Odd front tire wear?

[sixsix]

I plan on getting a new set of tires prob next week or so, but I was wondering why my front tire is starting to wear funny. It appears to have a fair amount of tread left, but the center tread is very uneven. When I move the bike around the garage it feels like I have a knobby tire on there. I'm wondering if something is off with my suspension or if its normal. I took a couple of pics but I don't know if you'll be able to tell. I'm doing this on my phone so I dunno if the pics are gonna show up.


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[TownsendsFJR1300]

My original front Bridgstone on my FJR when it was near the end of its life, cupped in the middle and as yours does, felt like a knobby when leaning and backing the bike up in the garage too(big time). It also developed a de-cel wobble. I usually keep my tires at the max pressure rated on the tire itself.

I was told (and I trust) my tire guy, who stated that the closer the treads are on any tire (going across), the more it will cup with age. Your tires are completly different.

Are you keeping your air pressure up to at least factory recommended spec's? Was it balanced?

If the center of the tire is wearing more on one end of the tire and the opposite (across the rim), it would be out of balance causing the uneven wear. If you jack the front of the bike up, loosen the axle, and remove the calibers (remove all the drag), you can check the balance.
The tire should stay where you put it, check every 90 degress. If the wheel rotates on its own to one spot, its heavy on the bottom (when the wheel stops) and out of balance. That alone will cause premature, uneven wear.

 

[rjo3491]

I was told by the dealer that this is normal wear presentation for a front tire - mine did the same thing.

My guess is that yours is due for replacement.

 

[Pondrat]

Same here - that's what an old front tire looks like...except mine was about 20times worse because I'm lazy and let it go WAAAAY too long.

Time to search for new tire threads - enjoy!

 

[foxbass]

What you have there my friend is, as the others rightly say, a knackered tyre.
The result you are seeing is called squaring off and is caused by normal wear ie: commuting with not too much work on the twisties. So the tread wears more in the middle than the sides. You should look at fitting dual compounds which are softer on the edges - harder in the middle.
Mine looks just like that now!

 

[Randomchaos]

My 04 model front tire did the same thing, its normal wear. I remember the handling of the bike felt really odd and like it was trying to slip, since it isn't a nice even round tire, its more squared, so kinda has a drop to.it as you lean over that edge. I will second the dual compound tires, or progressive compound like the cont road attacks.

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[sixsix]

Ok thanks I just wanted to make sure it was normal. I have about 6500 miles on the tires, and mostly all of that is commuting. I was looking at getting the conti motions. My rear tire is down to the wear bars in the middle, so I'll be getting the tires next week.


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[FinalImpact]

My original front Bridgstone on my FJR when it was near the end of its life, cupped in the middle and as yours does, felt like a knobby when leaning and backing the bike up in the garage too(big time). It also developed a de-cel wobble. I usually keep my tires at the max pressure rated on the tire itself.

I was told (and I trust) my tire guy, who stated that the closer the treads are on any tire (going across), the more it will cup with age. Your tires are completly different.

Are you keeping your air pressure up to at least factory recommended spec's? Was it balanced?

If the center of the tire is wearing more on one end of the tire and the opposite (across the rim), it would be out of balance causing the uneven wear. If you jack the front of the bike up, loosen the axle, and remove the calibers (remove all the drag), you can check the balance.
The tire should stay where you put it, check every 90 degress. If the wheel rotates on its own to one spot, its heavy on the bottom (when the wheel stops) and out of balance. That alone will cause premature, uneven wear.

Townsends, I value your opinion and will go on to say there may be other things to consider.

Under inflated tires tend to scallop wearing the trailing edge of the adjacent tread. More corners with low pressure means more and deeper scallops around the tires perimeter. Over inflation blows the center out of the tread as would continuous highway miles w/out corners and for the most part the tire will have way less scallops or transitional difference from trailing edge to leading edge of the next tread.

Imbalance often makes flat spots on the tire on the weighted heavy section. If left imbalanced, the tire will no longer be round and this will lead to vibration. Once the tire is flat-spotted from an imbalance, it will continue to have bad wear pattern where the heavy spot was and likely vibrate at various speeds.

The bike has a range of suggested pressures to get us in the ball-park front and back. Depend on ridding style, loading, and use most people will need to play with the pressure to make it correct for their bike and habits. Although the tire has a MAX load rating, few of us load the tire to maxiumum rating and thus for street us, probably will not have the tire inflated to its max rated capacity. Example - this tire could fit much heavier bikes.

In short, keep on eye on the pressure and play with it within the margin of the recommend loading capacities for best wear and performance. I mean guy that does nothing but corner may run a lower pressure for bite as he doesn't care about tire life.

This is all just my opinion based on observation. One also has to account for alignment, bad tires, and aged tires.

 

[DownrangeFuture]

Under inflated tires tend to scallop wearing the trailing edge of the adjacent tread. More corners with low pressure means more and deeper scallops around the tires perimeter. Over inflation blows the center out of the tread as would continuous highway miles w/out corners and for the most part the tire will have way less scallops or transitional difference from trailing edge to leading edge of the next tread.

I agree. Mine was like that and when I changed it, Cycle Gear informed me that my old tire was at 30PSI. That's six pounds below recommended and 3 below what I got told for racing. My guess is the tires were set last for 36 when the tires were hot. Last time I trust the dealer to set the proper pressure. And I should check them more often. :spank:

Also the number on the sidewall is the MAX OVERALL pressure. Meaning if you inflate to above that pressure, they can't guarantee the tire won't explode or rupture. Of course, 90% of the time you'll be fine setting that as the cold temp pressure as that's a "worst case" kind of deal, but the pressures on the swingarm or on the owner's manual are a great ballpark to start with. (36psi front, 38psi rear cold. Add 1psi for every 25 lbs over 195lbs.) Much more grip with lower pressures.

Oh, and for the FZ6, Michelin recommends 30 front and 33 rear cold for racing.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I live in Florida and don't have many twisties to run...

The FJR, when out, is generally on the highway slab, loaded two up, hard side bags and hard rear bag (loaded). The lower air pressures are too soft for me however I don't have any chicken strips to speak of and can still drag a peg or two... The FJR manual recommends the higher pressures for the extra weight and the rear shock adjusted (it has 2 settings) set for the heavier load.

I have PR2's on the FZ, keep them to max pressure and get the most mileage out of them and still have plenty of stick. I tried the lower pressures but were too soft for me. It is still quite flickable. As a side note the FJR and the FZ use the same size tires..

I have always kept my tires at the higher pressure and have not had a problem in approx 200,000 miles total for where I live and my type of riding (between all my bikes of present and past).

Under inflation, as posted above, is extremly dangerous...