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tire wear on one side


Schooly

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I recently came back from a1500 mile trip with lots of mountajn roads and found my front tire worn dramatically,almost beveled on the right side. This was on a Z6 which i have had on before with normal wear. Any ideas what caused this? Front end alignment? Also my shocks are the originals at 55k.

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Paul Mihalka

Which is your "right side"? Excessive front tire wear on the LEFT side while sitting on the bike (clutch lever side) was well known and very common on R1100 bikes.

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cengebardt

Just changed out Z8s f and r, with same problem. My front was worn more on the left side. Tires had 6k miles. What causes that? I dont think I corner harder on left handers.

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I've had some tires do it and others not. Theories abound; things like crowned road surfaces, heavier weight in one side case, wheel alignment, molding process. I don't have the definitive answer. Sorry.

 

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Which is your "right side"? Excessive front tire wear on the LEFT side while sitting on the bike (clutch lever side) was well known and very common on R1100 bikes.

 

:S I haven't had this problem..and yes, should refer to "sides" as either Clutch -or- Throttle.. this is the proper way to convey one's meaning.

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As already mentioned ..... many theories, some tyres do it some dont seem to, even to the extent that tyres of the same type from the same manufacturer do it and others dont.

 

Crowning of the road would seem not to be a factor, as if it was it would be on the throttle side on countries that ride on the left " correct " side of the road ;-)

 

Change them and try another set and ride the bike .....

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Tire pressure, left turns are longer than right turns, centerline of front vs rear tire, plus crown of road, how bike is loaded, all affect tire wear.

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Morning Kerry

 

Motorcycles are a single track vehicle so they basically steer by leaning. Also the tire profile on most modern motorcycle tires is a rounded profile so only a small portion of the tire is on the ground at any one time. That Z-8 has a very round profile front tire.

 

Due to that rounded tire profile the one thing to keep in mind on motorcycle tire wear is: The part of the tire that is worn must have been touching the ground to wear. (So)- if one side is worn more than the other it must have been on the road more than the other side.

 

You are going to have to tell what is wearing those tires that far off center. Keep in mind that the tire can’t wear in any area that isn’t actually touching the pavement so for that area to wear it was in contact with the pavement for part of it’s life.

 

To find out what you were doing to wear the front tire off center get someone to help you lean the bike over until that worn area is flat on the ground. That is the bike's lean angle that it was at to wear the tire in that area.

 

Now tell us what you were doing to lean the bike at that angle (BTW I’m pretty sure I know what you were doing to wear that tire in that area).

 

Most riders wear the tire more on the left hand side for a couple of reasons.

 

First being-- most U turns as well as other parking lot or road type tight turns are made to the left. How many left hand road U turns do you make compared to right hand U turns. When pulling into a parking space how many TIGHT left hand turns do you make compared to tight rights?

 

Next-- you have the basic road curve distances. Most left hand road curves & turns are a lot longer then the same curve to the right. So most riders ride longer on the left side of the front tire than the right. In most cases they also ride faster going to the left than the right as the visibility is better that way & they are farther from the side of the road.

 

Same with left hand corners. They are longer than right hand corners so most go faster & tend to accelerate as they make the L/H corner. Right corners are tighter but shorter & most don't throttle on until pretty well upright again.

 

You will get some reference to road crown wearing the front tire & that is probably true but go out & look at the crown on most roads. I think you will find it is very little so that could account for the front tire wear just a bit off the centerline of the tire, but not way around well outside the tire's center line.

 

Again, the area of the tire that is worn must be touching the road to wear so go lean your bike over to see what you must have been doing to lean it there.

 

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Tire pressure, left turns are longer than right turns, centerline of front vs rear tire, plus crown of road, how bike is loaded, all affect tire wear.

 

OK ........ so my tyre wear should be on the other side of the bike as left turns are shorter than right and road crown is on the other side ( RHS ) of the bike to yours too .....

 

i would therefore suggest that side of the road ridden on and road camber may have little to do with the LHS tire wear problem.

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Thanks for all the input. Had the frt replaced today at dealer as it was not safe to ride. Am trying the z6 again. I got 8700 out of the last front. The tech who changed the tire said he thought my front end is misaligned . I will look into that next.

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Dirtrider:

Thanks for the detailed comments on my tire issue. I think the wear occurred while doing some agressive riding on my recent trip. I just dont know why i never noticed it before after similar rides. Will keep an eye on the new one for similar wear.

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