wear on rear tire

[scrutineer]

Hello folks,

Just crossed 6K miles on my '13 sts, purchased in spring 2014. I've reached the wear mark on the exterior of the tire and maybe I've got 3mm left on the center mark -- so it looks like it'll need to be replaced before the longer summer travel/riding season.

I'm very concerned that this tire made it only 6k miles before needing replacement. Its not like I'm burning rubber and making smoke shows here.... I figure roughly ~500$ to have it replaced -- parts and labor. I realize this is one big bad boy, and the construction is somewhat on the soft side for traction but 6k? Thats two summers of riding and done ?

Can you immagine if regular car tires had that short of a lifespan.

Sigh.

[Cruzr Joe]

Hello folks,

Just crossed 6K miles on my '13 sts, purchased in spring 2014. I've reached the wear mark on the exterior of the tire and maybe I've got 3mm left on the center mark -- so it looks like it'll need to be replaced before the longer summer travel/riding season.

I'm very concerned that this tire made it only 6k miles before needing replacement. Its not like I'm burning rubber and making smoke shows here.... I figure roughly ~500$ to have it replaced -- parts and labor. I realize this is one big bad boy, and the construction is somewhat on the soft side for traction but 6k? Thats two summers of riding and done ?

Can you immagine if regular car tires had that short of a lifespan.

Sigh.

I would replace it with a Kuhmo tire, the stock tire is only a two ply, the Kuhmo is a 4 ply and will last three times as long.

Cruzr Joe

[Highwayman2013]

We have 17,000 so far on a Michelin. 215/60/15 size on our RT.

[Chupaca]

Sure your reading the right limit. Should be a little triangle to the side of the tire where the wear mark should be read. I got 22,000 miles on the 2012 and know that the compound was changed in 2014 and then back again in late 14. That is low...

[oldguyinTX]

Sure your reading the right limit. Should be a little triangle to the side of the tire where the wear mark should be read. I got 22,000 miles on the 2012 and know that the compound was changed in 2014 and then back again in late 14. That is low...

The other bars that are on the tire are to push water out of the treads. Also, keep an eye on the air pressure. I kept my Kenda at 29 psi & got almost 16K out of it.

[Bob Denman]

Here's the deal...
The two-ply Kenda is built light; for "motorcycle use" only.
Except that it's actually built TOO light!
As speeds increase; it "balloons" under the rotational forces. This wears out the center tread first.
When you see the center tread section wearing first; you assume that the tire is over-inflated. You reduce pressures: making it even worse!
Get yourself a 4-ply tire, and you'll be a whole lot happier!

[Deanna777]

I got 5,824 miles out my Kenda tire (on the rear) replaced it with a General Altimax RT 43, and I have a 2014RTS-SE6. Total miles on the spyder is 10,000.

Mileage on the rear tire is 4,176. Tire size : 215/60 R15

Deanna

[scrutineer]

Sure your reading the right limit. Should be a little triangle to the side of the tire where the wear mark should be read. I got 22,000 miles on the 2012 and know that the compound was changed in 2014 and then back again in late 14. That is low...

This is what i see:

I call them wear guards for lack of a better term. The "A" one is almost flat and the "B" one has about 3mm of depth. I'll look for the red triangle you're talking about... I don't think I've ever seen it.

[BajaRon]

If you are willing to remove the rear wheel you can get a car tire installed for less than $150.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

... ...Chupaca said ...." read "... not ...RED.....................The mark is not red......Mike

[Jester]

I am changing my rear tire now at 7,000 +- miles. That being said, there is a lot of loose sand on the blacktop at two of my regular intersections and I suffer from a right wrist reflex jerk every time😆 I pass through there😝

[scrutineer]

... ...Chupaca said ...." read "... not ...RED.....................The mark is not red......Mike

Damn dyslexia. Sorry for that.

[billybovine]

This is what i see:

I call them wear guards for lack of a better term. The "A" one is almost flat and the "B" one has about 3mm of depth. I'll look for the red triangle you're talking about... I don't think I've ever seen it.

That tire looks almost new. Look on the sidewall for the triangle that points to the location of the wear indicators.

[scrutineer]

That tire looks almost new. Look on the sidewall for the triangle that points to the location of the wear indicators.

I did find the triangle, on the picture it's to the right of the "B" indicator. as BLUEKNIGHT911 foretold it wasn't red at all (I'm color blind anyway so I would have missed it)

[billybovine]

Oh No!!! Dyslexic and color blind.

[Peter Aawen]

Scrutineer, that block you have marked 'A' is a groove 'breaker' that helps stabilise the tread & make it do what it should with water etc, it is NOT a tread wear indicator! There are generally no markers on the side of the tread or on the sidewall of the tire to show where to find these, but there is generally at least one in each major groove of the tread.

