RT rear tire wears in Middle?

[NEXUS]

Rear Tire

I just recently replaced my rear tire on my 2012 limited at 9000 miles.
Wear bars slick showing, I run my tire pressure 28 lb . I had the rear tire
replaced with OEM Kenda replacement. After the replacement and a few extra trips
to the dealership there was a severe wobble in the tire.

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?58003-RT-Rear-Tire-Wobble

Come to find out it turned out to be a defective Kenda tire and according to the
dealership this is not uncommon. They did replace it at no cost to me and
was told they were turning it in under warranty. This was the OEM Kenda tire
and the first one I really have had problems with.

Nexus

 

[Bob Denman]

Two questions:
1. When you switched over to car tires, did you notice a difference in mpg? Just curious.
2. Did you change the air pressure you run the tires at? If so, what psi are you running them at.
Thanks
Jerry

Hi Jerry,
I had run 28 psi in the OEM Kenda, and got 7,000 miles out of it.
Tire #2: Falken ZE 912. I tried 26 psi in this one. I got 8,000 miles out of it. But when the tread wore down; it got REALLY squirrelly in the wet!
Tire #3: Kumho Ecsta. I was running 25 psi here, and it showed no wear in the 2500 miles that I ran it. (Bike was traded in)
I was trying the slightly lower pressures in the 3-ply tires due to their more robust construction. No loss in fuel mileage at all, and the ride was unchanged.

 

[MarkLawson]

Very informative post - thanks for taking the time to do this.

Two questions:
1. When you switched over to car tires, did you notice a difference in mpg? Just curious.
2. Did you change the air pressure you run the tires at? If so, what psi are you running them at.

I asked question #2 because the recommended air pressure is so low. I note the OEM tires are lightweight tires for motorcycle use. As such, I thought they may not take to the higher air pressures - and I thought they might deform a bit under certain dynamic loading. With car tires, they are build for more heavy duty and probably weigh more for sure. I figured the heavier duty tire could take 36 psi no problem and have no deformation. The handling might suffer a bit, but I don't think that's a factor for the RT-S.

Thanks
Jerry

Jerry, I have noticed no change in MPG in the 11k+ miles I have on my Michelin HydroEdge on the rear, using the 215/60R15. I measured across the tread the other day and found it to be wearing evenly across @ 8/32", which means it has worn about 3/32" since the install. At this rate I expect to get around 33k miles from it before I get to legal wearout (2/32"). I run the BRP recommended pressure in all my tires.

By the way, that tire size now has my speedometer within 1 mph of my GPS at all speeds & often they now read the same speed.

 

[cyberbern]

Thanks for the advice

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll hold out till the Spring & replace the read with a Kumho tire. Hopefully I'll get more miles out of that brand.
I'm running my stock tire @ 28psi. What pressure do you recommend for the Kumho tire?

 

[Bob Denman]

I ran 25 psi; it was looking great! :thumbup:

 

[cyberbern]

PSI

So 25 psi in a Kumho tire it will be.I suppose I should cut the pressure to 25psi in my presenr stock tire.
Thanks again to all.

 

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: I don't know if 25 pso in the OEM would be all that great. With the pressure that low; the two-ply construction might not support the tire adequately...
It might be better to try 28 psi, and see how that works first. :thumbup:

 

[sledmaster]

Kumho is OK, Maxxis is better

(This was originally posted over in the ST side, but applies here as well.) Over the course of 65,000 miles on my 2008s I ran a couple sets of the OEM Kendas on each one but they didn't last very long (5,000+). We then started using Kumhos and Maxxis tires, averaging 7,300 miles on each of those rear tires through the years. Now on my new 2013 ST-S the OEM Kenda rear tire was really bald down the middle at only 2,500 miles! I squeaked another 1,250 miles out of it, so it was completely bald in the center section when we replaced it, and I mean completely. These cheap two-ply Kenda tires wear out the middle first due to the high speed centrifugal force that makes it balloon out in the middle. Many will be quick to say it is the tire pressure being too high, but with this tire high speed operation is the culprit. I never spin the rear tire, just accelerate and brake aggressively. I guess.....

So after four of the stock Kenda tires on the 2008s I switched to Kumhos, wore out four of them. They last longer, wear better, but the traction isn't quite as good from what we found. After the four Kumhos we went to the Maxxis and so far the Maxxis has been the most impressive. It is a MA-Z4S Victra 95V with 420 treadwear, AA traction and A temperature. Tough to find a better treadwear rating with AA traction in this size. The Kumho (speed rating is only H -130 mph, treadwear is 400 with traction A and temperature A) is easier to find, but the Maxxis is a better tire (higher 148 mph speed rating, AA traction, slightly higher treadwear rating). For under $10 more. It is a Cheng Shin tire, best price (with shipping) so far has been onlinetires.com. Cosmetically the Maxxis is also the closest to the OEM tire in terms of tread pattern. But I do know FAR more people here have used the Kumho than the Maxxis, probably due to availability.

