Really strange tread wear patterns?!…

Sirsilcott

Joined
Feb 8, 2022
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14
Age
38
Location
Alabama
I bought an 03 st1300 from freedom power sports here in Huntsville and I love it. I have always rode Hondas and have 3 now. I just got my tax return and decided to tune up the st1300 because the dealer sold it as is, and I want it to last as long as some of you other guys on here. I bought some Dunlop roadsmart 4s and today I pulled the front and rear tire. Both tires seem to have a square tread wear pattern unlike any I have ever seen. Can anyone please tell me what could cause this? I’m not sure if it’s wheel bearings, suspension, or what the deal is. The Michelin pilot 2 road gts were on it when I bought the bike and I have put about 1400 miles on them.
 

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The pictures are of Michelin Pilot Road 4s and they can wear in unusual patterns like that. Low air pressure and lack of sporty riding in the curves.
 
Doesn't look so strange to me, a big fat chicken strip, as it's called from mostly driving on Interstate highways. As Dave said, the tires were likely under inflated to widen the flat part.

Most modern tires have multiple rubber compounds - hard in the center and softer out to the sidewalls so that straight line riding with mild lean angles do not prematurely wear out the tire. Every mfr has its own idea of the perfect tire composition so different tires will show different tread patterns.
 
All the road pilots I've run look like that at the end of their life and its not due to under inflation or lack of sport riding. Trust me, its just what they do and it does not seem to matter much how much an ST is loaded up or how hard its ridden, many ST owners have seen the same wear pattern on PRs
 
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sky.high said:
All the road pilots I've run look like that at the end of their life and its not due to under inflation or lack of sport riding. Trust me, its just what they do and it does not seem to matter much how much an ST is loaded up or how hard its ridden, many ST owners have seem the same wear pattern on RPs
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Pilot Road 2, 3, 4s yes. So much so I gave up on Michelin with Pilot Road 3s years ago, never tried 4s on my ST1300, but the Road 5 completely changed my opinion. They wear very smooth and symmetrically. I’m on a third set of 5s with a new set waiting in the garage. I’m going to try the 6 on the front but I’m sticking with the 5 on the rear. That’s over 30,000 miles on Road 5s. It’s important to know that since the 4s Michelin has materially changed compounds and the percentage width of the hard vs soft sections across the tread face. The PR 4 rear has a 20% wide hard center section and 40% soft sides. The OP’s pictures of the tires clearly show the division of compounds. The Road 5 has a 66% wide center and 17% soft side sections. These changes along with compound mixture changes practically eliminate the lumpy scallops endemic to PR4s.
 
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dduelin said:
Pilot Road 2, 3, 4s yes. So much so I gave up on Michelin with Pilot Road 3s years ago, never tried 4s, but the Road 5 completely changed my opinion. They wear very smooth and symmetrically. I’m on a third set of 5s with a new set waiting in the garage. I’m going to try the 6 on the front but I’m sticking with the 5 on the rear. That’s over 30,000 miles on Road 5s. It’s important to know that since the 4s Michelin has materially changed compounds and the percentage width of the hard vs soft sections across the tread face. The PR 4 rear has a 20% wide hard center section and 40% soft sides. The OP’s pictures of the tires clearly show the division of compounds. The Road 5 has a 66% wide center and 17% soft side sections. These changes along with compound mixture changes practically eliminate the lumpy scallops endemic to PR4s.
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This is good news. I left Michelin for the same reasons as you state. Tell me, with the 5's, as well as being wider in the harder section compound, do you think they also made it harder Dave? I always felt that there was room to make them harder in the center for longer wear. There always seemed to be very good traction in the center of the 4's
 
@dduelin how does the Road 5 mileage compare to the 4 in your hands, I hope the 5 sidewalls aren't as soft as the 3, I had the side walls of one of those literally fall apart on a hot day on a long twisting road. I've a couple of T31 GTs to try next, we all know why they are still waiting to be used :(
 
