tyre wear

[fergie]

recently fitted a new front tyre after noticing extreme wear on one edge of the tyre, the shop guy told me that this is always the case due to the camber of our kiwi roads.

is this true? or was he pulling my whatsit?:D

[wkid_one]

Yeah - the right side of the tyre coz NZ roads are cambered from the middle to the edges to allow rain run off etc....

[Gixxer 4 ever]

recently fitted a new front tyre after noticing extreme wear on one edge of the tyre, the shop guy told me that this is always the case due to the camber of our kiwi roads.

is this true? or was he pulling my whatsit?:D
Yep. Afraid so. It is hard to bin the tyres when you still have plenty of road tread on most of it and none on the centre right hand but that's the way it is. Do not turn the tyre round on the rim to wear the other side. I watch a long discussion on that in the News groups and to cut a long story short the tread pattern will not remove the water from the road when run backwards. Also tyres are made to go in one direction and the layers are put together to stop them delaminating and if you turn it around you risk delamination. But get this some of the people posting in the group were turning slicks that they use on the race track around and never had a problem with delamination. No tread to move water on these tyres so no problem with that. It is the manufacturer that stated the delamination theory. Sounds a bit like the helmet theory...Scratch or drop it and throw it away. :stoogie:

[FROSTY]

save em for a racetrack with only left hand corners to even out the wear :bleh:

[Motu]

A tyre could possibly wear more on the right because of the camber - but it won't be extreme,you'd have to look hard.Some tyres seem more prone to it - a batch of the old TT100s did it,and I saw one yesterday on an old Bonny,nearly bald on the right and near new on the left.If it has a directional arrow don't turn it around,otherwise I don't see a problem - more noise and vibration,who cares.Oh,and you won't change a wear pattern once it is set - it will wear that way to the end.

[Kickaha]

Also tyres are made to go in one direction and the layers are put together to stop them delaminating and if you turn it around you risk delamination. But get this some of the people posting in the group were turning slicks that they use on the race track around and never had a problem with delamination.

The top tread plys used to be laid in such a way that they overlapped,on the rear of the bike they are fitted in the direction that pushes them together under acceleration,on the front so that they are pushed together under acceleration.

This is the reason some older tyres that could be used front or rear eg Pirelli Phantom,TT100 had to be run in a different direction depending on what end of the bike they were fitted to.

I know some of the Bridgestones and maybe other brands have had a spirally wound cap ply for quite a while so no overlap and shouldn't be affected,I have changed tyres for some 600 production riders and they used to reverse the tyres with no problems,keeping in mind they were being changed on a fairly regular basis and would probably not be lasting as long as if you were road riding.

Some of the late model road tyres seem to have the same tread pattern no matter what way they rotate so the wet performance shouldn't be affected,personally I wouldn't take the chance though.

[Redstar]

I had Dunlop D207? it wore one side and made the bike feel like it was pulling under on one side only lasted about 8k changed to BT110 and 20k later its coming up for renewal but no funny wear. I think the camber story is a bit of a myth Im sure it makes a slight difference but its a handy excuse for dodgy tyres. I think running with higher pressure helps to maintain even wear and prevents delamination a bit and slows down square tyre syndrome a bit
I'd sware by Bridgestone.

[Milky]

I have a D207 on the rear at the moment... not my fav tyre that is for sure. Maybe it is because the tyre is likely to be more than 4 years old, but it doesnt seem to like water of any sort... or gravel... or anything other than smooth hotmix :(

[Gixxer 4 ever]

I think the camber story is a bit of a myth Im sure it makes a slight difference but its a handy excuse for dodgy tyres.
I think running with higher pressure helps to maintain even wear and prevents delamination a bit and slows down square tyre syndrome a bit
I'd sware by Bridgestone.
I am sure the camber thing is real. I am doing 15,000 km's a year and I note it is a common thing for my tyres to wear,both on this bike and my 2 previous bikes, as described at the start of this thread. You are correct about the tyre wear relating to tyre pressures. Very important to keep the pressure right. This will make a big difference to the type of wear you have on tyres.

