accelerated tire wear over time

I've got enough miles on enough tires on enough different bikes now to notice a disturbing trend about tire wear. That is, for the first half of the tread depth the tire wear is extremely slow, but wear accelerates nearer the end of the tread depth, consistently. I'm a very suspicious chap to begin with, understanding that money always trumps quality in the business world...so I'm wondering if when the tire manufacturers claim "hard center rubber" they are only doing that to a minimal depth so that tires do wear out more quickly and need to be replaced more often.

I did a 250 mile overniter on the FJR last weekend. the front BT (stock tire) wasn't quite down to the tread wear indicators yet and I had just checked the pressure at 36-37 PSI. Anyways, when I got home the tire was FREAKIN BALD. Considering how many miles it took to get to the wear indicators (6600) that last bit of tread being eaten up over 250 miles seems way excessive. So, unless that are thermal dynamics or physics issues I'm not up on, I'm left suspecting that the manufacturers are not running the hard center rubber completely to the maximum tread depth on tires that they make.

Thoughts?

tempest766 said:

Thoughts?

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Sure. Buy a new set of tires, ride more, & stress less.

That said, I would agree that more modern dual compound tires may wear at non-linear rates. It could be carcass and/or belt material as well. For example, old Azarros with single compound and steel belt construction tended to wear consistently as tread got to the bottom end. PR3/4 with fabric cords....go bye-bye scary-quick towards the end of their life. The latter point has been talked about many, Many times already. So, my 2nd suggestion is to go comb through NEPRT if it concerns you.

Guessing here .... which is pretty much the way I've gone through life so far ....

As the rubber wears away, the remaining tire "floor" becomes more flexible, and squirms more than when new.

Couple of observations here.

Owners have repeatedly bitched about the OEM tires on the FJR the Gen 3 bikes in particular. You got close to 7k which may just be a record. I seem to remember seeing numbers in the 4-5k range reported here.

Tire pressure seems a little low. I think most folks run 40-42 front and 42-43 rear for best combo of handling and life.

I'm on my 4th set of Michelin PR2s and run 41 front 43 rear mostly solo but some 2 up and a blend of daily commute through rallying and a SS1k thrown in. I've gotten 12-14k miles on each set. Of course your experience may vary from mine.First part of their life it does seem to wear pretty slowly compared to the second half so I think it's pretty normal.

You kids are funny. The following is NOT meant to be a dig, or chest-thumping, bragging, arrogant behavior, but.....how do you do it?

42 psi, front and rear, PR2s on a 2008, ridden almost always solo. I'm putting new tires on tonight. They both have 3,395 miles on them. Rear tire is as bald as Kojak, front is just below the wear bars, with some tread left, but is firmly in the middle of the triangulated, "handles like a truck" phase. Yeah, I twist the zoomie handle pretty hard quite a bit, but so does everyone else. No burnouts, wheelies, or stunts. (Yeah, I'm boring). I know this subject has been beat to over one hundred deaths, and I have refrained from commenting through the first 99 deaths, but holy Moses. I'd love to get more mileage out of my tires, but not at the cost of all the fun I'm having. Consider yourself lucky to be smarter, better-restrained, more conscientious ("conscientiouser"?) and wiser with your tire budget than us dumber, poorer, no-self-control mental midgets. For undisciplined ass-hats like myself (probably not any others out there. No.), it's just too much fun to whip that lovely whore of a motorcycle, and let the big girl eat. Like the very wise and handsome Iggy said, buy tires, ride more, and worry less. (I'm speculating on the handsome part.....I've never met Iggy in person).

Feel free now to completely tear me a new one, since I'm sure I deserve it. Can't wait to get my new tires on tonight. Nothing like it.

(Can't wait to hear the retorts. Man, this place is great. Now that Bust is absent, somebody's got to do it)

The deeper blocks of unworn tyres can flex more, so the part that's in contact with the road surface can stay still while the tyre carcass moves/deforms above it.

When the tyre is worn, there is less flex available, so the rubber in contact with the road surface will move more against the surface as the carcass moves above it.

So it wears more quickly.

So it wears more quickly.

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... and it's (slightly) smaller in diameter, so it goes around more revs per mile.

BkerChuck said:

Couple of observations here.
Owners have repeatedly bitched about the OEM tires on the FJR the Gen 3 bikes in particular. You got close to 7k which may just be a record. I seem to remember seeing numbers in the 4-5k range reported here.

Tire pressure seems a little low. I think most folks run 40-42 front and 42-43 rear for best combo of handling and life.

I'm on my 4th set of Michelin PR2s and run 41 front 43 rear mostly solo but some 2 up and a blend of daily commute through rallying and a SS1k thrown in. I've gotten 12-14k miles on each set. Of course your experience may vary from mine.First part of their life it does seem to wear pretty slowly compared to the second half so I think it's pretty normal.

