New front tires - Potenza

[007james]

Hi Mike,
Yes, I have only been a member for two days, but a riding Spyder Lurker since I bought my new RT Limited Feb. 2012. I prefer riding over posting, unless I need help. Until this tire issue surfaced, I found all the help I needed just by reading the posts. I don't have a dog in the fight, so just have to trust my own instinct in what I end up trusting under butt. I just logged 27,600 miles on my clock on my ride today. My Throttle Bodies were replaced on Warranty at 12,700 miles, but other than that, my RT Limited has been problem free. I have not had the Valve clearance checked nor Spark Plugs changed yet. Unless it starts missing or running badly, I plan to keep running it.
007james

 

[griffontamer]

Hi Mike,
Yes, I have only been a member for two days, but a riding Spyder Lurker since I bought my new RT Limited Feb. 2012. I prefer riding over posting, unless I need help. Until this tire issue surfaced, I found all the help I needed just by reading the posts. I don't have a dog in the fight, so just have to trust my own instinct in what I end up trusting under butt. I just logged 27,600 miles on my clock on my ride today. My Throttle Bodies were replaced on Warranty at 12,700 miles, but other than that, my RT Limited has been problem free. I have not had the Valve clearance checked nor Spark Plugs changed yet. Unless it starts missing or running badly, I plan to keep running it.
007james

Welcome James . I read through a bunch of the reviews in the link, and they sounded believable, but what struck me as strange was the consistency of the dates in the reviews. I research just about any product before I buy it (as well as writing brutally honest reviews on them when I feel it might help someone) and I've never seen such consistently dated reviews before. Made me think something is fishy... but who knows? Seems like people on this forum love their Kumho tires and have good experiences with them. I'm rolling on my Kendas for now and I'm quite content on the F3, but the RS is a little squirrely; not sure if it's the tires or not, but once they are worn, I will consider trying something different.

 

[007james]

Thanks for the welcome. I also saw that the reviews were mostly recent, but by so many different owners on different vehicles, that they sure look real to me. But seeing they were all on Cages much heavier than Spyders, I disregarded the reviews and still tried to find the 225/50R/15 Kuhmo on the other sites listing them, but they all end up back to Discount Tire, who must have bought out the stock on that size, and won't sell to Spyder Owners trying to order only one. I was about to forget the Khumo and order the Arachnid VTR-350 Rear 225/50/15 from VEE Rubber, for $123.94, but found another Red Flag caution on this tire. I found some negative reviews on this tire, as well, with a Buyer saying they "are Chinese junk." But I thought they are manufactured in Thailand? Then, another Internet site says that this tire being sold by some sellers for less money is because they are part # V35002 with old soft compound where the new tire with a harder compound formulation is Part # V35004 for more money. So, until

 

[ned64]

ConsumerAffairs and Consumer Reports are two different companies.

 

[wingit3611]

Time

What am I missing here. This thread skips from 11/22/15 to yesterday 9/1/18. This does seem a little snarky.

PS, " griffontamer " said essentially the same thing, but for some reason 007james wasn't offended .....He actually Thanked Her ................ 007james I know whose playbook you are following, I think you are heading down the wrong road ...... Mike :thumbup:

 

[007james]

Why James is the Original 007 James, and all ofhers are Wannabies!

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::bowdown:Wow, straight and to the point!!!

Thanks, Mikey. We Mainers gotta stick together! I notice your a Mainer. Well, so am I, born and raised there, until leaving at 17 to join the USAF. Before 1973, the first 3 digits of U.S. Social Security Numbers defined the States the Owner lived in when being assigned the SS Number. Maine was 007. So Maine issued my 007 Licence to,.....WORK, and my parents issued my Name of James. I have had a lot of fun with that , for the James Bond fans, when I claim to be the only real Deal original 007 James. I also lived in Conn. for 18 years, then So. California for 31 years before retiring to Virgina. People are the friendlist in the South, of any where I have ever lived. Every body acknowledges each other by waving, even the Fedex and UPS trucks, Mail Carriers, Garbage collectors, Seniors, Children, and even the dogs are friendly.

Virginia is for Lovers, so I no longer work. I just ride and argue on forums. HaHa.

