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Yesterday I had our local shop (trusted, good reputation) install new tires on my GT, a Michelin City Grip in front and a 140 Pilot City in the back. Today I was checking them and I noticed that the front one has both an arrow and label next to it that says "front" (see pic below).
Now, if the arrow indicates the direction of rotation (as tire arrows normally do), the tire is mounted correctly, but if the arrow refers to the front of the tire, it is backwards. Or does the "front" refer to the fact that this is a front tire? Does anyone know?
Forum member supplied image with no explanatory text
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Refers to direction of rotation. Of course if you rotate the wheel 180 degrees it will point towards the front of the tyre...

Best,

Mark
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MarkTheBlue wrote:
Refers to direction of rotation. Of course if you rotate the wheel 180 degrees it will point towards the front of the tyre...

Best,

Mark
Right, but then it would be in the opposite direction of rotation. I trust our shop and I thought it would be unlikely they made a mistake, but you never know. Just a bit thoughtless of Michelin to put the "front" label right next to and on the wrong side of the arrow. Thanks.
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No I meant spin the wheel half a turn, not take it off and turn it around. But looking at the pic I now get your point!

Front of scooter is to right of photo so tyre is correctly fitted.

Best,

Mark
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It can be confusing when one has to stand on their head to read the tire label.
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Fuzzy wrote:
It can be confusing when one has to stand on their head to read the tire label.
So that's what I did wrong! I usually turn the scoot upside down.
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Depends on how you interpret the arrow icon in the picture.

When I look at the negative space in the center of the icon I see a very clear arrow pointing to the left, indicating a clockwise rotation.

when I look at the positive space I see two stylized arrows pointing to the left.
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Agree Patrick but it looks clearer in this image:

External inline image provided by member with no explanatory text

taken from this thread, which should help....

Michelin City Grips - 1st impressions
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While there is obvious ambiguity that notation means that when the tire is used as a front tire the arrow indicates the direction of rotation. There may also be a reverse arrow saying "rear" for when used as a rear tire. Some directional treads, especially those with strong chevron or V patterns, will be directed in opposite directions on the front or rear wheel. The difference is the direction of traction applied. Generally the point of the V will be into the traction. On the rear the tire is powered and is applying traction to the pavement so the V will be pointing to the rear AT THE POINT WHERE IT MEETS THE PAVEMENT. On the front the pavement is applying traction to the tire so the V points to the rear at the pavement.

Some car tires take it one step further and are asymmetrical left/right. There a tire may only be used right front or left rear. Further complicated by whether it is a front wheel drive car or a rear wheel drive or all wheel drive. I guess conceivably there could be tires that could only be used in one position.

this is all giving me a headache; I need to lie down. Headache emoticon
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I originally thought this might be a spoof thread. If its not, then here is the answer -- The word Front refers to the mounting position of the tire. It a front tire.

The arrow shows the the correct rotation direction of the tire.

Now just to confuse things there are tire which can mount on either end. On these tires there may an arrow for each.

If you remove wheels to take to the shop for mounting, make sure you mark your wheels as to position (f/r) and rotation direction as they may not be completely familiar with your model.

P.
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Anyone with a 2011 300 Super should be able to tell you if the words Front and Rear appear as these seem to be standard fit...
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Thanks all, and especially Doug for pointing to the old thread, which i should have checked beforehand. So while I feel dumb not having searched the forum first, I feel a little better that the labeling on this tire is confusing to others as well, not just me. (I guess it's a wash as far as my IQ score is concerned.)

They just should have separated the "front" label from the rotation arrow, to make it clear that they refer to different things. Bad design, IMO.

Anyway, so far I am pretty happy with the new tires, and between the 140 in the back or the City Grip in front I definitely can feel a big difference in the turns.
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