I had new tires put on my Suzuki 1400 last year. The front tire is
wearing strangely. The row of tread left of center is wearing down. Not
on the right and not on the center. What's up with that? It's like
I'm always traveling in a left circle but I'm not. I checked the
pressure and it was a little low so I put in the correct amount.
Rodney Kelp wrote:
>I had new tires put on my Suzuki 1400 last year. The front tire is
>wearing strangely.
No, it isn't strange at all. We all get the same left side wear on the front
tire, unless we only ride straight up.
>The row of tread left of center is wearing down. Not
>on the right and not on the center. What's up with that?
When you turn a motorcycle to the left on American roads, you can see further
around the turn, so you're more confident and you lean further and use more
throttle and cause the tire to scrub scrub the rubber off that portion of the
tire.
When you turn right, you use less lean angle and throttle and the road is
crowned for water to run off, so you don't corner as hard to the right.
Motorcycle tires corner in two modes. When you lean the motorcycle less than
about 25 degrees, you in the camber thrust mode. The tire pushes against the
road and you go around the turn.
When you lean the motorcycle past 25 degrees, the cornering force comes from
what car magazine writers call "slip angles" and Bridgestone calls "tail
working" where the rubber strands are distorted by the tire scrubbing at an
angle to the intended direction of travel and they push back and make the
vehicle corner.
And, I haven't even mentioned tread block distortion and cupping. As a tire
rolls, the leading edge of the tread block hits the pavement first, is
compressed, and a little bit of rubber is scrubbed off. Then the back of the
tread block touches the pavement and is worn less.
Over time, the left side of your tire will begin to look unevenly worn. This
is cupping and scalloping.
>It's like I'm always traveling in a left circle but I'm not.
No, you're turning the tight circle in 90-degree arcs.
>I checked the pressure and it was a little low so I put in the correct amount.
The air pressure listed in your owner's manual is what is recommended for
straight up riding. When you corner past 25 degrees of lean angle, the load
on the tire increases exponentially.
You might need 15% more tire pressure at 25 degrees lean angle, and you would
need 41.4% more pressure at a 45 degree lean angle.
But, if you used that much more tire pressure, the motorcycle would ride very
rough when it was straight up.
Motorcycle racers who go around the track at high lean angles don't use extra
tire pressure. They use *less* tire pressure because they want the tire to
heat up and stick. Race tracks are smooth and have abrasive pavement and the
tire will wear out faster on the side that has the most high speed corners in
the direction the track goes.
For instance, tires used on Willow Springs will wear out on the right side
and the left will hardly be touched.
We had one guy in here complaining bitterly about BMW's supposedly "crappy"
telelever front fork. The telelever is very compliant and his front tires
wore evenly on the left side, just as if he had been on a race track, going
around in all left turns.
Nothing would convince the guy that even left side tire wear without cupping
was normal for the design...
--
Message posted via MotorcycleKB.com
http://www.motorcyclekb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/bike/200708/1
Albrecht via MotorcycleKB.com wrote:
> Rodney Kelp wrote:
>> I had new tires put on my Suzuki 1400 last year. The front tire is
>> wearing strangely.
>
> No, it isn't strange at all. We all get the same left side wear on the front
> tire, unless we only ride straight up.
>
>> The row of tread left of center is wearing down. Not
>> on the right and not on the center. What's up with that?
>
> When you turn a motorcycle to the left on American roads, you can see further
> around the turn, so you're more confident and you lean further and use more
> throttle and cause the tire to scrub scrub the rubber off that portion of the
> tire.
>
> When you turn right, you use less lean angle and throttle and the road is
> crowned for water to run off, so you don't corner as hard to the right.
>
> Motorcycle tires corner in two modes. When you lean the motorcycle less than
> about 25 degrees, you in the camber thrust mode. The tire pushes against the
> road and you go around the turn.
>
> When you lean the motorcycle past 25 degrees, the cornering force comes from
> what car magazine writers call "slip angles" and Bridgestone calls "tail
> working" where the rubber strands are distorted by the tire scrubbing at an
> angle to the intended direction of travel and they push back and make the
> vehicle corner.
>
> And, I haven't even mentioned tread block distortion and cupping. As a tire
> rolls, the leading edge of the tread block hits the pavement first, is
> compressed, and a little bit of rubber is scrubbed off. Then the back of the
> tread block touches the pavement and is worn less.
>
> Over time, the left side of your tire will begin to look unevenly worn. This
> is cupping and scalloping.
>
>> It's like I'm always traveling in a left circle but I'm not.
>
> No, you're turning the tight circle in 90-degree arcs.
>
>> I checked the pressure and it was a little low so I put in the correct amount.
>
> The air pressure listed in your owner's manual is what is recommended for
> straight up riding. When you corner past 25 degrees of lean angle, the load
> on the tire increases exponentially.
>
> You might need 15% more tire pressure at 25 degrees lean angle, and you would
> need 41.4% more pressure at a 45 degree lean angle.
>
> But, if you used that much more tire pressure, the motorcycle would ride very
> rough when it was straight up.
>
> Motorcycle racers who go around the track at high lean angles don't use extra
> tire pressure. They use *less* tire pressure because they want the tire to
> heat up and stick. Race tracks are smooth and have abrasive pavement and the
> tire will wear out faster on the side that has the most high speed corners in
> the direction the track goes.
>
> For instance, tires used on Willow Springs will wear out on the right side
> and the left will hardly be touched.
>
> We had one guy in here complaining bitterly about BMW's supposedly "crappy"
> telelever front fork. The telelever is very compliant and his front tires
> wore evenly on the left side, just as if he had been on a race track, going
> around in all left turns.
>
> Nothing would convince the guy that even left side tire wear without cupping
> was normal for the design...
>
Would it be a good idea to remove and reverse the front tire yearly or
after so many miles?
Rodney Kelp wrote:
> Would it be a good idea to remove and reverse the front tire yearly or
> after so many miles?
No. http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/infocenter_faq.asp?id=7
--
'01 SV650SK1 '99 EX250-F13 '98 ZG1000-A13
OMF #7
> Albrecht via MotorcycleKB.com wrote:
>>
>> Motorcycle racers who go around the track at high lean angles don't use
>> extra
>> tire pressure. They use *less* tire pressure because they want the tire
>> to
>> heat up and stick. Race tracks are smooth and have abrasive pavement and
>> the
>> tire will wear out faster on the side that has the most high speed
>> corners in
>> the direction the track goes.
>>
>> For instance, tires used on Willow Springs will wear out on the right
>> side
>> and the left will hardly be touched.
>>
http://groups.msn.com/mctrippics/oneofakind.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoIDs3
Here's an image of what he's talking about. The right side looks almost
untouched.
--
Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Infant
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>wearing strangely.