Cheers,
007 James

 

[tehrlich]

Using a 'rule of thumb' like that one Bike-O-Din is a great way to make sure that YOU get your tire pressures right for YOU, the way you ride, your loading, the roads you ride on etc, and it's easy enough to be repeatable, readily understood, & applicable to pretty much any vehicle too! However, your guide is only ALMOST right - you got the add & minus pressures the wrong way around!! :yikes:

If the pressure goes up by more than 10%, your starting pressure needs to be HIGHER, not lower as you mention in the bit I made bold in the quote above!! That's cos lower pressures will let the tire flex more & therefore make the pressure increase greater, which is the opposite of what you want if the increase is greater than what you want. There's some good explanations on the why's & wherefore's of that to be found if you want to google it.

Conversely, if the pressure does not go up by 10%, you need to DROP your starting pressure rather than add as you mentioned in the bits I made italics in the quote above; same reason tho, just the other end of the measuring stick - lower starting pressure = more tire flex = greater pressure increase once warm... which in this case is what you do want to achieve. ;-)

The tire industry uses a variety of these 'rules' to work out the optimum tire pressure, altho the rules vary a little depending on the specifics of the particular vehicle use. The one I grew up with was known as 'the 4psi Rule' - instead of aiming for 10% increase in tire pressures, it aims for a 4psi increase (if you want to know more, google it!) But they are all basically aimed at achieving the same thing & they all produce very close to the same results anyway.... ie, the tire people looking after race cars & bikes might use anything between 3psi & 10psi increase or anywhere from 4-5% thru to 15% increase, or they might even look for a similar tread temperature % increase evenly across the tread face, but in reality they all aim to achieve a set pressure or temperature increase in the tire from cold start temps to operating temps (increases in tire tread temps mean increases in tire pressures)

But the critical thing to remember about all of these rules/methods is that if your pressures increase by TOO MUCH from cold, you must ADD PRESSURE to your cold starting pressure to make the resulting pressure/temperate increase LESS once the tire is warmed up; while if they increase by NOT ENOUGH from cold, you must SUBTRACT PRESSURE from your cold starting pressure to make the resulting pressure/temperature increase MORE once the tire is warmed up!

As for the pressures YOU arrived at for you, your bike, & your riding etc, they won't necessarily apply to anyone else - what your guide or the 4psi Rule or any of the other techniques out there arrive at is really only applicable to the rider/driver & their vehicle, their general use etc. So no-one else should (or can really) rely on your pressures being right for them, just like the 'compromise' recommendation on the vehicle placard isn't ever going to be right for each & every rider/driver out there - those recommendations are a good start point but just don't take into account all the variables that can impact on what the OPTIMUM pressure is for any specific tire on a vehicle ridden/driven by a specific rider/driver of any specific vehicle on whatever roads they ride/drive on - so each of us really should work out our own OPTIMUM tire pressure for each tire & vehicle we use, ideally using one of those repeatable 'rules' mentioned above or one of the others that can be found amongst all the tire industry documentation that abounds on this sort of thing! :thumbup:

Well, well, well. Thanks BK911 for resurrecting this thread.

I did this very thing when I was working through my higher than groupthink tire pressures. Measured heat signatures and took PSI readings every 20-30 miles for an entire weekend of riding.

I couldn't agree more with the above statement:

"...so each of us really should work out our own OPTIMUM tire pressure for each tire & vehicle we use, ideally using one of those repeatable 'rules' mentioned above or one of the others that can be found amongst all the tire industry documentation that abounds on this sort of thing! :thumbup:"

 

[UtahPete]

Well, well, well. Thanks BK911 for resurrecting this thread.

I did this very thing when I was working through my higher than groupthink tire pressures. Measured heat signatures and took PSI readings every 20-30 miles for an entire weekend of riding.

I couldn't agree more with the above statement:

"...so each of us really should work out our own OPTIMUM tire pressure for each tire & vehicle we use, ideally using one of those repeatable 'rules' mentioned above or one of the others that can be found amongst all the tire industry documentation that abounds on this sort of thing! :thumbup:"

I agree. Most enlightening discussion on proper tire pressure to date.

 

[wingit3611]

4 Psi

Did a little of that today and looks like the rear is running low and the front is running high. Seemed to handle pretty good with two up. But did seem to go from under steer to over steer in hard curves. Wonder what it will be like when I get it rite? Will I like the way it handles? We will see.