Tire wear & wear pattern

[triospec]

Reporting in on my set of Bridgestone Battleax T30-GT tires installed 11,000 mi. ago.

FYI - I ride one-up and am nothing if not a conservative, non-aggressive rider.

I'm curious on thoughts re: the wear pattern of my rear tire. As you can see, the major wear seems to be to the right of the center line of the tire.

Explanations for why this happened/how to avoid are requested and appreciated.

BTW, the front tire still has a lot of life left on it.

I frankly lost track of the mileage on this set. I mentally thought it was around 8K or so. Then I checked my maintenance record today and saw it's actually right at 11K.

Time to shop for new rubber. Will most likely stick with Bridgestone. 11K is nothing to sniff at, and the mileage is respectable.

 

[Larry Fine]

I recommend the T31s.

 

[SMSW]

This has been the subject of threads in the past. Depending on how many members weigh in here, you might browse the wheels/tires forum or do a search for 'tire wear' (upper right corner of this page for search box). IIRC, the consensus for this is the crowned roads and the fact that we drive on the right side of the road and make more right turns than lefts. Or you ride with the wind always abeam on the starboard side.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

As you can see, the major wear seems to be to the right of the center line of the tire.

It looks to me that both of these pictures are of the rear tire taken from the rear of the motorcycle facing towards the front. That being the case, the greater tire wear is to the left, as referenced from the rider's seated position, of the tire centre line, not the right.

This rear tire wear pattern is consistent with what many riders experience in countries that drive on the right-hand side of the road. It is usually attributed to a combination of the following;
- road crown.
- left-hand turns require a greater distance to be traveled than right-hand turns and therefore more miles are traveled leaning over to the left than the right.
- left-hand turns are normally taken at higher speeds than right-hand turns because they are normally wider turns than are right-hand turns. This higher speed creates more tire wear.

 

[Larry Fine]

What about interstate ramps?

 

[triospec]

It looks to me that both of these pictures are of the rear tire taken from the rear of the motorcycle facing towards the front. That being the case, the greater tire wear is to the left, as referenced from the rider's seated position, of the tire centre line, not the right.

This rear tire wear pattern is consistent with what many riders experience in countries that drive on the right-hand side of the road. It is usually attributed to a combination of the following;
- road crown.
- left-hand turns require a greater distance to be traveled than right-hand turns and therefore more miles are traveled leaning over to the left than the right.
- left-hand turns are normally taken at higher speeds than right-hand turns because they are normally wider turns than are right-hand turns. This higher speed creates more tire wear.

Thank you Andrew. You are correct - I misread the wear pattern. I see now that the wear is actually on the left side.
You and others have pointed out the road crown and right-side driving here in the U.S. as a contributing factors. The turning radius point makes sense when you think about the cumulative effect of such turns over 11K+ miles.
Thanks for your input.

 

[Al st1100]

Thank you Andrew. You are correct - I misread the wear pattern. I see now that the wear is actually on the left side.
You and others have pointed out the road crown and right-side driving here in the U.S. as a contributing factors. The turning radius point makes sense when you think about the cumulative effect of such turns over 11K+ miles.
Thanks for your input.

For 11k don't complain, but those tires are not safe 2-3k miles ago. Google it and you will find What Andrew has stated.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

For the benefit of anyone reading this it is good to be aware that once you get close to the end of a tire's useful life the quicker it wears. I can't state that that is the case for all tires but it certainly is for PR4's. I got caught out on a ride with a tire that was more worn than I realized. It took only about 200 or 300 hundred miles to get from about what the Triospec's pictures above show to the below. Don't ignore the message the wear bar indicators are giving you.

Note: The left-hand side is more worn than the right-hand side.

 

[ReSTored]

I'm always a bit amazed at the mileage others seem to get out of their tires. Last T30 I had was toast at about 8,000 km and this one, admittedly a GT vs. the standard one I used has about 17,500 km on it.

 

[ToddC]

Ya, those tires were shot over 1000 miles ago. They are like toilet paper.....the closer to the end they are...the faster they run out. It's your choice, but the couple of dollars saved by running tires that far beyond their usefull life just doesn't make sense to this old man. No traction in wet and no protection from instant failure from a sharp objects. I have run tires that thin before....but that was...before I saw one cut open and saw how thin it was at that point. To me, it is not worth the risk any more.
JMHO. ToddC

 

[CYYJ]

...once you get close to the end of a tire's useful life the quicker it wears.

