Are these tires directional or can they be flipped on the rim? I want to balance out my negative camber wear :awink:

Thanks,
Matt

i was thinking the same thing. they do have markings on the sidewall saying "this side faces outwards". i'm sure that the car will handle ok when flipped.

they do say "This side out" on them, but I'm going to flip mine.:dunno

The tires were so cheap that I think it'd be really hard to justify the cost of flipping them on your wheels unless you could get it done for free.

Yeah, I noticed that too on the side wall. I am worried about handling though...I will probably use them at a track day or 2. If these tires were still available I would not worry about flipping them and buy new ones, but they are not :( . I have plenty of tread left and only like 6k on them so far, but I just want to keep them some what even so hopefully they will pass inspection next summer.

John, mine are not nearly as worn as yours, how many miles are on yours?

Mine have been "flipped". Still handle and feel fine. No noise or anything wierd..

I've driven them through 2 autoXs, and a round trip to Richmond with a 500 mile TSD rally, in the rain (drizzle to down pour), while in Richmond.. :D

-Saint

Jacob, $90 to flip or $500 for new ones?

Jim @ Tirerack said they are asymetrical and have a different outer and inner shoulder. So basically, he says no to flipping.

:dunno

Flip 'em. It's not like they could get much worse in the wet, anyway.

Originally posted by document
Flip 'em. It's not like they could get much worse in the wet, anyway.

:lol::slowturn:

Originally posted by document
Flip 'em. It's not like they could get much worse in the wet, anyway.

No joke. :clap:


Loved my AVSi's when I had em; only lasted 3 months though :dunno

Originally posted by vjlax18
Jacob, $90 to flip or $500 for new ones?

But you're spending $90 on a set of tires that will likely have a shoulder block worn out up front at least. I know my front tires are pretty cupped from negative camber plus autocross and track days. So sure, you'll get a month or two extra wear - but wouldn't you want to get something REALLY baller like some Kumho MXs. ;)


The only time I could really justify flipping a tire would be an R-compound, or something bling-bling like an S03 that is having very abnormal wear.

I dont know about you guys, but I think these tires suck. They were rock hard and slipped all over the place. Replace them with a good tire before this happens to you.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=129499&highlight=oops

Originally posted by CABimmer
I dont know about you guys, but I think these tires suck. They were rock hard and slipped all over the place. Replace them with a good tire before this happens to you.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=129499&highlight=oops

First off, damn that sucks! Hopefully your happy now with the new setup..

But as too the tires, well you say yourself once that they're bald, and then that they're down to the wear marks.. So, how is it the tires fault that they failed when they were worn out?

The AVSi's I have that are flipped still have plenty of tread through the middle and what was the outer edge. The shoulders on the otherside side are worn, but they're still holding up fine, even after 2 autoX, and probably 1500-2000 street miles...

Obviously if the tires are bald through the middle, and there's not good tread left anywhere, they're not worth flipping, otherwise...

-Saint

They were down to the wear bars, but were not bald. The rubber was just rock hard and very slippery.

:confused:

Originally posted by CABimmer
I dont know about you guys, but I think these tires suck. They were rock hard and slipped all over the place. Replace them with a good tire before this happens to you.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=129499&highlight=oops


AVSi's were awesome tires. I was upset when they went out of production. They were one of the best, stickiest dry street tires for more than a decade.

Not to flame, but just because you lost the ass-end in your M3 and swiped a curb, cracking an RK, doesn't make the AVSi a lousy tire. It just means the driver needs more practice. :wave: no harm no foul.

Used the AVSi as a rain tire at the San Diego National Tour last year. Stuck amazingly well, even though there was probably about an inch of standing water over most of the course. They allowed my codriver to put down one of the top SM times on Saturday - too bad they threw out all of the first day's times because of the event running late...

Jim

I didnt loose my ass end. I lost all traction on the front. Fact is the tires were rock hard and had very little traction. They were not new tires being used in the rain, they were old worn out hard as rock tires with no traction. All im saying is that If I had another set and they were down enough to take the time to flip them on the wheels I would just trash them and get some new skins.

Your tires were worn down too far, but worn evenly. ///Mracer and I have the same problem. We are both running > -3* of camber up front. We have much more tread on the outside of the tire then the inside. So flipping ours would be worth it.

Sorry, and I don't mean to be a prick, but I am...If you understeered into a curb in the rain, you were probably going too fast.:dunno

We are killing a dead horse here. Tires were bald. (My bad). It was a nice sunny 75 deg day. I had huge understeer from hard bald tires. I crashed. With newer tires I would not have crashed. thats all.