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I'm just going with what the owners manual says for pressure: 36 and 42. 12k on pennsyltucky asphalt!? Inconceivable!

SwollenRaccoon said:

You kids are funny. The following is NOT meant to be a dig, or chest-thumping, bragging, arrogant behavior, but.....how do you do it?
42 psi, front and rear, PR2s on a 2008, ridden almost always solo. I'm putting new tires on tonight. They both have 3,395 miles on them. Rear tire is as bald as Kojak, front is just below the wear bars, with some tread left, but is firmly in the middle of the triangulated, "handles like a truck" phase. Yeah, I twist the zoomie handle pretty hard quite a bit, but so does everyone else. No burnouts, wheelies, or stunts. (Yeah, I'm boring). I know this subject has been beat to over one hundred deaths, and I have refrained from commenting through the first 99 deaths, but holy Moses. I'd love to get more mileage out of my tires, but not at the cost of all the fun I'm having. Consider yourself lucky to be smarter, better-restrained, more conscientious ("conscientiouser"?) and wiser with your tire budget than us dumber, poorer, no-self-control mental midgets. For undisciplined ass-hats like myself (probably not any others out there. No.), it's just too much fun to whip that lovely whore of a motorcycle, and let the big girl eat. Like the very wise and handsome Iggy said, buy tires, ride more, and worry less. (I'm speculating on the handsome part.....I've never met Iggy in person).

Feel free now to completely tear me a new one, since I'm sure I deserve it. Can't wait to get my new tires on tonight. Nothing like it.

(Can't wait to hear the retorts. Man, this place is great. Now that Bust is absent, somebody's got to do it)

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Love it! I'm too poor and cheap to to not squeeze every mile I can get out of disposables like tires. and the FJR is just my long distance and motorcycle camping bike. The Buell UlyXT is the hooligan twisties bike...but then that's what it's designed for.

The PR2S I just pulled off wife's BMW F800ST had 13.5 k on them and likely good for another 1.5 but Void Rally and EOM made me change them early for her.

In my experience with a lot of tires and well over 100+k mile, once they hit the wear bars you need to be changing them in about 500 miles.

s.ga.rider said:

In my experience with a lot of tires and well over 100+k mile, once they hit the wear bars you need to be changing them in about 500 miles instantly.

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... or risk getting pulled over and bike towed for having illegal tyres (at least in the U.K.).

Agree with s.ga.rider. Go from wear bars to cords fast. Rear is worse.

Not really on point, but I'm getting a little annoyed with tire wear.

I got about 4500 out of the stock rear. Ok. A little disappointing, but, a stock tire. Fine.

Then I tried the Metzler Z6 when they were on sale. I got a whopping 3300 (maybe 3600, but I don't remember for sure). I later learned that these are not a particularly well-wearing tire.

Next up was a Roadsmart II, which I bought because the set was cheap due to the RSIII coming out. I got (I think) just about 5k out of the rear. Better.

Last go 'round I splurged for the PR4GT when on my road trip in Grand Junction. I spent a lot of money to get these tires in a pinch, but convinced myself based on reviews that my big-spending would pay off for buying quality. I'm now at somewhere between 2500 and 3000 miles on this tire and I'm approaching the wear bars!

Admittedly, I've had full panniers and a dry duffle on the bike for about 70 percent of this tire's life, a typical ride is very spirited and through twisties, and the bike has been on long days with some very high speeds. But I still expected better from this tire that some people report getting up to 15k out of; maybe 10k, 8k, or at least 5k? Anyone else have a similar experience with this fast of wear? Does having the shock on hard play a role? IMO, my suspension is set up correctly for handling, but I might be sacrificing wear.

Pressure is always kept at 41, checked cold, with an Accutire gauge. I don't get it.

mcatrophy said:

s.ga.rider said:

In my experience with a lot of tires and well over 100+k mile, once they hit the wear bars you need to be changing them in about 500 miles instantly.

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... or risk getting pulled over and bike towed for having illegal tyres (at least in the U.K.).

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Or worse when ya hear that BANG and you're no in control..... yikes!!

Paul

bruinFJRguy said:

Not really on point, but I'm getting a little annoyed with tire wear.
I got about 4500 out of the stock rear. Ok. A little disappointing, but, a stock tire. Fine.

Then I tried the Metzler Z6 when they were on sale. I got a whopping 3300 (maybe 3600, but I don't remember for sure). I later learned that these are not a particularly well-wearing tire.

Next up was a Roadsmart II, which I bought because the set was cheap due to the RSIII coming out. I got (I think) just about 5k out of the rear. Better.

