Uneven front tire wear

[Stridersr7]

So on my 09 SE5 I noticed this. Now on the sport bike it would be cool because it shows you hit curves a lot and drag your knee. But not on the Spyder. Think it’s the tire pressure or something else? Notice you ya e to use a digital tire gauge on these because the PSI is low for the front tires and don’t register on regular gauges

 

[Peter Aawen]

That wear is mainly on the inside edges of the tires, isn't it? (The pics are a little hard to see on my tablet...) If so, & the 'extra wear' is mainly just on that inside edge of each tire without lumps or bumps or hollows elsewhere, then it's most likely due to wheel alignment! :sour: If there are lumps or bumps or hollows elsewhere, then the tires &/or some suspension components are likely not good & will very likely need replacing! :shocked:

Have you had a good wheel alignment done, & by that I don't just mean someone whacking whatever measuring devices on & setting everything to factory specs, I mean someone like Squared Away setting it correctly for you so that it drives/rides properly? The 'factory specs' are basically just 'zero everything so it's as inoffensive as possible to the largest number of potential buyers' & then specify that you should flip the tires on the rims every 10k miles or so & swap them onto the other side of the Spyder so as to minimise the 'inside edge wear' that invariably results; while a 'proper wheel alignment' will look at you, your Spyder, your tires, how everything is wearing; and then taking all that into account, dial in whatever is necessary to make it work properly for you! So I reckon you should get a good wheel alignment as soon as you can! :thumbup:

Oh, and you might need to replace those tires pretty soon too!

 

[Stridersr7]

Yes that it both tires tires and both are wearing more on the inside then anywhere else. So idk who does alignment on Spyder’s.
Also if they both have same uneven wear on both tires then what’s the point of swapping them from one side to the other?

That wear is mainly on the inside edges of the tires, isn't it? (The pics are a little hard to see on my tablet...) If so, & the 'extra wear' is mainly just on that inside edge of each tire without lumps or bumps or hollows elsewhere, then it's most likely due to wheel alignment! :sour: If there are lumps or bumps or hollows elsewhere, then the tires &/or some suspension components are likely not good & will very likely need replacing! :shocked:

Have you had a good wheel alignment done, & by that I don't just mean someone whacking whatever measuring devices on & setting everything to factory specs, I mean someone like Squared Away setting it correctly for you so that it drives/rides properly? The 'factory specs' are basically just 'zero everything so it's as inoffensive as possible to the largest number of potential buyers' & then specify that you should flip the tires on the rims every 10k miles or so & swap them onto the other side of the Spyder so as to minimise the 'inside edge wear' that invariably results; while a 'proper wheel alignment' will look at you, your Spyder, your tires, how everything is wearing; and then taking all that into account, dial in whatever is necessary to make it work properly for you! So I reckon you should get a good wheel alignment as soon as you can! :thumbup:

Oh, and you might need to replace those tires pretty soon too!

 

[Peter Aawen]

By flipping the tires on the rims and then swapping them to the other side of the bike, you keep the tires rolling the same way only with what was formerly the OUTSIDE of the tire now on the INSIDE, changing the section of tread exposed to excessive wear at the same time. The thought behind doing this is that you'll double the distance it takes to wear the tire to 'unsafe' levels. There is certainly some benefit in doing this, especially if you do the flip & swap as soon as the excessive wear is detected, & it is the process BRP recommends. However, the sad news is that you are extremely unlikely to double the 'distance to unsafe', cos once a tire tread face has begun wearing incorrectly, it will have a noticeable tendency to continuing to wear incorrectly despite any efforts to try & correct it. So while you might prolong the life you get from those tires, IF they aren't worn too much on the insides already, I doubt you'll double it anyway; but from what I could see, they are already getting pretty close to 'potentially unsafe' condition on the insides, and once ANY area of the tread is worn to that extent, the entire tire is no longer roadworthy. :sour:

As for who does good wheel alignments on Spyders, check out the Sponsor's info on the Home page of the Forum or in the Sponsor's section, look for the link to 'Squared Away' (it's generally down towards the bottom of the front page, with the CanAm 'Y' factor logo 'squared away' as their logo) - they specialise in doing laser alignments on Spyders, & while I personally have never had my Spyder aligned by them (due mainly to the small obstacle of about 8000 miles of Pacific Ocean between us :shocked: ) I have communicated with a few Spyder Ryders over there in the US who I believe have some idea of what they are on about re alignments & all unanimously highly recommend them! Joe & Ann Meyers post here on SpyderLovers as CptJam & SpyderAnn01; look them up, find out where/when they'll be aligning next, maybe give them a call. At the very least they'll be able to discuss your particular alignment concerns if not sort your problems. Regardless, I don't think you'll be disappointed! :thumbup:

 

[Stridersr7]

At 12k miles it’s just crazy that it needs a alignment

By flipping the tires on the rims and then swapping them to the other side of the bike, you keep the tires rolling the same way only with what was formerly the OUTSIDE of the tire now on the INSIDE, changing the section of tread exposed to excessive wear at the same time. The thought behind doing this is that you'll double the distance it takes to wear the tire to 'unsafe' levels. There is certainly some benefit in doing this, especially if you do the flip & swap as soon as the excessive wear is detected, & it is the process BRP recommends. However, the sad news is that you are extremely unlikely to double the 'distance to unsafe', cos once a tire tread face has begun wearing incorrectly, it will have a noticeable tendency to continuing to wear incorrectly despite any efforts to try & correct it. So while you might prolong the life you get from those tires, IF they aren't worn too much on the insides already, I doubt you'll double it anyway; but from what I could see, they are already getting pretty close to 'potentially unsafe' condition on the insides, and once ANY area of the tread is worn to that extent, the entire tire is no longer roadworthy. :sour:

