Tire howl or bearing failure?

[SMD]

Hello all,

 

Lately , I've been noticing a very loud howling sound coming from my tires (I think). The noise is mostly noticeable while cornering both left and right and riding two up. Tires are mid life. Spinning the tires while bike is on center stand produces no odd noises and I cannot feel any play in the front and rear bearing assemblies. Bike is 99 R1100RT with 85k and to my knowledge nothing has been done to front and rear bearings.

 

Are Pilot Roads inherently noisy tires or is this a premonition of some sort of catastrophic failure?

 

Thanks,

Scott

[skinny_tom (aka boney)]

Check your rear wheel bearings the same way you check the swing arm bearings. Hold the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and wiggle, then again at 12 and 6. If there's no play, and you can't feel any grinding when you turn it by hand then it's probably the tires.

 

Pilot Roads are a little noisy, but not as bad as some other brands.

[duckbubbles]

Hi, Scott:

 

The noise is probably the tires. I run Pilot Roads and have noticed the "whine", I call it, when leaned over after they are worn somewhat. Look to see if the shoulders are starting to wear in a "sharktooth" kind of pattern, with a little rise at each tire groove. I think that contributes to the sound. Otherwise, it doesn't cause any problems.

 

Frank

[Paul De]

It very well could be tire noise with certain brands and models being particularly noisy as you describe.

 

To check your bearings look for any lateral movement of your wheels by grabbing the tire at the 12 O'clock position the pulling and pushing. There should be none front or rear. You will have to pull the front fender to do this on the front wheel. Spin the wheel and listen for any gritty sound (don’t be confused with the caliper scraping on the rotor), but it is even better to pull the front wheel any rotate the wheel bearings with you index finger and feel for the gritty sensation in the bearing. The rear is more complicated in that if you notice movement then you need to decide if it is the wheel bearing (actually the ring gear bearing inside the rear drive unit) or an issue with either the two Paralever pivots.

[SMD]

Ohhhh Noooo !

After a more careful examination, there is quite a bit of play in the rear wheel but I can't tell for sure where the slop is from. Looks like where the final drive connects to the swingarm? Is there a bearing in there?

[flars]

Pivot bearings are known problems, but they don't cause any noise. They just allow the rear end to move around. This is one of the easiest and cheapest things for the DIY mechanic to fix. Do a search on 'pivot pins' or 'pivot bearings' or 'pivot pin bearings' or 'fd bearings' or 'final drive pivot pin bearings' or whatever...

And yes guys, I know there is no such thing as a 'final drive pivot pin bearing', but I was just trying to cover all the bases.

[GordonB]

If it is your fiinal drive pivot bearing you may get away with retourqing it, do check the adjustment nut right away to make sure it isn't loose and working its way out.

I retorqued mine and 18,000 miles later I'm still fine.

[CTRBLNCD1]

Sounds like you've got both issues going on! howl when cornering is most often tires, but also looks like your pivot bearings are shot if there's really ANY play laterally in the rear wheel

[Alan D]

I have a 2000 rt with about 5000 miles on Pilot Roads. Too many slab miles have squared off the tires and they really do howl when I'm turning at speed.

I'm looking for more curves to get those tires round again.

[DEF]

Ohhhh Noooo !

After a more careful examination, there is quite a bit of play in the rear wheel but I can't tell for sure where the slop is from. Looks like where the final drive connects to the swingarm? Is there a bearing in there?

 

PM me with your private email and I'll send you the procedure for retightening your Paralever stub bearings. It is easy.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Check your rear wheel bearings the same way you check the swing arm bearings. Hold the tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and wiggle, then again at 12 and 6. If there's no play, and you can't feel any grinding when you turn it by hand then it's probably the tires.

 

For the truly paranoid, an additional check is to drain the oil from the final drive and examine for debris. A healthy final drive will leave the oil chunk-free, though possibly with a slight pearlescence, and the drain plug will have a palpably smooth sludge on it (you have to feel this sludge; the magnetic drain plug makes the sludge look like sharp slivers). A FD with damaged bearings will leave the oil dirty and glittering, and you will be able to feel chunks of iron on the drain plug.

[nrolfson]

I have the same howling or whining noise with my Pilot Roads. I checked my wheelbearing and they are ok, but the rear tire shoulders have the sharktooth or scalping pattern. I never had this problem with the Metzler Z4 tires. The noise can be quite annoying. Does anyone have a solution, I only have about 2000 miles on my tires.

[SMD]

Hea , hea, hea, Kind of funny we are annoyed with a little tire whine while on most other bikes you probably couldn't hear it even if you tried

 

I did confirm that the slop was indeed the pivot pin bearings. A little heat from the gun, about a full turn on the adjustment bolt and the slop is gone. I think the bearings are toast though, so I will be purchasing new ones shortly.

 

Thanks for all your help.

[Alan D]

I have the same howling or whining noise with my Pilot Roads. I checked my wheelbearing and they are ok, but the rear tire shoulders have the sharktooth or scalping pattern. I never had this problem with the Metzler Z4 tires. The noise can be quite annoying. Does anyone have a solution, I only have about 2000 miles on my tires.

 

Limit yourself to riding twisties I think.