I have 245/40/18 Michelin Pilot Alpins on my S8. I just noticed that my local tire retailer put the two driver side tires on incorrectly upon the winter tire swapover about 2000 miles ago. The tires are mounted so the direction arrow is backwords on the two drivers tires and correct on the two passenger tires. Should I expect there to be tire damage at this point due to the error?

thanks!

I seriously doubt there is any tire *damage*.

The reason for the directional tread is to help the tire shed water/snow from the grooves and still allow for an agressive tread pattern. If mounted incorrectly, the tire will perform horribly in the wet, possibly hydroplaning and causing a loss of control. also, the tire will be noticably more noisy and may have erratic handling characteristics even on dry pavement.

I'm surprised you didn't notice it right away.

You might have a little uneven wear compared to the other two - but should not be a big deal IMHO.

I'd still let the tire place know they *ucked-up and see if they will do anything (free rotation, summer swap-out, etc) in the spring.

The only disadvantage is that wet weather traction will be very slightly reduced for the tires rotating "backwards". You can have those two tires remounted correctly and expect no short or long term problems.

<img src="http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/michelin/mi_pilot_alpin_pa2_h_ci2_l.jpg">