[Motu]

Nah - when a rider of nearly 40 years says...''hey,check this out,ever seen a tyre wear like this?'' you know it's not the rider,or the bike,or road conditions,otherwise he'd be saying - ''look,another bloody tyre is wearing on the right''.
Oh,maybe there's some bent riders out there who wear tyre weird - but not me,oh no,my tyres wear right down the middle.

[wkid_one]

Only noticeable if you spend most of your time upright.

Most riders will notice that they have lower chicken strips on one side than the other (typically the right is smaller) - as the camber of the road means you lean less to get to the right hand edge of the tyre

[Mongoose]

The top tread plys used to be laid in such a way that they overlapped,on the rear of the bike they are fitted in the direction that pushes them together under acceleration,on the front so that they are pushed together under acceleration.

This is the reason some older tyres that could be used front or rear eg Pirelli Phantom,TT100 had to be run in a different direction depending on what end of the bike they were fitted to.
Some of the late model road tyres seem to have the same tread pattern no matter what way they rotate so the wet performance shouldn't be affected,personally I wouldn't take the chance though.

Sooooo, my tyres wear the way they do because .........? All mine seem to wear out more on the right side, on the front at least. I was always under the impression (wrongly maybe) that the arrow for rotation was *always* made to face the wrong way if it was a tyre that could fit back or front when applied to the front of the bike. Is this not so? Reason I was given and it seemed reasonable to me was that was the direst the most grip was avaliable from, ie accelaration on the back and braking on the front.

[White trash]

..... to cut a long story short the tread pattern will not remove the water from the road when run backwards.

How come Matzeler tread patterns run in the opposite direction to other manufacturers then?

I agree not to run tyres backwards but I don't think the pattern has a hell of a lot to do with it.

[Motu]

If it has a directional arrow then you must fit it correctly,some motorcycle tyres have a directional arrow for front or rear,fit as directed.If there is no directional arrow - fit as you like,makes no difference.

[vifferman]

A tyre could possibly wear more on the right because of the camber - but it won't be extreme,you'd have to look hard.
I've had several sets of tyres do this, and some that didn't.

Oh,and you won't change a wear pattern once it is set - it will wear that way to the end.
Depends waht wear pattern you're talking about.
When I bought my VTR, the tyres (Pirelli Dragons) were badly squared off, which I believe was due in part at least to running too low pressures. They were also just about knackered due to the same thing. By running them at the proper pressures, and riding my usual scenic route to work, they at least returned to nearly the right shape (though still with more tread on the sides than centres). In the end, I chucked em out as I noticed they were past the wear bars in a few spots and not worth risking my safety over.
By the way - when I had my tyres on the VFR changed at Cycletreads, the technician dude was surprised to see the sides were more worn than the centre of the tread - the opposite to usual. No trackdays either.

YAWWNNNN..nnnnn... zzzzz..... ferk I'm a boring old phart... :brick:

[Motu]

Yeah,I'm talking more car tyres here - there are too many variables in a motorcycle to get even wear over the whole tyre.A car tyre is supposed to sit flat on the road - so any wear started by wheel alignment or inflation pressures will stay with the tyre for it's life,of course there are exceptions,but just running correct pressures won't cure underinflation wear.The same could and does apply to bikes,but the nay stories would probably outweight the yea stories.

[Dr Bob]

I would always run my tyres in the direction of rotation indicated by the arrow regardless of construction or theory. Mainly because if an insurance inspector is looking over the remains of my bike I don't want them to find any reason to hold off paying out.

[vifferman]

...if an insurance inspector is looking over the remains of my bike I don't want them to find any reason to hold off paying out.
Good point.

