Bought used Focus - tires reversed

As the problem was caught before any damage occurred, I would let it slide.

Rob

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"Rock> I bought a used 2000 Focus ZX3 from a dealer about a week ago and two of

Just simple questions for you -- why did you need an alignment after only having the car a week?

Did putting the tires on the right direction have a different feel to them from when you test drove the car? Ie. pulling to the left or right while braking or accelerating or a weird sense when cornering?

BTW, I would take the bill back to the dealer ASAP and get him to pay for it, even used cars have a dealer warranty (90 days???).

Tirerack.com did a test on unidirectional tires mounted in the wrong direction recently.. I got the results of the test in their e-newsletter. Much to my surprise the test results showed that the performance differences experienced in running a unidirectional tire backwards may be a bit over blown... You can sign up for their newsletter at

This problem (unidirectional tires mounted in the wrong direction) came up on "Car Talk with Click and Clack" recently. Their opinion was that running such a tire backward didn't cause more damage than running it forward. You wouldn't get optimal wet traction, but the tire shouldn't have a blowout or anything of that nature.

Hi Benjamin.

I was paraphrasing the original poster's characterization of the situation. I share the view that running unidirectional tires backwards will cause no harm. I also believe that, so long after the fact, it would be unfruitful to complain to the dealer.

In any event the crisis seems to have passed.

Cheers,

Rob

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"Benjam>