The tread patterns on the tyre is not just for style. These patterns help in draining the water out to make your driving safe from hydroplaning / aquaplaning –

Hydroplaning is a process where a layer of water causes tyre fails to contact on the road (because the layer of water is between the tyre and the road). The tyre slips instead of gripping the road. It may occur if you drive through a pool of deep water on the road.

Does the pattern matter? Yes, it is.

It affects your decision on purchasing tyres as these patterns have different performances. Purchasing a wrong tyre tread pattern mismatch with your requirements can affect your driving experience, especially a particular tread pattern external rolling noise level is so large that it can agitate you.

Learn the basic and understand more about the passenger vehicle tread pattern below:

Asymmetric Tyre Tread Pattern

The most common tread pattern found in tyres. Look at the tyre tread and draw a line in the middle, you will find the left side of the tread is different from the right side of the tread.

Asymmetric pattern has an indicator of “OUTSIDE” and “INSIDE” imprinted on the each of the sidewall.

According to tyre manufacturers, the “OUTSIDE” section is manufactured harder for cornering. It got a large contact area for better handling and stability. The “INSIDE” section is softer. It helps in water drainage and lowering driving noise.

Most Summer Tyres have asymmetric pattern. Some of the All Season Tyres offer asymmetric pattern as well. Here’s examples commonly purchased:

Pros

• Best in cornering
• Best in control and handling
• Best in performance for braking
• Very good stability

Cons

• if one side of the tyre wears off faster, you are not advised to flip “OUTSIDE” to inside for driving. (technically speaking)

You can install this tyre pattern at any position of the vehicle. A very interesting fact about this asymmetric pattern is installing the tyre on the left, the tread pattern position is different from installing on the right.

Directional Tyre Tread Pattern

Directional tyres have a little wider and deeper sipes. The sipes go in one way on the tread, makes it easy to drain the water out. The water goes in from the front, following the sipes to the back to evacuate the water. This tread pattern is the best tread design for water evacuation, reduces the risk of hydroplaning.

Most all-weather tyres and winter tyres use this pattern for better snow evacuation. Some truck tyre also designed in a directional pattern for better mud, snow, and water displacement.

Pros

• Best in water evacuation
• Most tyre models can swap from front to rear, or flip the tyre to install from right to left.

Cons

• Generally getting very noisy after some time
• Some particular models specify it can only install on the left side and right side. Technically not allowed to flip the tyre.

Although tyres like Yokohama V701 is marked as having “A” rank in external rolling noise in EU Tyre label and Thailand Tyre Label, its noise can be really high after driving for some time. A number of customers feedback that the tyres are too noisy like fighter jet that they decide to replace them after driven for 40% of the tyres.

On the flipside of the coin, the V701 wet performance is very good in return and earned a lot of loyalty fans.

One of the reasons why directional tyre tread pattern is normally noisy due to more and deeper sipes. When air flow through, sipes can disrupt the airflow, causing whistling or humming sound.

Symmetric Tyre Tread Pattern

It is rarely found nowadays in passenger vehicle tyres, but commonly found in commercial vehicle tyres, including light goods vehicle tyres (aka light truck tyres).

If you draw a line in the middle, the left side tread pattern is the same as the right side.

The biggest advantage of this tread pattern is the high mileage it can offer to drivers. Places like Hong Kong and Singapore commonly have an issue of tyre one side wear off. In this case, symmetric tyre tread pattern allows you to dismount and uninstall the tyre, flip to another side and install back to the vehicle.

One important thing to take note of this flipping is driver should do it before the tyre wears off 50% of the depth to keep the tyre performance standard. I saw some customers flip it only when the tyre almost wears off its tread. Once the tread has worn off, the tyre has lost a big portion of the wet performance. Tyre slip will come in.

Pros:

• Low noise of all tyre tread patterns
• High mileage
• No limitation on installation

Cons:

• Performance not as good as asymmetric and directional

Conclusion

Based on your driving habit and road conditions, you need to prioritize your requirements to find the corresponding tyre tread pattern. The table below sums up the three tread patterns to assist your purchase decision.

Ask yourself, no one knows better than you, not even the technician.

	Asymmetric	Directional	Symmetric
Tread Pattern Design	Tread design is different for the outside and inside (or left and right if you draw a line in the middle)	Tread design faces one direction	Tread design is the same for the outside and inside (or left and right)
Tyre install position on the rim	“OUTSIDE” on the sidewall must face outward of the rim	No Limitation	No Limitation
Tyre install position on the vehicle	No Limitation	Must follow the direction (arrow) of the tyre. If the arrow goes to the left, it needs to be installed on the left.	No Limitation
Dry Performance	Best	Good	Average
Wet Performance	Best	Good	Average
Water drainage	Good	Best	Average
Noise level	Good	Worst	Best
Mileage Used	Depending on tyre models	Average – Good	Best

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