Front tire wear

[50SRIDER]

The right front tire on my 2011 RT is showing wear on the right tire on the outside (right side ) edge of the tread. Any ideas on tweaking the alignment without going to the dealer would be appreciated. Thanks

[BajaRon]

Short answer. no. You're much more likely to win the lotto than to make the alignment better by guessing.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

The right front tire on my 2011 RT is showing wear on the right tire on the outside (right side ) edge of the tread. Any ideas on tweaking the alignment without going to the dealer would be appreciated. Thanks

with Ron ..... and the ONLY alignment worth having is done with the Rolo Lazer system ..... check with your dealer if they do the Lazer A, or better yet an Independent " Rolo alignment " person..... good luck ..... Mike

[CopperSpyder]

You must be a NASCAR fan and only take left hand turns? (Just kidding) It could be lots of things that are going on to make the front tire wear like that. Age of the tire can make them wear oddly or uneven. Worn suspension parts can cause the tire to wear the out side also and alignment can also wear tries. I would not just try and adjust it myself. If your tires are old get a new set and take it for an alignment after you mount them. If the Laser alignment people are good they will check to make sure your suspension parts are good before they try and align it.

[Snowbelt Spyder]

The right front tire on my 2011 RT is showing wear on the right tire on the outside (right side ) edge of the tread. Any ideas on tweaking the alignment without going to the dealer would be appreciated. Thanks

If you are still using the Kenda tires, it could just be that. The only alignment available on the Spyder is Toe, and an out of spec Toe usually does not cause that type of wear on only one tire - it effects both tires. On the Spyder, Camber changes as the front suspension sags as you load the machine. You can literally watch that happen. Check that your front spring pre-load adjusters are both set the same. So, if what you are seeing is relatively minor, it's a non-issue - nature of the beast. I've seen it, too.

If you want to pursue the matter further and look into the suspension parts yourself, jack the thing up by the center frame so that the front wheels are a few inches off the ground. The front suspension will then just be hanging by the shocks and the control arms and ball joints will be unloaded. Grab the front tire around the 6 O'Clock position and repeatedly pull upwards and towards you. Put some muscle in it. If you hear loud clunking and feel excessive movement, then you'll just need to identify if it's coming from the lower ball joint or the lower control arm bushings. If they have been kept greased, the bushings are probably OK. Emphasis on "probably". A little bit of noise or slight movement of the ball joint when you test it, is not that critical. The weight of the front suspension is supported by the lower ball joint. With weight on it, the ball is forced into the socket by the weight of the machine. Just keep an eye on it and put ball joint replacement on your to do list for the future. Otherwise, if it worries you, time to do the replacement. Do both sides. Then the alignment.

The upper ball joint hardly does any work except for keeping the wheel upright and sharing the forces when braking. Usually not a problem.

[ulflyer]

If you plan on coming to the Maggie Valley ralley in Oct, I think there will be a vendor there that does lazer alignment. I'm told its the same as last year and they did my friends RT. They also did a big business selling, mounting, balancing tires.

[CopperSpyder]

If you plan on coming to the Maggie Valley ralley in Oct, I think there will be a vendor there that does lazer alignment. I'm told its the same as last year and they did my friends RT. They also did a big business selling, mounting, balancing tires.

Yes Netzley Tire will be at the Magggie Valley Ralley in Oct. They sell tires and do Lazer Alignments. I hear they are very good.

[ulflyer]

Yes Netzley Tire will be at the Magggie Valley Ralley in Oct. They sell tires and do Lazer Alignments. I hear they are very good.

CopperSpyder: Have you heard of any other vendors that might be there? I was hoping for SpyderPops in order to get and ECU update but understand he had not been invited.

[PinkRosePetal]

The right front tire on my 2011 RT is showing wear on the right tire on the outside (right side ) edge of the tread. Any ideas on tweaking the alignment without going to the dealer would be appreciated. Thanks

Unless it is excessive then it is normal for a vehicle travelling on the right-hand side of the road. In countries where travelling on the left-hand side is normal then is would tend to be the outside of the left tyre.