They look normal to me too. The best even wear I've achieved are on T series Bridgestone's
They seem to suggest, especially the rear that the bike was ridden well laden and on mainly straight roads.
Change em and wear the new ones out.
Upt'North.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. So the consensus seems to suggest this to be a normal wear pattern? I use Shinko tires on my Cbr and my vf700 and I have always had nice even tread wear does anyone have any experience with the dunlop tires road 3 or 4s? Most the YouTube videos I seen claimed they are a good tire for longevity or should I return them and go with another set of pilots?
 
sky.high said:
@dduelin how does the Road 5 mileage compare to the 4 in your hands, I hope the 5 sidewalls aren't as soft as the 3, I had the side walls of one of those literally fall apart on a hot day on a long twisting road. I've a couple of T31 GTs to try next, we all know why they are still waiting to be used :(
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Could you elaborate a bit more? What do you mean we all know why they are waiting to be used?
 
dduelin said:
The pictures are of Michelin Pilot Road 4s and they can wear in unusual patterns like that. Low air pressure and lack of sporty riding in the curves.
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Says pilot road II on the tire I believe, and I check the pressure before each ride. It’s mainly become my daily to and from work but I have taken them on a few twistys with the nice weather we have had recently.
 
Sirsilcott said:
I use Shinko tires on my Cbr and my vf700 and I have always had nice even tread wear
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I have had Shinko for the last two sets of tires and had more uniform wear than with the PR 4. Different manufacturers use different compounds = different wear patterns.
Sirsilcott said:
What do you mean we all know why they are waiting to be used?
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Presumably because he is in Calgary, where it is still winter and the bike is still asleep.
 
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Bmacleod said:
This is good news. I left Michelin for the same reasons as you state. Tell me, with the 5's, as well as being wider in the harder section compound, do you think they also made it harder Dave? I always felt that there was room to make them harder in the center for longer wear. There always seemed to be very good traction in the center of the 4's
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I don't know if it is harder or not. Though the center hard section is much wider the tire still has fantastic traction from edge to edge. On the first generation Pilot Roads, then PR2s, then the PR3 the only time I really liked the tires was in the rain and the 5 has proved fantastic in the rain and stable and tenacious in the dry.

@dduelin how does the Road 5 mileage compare to the 4 in your hands, I hope the 5 sidewalls aren't as soft as the 3, I had the side walls of one of those literally fall apart on a hot day on a long twisting road. I've a couple of T31 GTs to try next, we all know why they are still waiting to be used :(
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I can't speak apples to apples regarding mileage increases as I have not compared the tires against each other on the same bike. I moved off the ST 4 years ago and never ran the PR 4 on my ST. I noted the squishy sidewalls of the PR and believe they were the reason the tires would not take a set when hard pressed - they seemed to always need a mid corner correction or two to hold the chosen line.

All the 5s have been on my BMW so it's no go to compare mileage. IIRC the best mileage I got on the PR3 with my ST was about 10,000 miles. FWIW I get 12,000 to 13,000 on the 5s.

The T31s are a great choice for the ST. After dissing Michelin I ran set after set of Bridgestone 023s, T30s, and T31s. My fav tires on the ST.
 
I've had tyres that looked like that. I note the cupping on the sides too.

Check your rebound damping. If the rear is boing, boing, boinging then that makes a heavy bike squash the tyre into the tarmac on each boing. Make the rebound harder see if it improves the ride.

Note, this is not the suspension pre-load, although you will need to adjust that if it bottoms out going over bumps. It is the H --- S setting on the screw head at the base of the suspension unit. It is accessed through the small hole in the large sliver right hand side footpeg bracket - somewhere near the rear footrest.

But the Bridgestone T31s, T32s or later are excellent tyres for wearing evenly, as Ray said. They're also excellent for riding too. Get the GT version with the stiffer sidewall fir heavier bikes.
 
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