Tire Wear....What Causes This??

grumpy · Oct 8, 2011

I noticed this tire wear pattern on my front tire. The tire is a Michelin Macadam 50, rear bias, mounted in reverse direction, on a 99 I/S trike. Tire has 26,453 miles on it with 4/32" tread left. The wear is even side to side, (same depth at both edges of the contact patch) with no cupping. Any thoughts as to why the wear pattern is offset to the right of center? TIA. Stan

Gorilla · Oct 8, 2011

grumpy said:
I noticed this tire wear pattern on my front tire. The tire is a Michelin Macadam 50, rear bias, mounted in reverse direction, on a 99 I/S trike. Tire has 26,453 miles on it with 4/32" tread left. The wear is even side to side, (same depth at both edges of the contact patch) with no cupping. Any thoughts as to why the wear pattern is offset to the right of center? TIA. Stan

Most roads are stightly crowned in the center for run off. Maybe why?

Ol' Grey · Oct 8, 2011

Two guesses here.......

The rear of the trike isn't exactly level and causing a very slight "tilt", not noticeable to the naked eye and not felt while riding.

After over 26,000 miles (excellent mileage, by the way) you're seeing a wear pattern resulting from making more right-hand turns than left-hand turns......hehehe........

Papa Zook · Oct 8, 2011

Tire wear is a strange animal...Ive heard plenty of explanations, usually best guesses, but I still dont fully understand cupping, one side wear, etc. :Shrug:

eagle1 · Oct 8, 2011

do you make only rt. hand turns to get home? enjoy the weather while it lasts.try checking the web for tire wear patternss
roll on and throttle-up.

dirtdobber · Oct 9, 2011

At the mileage you got on this tire I would not be too concerned.

Badon3 · Nov 17, 2011

HI almost 27,000 miles and you have a little uneven wear HELLO thats 3 times the miles you would get on a oem tire BE HAPPY it looks like you have more miles to go then buy a new on and ride another 30,000 miles

grumpy · Nov 19, 2011

Not complaining! Very pleased with the tire. Just wondering why the wear, while being very even with no cupping, would be off-center. Just never seen that before, is all. Stan

Mr.Wizard · Nov 19, 2011

An impossible thing to measure unless you are creative.

Laced wheels being misaligned or Fork spring/hydraulic pressure is uneven.

Raise the front tire and use a builders square or level to check for wheel axis alignment, rotate the wheel and put a screwdriver against the spokes. If you hear a difference in the tap, tap, tap, thunk then the thunk is a loose lace.

OR

While riding, the right fork is weaker than the left which will cause the front tire to "lean" to the weak side.

Take a piece of white crayon or chalk and make a long mark from the fork slider and up about 3" on both forks. Go for a ride. When you come back simply measure the crayon loss on each side. You can do with with a sharpie too but it takes a little longer for the mark to disappear.

As others said, that kind of mileage with that little of a wear pattern isn't a concern but if you have laced wheels please have them checked by a Pro. Loose laces can be dangerous and destroy your center hub causing lose of control.

:Trike1:

Mr.Wizard · Nov 19, 2011

Of course your right rear tire could have been flat for the last 20,000 miles too...

adaptolife · Nov 19, 2011

Put a gauge on a fork and measure runout. Check the bearings of wheel and neck for any play. Forks may need to be serviced also.

POOR OL HARRY · Dec 8, 2011

I have a 99 & 00 IS Valk.....when I bought the 99..... 2wheeler... I replaced the front tire & after few hundred miles,I began to notice the off center weare you are speaking of.......I began reading & reading & searching on line to find out what was wrong with my bike.I read about crown in the road......right hand turns ....shorter than left & raw raw raw......to come to the conclusion it's normal for the tire to wear off center(2 wheeler).Go to the Valkyrie Riders web & those guys will load you up on Valk anything..............THEN I bought the 2000 IS.....the front tire was about 50% & showing off center weare........I had a Moto Trike kit installed & the bike pulled to the right........I took it back to the installer & they told me it was doing what it was supposed to do & there WAS NO ADJUSTMENT & goodby......Iask him if he thought the unevean tire was causing it to pull & he told me the tire was not worn........Itook it to a Honda Dealer & paid near $300.00 for a tire......it still pulled & the new tire began to show off center weare.I finally found someone to tell me how to ck. the adjustment & how to do & in about an hour.......it don't pull & the tire is showing center weare now.To shorten all this up......it's normal on a 2wheeler(VALK) to wear off center ......but not a trike.....my oponion your trike needs adj.but if it's not pulling don't fix it

Bikerbozo · Dec 8, 2011

I got 19k on my last front tire on my TG and felt lucky to get that much. I will chalk your posting up to bragging!

riverrat · Dec 9, 2011

mine wore perfectly centered. I would think something is not right to make it wear off center. does it pull hard to the right? is it sitting level in the rear?

Suprdav · Dec 20, 2011

i would think that the torque of the engine would have some effect on front tire wear . Suprdave

Shimpy · Dec 21, 2011

grumpy said:
Not complaining! Very pleased with the tire. Just wondering why the wear, while being very even with no cupping, would be off-center. Just never seen that before, is all. Stan

I don't understand all I know about these things, but could it be that one of your front forks is higher than the other? If the front tire is tilted to one side this could cause off center tire wear. I'd like to hear from somebody that knows about things like that.

Rat Fink · Mar 7, 2017

Tire wear/26K you should have "NO" complaints

grumpy said:
I noticed this tire wear pattern on my front tire. The tire is a Michelin Macadam 50, rear bias, mounted in reverse direction, on a 99 I/S trike. Tire has 26,453 miles on it with 4/32" tread left. The wear is even side to side, (same depth at both edges of the contact patch) with no cupping. Any thoughts as to why the wear pattern is offset to the right of center? TIA. Stan

GoldWingrGreg · Mar 8, 2017

grumpy said:
Any thoughts as to why the wear pattern is offset to the right of center? TIA. Stan

Left hand u-turns will wear the right side of a front tire. To correct ... only do right hand u-turns.

rhino 2 · Mar 8, 2017

GoldWingrGreg said:
Left hand u-turns will wear the right side of a front tire. To correct ... only do right hand u-turns.

Fedex truck drivers are instructed to only make right turns...

CrystalPistol · Mar 19, 2017

I know .... old thread that someone else brung it back .... but I was bored.

I noticed this tire wear pattern on my front tire. The tire is a Michelin Macadam 50, rear bias, mounted in reverse direction, on a 99 I/S trike. Tire has 26,453 miles on it with 4/32" tread left. The wear is even side to side, (same depth at both edges of the contact patch) with no cupping. Any thoughts as to why the wear pattern is offset to the right of center?

Accelerating on hard right hand turns like out of driveway, parking lots, etc. Rights are sharper, lefts are more gradual, most people favor rights for safety as well. Due to steering stem inclination, cut hard right front tire is laid over on right side and if accelerating while turned, you push it .... scuffing it.