Directional tyre as a spare ...

[Sundance]

You may see where I'm going with this.  I have 4 directional tyres (Avon AS7s) fitted with a fifth as a spare and I was wondering if anyone has experienced what changes in handling result when having to temporarily (obviously) fit a directional tyre on its 'wrong side' and whether or not it's disconcerting. 🤔

[Bluemarlin]

If it was just to get me home, or to a tyre shop, then I'd probably find it no more disconcerting than driving with a spacesaver wheel and tyre.

[LenT]

14 hours ago, Sundance said:

You may see where I'm going with this.  I have 4 directional tyres (Avon AS7s) fitted with a fifth as a spare and I was wondering if anyone has experienced what changes in handling result when having to temporarily (obviously) fit a directional tyre on its 'wrong side' and whether or not it's disconcerting. 🤔

Well a directional tyre incorrectly fitted will pose a greater risk of aquaplaning, will have a generally reduced level of road holding and will be noisier.

It might even be an MOT fail.

Fortunately, it’s not something I’ve personally experienced but - as I suspect reflects your own opinion - if driven with restraint, especially on a wet road, should get you to a tyre shop.

If anything, this scenario rather promotes the cause of the SpaceSaver!!

[Sundance]

As was implicit in my OP it would never be my intention - as it should never be anybody's intention - to drive any further than absolutely necessary with a directional tyre fitted 'wrong side'.  I was just interested to see if anybody had actually done it.

Funnily enough, when buying my 4x AS7s I did contemplate whether it might be sensible to buy a spacesaver (165/90/18 available on eBay for £90) but as they're not provided as an option when standard (I don't think) I did wonder whether that might be for a reason.  I also didn't really want to spend more money on a fifth tyre when I had a perfectly legal & serviceable full size available.

Of course if I suffer a puncture on the correct side for my spare then there's no issue 😄 - so it's a 50-50 chance! 🤞

Finally yes, I do believe that an incorrectly fitted directional tyre would be an MoT fail in the same way that a fitted spacesaver would represent an MoT fail.

[Cotswold Pete]

According to ProTyre it is not dangerous, but will impact wet road handling.

WIll be an MOT fail if the tester notices it.

Never thought about this until reading this post, as directionals offer better performance, but as this post shows, your spare is going to correct for one side of the car only.

Last time I ever needed to get the spare running was over 20 years ago

 

[Linas.P]

I am sure that whatever impact it has... it is still much better than spacesaver. Obviously, it will not perform as well as it should, but not worse than 3 inches wide "bike" tyre. So as spare I believe it is completely adequate.