Originally posted by CABimmer
We are killing a dead horse here. Tires were bald. (My bad). It was a nice sunny 75 deg day. I had huge understeer from hard bald tires. I crashed. With newer tires I would not have crashed. thats all.

I don't think she's dead yet.


You overcooked a corner on tires that you knew had very little adhesion.....still sounds like driver error.

Fresh, properly broken in AVSi's will stick well even with the amount of tread yours had.


Sorry if I'm sounding like a dick also...

Hey, flip your tires. Have fun.

Originally posted by Jim O.
Used the AVSi as a rain tire at the San Diego National Tour last year. Stuck amazingly well, even though there was probably about an inch of standing water over most of the course. They allowed my codriver to put down one of the top SM times on Saturday - too bad they threw out all of the first day's times because of the event running late...

Jim
I can only assume that you either had a very grippy road (parking lot, whatever) surface and/or weren't going very fast (ie, typical autocross speeds).

I haven't really found the AVSi's to be treacherous in the rain except at higher speeds. I don't know how I'd feel about driving hard on any inch of standing water, but they're fine for the street. I've had the back step out on a large radius highway on ramp at around 65, though, and on a road course in the wet they're amazingly slippery. The problem isn't hydroplaning. They're perfectly safe at high speeds in lots of water, as long as you're going straight, in my experience. The problem is mostly cornering, and mostly corner exit. It seems like they'll hold a line in a corner okay with stabilizing throttle, but once you go much past that all lateral grip disappears from the rear of the car.

Pretty nice tire for tracking in the dry, though, I must agree, and especially if you got them at the close out price. Too bad I got a big nail in the shoulder of one of mine.

Everyone that has them now, paid $63/each for them... who cares if they stick at 65 on and off ramp in the rain?

Check that...

Why in the Hell were you going 65 on a ramp in the rain?:confused:

yep, $63 a tire :buttrock

I plan on using my victo's at the track now so ultimate grip for my street tires does not mean much to me. THe $63/tire does :D

Originally posted by document
I can only assume that you either had a very grippy road (parking lot, whatever) surface and/or weren't going very fast (ie, typical autocross speeds). Nope, not really. Typical San Diego course - big, fast, open. That day had a big third gear portion all the way down the hill and through the finish lights - we were well into third gear (65+) in the fast sections...And after tweaking our shock settings and adjusting the air pressures, the Yokes worked great.

Jim

Originally posted by vjlax18
Check that...

Why in the Hell were you going 65 on a ramp in the rain?:confused:

Heh. Well, I wasn't paying much attention. I was just kind of cruising it, compared to the way I used to take this particular ramp in the dry. Like I said, I really liked the AVSi in the dry as long as I didn't overheat it -- well worth $64 (what I paid).

Jim: I'm surprised you had such good luck with the tires in the wet. If you don't mind, what kind of air pressures did you wind up running?

I think we were running somewhere around 34-36 in the front, and 29-31 in the rear. But I don't remember for sure - this was something like 6 months ago. Also, the car is probably setup differently than most, and has had a lot of tweaking and tuning.

Jim

AVSi's are a very old compound that doesn't tolerate heat cycles or age very well from what I've seen.

Most of the tires still left around are visibly tough and "slick." I still don't see the allure of paying to flip the tires then needing new ones quite soon. I think it'd be cheaper to just run them till they get bald in a spot then get new tires. Also, it seems you're running too much negative camber if you are making the insides bald.

Amen! Finally someone agrees with me.

The term "too much" can not be applied to negative camber for the front of our cars;)

And when you do not have $600 to spend on new tires, the $90 sounds great. I flipped my last set of tires and got another 8-9k out of them.

yep, if you are into competing with your bimmer, than A LOT of negative camber is well worth the uneven tire wear. This is why I bought $63 tires and not expensive S03's or something like that. If you want real performance out of tires, buy R's :evil2 Who cares if I can not take an on ramp at 90 mph. I push the handling limits on my car at auto-x courses and open tracks, not on the street. I guess if I was a street racer I would be concerned about ultimate grip for street tires.

I flipped my last set of tires (khumo 712's) and doubled the mileage out of them. Oh, and who pays $90 to mount tires? The most I have ever pad was $60. Typically it is $12-15 per tire around here.

$22.5 per wheel/tire in Baltimore...

wow :eek: , I am glad that I do not live in B-more. I get my R's flipped for $10/tire from a racer in Mechanicsburg :D I guess I will see him about flipping my AVSi's.