I'll vouch for that - once you hit the wear bars, it is surprising how fast the cord appears. I got caught in Morocco last February with a tire that I thought "had another 1,000 km in it" - it didn't, the cord showed up about 300 km later.

They are like toilet paper.....the closer to the end they are...the faster they run out.

Very elegantly expressed.

Michael

 

[Larry Fine]

They are like toilet paper.....the closer to the end they are...the faster they run out.

And leave you in the same condition.

 

[caldercay]

I'm curious on thoughts re: the wear pattern of my rear tire. As you can see, the major wear seems to be to the right of the center line of the tire.

Crowned roads.

 

[ST Gui]

They are like toilet paper.....the closer to the end they are...the faster they run out.

Very elegantly expressed.

'Elegantly' didn't spring to mind but point taken. I think most forget that regardless of any particular tire preference and riding variables — as wear decreases the diameter of the tire it makes more rotations per mi or km which means an increasingly faster rate of wear regardless of make or manufacturer.

How some riders can/seem to conclude 'oh this tire has another 1000mi left!' is beyond me.

And I envy those of you who have the kit to change their own tires at will. Real economy is temporarily replacing some tires that do have a few thousand miles left on them with fresh tread when getting ready for a long trip. Then put the others back on until they meet their Best Buy date. There is a certain time/energy management ratio to consider though.

 

[T_C]

The turning radius point makes sense when you think about the cumulative effect of such turns over 11K+ miles.

1 tight cloverleaf, 3 long right weepers on the way in.
2 tight cloverleafs and 2 long right sweepers on the way home, one possible left swwep if I take the southern route.

I wear out the right side of my tires... cumulative affect definitely noticed.

 

[mortenk]

I just replaced my Pilot Road 4 rear tire. After almost 16,000 miles I still have a little left until the wear bars, and the wear was very even. I thought I was going to replace this almost 4,000 miles ago, but it just kept going and going with very little change the past few months. Even though I could probably have squeezed a few thousand miles more out of this one, it surely felt nice with a new and rounder tire!

 

[triospec]

I recommend the T31s.

I ordered a new T31 last night.

 

[mortenk]

Thar's excellent mileage. Congrats.

The best I have ever seen in my 31 years of riding. Needless to say, I put another PR4 GT back on my FJR! On my ST I never tried the PR4, but I did get 11,000 miles out of a rear Pirelli Angel GT tire, which I also liked at lot

 

[Kevcules]

I just replaced my Pilot Road 4 rear tire. After almost 16,000 miles I still have a little left until the wear bars, and the wear was very even. I thought I was going to replace this almost 4,000 miles ago, but it just kept going and going with very little change the past few months. Even though I could probably have squeezed a few thousand miles more out of this one, it surely felt nice with a new and rounder tire!

Wow.....most would still keeping using that tire. Incredible mileage!

 

[CYYJ]

How some riders can/seem to conclude 'oh this tire has another 1000mi left!' is beyond me.

Well, gee, that's easy to figure out, it's called "wishful thinking".

On a more serious note, though, my experience has been that the rear tires are the ones that wear out very quickly once they hit the wear bars. The front tires seem to last longer (in general, both from time of initial installation as well as time from when the wear bars appear). I also think that the rate of wear on the rear tire is directly related to speed of travel. I recall spending one summer in Germany, when I did a lot of very high speed (110 MPH+) riding on autobahns, and my rear tire lasted less than half of its normal life.

Nowadays, having bought about 20 sets of tires for my two STs over the past 20 years, I have learned to replace them the moment the tread depth reaches the wear bars. Except for the occasional time when I fall victim to "wishful thinking", like last February in Morocco.

I always buy the same brand of tire, and I have noticed that although the average life of the tire is pretty consistent, the wear pattern on the tire when it is at end of life and comes off the bike sometimes varies. I think that there might be an element of manufacturing inconsistency in this, as well as the influence of different riding patterns during the life of the tire.

Michael