Last go 'round I splurged for the PR4GT when on my road trip in Grand Junction. I spent a lot of money to get these tires in a pinch, but convinced myself based on reviews that my big-spending would pay off for buying quality. I'm now at somewhere between 2500 and 3000 miles on this tire and I'm approaching the wear bars!

Admittedly, I've had full panniers and a dry duffle on the bike for about 70 percent of this tire's life, a typical ride is very spirited and through twisties, and the bike has been on long days with some very high speeds. But I still expected better from this tire that some people report getting up to 15k out of; maybe 10k, 8k, or at least 5k? Anyone else have a similar experience with this fast of wear? Does having the shock on hard play a role? IMO, my suspension is set up correctly for handling, but I might be sacrificing wear.

Pressure is always kept at 41, checked cold, with an Accutire gauge. I don't get it.

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Welcome to tire life with an FJR. If you are even slightly aggressive with engine braking, aggressive with the throttle, ride spirited through the twisties, or ride at high speeds on warm days, your tire wear is about equal to what a lot of people would expect. You must have been particularly hard on the PR4, but I suspect you have some really fun roads near by LA.

Abercrombie FJR said:

bruinFJRguy said:

Not really on point, but I'm getting a little annoyed with tire wear.
I got about 4500 out of the stock rear. Ok. A little disappointing, but, a stock tire. Fine.

Then I tried the Metzler Z6 when they were on sale. I got a whopping 3300 (maybe 3600, but I don't remember for sure). I later learned that these are not a particularly well-wearing tire.

Next up was a Roadsmart II, which I bought because the set was cheap due to the RSIII coming out. I got (I think) just about 5k out of the rear. Better.

Last go 'round I splurged for the PR4GT when on my road trip in Grand Junction. I spent a lot of money to get these tires in a pinch, but convinced myself based on reviews that my big-spending would pay off for buying quality. I'm now at somewhere between 2500 and 3000 miles on this tire and I'm approaching the wear bars!

Admittedly, I've had full panniers and a dry duffle on the bike for about 70 percent of this tire's life, a typical ride is very spirited and through twisties, and the bike has been on long days with some very high speeds. But I still expected better from this tire that some people report getting up to 15k out of; maybe 10k, 8k, or at least 5k? Anyone else have a similar experience with this fast of wear? Does having the shock on hard play a role? IMO, my suspension is set up correctly for handling, but I might be sacrificing wear.

Pressure is always kept at 41, checked cold, with an Accutire gauge. I don't get it.

Click to expand...

Welcome to tire life with an FJR. If you are even slightly aggressive with engine braking, aggressive with the throttle, ride spirited through the twisties, or ride at high speeds on warm days, your tire wear is about equal to what a lot of people would expect. You must have been particularly hard on the PR4, but I suspect you have some really fun roads near by LA.

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Well, the first stretch was Grand Junction to Denver on the freeway, then onto Aspen, Ouray, Durango, then back to St. George UT and ALL the fun roads in between. After that was ripping down I-15 in summer heat to Vegas and onward to LA. That ride I was pretty loaded up.

Then there have been several twisty rides through the awesome So Cal roads and some commuting. It really looked not to bad before a trip a week or so ago, up to Bakersfield, Lake Isabelle, Death Valley National Park, Baker, Mojave Preserve, then down to Twenty Nine Palms, Joshua Tree NP, up 74 from Palm Desert across 243 to Idylwild, and back down.

It was the stretch through Death Valley to Baker, Mojave Preserve, and the other straights to Twenty Nine Palms that really did the number. The triple digits through the "closed-course racetracks" along the way probably did a number. And, yes, I engine brake into every corner and exit at full throttle just about every time. All that combined with the full load on that trip also probably did it. Dang. Here I thought the PR4GT could really handle this all until 10k.

Oh well. I guess the options are either cool it or pay the piper!

bruinFJRguy said:

It was the stretch through Death Valley to Baker, Mojave Preserve, and the other straights to Twenty Nine Palms that really did the number. The triple digits through the "closed-course racetracks" along the way probably did a number. And, yes, I engine brake into every corner and exit at full throttle just about every time. All that combined with the full load on that trip also probably did it. Dang. Here I thought the PR4GT could really handle this all until 10k.

Oh well. I guess the options are either cool it or pay the piper!

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Yeah I'd say if all your riding is this spirited, how can you not expect to have to pay the piper?

I was quite pleased with my first go around with the PR4GTs this past summer. 11K in 11 days plus an additional 6K of commuting and smaller trips before I needed new rubber. And if you're thinking I must ride quite conservative, you're right. Going down once was enough for me. But on the bright side, I now only need to change tires twice a summer now.

Sort of off topic, has anybody tried car tire on FJR and ride spiritedly? Did this once with my goldwing and got less than 8,000 miles on a car tire. Would be be looking and less than 8,000 on fjr with car tire too?