire like that, hence my confusion.

 

[mordant80]

Ok these tires are asymmetrical and not directional. On these tires all you need to do is make sure the side of the tire with the wider tread pattern is mounted towards the outside.

 

[mordant80]

That's just it though. These tire sidewalls are labeled as inside and outside. They can only be mounted one way on a rim. The channels are diagonal, not straight, so if you spin the tire 180 degrees to put it on the opposite side of the car, the direction of the channels is reversed. It makes no sense to me to make a performance tire like that, hence my confusion.

I see exactly where you're coming from, and it doesnt make sense in my head either. But nonetheless it doesn't matter with these tires, just as long as you have the inside/outside mounted correctly.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

I see exactly where you're coming from, and it doesnt make sense in my head either. But nonetheless it doesn't matter with these tires, just as long as you have the inside/outside mounted correctly.

I'm guessing that, because the channels are so wide and the angle is not very steep, in terms of water evacuation or tread stability the change in channel direction has a minimal effect. They must have put the channels on an angle in an effort to reduce road noise, because if they are there for handling, they would face the same way on both sides of the car.

Oh well, I may never understand it, but they still get great reviews so I guess they're going on the car.

 

[mordant80]

I'm guessing that, because the channels are so wide and the angle is not very steep, in terms of water evacuation or tread stability the change in channel direction has a minimal effect. They must have put the channels on an angle in an effort to reduce road noise, because if they are there for handling, they would face the same way on both sides of the car.

Oh well, I may never understand it, but they still get great reviews so I guess they're going on the car.

Be warned though. These tires are awful in the rain. I ran these once, but for the most part I ran the Hankook R-S2 Z212. The hankooks are slightly better in the rain IMO as they are directional unlike the falkens. As for autocross, I really couldnt tell too much of a difference in the two tires. From what i've read the Falkens are supposed to be a lil better autocrossing, however the hankooks can stand up to a lil more heat. But who knows, it's just something i've read somewhere. I couldnt tell. The 3rd choice is the Kuhmo Ecsta MX which are the cheapest of the 3 for our stock rims. No idea how they are in the rain, but they are supposed to last a lil longer than the others and are supposed to be slightly behind the other two in autocrossing.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

Be warned though. These tires are awful in the rain.

It's interesting, I have seen completely different evaluations of these tire's rain performance. Some say they are surprised at how good they are, others are just disgusted. Not a huge issue for me as I am a split personality driver. I am an old lady in bad weather and every curve is a challenge in the dry, so these tires should be fine for me. Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[jp4130]

I'm guessing that, because the channels are so wide and the angle is not very steep, in terms of water evacuation or tread stability the change in channel direction has a minimal effect. They must have put the channels on an angle in an effort to reduce road noise, because if they are there for handling, they would face the same way on both sides of the car.

Oh well, I may never understand it, but they still get great reviews so I guess they're going on the car.

Very nice choice.(thumb) when a friend of mine got a set these tires the channel direction through us for a loop as well. We also came to the conclusion that the difference would be negligable.
Enjoy your sticky new rubber.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

Some days you're an idiot, some days you're a genius, look what was in my e-mail from Falken technical services this morning:

The RT-615 is not a directional tire, although it may appear to be one due to the angle of the cross grooves.

The angle on the cross grooves is not high enough to impede in water evacuation when rotating what might be considered backward. The angle is designed so that a purely lateral groove does not slap onto the roadway as the groove moves through the footprint, and produce extreme noise. Rather, each cross groove lays down at a slight angle over a longer period of rotational time so that noise is mitigated.

Our parent company Sumitomo Rubber has performed extensive wet and dry testing on the RT-615 and determined there is no significant difference in dry or wet braking traction, and hydroplane resistance when the tire is rotated on the left or right side of the vehicle. Given the inherent logistical problems involved with left and right versions of the same tread and size, they elected to provide only one design.

 

[mordant80]

Lol, you were right on.