Tire wear pattern

[malber]

Actually, I think I've gotten more mileage out of my 404 on the rear than 3500. I haven't kept track. But it has lasted me one and a half seasons. I'm not even sure if its ready go to yet and there's plenty of tread on the sides, and the center isn't totally bald. Is tread depth on the center of the tire as important as the sides? I've been satisfied with it's performance overall and will probably go with another at the beginning of next season.

But wearing in the middle? That's typical for these bikes and standard riding. Even if you are getting good lean angles, you're just not putting the same kind of miles on the sides as you would on the center. And the side tread (hopefully) isn't dealing with accelleration and braking. The rear takes all kinds of stresses on the center like accelleration, engine braking, and standard braking that you should be seeing different wear pattern than the front.

[Ivan]

I was ready for the center to wear faster than the outside. Wasn't prepared for the tire to only last 3500. On crappy goodyears for my car I can pull 60000 on a 40000 mile tire pretty easy. I am not that aggressive of a driver. Kinda a wuss on my bike, TBH.

I do like leaning the bike, but I don't do any terribly crazy stunts. Probably the only time I get any wheel spin is accellerating through the corner, or when I dwn shift too aggressively. These are very seldom occurances.

What's really odd is that the front tire shows barely any wear at all. I understand that it will wear slower, but at this rate, I will be putting 10 rears on for every front.

Guess I will save my pennies for a better rear tread.

[Jerry]

I am running a Dunlop Elite 3 on the rear, have had it for 2 years now. Have put arund 7K on it, much of that pulling a trailer to Olympia in 2007 and Yosemite in 2008.

The design of the E3 is a bit different than other Dunlops (E2s) that I had been running. Center tread is deeper than edge tread, a more rounded profile. I was used to wearing out the center of the E2s, so far the E3 looks like it has the original profile. I expect, based on existing tread depth, that I'll get another 5K (or more) out of it.

Dunlops have a good reputation for delivering long mileage, 3.5K seems to be a bit on the low side.

[fredintoon]

It's the compound

Hi Ivan, 3 strikes and you're out.
low cost tire + running it underinflated + your heroic build = 3,500 miles to baldness.
What to do? Buy a better tire, keep it pumped up properly and reduce your girth.
That last is a bastard, ask an old fat guy about trying to do that.
But what you are stuck with is the softer compounds that motorcycle tires are made from so they give better grip. Those softer compounds make motorcycle tires wear out a lot quicker than car tires do.
Rapid rear tire wear is a major curse for sidecar operators. They don't need as soft a compound as a solo and they surely don't need a rounded profile because sidecars don't lean over and they are stuck with both. That's why a major topic on sidecar sites is "What car tire will fit on my bike?"

[Ivan]

well as far as my girth, I am about 100 pounds slighter than my family tree says I should be. I am also about a foot shorter.

Seems when I gave up cigarettes, ampetamines and watching Oprah, I gained about $1.20.

Maybe I can go with a better tire and compromise.

Time will tell.

[Crazcnuk]

"The owners manual and/or sticker references recommended tire pressures only if you are running a OEM tire.

Actually the sticker applies to any tire of the same type/dimensions. You won't find any bias ply tires, of the same size as ours that has any different max load or pressure rating.

Those running a wider tire would have to compensate for that, however I doubt anyone ever calculated it out.

Also, a difference of 1 or 2 psi will make no difference, but 10 psi will!

If anyone cared, you could calculate out the footprint/psi load and recalculate the recommended pressure for any size tire.

You want just enough pressure to hold the bike up, not bottom out on normal hard bumps, yet leave the tire soft enough to cushion 80% of the bumps and allow for maximum contact patch.

Those bikes with the really wide tires have a very large contact patch, but very low psi on that patch. They tend to be squirrely in wet, sand, gravel or high winds. Don't even think about ice.

Engineers try and design the maximum contact patch while allowing enough psi on the ground to give adequate hold.

It's a real balancing act.