[AutoXGTR]

My front OEM Bridgestone runflats wore out at about 10000 miles but my rears just got changed at 16,100 miles and three years. I used 32-33 psi in the rears

I have some used front runflat tires on right now with the inside flipped to the outside so that the thicker tread faces the quick wearing inner side. After about 4000 miles so far so good and street use is fine no problems, grip and handling are same as stock.

 

[evo911]

my dunlops lasted me 8000 lol

 

[wheelman76]

don't the bridgestones have an "outside only" designation on them? I'm assuming you're justifying doing that b/c you're only street driving?

 

[AutoXGTR]

don't the bridgestones have an "outside only" designation on them? I'm assuming you're justifying doing that b/c you're only street driving?

Yes, all GTR runflats have one side marked outside but when you do that in the fronts you will wear out the inner edge easily with just street driving. About 5000 to 7000 miles for many owners. Which is what happened to me in about 10000 miles on my original front runflats even being very careful. Doesn't seem to be helped much if you have street alignment either- still get inner edge wear easily.

So to extend the life of the front tires I flipped them so the inside small tread blocks are on the outside and the big blocks with lots more tread are facing the inner side and this has worked out.

The compromise is you get less tread for the outer edges which is less good on a high speed gradual turn but unless you are on a long track it won't be noticeable for most owners.

I do drive autocross with the fronts flipped inside out on stock runflats and I do very well on times so no great disadvantage there. I usually can post the fastest time of any car on street tires and within about 1 to 1.5 seconds slower than when using my R compound wider tires on the same course.

 

[MC]

my front dunlops arnt gonna make it to 5K

 

[jimmyp]

11000 on stock tires and still going good, should go to about 13000-14000 befor the insides are done.

 

[sleepdoc]

I may flip mine when I get up to 6k miles...

seems like a good idea...

 

[davidm_sh]

yah so far with 3 sets of fronts and 2 sets of rear Brigdestone I have noticed that I can get about 2x the mileage out of the rears as compared to the fronts. So about 7000 miles on fronts = 14000 on rears.

 

[HKBruin]

I have done the same flipping on my front tires at 12,000 miles. So far so good. I hope the dealer won't give me a hard time when I bring my car in for POS next month.

 

[Ancientryebread]

I know from Nissan the Bridgestone runflats are going to be discontinued for the Dunlops. FYI Least from 2012 up

 

[AutoXGTR]

I have done the same flipping on my front tires at 12,000 miles. So far so good. I hope the dealer won't give me a hard time when I bring my car in for POS next month.

So far I have not had any problems from my dealership about having the front tires flipped. It's easy to see they are reversed.

I don't notice any problems with rear tires being normal outer side facing out and front tires flipped in terms of handling- wet or dry is fine. But wear is better. I would not bother flipping the rear tires- they do well enough as is.

 

[yearn2burn]

By flipping the tires with inside edges out up front, I think you're defeating the purpose of even having a gtr. The grip should be significantly less in front with resultant understear when you push it. One thing that seemed to reduce tire wear for me on the inside lip is to run the pressures around 35 psi. In theory, that should help spread the load off the very inner edge of the tires by rounding up the tire profile a little.

 

[NJNYCGTR]

I believe this came up before and the bigger concern wasn't all out dry performance, but the loss of wet traction for on/off track purposes.

 

[SS_GTR]

13,500 so far on my fronts/rears without changing sides. Good thing is my wheels/tires should come in within a month.

 

[celsius]

By flipping the tires with inside edges out up front, I think you're defeating the purpose of even having a gtr. The grip should be significantly less in front with resultant understear when you push it. One thing that seemed to reduce tire wear for me on the inside lip is to run the pressures around 35 psi. In theory, that should help spread the load off the very inner edge of the tires by rounding up the tire profile a little.

I always thought that the tread pattern on a tire was more for wet conditions, helping disperse water away. So, I would be careful driving the car in wet conditions with the tires flipped.

 

[AutoXGTR]

I believe this came up before and the bigger concern wasn't all out dry performance, but the loss of wet traction for on/off track purposes.

Thanks for the comments on flipping- I agree, there is potential loss of wet traction for the front tires. Think about this- When I did have the normal front tire orientation I noticed that the front inner tread blocks were wearing out in a hurry. In no time the separate blocks loss their pattern and resembled a worn large block/slick surface with minimal partial side ribs- in that condition how well do you think that tread pattern works to dissipate water effectively?

I have driven with stock runflats for autocross using the normal tire orientation (new and worn) and with the flipped front tires (newish and worn) and I don't notice any real difference under dry conditions. Even with mild wet conditions there seems to be little difference. My run times are within about 1.5 seconds of using R compound tires on a 30-35 second course. This is using swift springs and stock swaybars and with whiteline adjustable front and rear swaybars.

I have driven on the street under wet conditions using the flipped front tires and have not noticed any loss of traction when driving at reasonable speeds.

Due to the lowered suspension and adjustable swaybars there is minimal understeer that can be controlled during performance driving and literally no understeer in street driving under normal conditions (using flipped front tires).

See
http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires_101/construction/tread/

The Asymmetrical tread pattern on all GTR runflats is designed for allowing increased stability in cornering (due to larger outer tread blocks) and better dissipation of water (smaller inner blocks).

If you are tracking your GTR then you'd be better off using the normal tire orientation. If you only street drive then you can choose to flip the front tires to get up to twice the tread wear and save a little on replacing the front tires so soon. If you live in a dry climate then you have less to worry about with loss of wet traction- however you can easily drive in the wet but you do have to use caution and be reasonable.