Weird rear tire wear

[jimmyenglish]

Being a poor person I always buy the cheapest tires. Overall I've had decent success with all of them. This last rear, however, has demonstrated a very strange wear pattern. It is a Shinko Tourmaster. I have about 8k or so on it. I already have a replacement but when checking it the other day I noticed one side of the tire had say slightly less than 1/8' and the other side, about 180 degrees away, was bald. What the hell? I've never seen such a thing! I could only assume it's because it's a cheap, shi tty tire. It's always ridden fine even at sustained high speed. Thought this was a real strange wear pattern and curious if anyone else has experienced this.

 

 

Cheers!

[Pappa Bear]

Hmmmmmm???? Doing alot of doughnuts?

[Eck]

Wonder if the swing arm is bent...(towards the side that is bald)...

 

I would jack rear tire off the floor about one inch, then place a small 6 inch in length piece of 2x4 on the floor, and slide it up to where it just meets the tire and check to see if the "center" of the tire is hitting the 2x4 or if the edge of the bald side of the tire is hitting the 2 x 4..

 

You can also measure from the floor to the edge of the rim on each side to see if your wheel is level providing floor is somewhat level..and or measure from the floor to the bottom edge of the rear axle.

 

I would also look to see if the tire is "seated" on the rim evenly by looking at the line in the bead that is very close to the edge of the rim.. The tire could have been installed incorrectly on the rim where the bead of the tire did not seat properly to the rim.

 

[Marcarl]

A lot of side wind perhaps?

Check your rear wheel bearings to make sure they are tight, and your swing arm bearing points.

You may have it right with it being a cheap tire, but I would would look elsewhere first and as last resort blame the tire.

 

Note: Being cheap on tires sometimes would dictate that you spend the most amount of money on one. Not neccessarily though, sometimes cheap does well and lasts a long time, but generally speaking, there is a reason for 'cheap', such as: short tread life, unexpected early failure, poor grip, bad balance,,,,,, Some of these could become expensive when it comes to scoot repairs, or maybe even body repairs to the human rider. just my thoughts.

[Condor]

I'd say if it's just been this last tire, it's the tire......

[skydoc_17]

Eck has touched on an excellent point. I have seen the "Butt End" of a lot of VR's at "the little shop by the creek" in the past few years and one thing that I have noticed is that the swing arm bushings are hard to lube and are of very poor quality. I don't think that your swing arm is bent but the alignment of the swing arm has been compromised due to the worn out swing arm bushings. I would suspect that the combination of the new tire and 25+ year old swing arm bushings have "reared it's ugly head" as unusual side wear on that tire. I have machined a set of brass bushings for my 87'VR and the problem was solved. ( I had the same problem you had) The problem is that the brass material was not cheap and the bushings needed to be pressed into the swing arm. I have not been able to figure out a way to make a "kit" out of the bushing set and can only do this mod at my shop. Option "B" is to pull the swing arm and install a new set of OEM bushings into the swing arm and this too will solve the problem. Either way, service to the swing arm is the answer to this condition. On a side note, "brisk" acceleration, towing a trailer, riding two up, and twisties, all make this problem worse for the swing arm. So, unless you want to ride your VR like a Harley, you need to have a look at those swing arm bushings.

Earl

[Flyinfool]

Monkey wrench in the works time.

 

I am not sure from the OP if he meant that there is a wear difference side to side as in left to right on the tire, or around the circumference where it is bald in one area and 1/8" tread left at 180° around the circumference of the tire?

[BigBoyinMS]

Well, after re-reading the initial post I tend to think he's talking about a tire wear pattern around the circumference. Even though the Shinko brand is basically a Yokohama they are still a low cost tire and the tread probably is a hair thicker in some areas than others.

[jimmyenglish]

Yeah, I'm talking around the circumference. Laterally, the tire has worn evenly.

[Dano]

Might also be a balancing problem too..........

 

 

If you do the bushings in the shock links like I did when I rebuilt my bike a couple of years ago, make sure you drill and put some zerk fittings in there then re-grease them every year. These bushings will dry out quick because of the elements that get splashed on them from the tire. Not to mention the sand, etc. that will help wear them out.

[davecb]

Possibly the crown in the road wearing one side faster...

[CrazyHorse]

Is there a pull to one side?