unequal tire wear

[XS1100 Newbie]

Just put a new Bridgestone spitfire on the front, and am having a strange wear pattern showing. I now have about 250 miles on the tire, and the right side has worn considerably more than the left. The little nubbins on the tire have been gone on the right for about 100 miles, and on the left they are still there. What would cause this kind of wear. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the forks may be at different heights. The tire i took off, although cupped, was equal wear on both sides. It looks like i am riding around in right hand circles. Just looking for ideas before i tear into the front end.

[BA80]

Sounds like you may have a frame or swingarm alignment problem.

Put it on the centerstand and see if the wheels line up vertically.

[jetmechmarty]

You have an alignment problem. I'm sure it doesn't handle right, either. Could one of your fork tubes be bent? Is the axle properly installed. Is the tire bead seated on the wheel properly? Something is very wrong. You may want to take everything loose from the trees to the axle. Retorque everything from the top down, making sure it is all properly aligned. Yes, it wouldn't hurt to check the swingarm as well.

Cupping is normal for the XS1100's antique front suspension. I was only able to get rid of it by installing RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators.

[JerseyJon]

a non-technical suggestion

One possibility is that your bike is straight but that you corner differently when you turn to the left from when you turn to the right.

I took that "ride-like a pro" course, which focusses on slow-speed maneuvers and tries to teach leaning the bike over at slow speeds. Throughout the course, it became obvious to me that I, personnally, am more comfortable turning to my right, and I am comfortable leaning the bike to the right. When turning to the left, I just do it a bit more hesitantly and with less lean. everyone in the course had more comfortable and less comfortable turning side. After a day of riding, tread wear patterns were pretty obvious on close inspection.

Similarly, the other day, I rode a Suzuki Maurauder (or something like that) -- it was a Harley look alike, had silly ape bars, a lowered seat and floorboards. I hated it. But every time I turned like the bike to the right, the floorboard scraped, but not so much on the left. I can only conclude that I lean more to the left than I do to the right. It's natural, and I think it's true for everyone, only not in the same direction.

Maybe you should consider that before you tear the thing apart.

JAT

Jon

[JeffH]

The tire i took off, although cupped, was equal wear on both sides.

Just put a new Bridgestone spitfire on the front, and am having a strange wear pattern showing. I now have about 250 miles on the tire, and the right side has worn considerably more than the left. The little nubbins on the tire have been gone on the right for about 100 miles, and on the left they are still there. What would cause this kind of wear. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the forks may be at different heights. The tire i took off, although cupped, was equal wear on both sides. It looks like i am riding around in right hand circles. Just looking for ideas before i tear into the front end.

So the tire you just took off had "even wear" L & R?? Question is what all changed in during the tire replacement process?

If the old tire was ok, and if you have not banged into something in the last 250 miles then I'd start by checking the axle alignment & maybe tire mounting. One side of the tire should not scrub off in 100 miles, in normal riding, on your usual roads.

Is the bike tracking straight at speed? Does it pull when you apply front brakes? What else did you loosen when you removed the front wheel to replace the tire?

Just a few thoughts. Good Luck chasing down the problem but be careful since something seems wrong if everything was OK with the old tire but screwed up now after a simple tire change!
Jeff

[bikerphil]

The fork tube alignment can be easily checked by laying a piece of plate glass cut to the proper size across the front of the stanchions. If it lays perfectly flat, your front alignment is probably good, if it rocks back and forth, the front end is tweaked and needs re-adjusting, JAT.

[motoman]

You have an alignment problem. I'm sure it doesn't handle right, either. Could one of your fork tubes be bent? Is the axle properly installed. Is the tire bead seated on the wheel properly? Something is very wrong. You may want to take everything loose from the trees to the axle. Retorque everything from the top down, making sure it is all properly aligned. Yes, it wouldn't hurt to check the swingarm as well.

Cupping is normal for the XS1100's antique front suspension. I was only able to get rid of it by installing RaceTech Gold Valve Emulators.

Cupping isn't just associated with the type of suspension Marty. Front braking cause most of that cupping. Radial tires will do the same, but on the rear too. My ST is a testimony of this happening. That 730lb. scoot weight transferring forward with front braking amplify that cupping. My Venturer coming in not far behind at 680lbs. doesn't show the cupping going on, but between using conventional ply tires and it not having no where near the braking ability of the Honda, even wear is the norm. Actually a scoot tire should show slightly more wear on the left side as opposed to the right side because of the fact that left hand turns are generally longer than right........unless U live across the east 'pond'. I can tell you, cupping is gonna be the norm if the bike is running radial ply tires......'nature of the beast'.

[Cobia]

Cupping

When I bought my, G the front tire was severely cupped. Didn't matter since I was going to re-shoe it anyway. Yet, the mechanic at the shop discovered that the front tire was installed backward, contrary to the rotation arrow on the tire. It was done at the local Yamaha dealer nonetheless !!!!
After two sets of tires and pushing up on a third, I've had no cupping issues at all and I have really good brakes that I use hard as required.

[XS1100 Newbie]

Thanks for the ideas. I think i am going to check the axle first. I did have the brake calipers all apart, and installed new bolts, as per my other thread for the brake problem. I checked the bead on the tire really good, but i will look again. It has to be something simple, because this is the first of this problem, and all i did was change the tire. Also i do like turning left a lot more than right. My left foot peg has been ground down, where the right is pretty straight.

[petejw]

i had a similar problem,
ended up being a front fork spring had collapsed
it was about an inch and a half shorter than the other one.

they were progressive springs and only about 4 years old.

[JeffH]

I was just re-reading your 8/14 brake rotor thread titled "OK you brake and fork gurus". Per the comments on this thread; maybe Pete, bikerphil, jetmech and the others have valid points on another cause for the unusual tire wear. It appears that if you were recently having Rotor and Caliper problems too and that something could actually be wrong with the forks or alignment.


8/14 Rotor / Brake Thread:

I have a problem that i am having a time figuring out. Let me start at the begining. I noticed over a year ago that my rotors were warped, or so i thought. It has become bad enough that i am getting some rotors from Lee for replacement. I have read a lot about bikes and rotors, and it seems that half the people say that the discs don't warp, (i kinda don't believe that) others say that hard usage building to much heat will warp them, a dragging caliper will warp them, etc. etc.. I have even been told that for it to be warped, that it will warp in more than one place on the rotor. I have read that they may be bent instead. I noticed when re-assembling the front end, ( i cleaned out both calipers, and the master again.) It was hard lining the rotors up. Finally got them, but when i lowered the front down, this changed. I ended up setting them with the weight on the forks. I don't know if this is normal, or could i possibly have bent forks. I also used feeler gauges to measure the warp between one side where the rotor runs through the caliper mounting (because it is stable), i did this on both sides. What i came up with is the right side being out .036, and the left being out .032. Huge i thought, but another strange thing is both sides are in the same spots across from each other, and about 7 inches of the rotor is affected. I don't want to ruin the rotors i am about to get, so i need some ides here on what to check for. I know that someone on here has experienced something like this. So you know again this is a 1980 MNS.

If you have only ridden 250 miles on the new tire it is suspect that the unusual right side wear is actually being caused by the same problem that was creating the brake surging and rotor warping? Maybe forks are bent or as Pete suggested, something is wrong internally in the forks. Just a thought. We were following the logic that the only change was the new tire, but if you have been having recent rotor problems and caliper bolt problems etc. etc. over the past year then maybe something in the alignment, or the forks has gone bad.

Jeff