Mysterious Tire Issue - Need Some Smart Detectives

[NoLmtz]

I've got a 2013 STS w/ about 10k miles. About a 1.5 weeks ago I took it into the dealership to look at a side panel issue and while I was their, asked about why my front tires were wearing so quickly and unevenly. It appears to me to be feathering, where every other tread piece is high-low-high-low, etc. And when the technician came out we rolled it back to look at the entire tire and there is one bald spot towards the inside of one of the tires... it's about 3" in diameter and no other spots. I asked the technician what was causing it and he immediately diagnosed it as faulty shocks. The shocks have been replaced under warranty and BRP is currently evaluating whether to cover the tires, or at least a portion.

I've talked to the dealership several times to ask what else would cause it to wear so excessively in just one spot and they really don't know... this is a first for them. I do remember looking down at my right fender when I'm riding and have seen it have some vibration, so I'm spit-balling here to see what could have caused it... here's my list of ideas, but would love to hear what others have experienced.

Root cause ideas:
- Faulty shocks
- Unbalanced tire
- Unaligned Spyder

Thanks for your help,
Jon

 

[MisterP]

In my experience, your tire was badly out of balance. Bad shocks cause cupping of the tread in multiple locations. There may be some tire defect that causes a single bald spot, but I am not aware of it.

Alignment would cause uneven wear on the inside or outside. Over inflation causes wear on the center of the tread. Under inflation causes wear on the outside edges.

 

[BajaRon]

Could be tire out of round, could be cord separation, could be bad shocks. But most likely it is bad out of balance. Could be a combination of some or all of these.

Not sure i'd jump to the 'Bad Shock' conclusion but that tech may have seen things which I have not.

One thing is certain. Something is very wrong and I'd keep an eagle eye on the new tires to nip any re-occurrence of this problem in the bud.