Tires: white walls, directional tires, season tires

Question
Hi Barry,
I recently purchased all weather tires that are high-speed balanced and put on the car.  I noticed that these tires are white walls, but the white wall is on the inside.  Does that mean the traction treads are running backwards?  Won't that affect the traction, miles per gallon, road noise, etc.?
Thank you,
Randy


Answer
Randy,

Practically 100% of the all season tires are non-directional and symmetrical.  That means it doesn't matter how you mount them, they will look and act the same.  In fact it is pretty common for all season tires to be made with white walls in the higher aspect ratios with the idea that if a black wall is to be showing, the white would be turned to the inside - just like yours.

The way to tell if you have something other than a non-directional or symmetrical tire is to look on the sidewall for an arrow or lettering the says "This Side Out".

If you have an arrow, you have directional tires, and the arrow has to point in the direction of rotation.  These types of tires are directional for wet and snow traction enhancements.  Mounting them incorrectly will only affects those 2 properties.

If you have "This Side Out", you have asymmetrical tires and they have to be mounted with the proper side out.  These types of tires feature enhanced traction, wear, and handling.  Mounting these incorrectly affects only those 3 properties.

It possible to have both directional and assymmetrical, but this is rare.

The other way to tell if you have non-directional, symmetrical tires is to look at them.  If they look the same side to side, and it doesn't matter whether you look at them from the front or the rear - the angles will always be the same direction, then you have non-directional symmetrical tires.

Hope this helps.