Maybe at the time the manual was published, Nissan was planning on going with directional tires. They may have gotten a lower bid from Bridgestone on the Asymmetrical RE050A tires and decided not to spend the money to change the manual after deciding on the Bridgestones. Or, then again, maybe they overlooked it.
The thing you always have to consider about the auto industry: it's all about the bottom line.

 

What are you talking about? The manual is correct.

asymmetric tires (i.e. RE050A's) - tires that have a different inside and outside tread which means they MUST be mounted on only the driver side or only the passenger side. They "roll" only one direction.

directional tires - these tires can be mounted on driver side or passenger side, but they "roll" only one direction as well.

symmetrical tires - these tires can be mounted on any corner of the car.

 

No, that is not correct. Asymmetrical tires have an "inside" and an "outside." This means they can be mounted on either side of the car. Go take a look. One section of the tread looks somewhat like an arrow. On one side of the car, the arrow faces up. On the other side of the car, the arrow faces down.

This is unlike a directional tire, in that the arrow pattern in the tread faces down on both sides of the car (when looking from the front). A directional tire will also have a "ROTATION" stamp on the side of the tire. Asymmetrical tires will be stamped "OUTSIDE."

 

I believe we have a winner..

 

Oops! You are correct. I was thinking of my G-force t/a kd's which I had on my other car. Those were asymmetric, but happened to be directional as well. It had "outside" and well as "direction" stamp on the tire.

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I noticed from the TireRack specs of this Bridgestone tire, that it has a spiral nylon belt. Is there any noticeable flatspotting when first driven in the morning or sitting for a few days. This was one the things I hated on the 3rd-gen TL.

 

Speaking of which.. I have one rear RE050A 245/45-R18 with about 2500mi if anyone wants to make me an offer. I cut a tire last month and no one had the Bridgestone in stock and I didn't want to have mis-matched tires on the car, so I replaced both rears.

I kept the good Bridgestone, but it doesn't match my other two rears now, so I'd just as soon sell it off as keep it.

 

timn99, I haven't noticed any flatspotting, but the roads around here are pretty rough. The rubber compound on these tires seems firmer than most high performance tires. Granted, I'm just using the fingernail test!

 

wheels are made by enkei

 

I was a little surprised that the potenza re050as weren't directional. Are there any asymmetrical tires that are directional? My only experience with asymmetrical tires was on my old integra gs-r with the dunlop sp5000s.

 

My Sport sedan was delivered with three RE050A and one RE040. Took me a couple of days to notice and it was the failed TPMS that tipped me off...

my mis-matched tires thread

 

Asymmetrical tires and directional tires are different. If a tire were both asymmetrical and directional, you would have to buy a unique tire for all 4 corners of the car. I have seen this on exotic cars, but it's not very common.

 

Well, the only reason we would need to buy a unique tire for all 4 corners of the car is because we have staggered sizes.

If the front and back were the same size, asymmetrical would be irrelevant since all passenger side tires would be identical and all driver side would be identical. It'd be no different than having plain directional tires other than the inability to perform a re-mount on opposite sides for rotation.

 

Dopey,
We already went through this. There are only two different 18" tires on our cars. The ones on the front (225's) are the same, and the ones on the back (245's) are the same.

 

Yeah. I wasn't thinking.
Even with staggered tires, with just directionals we're only looking at 2 unique tires.

My brain wasn't working.

But my original question still stands. Are there asymmetrical tires that are also directional? You mentioned on exotics. Are there any mass manufactured performance tires that are directional and asymmetric?