As for who does good wheel alignments on Spyders, check out the Sponsor's info on the Home page of the Forum or in the Sponsor's section, look for the link to 'Squared Away' (it's generally down towards the bottom of the front page, with the CanAm 'Y' factor logo 'squared away' as their logo) - they specialise in doing laser alignments on Spyders, & while I personally have never had my Spyder aligned by them (due mainly to the small obstacle of about 8000 miles of Pacific Ocean between us :shocked: ) I have communicated with a few Spyder Ryders over there in the US who I believe have some idea of what they are on about re alignments & all unanimously highly recommend them! Joe & Ann Meyers post here on SpyderLovers as CptJam & SpyderAnn01; look them up, find out where/when they'll be aligning next, maybe give them a call. At the very least they'll be able to discuss your particular alignment concerns if not sort your problems. Regardless, I don't think you'll be disappointed! :thumbup:

 

[Stridersr7]

And if the squared away ppl are too far away then what? I just can never get a alignment?

 

[Peter Aawen]

There are quite a few other places in the States that do alignments, maybe someone a tad more local than me might be able to recommend a place?! :dontknow:

Altho Squared Away does travel a lot & do alignments at many of the Spyder gatherings, as well as often visiting areas where someone organises a collection of Spyder Ryders to meet & get their alignments done. Give them a yell & see when/if they are coming your way/doing alignments in the near future... or maybe you could book in a road trip, get some new tires too?! :thumbup:

Btw, many Spyders really benefit from a 'proper alignment' immediately after delivery, so you've done pretty well in getting to 12,000 miles!! But like I said way back in the beginning, the 'factory settings' are not all that great, basically just zero everything & hope it's not too offensive to most, ie they are a 'one size offends the fewest' specification! A good wheel alignment will take how & where you ride and your weight on the Spyder into account in order to fine tune everything to better suit you & avoid this - wheel alignments (& to some extent, tire pressures too) are NOT a 'one size fits all' thing, often not even a 'one size fits most' thing; besides, BRP recommends that you flip the tires on the rims & swap sides regularly anyway! IIRC, I think that shoulda been done at 10k miles - largely to minimise the sort of wear that you've experienced!! But not only is wheel alignment something that should be checked regularly (probably at least with every new tire) but that sort of factory spec & flip/swap requirement is a cop out band-aid solution to the expected tread wear issues resulting for settings like those - if instead, they just did the alignment properly first up, then you shouldn't need to flip & swap tires later on! :sour:

 

[Stridersr7]

So the front tires i think said 15-17 PSI. I ride the mountains a lot and I weigh 215. Also 7 months pregnant. So it might be taking a few months break

There are quite a few other places in the States that do alignments, maybe someone a tad more local than me might be able to recommend a place?! :dontknow:

Altho Squared Away does travel a lot & do alignments at many of the Spyder gatherings, as well as often visiting areas where someone organises a collection of Spyder Ryders to meet & get their alignments done. Give them a yell & see when/if they are coming your way/doing alignments in the near future... or maybe you could book in a road trip, get some new tires too?! :thumbup:

Btw, many Spyders really benefit from a 'proper alignment' immediately after delivery, so you've done pretty well in getting to 12,000 miles!! But like I said way back in the beginning, the 'factory settings' are not all that great, basically just zero everything & hope it's not too offensive to most, ie they are a 'one size offends the fewest' specification! A good wheel alignment will take how & where you ride and your weight on the Spyder into account in order to fine tune everything to better suit you & avoid this - wheel alignments (& to some extent, tire pressures too) are NOT a 'one size fits all' thing, often not even a 'one size fits most' thing; besides, BRP recommends that you flip the tires on the rims & swap sides regularly anyway! IIRC, I think that shoulda been done at 10k miles - largely to minimise the sort of wear that you've experienced!! But not only is wheel alignment something that should be checked regularly (probably at least with every new tire) but that sort of factory spec & flip/swap requirement is a cop out band-aid solution to the expected tread wear issues resulting for settings like those - if instead, they just did the alignment properly first up, then you shouldn't need to flip & swap tires later on! :sour:

 

[Peter Aawen]

Your tire pressure won't have had anything to do with that type of wear pattern. :thumbup:

 

[Boilermaker]

South Carolina ROLO Laser Alignment Dealers

These are the recommended Spyder ROLO laser alignment dealers in South Carolina. You can check North Carolina or Georgia if you are close to the borders of either of those states.

SOUTH CAROLINA DEALERS


Velocity Powersports
Landson,SC. 843-871-5371 (ask for Byron)



Performance Powersports
Seneca, SC. 864-888-8123 (ask for Kevin)



Redline Powersports
Myrtle Beach SC 843-236-0758 (ask for Todd)



Rock Hill Powersports
Rock Hill SC 803-324-8800 (ask for Vinny)

 

[Stridersr7]

Oh nice. Seneca is 20
mins from me

These are the recommended Spyder ROLO laser alignment dealers in South Carolina. You can check North Carolina or Georgia if you are close to the borders of either of those states.

SOUTH CAROLINA DEALERS


Velocity Powersports
Landson,SC. 843-871-5371 (ask for Byron)



Performance Powersports
Seneca, SC. 864-888-8123 (ask for Kevin)



Redline Powersports
Myrtle Beach SC 843-236-0758 (ask for Todd)



Rock Hill Powersports
Rock Hill SC 803-324-8800 (ask for Vinny)

 

[BajaRon]

At 12k miles it’s just crazy that it needs a alignment

The come, brand new from the factory, out of alignment. Very typical tire wear for a non-laser aligned Spyder of any year or model. No excuse for it. But that's the way it has always been.