Michelin PR3 De-Lamination

Spike · Sep 3, 2015

Just curious if anyone has experienced tire failure, like or similar to this... Checked the tire and tread on Saturday night, saw this when I arrived home, Sunday afternoon after 300 miles at highway speeds... (Utah speed limit is 80)

One could expect any degree of failure, especially on a tire with miles, but this shocked the beejesus out of me... Any more damage and I'd likely have become a "GhostRider...'

Mellow · Sep 3, 2015

How many miles on the tire?

Spike · Sep 3, 2015

7260 I realize 7300 miles is towards the end of it's lifespan, but with what I considered to be a "reasonable" amount of tread remaining, how this could happen...

Throttlejockey · Sep 3, 2015

What was the tire pressure?

CruSTy · Sep 3, 2015

Is there abnormal wear on the right side as well? A pic from a better angle maybe straight on might show some more information. Did you check the air pressure after you saw this?

Mellow · Sep 3, 2015

Low tire pressure is typically something that causes that to happen on one side... If you didn't check it and it was low - like 20-30lbs I could see the extreme heat build up on a 300 mile ride and 7k mile tire doing that.

Kevin_56 · Sep 3, 2015

I too had wear that showed up quickly when I thought I had miles to go. Once tires hit the wear bar, they go quickly.

I am searching for the thread I did a few years back.

Here it is.

CruSTy · Sep 3, 2015

Mellow said:
Low tire pressure is typically something that causes that to happen on one side... If you didn't check it and it was low - like 20-30lbs I could see the extreme heat build up on a 300 mile ride and 7k mile tire doing that.

That's where I was going with my questions too. I don't see any delamination chunks of tread that came off in hunks in the picture. I've seen belt damage on car tires that causes the tire profile to deform resulting in similar wear. So far I'm leaning toward tire pressure issues.

Spike · Sep 3, 2015

I didn't check it afterwards... It was at 38 upon departure, but, i was riding heavy, camping gear, etc - A likely culprit, lesson learned -

Mellow · Sep 3, 2015

Ya made it home... trips that end like that aren't so bad... lol

CruSTy · Sep 3, 2015

Spike said:
I didn't check it afterwards... It was at 38 upon departure, but, i was riding heavy, camping gear, etc - A likely culprit, lesson learned -

Might try a little higher pressures when you ride heavy. I do a lot of 2up and loaded and run 43-45psi in the rear PR4. Lower pressures cause tire destroying heat build up. Glad you made it back safely.

Spike · Sep 3, 2015

Indeed!! Like pilots say, any landing that doesn't result in death, is a good one!! Thanks everyone for the keen insight, never considered the enormous forces at play, I will check pressures religiously, going forward... Have a great holiday weekend!

snowmoer · Sep 3, 2015

I put a new rear PR3 on my ST when I sold it. The new owner took a cross country trip on the bike and had that same thing happen after about 5,000 miles. I do not know what tire pressure he had in it or how hard he road. I was shocked when he showed me the photo and what the mileage was when it happened. I was getting 14-16000 miles out of a rear PR 2 on the same bike with no problems.

970mike · Sep 3, 2015

Wow you are lucky that tire got you home.

dduelin · Sep 3, 2015

It might have started at 38 but a small puncture could began a slow pressure loss and it was much lower than you knew for long enough to destroy the tire.

Michelin PR3 De-Lamination

Spike

SpikeST

Attachments

Mellow

Joe

Spike

SpikeST

Throttlejockey

Padden is my hero

CruSTy

My Perception is my reality.

Mellow

Joe

Kevin_56

CruSTy

My Perception is my reality.

Spike

SpikeST

Mellow

Joe

CruSTy

My Perception is my reality.

Spike

SpikeST

snowmoer

970mike

Mike Brown

dduelin

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace