Tires: Directional Tires, wheel drive car, directional tires

Question
The warranty was 40,000 miles. he looked it up in his book which also said that they were directional right next to the brand of tire. He really didn't show me to much in the book he just showed me that really quick and closed the book. But then he told me that just because it said they were directional tires doesn't mean they are. Which made absolutely no sense to me. I am trying to find out if they say directional next to the brand doesn't that usually mean they are directional?
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-----Question-----
I had a pair of tires put on my car about a year ago. I have put 24,500 miles on them. I just had two more tires put on and the mechanic doing this recent job noticed that my front tires I had put on a year ago said on the outside of them "Mount this side in". And they said I now need to replace those ones which are under warranty. I took my car back to the place who put them on and they said that they can only give me a discount on new tires. Because I can't remember if I had them rotated. But they wore down really quick it seems to me. Now I am not an expert but aren't your tires supposed to last more than 24,500 miles. Can you help me out? Am I being ripped off?
-----Answer-----
Jessie,

First, the Inside / outside mounting thing is all about wet traction, and while the tire shop should have done this correctly, it is not the source of any wear issue.

You should be aware that the front tires on a Front Wheel Drive car wear 2 1/2 times faster than the rears.  Had these tires been on the rear, you'd be looking at over 60,000 miles for the same amount of wear,  Combining the two gives you some fairly decent mileage.

But your issue is with the mileage warranty.  So what was the warranty?  Did you keep a copy of it when you bought the tires?  Does the warranty talk about rotation?  Can you document that you rotated the tires?

First, it doesn't sound like you got bad mileage considering, and second, if you want to have someone honor a warranty, you have to at least have some documentation to back up your claim.  Sorry, but this sounds like you are fighting a losing battle.  If I were you, I would accept their offer of a discount.

Answer
Jessie,

The issue about your wear has nothing to do with the directionality of the tires.  While it would be nice if the dealer would offer to help you with your next set (which I think he has), he is under no obligation to do so, since the tires apparently got almost 25,000 miles without rotation.