High speed wobble (another explanation)

I had a high speed wobble from the first day I put the ct on. I just replaced the tire after 26,000 miles. Inspecting the tire I noticed on the left side of the tire the wear bars were half wore out. On the right side of the tire every third or fourth section of tread hadn't even wore down to the wear bar yet while the rest had. All I can figure out from that is that the tire wasn't round from the get go. Just took the new tire out on the freeway, no wobble up to 100. Sure feel nice. Any one else with a wobble, just another thought.

Jerry

Not only plausible, it's very likely. I'd say as many as 1 in 4 tires are out of round from the factory, and possibly more with certain brands. I don't understand why tire manufacturers have such a hard time making tires round, but I've used a spin balancer plenty, and seen it with my own eyes.

I recommend anybody buying a tire from a shop, to have them install it on a car rim and put it on the spin balancer, so you can see it is round before you buy. A little bit of a hop, visible at the top of the tire, is normal, but if it looks like it's jumping up and down a half inch, you're going to feel that going down the road.

it must be true cause my kumho has never been balanced and i have never had any wobbles between 0-115.i normally dont cruise faster than 60 but i had to try the 115 lol.so my tire must have been perfectly round from the get go.cheers and ride safe.

-kenny-

jedishon wrote:I had a high speed wobble from the first day I put the ct on. I just replaced the tire after 26,000 miles. Inspecting the tire I noticed on the left side of the tire the wear bars were half wore out. On the right side of the tire every third or fourth section of tread hadn't even wore down to the wear bar yet while the rest had. All I can figure out from that is that the tire wasn't round from the get go. Just took the new tire out on the freeway, no wobble up to 100. Sure feel nice. Any one else with a wobble, just another thought.

Jerry

roads are crowned so you have to lean toward the center on 2 lane roads. Interstate type roads are less noticeable.

When I do a burnout, I lean the bike more ot the right to even up the tire ....

maybe that is just an excuse to do a burn out :-)

Roy

Oldsmobility wrote:Not only plausible, it's very likely. I'd say as many as 1 in 4 tires are out of round from the factory, and possibly more with certain brands. I don't understand why tire manufacturers have such a hard time making tires round, but I've used a spin balancer plenty, and seen it with my own eyes.

I recommend anybody buying a tire from a shop, to have them install it on a car rim and put it on the spin balancer, so you can see it is round before you buy. A little bit of a hop, visible at the top of the tire, is normal, but if it looks like it's jumping up and down a half inch, you're going to feel that going down the road.

I too have seen this. I have also noted that the speed rated tires are less likely to be out of round as bad as the utility type of tires or small vehicles. It was actually brought to my attention while bucking tires in the 90's. From one of the tire venders. That is why I try to buy Tires with high speed rateing or a high mileage type of tire. They are less prone to be outta round. This is just some advise I got from them years ago. I do understand that this is 2009 but I cant think things would be that far off.

Peace
Moon

wrongway wrote:

jedishon wrote:I had a high speed wobble from the first day I put the ct on. I just replaced the tire after 26,000 miles. Inspecting the tire I noticed on the left side of the tire the wear bars were half wore out. On the right side of the tire every third or fourth section of tread hadn't even wore down to the wear bar yet while the rest had. All I can figure out from that is that the tire wasn't round from the get go. Just took the new tire out on the freeway, no wobble up to 100. Sure feel nice. Any one else with a wobble, just another thought.

Jerry

roads are crowned so you have to lean toward the center on 2 lane roads. Interstate type roads are less noticeable.

When I do a burnout, I lean the bike more ot the right to even up the tire ....

maybe that is just an excuse to do a burn out :-)

Roy

I could buy that explanation if it was even across all the tread. But it was like the rear tire was cupped. Wish I would have got a picture of it.

Jerry

I have seen Jeep Wranglers with D load range tires get horrible cupping. Presumably it was caused by the vehicle being too light for the tires it was on, though this wouldn't explain cupping on one side.

Another possibility is that it was due to dynamic imbalance. Is there even equipment available to dynamically balance motorcycle wheels?

Oldsmobility wrote:I have seen Jeep Wranglers with D load range tires get horrible cupping. Presumably it was caused by the vehicle being too light for the tires it was on, though this wouldn't explain cupping on one side.

Another possibility is that it was due to dynamic imbalance. Is there even equipment available to dynamically balance motorcycle wheels?

check out this link ...http://www.procarcare.com/includes/content/resourcecenter/encyclopedia/ch25/25readtirewear.html

Cupping
Cups or scalloped dips appearing around the edge of the tread on one side or the other, almost always indicate worn (sometimes bent) suspension parts....

there are more reasons ,,, but i hadn't considered this.

Roy

I would highly doubt worn suspension parts in this case. The most likely problem would be the shocks wearing out, which is possible. You can get some mind boggling bad cupping on any front wheel drive car, by not rotating the tires for 20,000 miles, so worn parts aren't always the culprit.

Since the wear was isolated to one side of the tire in this case, I've got to assume it was the tire itself. In fact... You should take that worn out tire and mount it on a car rim, to see what it looks like on a spin balancer. That might be the clue to break this case wide open.

I have a wobble that depends on the wind and road speed. On a really windy day it starts around 65, on a calm day it starts around 80-90. I think it's my batwing, I've tried making adjustments to the angle of the fairing, but not much changes. I need to pull it off and test again. I'm thinking a set of lowers might correct it, When I go down the road I can feel a TON of air coming under the bottom of the wing bu almost none on the top or sides.
Doc