The block you have marked 'B' looks like it IS a tread wear indicator and so there should be a small raised triangle embossed on each side of the tire tread that lines up with that block - the triangle is just a raised triangular outline about 1/4" across and 1/4" tall that is really located just on the side of the tread, not down on the sidewall of the tire. There should be 3 'lines' of those tread wear indicators with a similar block appearing in each of the major tread grooves around the circumference of the tire, & each 'line' should be identified by the triangle markers appearing on each side of the tread to identify that they are the tread wear indicators.

Your tire doesn't look too bad (yet, anyway - it should have a couple more thousand miles in it.) but the CanAm specified Kenda tires are really not much chop for anything apart from keeping the metal of the rim off the road - while for all intents & purposes they are constructed identically to an (exceedingly lightly constructed) passenger car tire that runs on a rim with a 'passenger car' design bead holder & they distort significantly when running at speed, increasing the wear in the middle of the tread well beyond that experienced by anything else; somehow BRP & Kenda have managed to get them classified as a 'Motorcycle only' tyre & claim that the VSS has been tuned to work only with them at the risk of failure.... and yet the manufacturers of these stability & safety systems & all other tires all aver that any tire which matches or exceeds the specified speed, load, wear, and weight ratings for the Spyder & doesn't exceed the rolling diameter by any more than about 3/4" will work perfectly well within the safe operational parameters of the safety systems & vehicle use - btw, it's actually Federally mandated that they do so.... that's what those ratings mean!

So if you feel that way inclined, when the time comes around (& it doesn't look like it has yet) you can replace the Kenda tire with an OE spec tire of the same make from a CanAm dealer & put up with the cost & aggravation as well as the poor ride, handling, & tire life; OR if otherwise inclined, you can fit a higher load speed & wear rated passenger car tire that exceeds the operational ratings of the Kenda crap in all respects & provides far better ride, handling & tire life, usually at a significantly lower cost than that charged by the CanAm dealers for the OE rubbish - I got less than 3000 miles out of my original Kenda rear tire before the canvas started to show & yet with little obvious signs of wear have already exceeded 3 TIMES that with the (funnily enough, cheaper....) replacement passenger car tire that is rated higher in all respects than the Kenda & at least for me, works better in ALL respects too!!

Over to you.

Ps: bugga, took too long typing up the epic & it's been overtaken by responses - but it's there now, so for what it's worth...

[Flamewinger]

The 2012/13 Kenda tires were made with a softer compound. The Kenda's that are available now are harder and will last longer. Just not as long as a Kuhmo or other similar tire.

I got 10k out of my read and I run a Kuhmo now.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Chupaca]

If that's the tire your talking about it looks almost new. The little triangle would be on the sidewall close to the edge of the tread...

[redrt]

Go with the triangle, just had the wife's RT in for alignment and dealer tried to sell us tires. He about lost it when I showed him the right wear bar. Big thanks to this site. They also had a sonic tester for the belt tension, never seen this Harley used a tension gauge, must be something new. Now we are planing on getting a new tire this fall at Robs rally. Going to do some research and pick out a tire. 8,000 mile was common on rear two wheels should get more on three but I do think they should be a softer compound than a car to hold the road, less weight on a Can Am. We have 12,000 on the tire now and looks like it will go till this fall for replacement. Jim

[Highwayman2013]

Just for the record, I think the hard and soft thing is over simplifying the tire's handling capabilities. I put a Michelin tire on the rear of our RT and in my opinion it handles better than the Kenda. Don't know which one is harder, don't care, if it handles better I will run it. I do think that Michelin makes a better quality tire than Kenda. That being said I have 2 motorcycles, one with Michelins and one with Kendas!

[Highwayman2013]

This is what i see:

I call them wear guards for lack of a better term. The "A" one is almost flat and the "B" one has about 3mm of depth. I'll look for the red triangle you're talking about... I don't think I've ever seen it.

Tire looks good, lots of wear left.

[DrewNJ]

Tire looks good, lots of wear left.

Agree!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[scrutineer]

Thanks! amazing input here, like always.

[Deanna777]

If you are willing to remove the rear wheel you can get a car tire installed for less than $150.

I got my tire installed for $94.00 @ a dealership last year.
Deanna

[jcthorne]

This is what i see:

I call them wear guards for lack of a better term. The "A" one is almost flat and the "B" one has about 3mm of depth. I'll look for the red triangle you're talking about... I don't think I've ever seen it.

That tire has a long way to go. the triangle mark on the side is not red. Just moulded in the shoulder of the tire.