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Tire wear, mud flap, and paying attention!

IdahoMtnSpyder

Active member
As you can see in this photo my mud flap does a great job of keeping me from casually observing my rear tire.

Mud flap.jpg

The other day at a gathering of Spyder owners some of us got to talking rear tires so I pulled up the mud flap to show him my General Altimax RT43. Oh, oh, this is what we saw!

Worn tread.jpg

The center tread is worn down somewhat more than the outer tread. According to the General web site when new the tire had 11/32", or 0.344" tread depth. This morning the center tread depth is down to about 0.040" and the outer tread depth about 0.075". I used a caliper hence the decimal numbers! The tire has about 16,500 miles on it. I ride one up all the time, mostly at 70 mph and over. I've been running about 25 psi in the tire. This morning when I checked it it was about 22 psi. I'm going to say the tire pressure has been between 22 and 25 psi the entire time I've been running it. Actually I don't recall seeing it less than 23 when I've checked it before.

Obviously I should have been looking at it every once in awhile so that I would have been keeping tabs on the wear rate across the tire. If I had done that, and if I had paid attention to Mike's (Blueknight 911) admonitions about rear tire pressure in car tires, I probably would have lowered the pressure to something like 20 to 21 psi. That's about the max that Mike has repeatedly said we should run at.

I'm going to drop it down to about 18 psi for the rest of the riding season, which is only about 2 more months and maybe 3000 miles to push the wear rate to the outside. I'll replace it this winter. If the wear rate increases on the outside compared to the center then that will substantiate our understanding that tire pressure makes a difference with car tires much more so than with the OEM Kendas. I'll let you know in few months what it looks like when I replace it.
 
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It looks like replacement time to me also. Pretty close to a "slick" now. I would be worried about riding in rain or running over a sharp object. But...that's all going to be up to you. :popcorn::popcorn:
 
THE ALTIMAX

As you can see in this photo my mud flap does a great job of keeping me from casually observing my rear tire.

View attachment 153352

The other day at a gathering of Spyder owners some of us got to talking rear tires so I pulled up the mud flap to show him my General Altimax RT43. Oh, oh, this is what we saw!

View attachment 153353

The center tread is worn down somewhat more than the outer tread. According to the General web site when new the tire had 11/32", or 0.344" tread depth. This morning the center tread depth is down to about 0.040" and the outer tread depth about 0.075". I used a caliper hence the decimal numbers! The tire has about 16,500 miles on it. I ride one up all the time, mostly at 70 mph and over. I've been running about 25 psi in the tire. This morning when I checked it it was about 22 psi. I'm going to say the tire pressure has been between 22 and 25 psi the entire time I've been running it. Actually I don't recall seeing it less than 23 when I've checked it before.

Obviously I should have been looking at it every once in awhile so that I would have been keeping tabs on the wear rate across the tire. If I had done that, and if I had paid attention to Mike's (Blueknight 911) admonitions about rear tire pressure in car tires, I probably would have lowered the pressure to something like 20 to 21 psi. That's about the max that Mike has repeatedly said we should run at.

I'm going to drop it down to about 18 psi for the rest of the riding season, which is only about 2 more months and maybe 3000 miles to push the wear rate to the outside. I'll replace it this winter. If the wear rate increases on the outside compared to the center then that will substantiate our understanding that tire pressure makes a difference with car tires much more so than with the OEM Kendas. I'll let you know in few months what it looks like when I replace it.
Glad you caught this .... Not an Altimax but I have a Hydro-Edge ( similar wear rating ) now @ 28,000 +/- miles , I have at least 3-4000 left ,,, I ALWAYS keep my PSI @ 17-18 ...... My center is only slightly more worn than the edges ..... something to think about .......:dontknow::dontknow: ..... I crank it in the Twisties and have had NO FEELING that the tire was rolling under at any time .....and I check it after a spirited ride ....Mike :thumbup:
 
My rear tire...