[Dr Bob]

As to tyre inflation, I was in the service station a month ago putting air in the tyres of my ute. The ute has 8 ply commercial tyres on the back that are rated at 65psi. An inexperienced couple (recent migrants who seemed uncertain about these sorts of 'technical' issues) pulled up in a generic ex japan saloon. In broken English the guy asks me how much air I am putting in my tyres as he is unscrewing the plastic valve covers. Oooh boy was I tempted to be mean - but I restrained myself.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

I would always run my tyres in the direction of rotation indicated by the arrow regardless of construction or theory. Mainly because if an insurance inspector is looking over the remains of my bike I don't want them to find any reason to hold off paying out.
So true. We get lost in the theory some times. Good point and they will :kick:

[Kickaha]

As to tyre inflation, I was in the service station a month ago putting air in the tyres of my ute. The ute has 8 ply commercial tyres on the back that are rated at 65psi.


Yes they are rated to 65 psi but there is no need to inflate them to that unless carrying the maximun load the tyre is rated for (about 750kg per tyre)

Bike tyres wearing on one side I would have said road camber as well,depending on the area as some places have more camber than others due to higher rainfall and to promote water runoff.

[Dr Bob]

Yes they are rated to 65 psi but there is no need to inflate them to that unless carrying the maximun load the tyre is rated for (about 750kg per tyre)

....

I normally have them at 50, but I could still have been mean.

[Motu]

People have no idea about tyre pressures - 4x4s have a reputation for bad handling,but if you checked the tyre pressures of every one that went past you'd get a hell of a fright.Because they are big and soft you can't tell if the presures are low just looking at them - it's not uncommon to find 15psi left front,65psi right front,20psi right rear 55psi left rear - they just blow them up eh,yeah,that looks about right.

[vifferman]

People have no idea about tyre pressures - 4x4s have a reputation for bad handling,but if you checked the tyre pressures of every one that went past you'd get a hell of a fright.Because they are big and soft you can't tell if the presures are low just looking at them - it's not uncommon to find 15psi left front,65psi right front,20psi right rear 55psi left rear - they just blow them up eh,yeah,that looks about right.
Indeed.
We used to have a Pajero with Dunlop Adventurers on the back, which IIRC were 8-ply. I was driving from Tauranga to Hawera one day, and the handling was a bit wallowy in the corners. "Hmmmm ... feels like one of the back tyres is a bit flat. Better stop at the next garage."
Trouble was, the next garage happened to be at PioPio, and the tyre was thoroughly cooked by then, and starting to delaminate. But still didn't look flat.
A car probably would've crashed in the same circumstances.

One morning on the way to work, I told a woman in a BMW that her tyre was flat (completely). She just nodded, and carried on driving, down Onewa Road, over the bridge, down Fanshawe Street, into the CBD. F&$@wit. I was really disappointed she didn't crash off the bridge into the harbour. She shouldn't have had a license (and probably didn't - it was probably a photocopied restaurant menu).

[750Y]

interesting thread as i've never had a tyre wear more on one side except for track days. if it happened to me i'd be looking at geometry ie swingarm/wheel alignment or perhaps looking at my riding particularly when turning right compared with left from a bodyweight & throttle perspective.
i guess it makes sense (the camber explanation) but i'd be picking it's pretty minor. or the roads some are riding are majorly cambered and/or they're riding near the gutter and/or doing a lot of straight lines on a coarse surface.

[DEATH_INC.]

You gays have all failed to mention the main killer of the r/h side of our tyres.......ROUNDABOUTS!
They're all over the place now and you'd be surprised how much wear you can put on yer tyres by hauling around a few......

[750Y]

You gays have all failed to mention the main killer of the r/h side of our tyres.......ROUNDABOUTS!
They're all over the place now and you'd be surprised how much wear you can put on yer tyres by hauling around a few......

i hope that was a typo 8-)

[DEATH_INC.]

i hope that was a typo 8-)
UUUMMMMM oops! I mean guys....he he.... :rolleyes: