Revisiting front end wobble

[NancysToy]

Just caught this thread and wanted to ask if anyone experienced this. Have a 2012 RTS and just rolled over 7k miles. Coming home from work noticed vibration and the left tire wobbling back and forth. Right side rolling smoothly. Eased off the throttle and it stopped. Happened again yesterday just on the left side. Tire wear is perfect on both front tires and have never had an issue till now. Torqued lugs and checked for loose front end bolts and everything tight. Tire pressures good. Only work done recently on front end was I installed a new Bajaron swaybar but don't see how this could be affecting it. I was wondering if a tire belt problem could suddenly develop and if this might be the issue? Any thoughts? :dontknow:

Jack that side up and check wheel bearing for play, shock bushings, a-arm bushings, ball joints, and tie-rod end for play, and check for a-arm or tie-rod damage. Also check for frame damage, like cracks in a mounting bracket or worn bolt holes where the suspension attaches. The swaybar could have accented an existing problem, but likey wouldn't cause one.

 

[BaldEagle]

wheel wobble

Thanks for the insight Scotty. I'll check those items mentioned before I take the bike in for a scheduled maintenance.:thumbup:

 

[Bob Ledford]

certainly can a radial regardless of type can "bust a belt in a nanosecond."

 

[Pennyrick]

Just remembered I forgot to close out this thread.

New tires installed Monday and have put about 300 miles on the RT since then with absolutely not wobble or kick back from the front end.

Tires were the problem.

Moral is DO NOT ROTATE FRONT TIRES!!

 

[Sarge707]

Just remembered I forgot to close out this thread.

New tires installed Monday and have put about 300 miles on the RT since then with absolutely not wobble or kick back from the front end.

Tires were the problem.

Moral is DO NOT ROTATE FRONT TIRES!!

I don,t know About that- I rotated the fronts on my GS at 8,000 miles as they were wearing more on the inside (But evenly) and They were fine as I did not have to replace them till 18,000 miles and some would have left them longer.:dontknow:

 

[Pennyrick]

I don,t know About that- I rotated the fronts on my GS at 8,000 miles as they were wearing more on the inside (But evenly) and They were fine as I did not have to replace them till 18,000 miles and some would have left them longer.:dontknow:

Well, based on the feedback to this thread I'd say you are in the minority. But if it worked for you that is great.

My advice still stands... 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!".

 

[Sarge707]

Well, based on the feedback to this thread I'd say you are in the minority. But if it worked for you that is great.

My advice still stands... 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!".

I agree you would have been better off just to leave the fronts alone at 12,500 If as you say they were wearing evenly!!
Mine were wearing more on the inside and if I didn,t rotate them they wouldn,t last 10,000 BUT with the rotation they lasted 18,000.
My New GS tires (BRP) after 6,000 miles are wearing perfectly even (So Far) and I think the little extra height of the Elka,s has made the difference. I hope these last 25,000 and I won,t rotate unless the wear becomes uneven.

 

[ABQAndy]

I think that I have cured my front end wobble problem (between 40-44 mph). I took the advise of one SL member and BALANCED my front tire pressures as close as I possibly could at 18 psi. On my ride today I didn't have on incidence of wobble :thumbup:

 

[BajaRon]

I agree you would have been better off just to leave the fronts alone at 12,500 If as you say they were wearing evenly!!
Mine were wearing more on the inside and if I didn,t rotate them they wouldn,t last 10,000 BUT with the rotation they lasted 18,000.
My New GS tires (BRP) after 6,000 miles are wearing perfectly even (So Far) and I think the little extra height of the Elka,s has made the difference. I hope these last 25,000 and I won,t rotate unless the wear becomes uneven.

If your tires are wearing unevenly then you have an alignment issue. Rotating them simply spreads the problem around to other parts of the tire.

Raising the front of the Spyder changes steering/alignment geometry. If you're lucky it will counteract the original alignment problem. If you're not it will make it worse.

