Guess I'm just going to have to risk my reputation (insert major sarcasm here) just so that you'll actually do the research for yourself.....just once.

 

Tire Experts? So where are the links to the manufacture data that says its okay to run them backwards?

No sir, you say and we ask for this information. It's obvious your full of crap again. Stop posting on this site wasting our time with your so called bs information and you can't even back it.

 

snap... (insert sarcastic response about overly dramatic thread)

 

ok seriously man...my dad OWNS a tire and rim shop and i work there ALL the time..and i have never heard of "tire experts" saying thats ok to do...you keep throwing around the term "tire experts"..who the hell are these "tire experts" you speak of...

look the water must go somewhere and the slits send it to eht outside if you turn it around yes the water will channel to the middle..you say it will channel like normal but "not as good"?? no dude....the water is just going to follow the friggin awesome channel made by the tire forcing it straight to the middle and you get whats called H-Y-D-R-O-P-L-A-N-E ...cmon man...

 

One thing that is absolutely correct about this thread is that the Avons have the tendency to feather on our G35s. My Coupe's front Avons were so noisey from the feathering I had to replace them after only 7,000 miles. I'm planning on putting them on the rears to try to even out the feathering. However, I will be doing it with the arrows going forward.

 

It won't help. Been there done that. The expensive approach would be to dismount the tires and push the feathered edge to the outside of the opposite rim (driver side front to passenger side front and vice versa).

 

i think its any tires. i have dunlop sport maxx on mine and having the same problems

 

Okay seriously, your dad owns a tire shop therefore they're going to be far more likely to recommend new tires. If I owned a tire shop, I'd do the same thing. Two, if I owned a tire shop, I wouldn't risk doing what I've done to someone else's car because I'd have to put my trust into them that they're going to be aware that wet weather driving may be compromised. It's way too much of a liability.

Tire experts? I've already noted them. Research it yourself.

As for the channeling effects of unidirectional tires, how many times do I have to go through this? The water is not going to be channeled underneath the tire. If that was the case, that means the tire would already have to be riding on water. Hydroplaning occurs when a tire is travelling at a speed such that the tire cannot effectively evacuate the water in front of it therefore it lifts up on top of the water. Running a unidirectional tire backwards will limit the amount of water that can be evacuted in front of it making a little more suspectible to hydroplaning. Since the tire is already half worn, it's intended water evacuation design has been significantly limited.

Like I stated earlier, I drove onOEM EL42s for 40K miles. When I got rid of them, they were on the wear bars. I drove on those tires for 6 months in spring/summer rainy months when I only had about 1/16"-1/8" of thread above the wear bar. My Avons have significantly more tread than that.

I'd be far more concerned about a lady yapping on her cell phone in her Expedition doing 60mph in heavy rain on seriously worn tires rather than some yahoo in a G35 going 45mph in heavy rain on half worn tires.

BTW, I've never recommended to anyone that they do what I've done. I'm only posting to let people know I fixed my problem. The tires will be returned to their correct rotation probably within a month after the feathered edge gets knocked down. I estimate it will take about 1500 miles or so.

 

It has to do with the following things and in this order:

1) Multi-link front suspension design. These types of suspension designs are far more prone to this problem. Nissan has had a history of feathering issues, though the 350Z is the most famous. Other cars that have historically exhibited this problem is the Q45 and the prior gen 300ZX. Nissan fix is to use different tires (noted below), set the toe to max toe-in, and to rotate the tires every 3K miles instead of the more typical 6K miles.

2) Tire directional design. Unidirectional tires are far more prone to feathering. Team that with the suspension design and you're kind of screwed.

3) Tread block design. Larger tread blocks are more prone to exhibits larger amounts of feathering. I believe Bridgstones fix for Nissan was to redesign the OEM Bridgestone with much smaller inner treads blocks.

 

This is a very interesting thread.

 

Still waiting on that Michelin link.

 

update. i just flipped my tires around.

silence is golden!!

the tires dont look all that worn, just stepped. so hopefully in a few thousand miles it evens them out and they can go back

 

Where are you located? In case you get heavy rain before me, let me know how the wet weather driving goes whether by PM or posting back to this thread, assumming you live. I don't think we're going to get rain in Kansas City for at least another week, probably longer.

 

i am in michigan, we had heavy rain over the weekend and early this week. thats why i figured it was a good time to log some dry miles before i had to deal with any rain.

 

update:

drove home from work in the rain, not heavy rain but steady rain. no noticeable difference in handling what so ever.