So far I have stayed with the OEM 225/50R15 size, but one can go to one of the other sizes to get more options and better tread wear ratings. There are many more options when you go to a 215/60R15 (+5.4% diameter) or even 205/60R15 (+3.5% diameter). It is really tough to find anything in the 215/55R15 (+1.9% diameter) or 205/55R15 (+0.1% diameter) sizes, as they are closer in diameter than the 60s, but all of these will work as far as I have been able to determine by previous posts. There’s also 225/55R15 but also tough to find, that one is +3.7% in diameter. The 4-ply tires seem to be slightly heavier, but this is perfectly acceptable for the higher quality and durability. 2-ply is cheap junk. On my 2013 ST-S this time I wanted to try the Toyo Proxes 4, just to try something different, so far so good but it has an even lower treadwear rating (300) but is AA traction and A temperature with V (148 mph) speed rating. Next time it will be a Nexen N2000, looks very close to the Michelin Hydro Edge tread (too bad they quit making that one, tires rack just sold the last three they had left).

I get a kick out of those who get their rear tires to last over 10,000 miles. Do you also get 40 MPG? You’d better burn the carbon out of the damn thing!

 

[Bob Denman]

Maxxis...
Do you have links to where we can buy them online? :thumbup:

 

[sledmaster]

Sure Thing

http://www.onlinetires.com/products/vehicle/tires/maxxis/225%2F50-15+maxxis+ma-z4s+victra+95v.html


http://www.performanceplustire.com/...5_SLASH_50-15/productID/8675/tireDataID/13644

 

[Bob Denman]

Thanks! :thumbup:
I knew a little bit about Maxxis; I just never thought of them as having a tire that might work out for our application...

 

[Magdave]

1 rating between the 2 Maxis sellers does not inspire confidence for me:dontknow:

 

[mastertek2000]

do you pull a trailer pulling a trailer will do that

 

[Bob Denman]

With or without a trailer in tow; the Kendas will always seem to shed their center tread section first... :shocked:

 

[jcthorne]

The bottom line here is give up on the chinese junk tires that BRP installs and move on to a good top tier tire that will work much better in this application.

 

[tigerdr]

Yup, the rear tire on my 2013 RT is almost gone in the middle after 8200 miles while the edges are hardly worn. Very little wear on the front tires too. Pressure is good. I've never seen this.

Has anybody else experienced this or have any idea what to do about it? Laser alignment?


Thanx.

Normal with the Kenda crap. I got only 8000 kilometers (4800 miles) on mine. Now, I have Michelin tires on the three wheels and very satisfied.

 

[Orange Spyder Man]

that is probably one of those substandard Kenda 2 ply tires.. its a known fact that they "grow" at speed... causing them to wear out prematurely... do your self a favor and don't ever buy another junky Kenda.. your life depends on the tire you are riding on...

osm

 

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

That is a pressure issue, will happen to any tire

 

[AeroPilot]

OEM Kenda on 2015 - what pressure do you run?

With or without a trailer in tow; the Kendas will always seem to shed their center tread section first... :shocked:

I like the Kumho replacements on the 2011 RT SM6 and have got close to 20,000 miles on the last 2. However not it a hurry to wear out the OEM Kenda on the 2015 if we can nurse it along. I agree with Bob that the middle will wear thin first on the Kenda no matter what the tire pressure due to its 2 ply construction but still accept the challenge of adjusting the tire pressure for optimum wear.

When I checked the 2015 recommendations for pressure the sticker says Fronts 20 psi +/- 2 psi; Rear 30 psi +/- 2 psi. I checked the pressure cold and found 16.5 and 17 psi in the fronts and 31.5 in the rear. Now I have 19 psi in the fronts (like the 19.5 in the old RT) but still have 31.5 in the rear. We are 2-up about half the time.

Any thoughts on rear pressure for the 2015s? (have a Kumho ready but in no hurry to burn the OEM off)

 

[LadyDi'sSpyder]

Tire wear

Yup, the rear tire on my 2013 RT is almost gone in the middle after 8200 miles while the edges are hardly worn. Very little wear on the front tires too. Pressure is good. I've never seen this.

Has anybody else experienced this or have any idea what to do about it? Laser alignment?

Thanx.

My 2010 had wear like that with only 4k miles on it, as did my 2013 that I just traded for a 2015 and it had only 4k miles on it. Not sure how long they are supposed to last.