 

[BajaRon]

Just remembered I forgot to close out this thread.

New tires installed Monday and have put about 300 miles on the RT since then with absolutely not wobble or kick back from the front end.

Tires were the problem.

Moral is DO NOT ROTATE FRONT TIRES!!

Glad you were able to get this fixed. Would be nice to know why new tires did the job.

Cord or belt separation may have been the issue but that is usually easily seen. Rotating the tires should not have caused or even aggravated this issue as the tires would still be rotating in the same direction. (I believe you did say that you dismounted and remounted the tires as necessary to have them rotate the same direction) Since you didn't have the problem until after rotating the tires, I'm thinking this is not the likely answer.

If the tires were wearing unevenly then most likely the original issue was bad alignment causing the wear. Rotating the tires would have required a balance job and this could have been neglected or done poorly.

Rotating tires (especially on the front) with improper, uneven wear, coupled with an alignment problem can set up a wobble condition depending on how, and how badly the tires were worn.

I would keep an eye on your new tires. If your alignment is bad you'll soon get wear in the same area as with your previous tires. If you see this happenening then you need to get an alignment before you waste a 2nd set of tires.

 

[Pennyrick]

Glad you were able to get this fixed. Would be nice to know why new tires did the job.

Cord or belt separation may have been the issue but that is usually easily seen. Rotating the tires should not have caused or even aggravated this issue as the tires would still be rotating in the same direction. (I believe you did say that you dismounted and remounted the tires as necessary to have them rotate the same direction) Since you didn't have the problem until after rotating the tires, I'm thinking this is not the likely answer.

If the tires were wearing unevenly then most likely the original issue was bad alignment causing the wear. Rotating the tires would have required a balance job and this could have been neglected or done poorly.

Rotating tires (especially on the front) with improper, uneven wear, coupled with an alignment problem can set up a wobble condition depending on how, and how badly the tires were worn.

I would keep an eye on your new tires. If your alignment is bad you'll soon get wear in the same area as with your previous tires. If you see this happenening then you need to get an alignment before you waste a 2nd set of tires.

There was no uneven wear or cupping on the tires. I just thought it would be a good idea to rotate them (mount and dismount). I liked Scotty's explanation and my tech agrees that was probably the problem.....Often, as the tread gets thin, a tire will balance fine, but will show a vibration just because the slightly more rigid spot where the belt overlaps is less cushioned, and begins to react with the road. This effect can be enhanced if both tires happen to have the belt lap make contact with the road at the same time. It can also vary with speed, for some reason...probably a harmonic effect. This malady is a bear to diagnose. Scotty

 

[Sarge707]

Front Wheel wobble cured!!!!

As with many I have been having that off and on wobble from 40-42 MPH where the whole front end shakes back and forth.
Finally broke down and bought 2 New tires and couldn,t get it to wobble once today- And I tried everything I could think of-40-42 in 2nd gear-40-42 in third gear-Uphill, downhill, coasting??? Its fixed :bowdown::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Can-Am-BRP-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a0efd17fa&vxp=mtr

Showed dealer this EBay link where I could get 2 New tires from Leadersmarine in michigan for $149 delivered and asked him to match the price??? He played TOUGH but got me them for $150 Plus tax so I saved $30 from retail!

It rides Sooo Much nicer and smoother so if you still have the problem use the link or print it and have your dealer match it?:dontknow:

Its like a New RT Not Having to wonder when the front end is going to wobble!!!!:bowdown:

 

[Pennyrick]

As with many I have been having that off and on wobble from 40-42 MPH where the whole front end shakes back and forth.
Finally broke down and bought 2 New tires and couldn,t get it to wobble once today- And I tried everything I could think of-40-42 in 2nd gear-40-42 in third gear-Uphill, downhill, coasting??? Its fixed :bowdown::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Can-Am-BRP-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a0efd17fa&vxp=mtr

Showed dealer this EBay link where I could get 2 New tires from Leadersmarine in michigan for $149 delivered and asked him to match the price??? He played TOUGH but got me them for $150 Plus tax so I saved $30 from retail!

It rides Sooo Much nicer and smoother so if you still have the problem use the link or print it and have your dealer match it?:dontknow:

Its like a New RT Not Having to wonder when the front end is going to wobble!!!!:bowdown:

Glad you got your problem solved as economically as possible.

 

[AZCowboy]

Front end wobble

Glad you got your problem solved as economically as possible.

My started around 5,000 miles and you couldn't control it. It was that bad and the dealer found it. The problem with the tire was it was coming apart inside and didn't have 5,000 miles on the bike yet. BRP would only replace that tire not the other as they should have by there own book. :yikes:RJ

 

[reverendg]

One thing I haven't heard mentioned here regarding the tire rotations is how carefully the tires were remounted. Elsewhere on the forum here, I know the eccentricity (out of roundness) of the tires and wheels was addressed. It is quite possible this tire/wheel relationship is being neglected in the remount, causing out of round assemblies. If a formerly well-balanced tire suddenly needs a lot of weight to balance, this is likely. An out of round tire/wheel assembly with a lot of weight to balance it is a good source of problems. Apparently 41-45 mph is a critical frequency as far as the spyder front end design goes, a harmonic hot spot. The simplest insurance of maintaining a proper wheel/tire relationship is to make sure the position of the valve stem is marked on the tire prior to dismounting, and when the tire is reversed, the relationship to the valve stem is maintained.

 

[Pennyrick]

One thing I haven't heard mentioned here regarding the tire rotations is how carefully the tires were remounted. Elsewhere on the forum here, I know the eccentricity (out of roundness) of the tires and wheels was addressed. It is quite possible this tire/wheel relationship is being neglected in the remount, causing out of round assemblies. If a formerly well-balanced tire suddenly needs a lot of weight to balance, this is likely. An out of round tire/wheel assembly with a lot of weight to balance it is a good source of problems. Apparently 41-45 mph is a critical frequency as far as the spyder front end design goes, a harmonic hot spot. The simplest insurance of maintaining a proper wheel/tire relationship is to make sure the position of the valve stem is marked on the tire prior to dismounting, and when the tire is reversed, the relationship to the valve stem is maintained.

Good thought. Too late for me but useful information for others.

 

[reverendg]

Good thought. Too late for me but useful information for others.

If the tire/wheel assembly that seems to be the source of the problem has a lot of weights on it, breaking the beads and rotating the tire 180 degrees around the rim to see if it balances better is a good "check" for this situation.

 

[Sarge707]

If the tire/wheel assembly that seems to be the source of the problem has a lot of weights on it, breaking the beads and rotating the tire 180 degrees around the rim to see if it balances better is a good "check" for this situation.

Thats what my dealer initially did- I had 12 weights in a row on one tire and they remounted and had balanced for Free- When that didn,t work I bought the 2 New tires and That solved the problem!!!

 

[ABQAndy]

I thought I had my front end wobble problem solved with even air pressure in the front tires but it resurfaced on my trip to Sturgis. I guess it could be my front tires. I now have 9,500 miles on them and I am continously getting wobble between 40 and 43 mph. Very aggrevating as that is a very common speed in town. Tires show very little wear so I am reluctant to replace them simply because they still look very serviceable.

 

[Sarge707]

I thought I had my front end wobble problem solved with even air pressure in the front tires but it resurfaced on my trip to Sturgis. I guess it could be my front tires. I now have 9,500 miles on them and I am continously getting wobble between 40 and 43 mph. Very aggrevating as that is a very common speed in town. Tires show very little wear so I am reluctant to replace them simply because they still look very serviceable.

I know how ya feel-My wobble went away when we had 10 days of 95 degree Temps with 75 dew point BUT with the normal 70s-80s it started again! It got so the $$ to replace was worth it knowing the wobble is Not going to do any damage to the suspension parts which could cost a lot more $$? :dontknow: