i have a 03 vrod and the front tire wares more on the throttle side than the belt side any ideas
If mainly city driving maybe, but 4 lane streets and highways have pitch to either side, crowned in the middle, so running the 2 outside lanes evens things up.Since you're US based, right side wear is not the norm.?
Some manufacturers recommend against this, Dunlop is one. Some makers have no objection but will tell you most all these tires are directional. For the money, I'll just switch them out.
Yea, Dunlop loves selling tires.
Such is life, but I have better use of my money else where.
I have done this now for the last 8 years without incident.
Dunlop can keep their 195.00 front tires as long as possible as they do not need my business as frequent as yours I suppose.
Funny, your "Some manufacturers recommend against this" posting means that any mods done should not be done either.
You'll hear that time and again if something goes wrong because of hanging non-Harley bling on your ride.
The dealership likes sticking it to people who do these "mods" and most notablly is heard when the reapir bill is over the top.
Like anything else anyone does, pick and choose carefully what you do, monitor what is going on to be sure safety is not compromised and you should be good to go.
Not certain if you remember the days when people said "running synthetic oil will destroy your Harley engine, as the bearings
were not designed to be used with synthetics".
Yea........K.......
I am very comfortable squeezing all the miles from the tires I can.
Of course, don't take my word for it, 8I don't know jack sh*t!!
Gave up on dunlops long ago. Swapped out the factory tires really quick. I also do not take any dealer or manufacturer at their word, let alone information off the net. I do however know that rubber has it's limitations, that age and weather conditions it's exposed to take a toll regardless of mileage. Many people, and I am certainly one, will not run an old tire regardless of wear conditions and/or mileage, let alone throw it on backwards to scrounge a few hundred more miles out of the damn things. To me a $300 or $400 change out is paltry compared to my safety. I have a 3-4 year rule on tires (from date of manufacturer), after that they are considered unsafe. This is not from the makers, not from the dealers. You've been around, surely you must be aware of the problems with aging rubber. Why skimp for nickels and dimes? I can only imagine what riding in the wet is like with the tire tread throwing the water backwards form the designers intended direction.Some manufacturers recommend against this, Dunlop is one. Some makers have no objection but will tell you most all these tires are directional. For the money, I'll just switch them out.
*But in any case -
There is an overlap point on all tire splices that is bonded and the directional arrows not only show the proper dispersion of water but allows proper pressure on this splice as to aid it's bonding, whereas running it backwards put severe strain on the splice and can effect this bond greatly. Also and more importantly when applying the brakes can peel that tread splice back and sever the bond. That is why the front is opposite the rear since most braking should be done up front (according to the industry).
It's basic physics or basic science Jim. You've been lucky.
I've got a v-modded stock exhaust and I get the left side wearing out first too, so I don't think it has anything to do with removing the stock exhaust. This bike wears out tires, especially fronts, faster than any bike I've owned. My other bike has 40° of rake and it doesn't wear out as fast or unevenly.This is somewhat different than the gentleman on another post talking about throttle side tire wear. I have on my 09 A model an inordinate amount of left side tire wear and a number of post make me believe that is fairly common. My question, does the removal of the boat anchor exhaust cause this? Is the bike designed to have a nearly 50 pound exhaust on the right and when we balance the unladen bike would it tip it left and put more wear there? If I am thinking backwards, let me know. Does it effect anything, that is, the exhaust removal. Thanks and best to everyone.
Bad wheels bearings maybe and an unaligned rear wheel as well. Tire pressure is also something most ignore.Ok so throttle side means belt side. And if you are experiencing wear like this is one of two things. Bad bushings in the swingarm or a loose triple tree. Figure out which and get to fixing.....
Actually, front tires work very hard when braking. In fact they see much more pressure and abuse due to the dual discs.Vambo, I appreciate your pointing all of this information out, it is not luck at all that the tires stay together, it is the nature of the design to let the tire perform reverso or not.
here is some "other" input fromthe GSX forum with their input as well:
http://www.gixxer.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-273196.html
Not trying to make an issue out of anything by posting this stuff, but I say it is a crock of shite that stating a tire will come apart, especially a front tire that carries less load and does less work than a rear tire does. Maybe a rear, under hard acceleration and abuse over and over again...but hey, I've seen slicks come apart run in the supposed correct direction.
I've been tempted to flip the rear as well, if I had a tire machine I'd do it, the dealership won't do it for me as I have already checked.
Granted, if there are construction issues, where proper interlock of the materials from molten to plastic and finally hard rubber occur, then the tire is defective and would not make it to the market. If a defective tire makes it to market, I believe it would be in a short amount of time the tire would come apart.
If it is rain and getting wet one is worried about, well so be it, fair weather riding is part of everyones disposition anyway. At some point riding in the wet can push one to their physical limits, especially where cold is involved and then it is probablly best not to be on 2 wheels. In the end, regardless of which way the tire is mounted, your going to get wet.
Anyway, I'll continue to run the tires as needed to get the miles out of them.
Happy motoring!