When travelling on a road with a camber - most roads to some degree - the camber leans downhill toward the right roadside. Just like a car, the Spyder will run down the road camber when travelling straight ahead and the driver will apply a little left turn to compensate, natural correction to drive the vehicle straight will do this without the driver being aware of it. If the wheels are toed in then the left wheel tends to straighten because of the slight left turn being applied, however, the right wheel now has the toe in plus a bit of left turn so is running well out of alignment and dragging the outside edge causing the characteristic wear and feathering of the tread blocks.

There is one other possibility but it is not so likely; if the alignment of the drive belt is not correct and the belt is hard against the rear sprocket flange then the rear wheel will be out of alignment with the chassis and induce a slight turn to the right. To travel straight you'll need to apply a little more left steering than normal.

With regard to tweaking the tie-rods a little; the adjustment on the spyder is very sensitive so a small rotation of the tie-rod will make a noticeable difference to the tracking. However, if you carefully mark the tie-rod relative to the ball joint ends as a datum so you don't loose initial position it would be possible to intelligently put a slight turn on the rod(s) to make an adjustment.

[CopperSpyder]

CopperSpyder: Have you heard of any other vendors that might be there? I was hoping for SpyderPops in order to get and ECU update but understand he had not been invited.

This is what they have as of today and more to come http://www.valueaccessories.net/Spyd...resVendors.htm The event is put on by Value Accessories so of course they are there.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Unless it is excessive then it is normal for a vehicle travelling on the right-hand side of the road. In countries where travelling on the left-hand side is normal then is would tend to be the outside of the left tyre.

When travelling on a road with a camber - most roads to some degree - the camber leans downhill toward the right roadside. Just like a car, the Spyder will run down the road camber when travelling straight ahead and the driver will apply a little left turn to compensate, natural correction to drive the vehicle straight will do this without the driver being aware of it. If the wheels are toed in then the left wheel tends to straighten because of the slight left turn being applied, however, the right wheel now has the toe in plus a bit of left turn so is running well out of alignment and dragging the outside edge causing the characteristic wear and feathering of the tread blocks.

There is one other possibility but it is not so likely; if the alignment of the drive belt is not correct and the belt is hard against the rear sprocket flange then the rear wheel will be out of alignment with the chassis and induce a slight turn to the right. To travel straight you'll need to apply a little more left steering than normal.

With regard to tweaking the tie-rods a little; the adjustment on the spyder is very sensitive so a small rotation of the tie-rod will make a noticeable difference to the tracking. However, if you carefully mark the tie-rod relative to the ball joint ends as a datum so you don't loose initial position it would be possible to intelligently put a slight turn on the rod(s) to make an adjustment.

Interesting ..... imho, if your hypothesis is correct .... then just about all the Spyders in the USA should have early tire wear on the outside of the right tire. I read all the threads here concerning " tire wear ", and to date " road camber " doesn't appear to be a factor in " abnormal " tire wear ...... Mike

[Lew L]

Even though I drove on the right side of the roadway---- I high speed pass onto the left so often that my front tire wear is all evened out----

Lew L

[PinkRosePetal]

Interesting ..... imho, if your hypothesis is correct .... then just about all the Spyders in the USA should have early tire wear on the outside of the right tire. I read all the threads here concerning " tire wear ", and to date " road camber " doesn't appear to be a factor in " abnormal " tire wear ...... Mike

Well I can't speak for all the USA Spyders but generally here in the UK road vehicles do show the effect of the road camber on their front tyres, though here it's the outer edge of the left tyre that has the maximim wear.

For USA Spyders it's maybe aye, maybe no. You folks who drive on the right actually have an advantage as far as the Spyder is concerned. Because of the limitation of the drive belt centring and the rear wheel alignment where when the belt tracks correctly on the rear sprocket it leaves the rear wheel slightly out of alignment with the result that the Spyder tracks very slightly to the left. I guess on the design board it would be straight but in reality there are errors. Anyway, the result is that our Spyders driven on the left of the carriageway have a noticeable left pull. This works to your advantage because your road camber neutralises the effect of the pull to a degree and you'll be running fairly straight. Plainly it depends on the degree of road camber though.

Although we in the UK are left-hand we also use continental Europe for our travels and there we're on the right side of the road. It's very noticeable for us the effect of road camber initially but it quickly becomes normal. Returning to the UK though is very different since we have the left pull plus the left camber and it can be heavy going until we re-adapt.

With regard to the OP, there are numerous reasons why a tyre can show edge wear but that wasn't the question he/she asked.