Well I'm bored stiff at work with nothing to do. Anyway I cleaned my recently removed wheels last night which have Michelin Latitude Sport tyres fitted. Now I was marking them up as which were front and rears and which side they came off so I could put them back on the same hub they came off of. I noticed that for want of a better phrase the shaped groove that's on the outermost of the tyre (outside face) face one way. So for example if I have the tyres one the LHS the shaped groove faces the rear of the car and the RHS will have them facing the front.

So for the knowledgeable out there how does this affect the grip and feel if at all?.

Steve.  2006 2.7 TDV6 HSE in Cairns Blue.

Have the tyres been fitted the correct way round as I think the latitude sport is a Asymmetric tyre and there should be a marking on the tyre saying "Outside" which obviously goes to the outer face of the wheel rim although the rim can be fitted either on the O/S or N/S of the vehicle as long as "outside" is to the outside it is fine.

Cheers
Col

Yep all 4 tyres have OUTSIDE on the outside. I'll try and post a photo for a better explanation.

Steve. 2006 2.7 TDV6 HSE in Cairns Blue.

Here we go. So if you look at the groove and its orientation by the word outside. Now imagine that's fitted on the LHS of the car going forward. If you fit the same wheel/tyres on the RHS (or vis versa) the grooves go the otherway?


Steve. 2006 2.7 TDV6 HSE in Cairns Blue.

I have just had a look at the 20" P Zero's on my F type Jag which is hibernating. All tyres have "Outside" & as you say the grooves face forward on the offside & rearwards on the nearside another marketing gimmick perhaps

Hi,
more to do with the tread pattern/grooves and compound so although it seems to be the pattern is going one way on the N/S and the other way on the O/S, you still have the "outer" compound and tread pattern on the outside of the tyre, as in your pic

that's as long as you don't have a "rotation" arrow on the tyre as well  Porsche Cayenne 2022
gone Porsche Cayenne 2020
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!!

The inside shoulder is designed with different block and groove densities to those on the outer shoulder. This is because the shoulders do different jobs, or rather are designed to deal with different conditions. Hence the different look across the tread and hence the "outside" marker. The direction of the grooves is less important here than might be expected.

The inside shoulder is designed to provide wet grip hence the greater number of grooves. The outer shoulder for dry road grip when pressing on hence the larger blocks with fewer grooves. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed