Differentiating front/rear, left/right tires?

Hey.. i bought used tires(with wheels) for my truck and i'm planning on putting them on later today, my question is, how can i differentiate which one is front/rear - left/right, and to what extend does it matter?

thanks in advance!

 

Tires can be directional but it depends on the tire. With most tires, it doesn't matter.

 

yeah the direction i i can easily find with the arrow that's on the tire, i though maybe the right tire would have some king of wear that the left didn't, which could then cause an issue or imbalance if not reinstalled on the right side..... hehehe anyway maybe i'm just complicating things

 

If they are directional then there is two lefts and two rights, you can't screw up the side unless you put the arrow the wrong way. So your only concern would be front to back, since that's the only way you can rotate directional tires.

 

The rears will be more flat and square at the edges vs the fronts which will be more rolled on the edges. May be very tough to determine though. I wouldnt worry to much about it if you can't tell.

 

We just went through this recently with another member...if the used tires you got are Dunlops, the "arrow" means nothing; it is just the Dunlop logo.

Maybe tell us the make and model of the tires you got and we'll be able to tell you for sure what you need to do.

 

If I understand correctly he is wondering about tire wear and rotation from the former vehicle for when he mounts them on his truck.

 

Radial tires will take a "set" in the cords based on their direction of rotation. it's not visible, but reversing the rotation can lead to weakening of the cord over time. That's why a lot of places nowadays just do a 4 tire rotation, front to back on the same side.

 

If they were rotated correctly by the previous owner, it doesn't matter. He did mention they have "arrows". My guess is he got a set of factory Dunlop take-offs. Like I said, if OP tells us what he has, we'll know for sure.