are Nitto tires unidirectional?

[tom h]

Judging from the asymmetric tread pattern, are Nitto tires labelled to require rotation in 1 direction only?

This might suck, as lack of left/right tire rotation might lead to uneven wear patterns -- by "rotation" here I mean "swapping" tires to even out tread life.

Under mostly dry conditions, is there a problem in running tires "backwards" from their optimal turning direction?

Or am I making too big a deal out of tire swapping in general? I've never owned unidirectional tires, so I dunno

 

[salvageV6]

Yes the Drag Radials are uni-directional.

They only last about 10-12K miles so why bother with rotating them.

When I had 4 Dunlop D40M2's on the car unidirectional in 235/60/15 size I just did front to rear rotations every year when changing back from snow tires.

They lasted 35-40K miles a set.

 

[JToups386]

Yes, they're uni-directional, and NO, you would not want to run them in the opposite direction! I run Nitto Drag Radials on my daily driven LS1 Z28, and I really like em'! They've yielded me mid 1.7 60' times. However, as mentioned, you won't get a lot of miles out of them if you spin them at all. I've been averaging about 10k per set, give or take a little. The nice thing about them is, they work great in the rain, as opposed to the BFG Drag Radials. The BFG's hook a little better on dry pavement though. However, keep in mind, you are not going to see good results at the track with the Nittos. They hold up great to my 345 rwtq on my Camaro, but a TR making 400+ rqtq will fry them at the track! I would only recommend them for street use, since they do hook better than a regular radial,,, but when you're at the track you'll really want M&H's or true slicks.

 

[Dan Thompson]

There is a big fat direction arrow on the sidewall.

Mine last about 15k because I am a more mature driver

 

[JToups386]

Originally posted by Dan Thompson
There is a big fat direction arrow on the sidewall.

Mine last about 15k because I am a more mature driver

Well, yes Dan, maturity does come into play on tire wear. However, so does horse power and torque! If you can launch without spinning them, then they obviously will last longer, but it also means you're probably not making a whole lot of power.
When I get around 10-12k out of a set of Nittos, that includes several trips to the track, which takes a severe amount of life off them, if you want to get em' sticky enough to not spin. I got 12k outta my first set of Nittos, and am looking like I'll get more out of the current set. But, on average, most people get between 10-12k.
I think my first car had 50k tires on it, and I managed to get about 20k out of them, but that was 17 years ago too.