It is amazing what can happen when you're not paying attention! :yikes:

2_m.jpg
 
If you were in our club

Hi.... If you were in my club Port Stockton Motorcycle Club
" by the way this is the clubs 80th. Anniv." and a member saw that tire :yikes:you would be
a shoe in for the BONE award......hahahahahahahah
Dave

As you can see in this photo my mud flap does a great job of keeping me from casually observing my rear tire.

View attachment 153352

The other day at a gathering of Spyder owners some of us got to talking rear tires so I pulled up the mud flap to show him my General Altimax RT43. Oh, oh, this is what we saw!

View attachment 153353

The center tread is worn down somewhat more than the outer tread. According to the General web site when new the tire had 11/32", or 0.344" tread depth. This morning the center tread depth is down to about 0.040" and the outer tread depth about 0.075". I used a caliper hence the decimal numbers! The tire has about 16,500 miles on it. I ride one up all the time, mostly at 70 mph and over. I've been running about 25 psi in the tire. This morning when I checked it it was about 22 psi. I'm going to say the tire pressure has been between 22 and 25 psi the entire time I've been running it. Actually I don't recall seeing it less than 23 when I've checked it before.

Obviously I should have been looking at it every once in awhile so that I would have been keeping tabs on the wear rate across the tire. If I had done that, and if I had paid attention to Mike's (Blueknight 911) admonitions about rear tire pressure in car tires, I probably would have lowered the pressure to something like 20 to 21 psi. That's about the max that Mike has repeatedly said we should run at.

I'm going to drop it down to about 18 psi for the rest of the riding season, which is only about 2 more months and maybe 3000 miles to push the wear rate to the outside. I'll replace it this winter. If the wear rate increases on the outside compared to the center then that will substantiate our understanding that tire pressure makes a difference with car tires much more so than with the OEM Kendas. I'll let you know in few months what it looks like when I replace it.
 
..... I'm going to drop it down to about 18 psi for the rest of the riding season, which is only about 2 more months and maybe 3000 miles to push the wear rate to the outside. I'll replace it this winter. If the wear rate increases on the outside compared to the center then that will substantiate our understanding that tire pressure makes a difference with car tires much more so than with the OEM Kendas. I'll let you know in few months what it looks like when I replace it.

I don't believe you'll be achieving much by dropping your pressures only that much now; cos as Mike suggests, 18 psi is about what you'd normally need to keep your tire wearing pretty much absolutely flat across the entire face of the tire's contact patch anyway.... so by dropping it to that now it's not likely you'll get to wear the outer tread sections any quicker than you'll continue to wear the already over-worn middle. :dontknow:

And besides, it is sorta looking like your tire is close to needing replacement anyway, so even if you dropped your rear tire pressure to say 14 or 12 psi (or even 8psi - if you were prepared to accept any handling compromises that may likely bring!) the tire is going to be un-safely worn out before any 'extra wear' due to the different pressure gets to make any difference... add to that the fact that most tire treads are constructed by applying a few different types of compound in layers to 'manage' the profile of tire wear process, & those layers tend to be compacted a little into each other over the first couple of thousand miles of use, so that from then on, any wear pattern that has been established & worn into/thru the various layers of compound is pretty much set for the life of the tire!! :lecturef_smilie:

So now you are faced with fighting the nature of the tread compound's wear profile built into the tire as well as trying to overcome some 16,000 or so miles worth of wear in the less than say 2 to 3,000 miles or so of safely useable tread life left to you on that tire! Not all that likely to happen - Sorry. :dontknow:

You might be better off to bite the bullet now & fit a new tire early so that you can then run a more appropriate pressure from the start, as well as being secure in the knowledge that you are running a tire with sufficient tread depth to keep the back end safely gripping the road regardless of the weather conditions you might ride in for the rest of this season. Over to you. :thumbup:
 
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Legally speaking, that tire is bald and in need of replacing now. Not in 3000 more miles, but it's your decision.
 
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