Pilot Road 2's - Odd tire wear..

[deilenberger]

Can't say it's the first time I've seen this - but it seems more severe on the PR2's.

My rear PR2 (the dual compound tire) has developed a rather distinct ridge to the left of center (looking from behind the bike.) Assuming the compound transition between hard (center) and soft (rest of the tire) takes place about at that point - the ridge looks to be right about at the transition.

The tire has ummm... 31.5K-24K = 7,500 miles on it. The tread depth is still adequate, if I had to guess, there is about 1/2 the tread left. It did 2.200 miles of all twisties on a trip to the two national BMW club rallies in July. The rest of the miles are local club rides, one 500 mile twisty ride to a rally, and lots of commuting (in a rather flat, straight road part of NJ.)

The front exhibits a ridge on the same side (left side of the tread, looking from the rear). The other side of the tire has a much smoother radius to it - no discernible ridge I can see. The only explanation I can come up with is NJ's crowned roads. NJ doesn't like to bank roads. They like to make them nice and flat with a bit of a crown in the center so water drains off to the sides.

The ridges are enough to give some squirrelly handling on left-radius-corners.. the bike leans, reaches the ridge and tries to stand up, I have to push it down to continue on the corner. Part of this is the ridge, part is probably the off-camber road curve due to NJ's crowned roads.

I think tonight the belt-sander is coming out, and I'll knock the ridge off the rear tire, but I'm curious if any other Pilot Road 2 owners have seen this.

Aside from this quirk - the tires were great handling when new (wet or dry) and in the twisties of VA, WV and NC, and are giving excellent wear. The Conti Road Attacks I used to use would be ready for replacement before now.

[dderrig]

Don, I have a 2007 (Purchased new in december of 2008) with 5,000 miles on my original Conti's which still look in fine shape. Why did you switch, just purely for longer life?

Dave

[michael Tobias]

I have a set of PR2's on an 08R12R and on a 95 R1100RS. both have just over 3k. they were put on in Knoxville during the 2nd day of the MOA. so far the wear has been relatively light and very even. no flat spots yet.

the PR 2's replaced a dying set of Bridgestones with around 2800 on them and a set orZ4's that still had most of their tread in the middle on on the right but had worn off dramatically on the left side of each tire.

[deilenberger]

Don, I have a 2007 (Purchased new in december of 2008) with 5,000 miles on my original Conti's which still look in fine shape. Why did you switch, just purely for longer life?

Dave

Claimed longer tread life - and claimed better handling. New - they are better handling both wet/dry (and the Conti's aren't bad at all). The Conti's also had funky front tire wear patterns with a LOT of cupping after some miles were put on them (like > 5,000). The rear squared off badly at around 5-6,000 miles. Flat/straight NJ roads and commuting do that.

[bobw]

Hey! Don. I've have read of a couple folks getting that wear pattern on PR2's where it is speculated unique circumstances are in place as you are describing. On the two sets I used there was only minor feathering across the front tire sipes. I say screw the belt sander and make another run to the mountains to scrub em back in shape. Tree colors are showing signs of fall and road side stands are full of local apples and such. Temps have been perfect ranging from the upper 40's to mid 70's (f), so come on down!

BTW, the Corsa III's just came off after being used up w/ 2500 miles. Superb handling, but too short a life span for me in both $$ and inconvenience.

[deilenberger]

Not being able to get to the mountains.. I set to work last night on the rear with the belt sander. I don't suggest anyone else do this - it might blow the tire up, or throw the belt sander at you or some other injurous thing could happen.. so I'll tell you how I do it, not how you should do it.

I find holding the belt-sander at an angle (30-45 degrees) to the tire allows it to chew away at the rubber and rotate the tire/wheel (bike on centerstand obviously, out of gear) at the same time. I used a rough grit paper in the sander - I think an 80 grit, and started off where the ridge was most obvious.

The sander wanted to bounce quite a bit at first because besides the ridge - the leading edges of the sipes (cuts in the pattern) were worn deeper than the trailing edges. After about an hour of playing with it - I managed to eliminate any evidence of the ridge, and make the tire round again. This also leveled out the difference in height between the sipes leading/trailing edges. It did leave a rough surface - so I put some 120 grit in a buzzer palm sander and went at it again. This smoothed off the surface enough so I was confident it would have good traction. There is still plenty of rubber - I'd guess about 4,000 miles more - on the tire (has ~7,500 on it now.)

Amazing difference - it turns left again. The right side of the tire didn't show any ridge - so I really didn't do much with it except rough it up a bit so it matched the left side. It's a pleasure to take turns again on the bike, it no longer feels squirrely and wanting to stand up on left turns/sweepers/etc.

Just reporting in. It's not the first time I've rescued a tire with a belt sander.. Front tire could also use some attention on the left side - but it doesn't have as much rubber to play with. I'm mulling this over - it doesn't seem to cause bad handling, so I may leave it alone unless it gets worse.

YMMV - using carpentry tools on my precision German Motorcykle in NJ..

[Dale_K]

I had a weird profile on my front tire recently too, with a noticable ridge at a certain point and the bike wouldn't turn left worth a damn. I had a theory the ridge might be at the dividing point between different tread compounds but what do I know? Put on a new front (don't own a belt sander) and the bike is transformed. Huge, huge difference.

[papasong]

What are the differences between the Pilot Road and the Pilot Road 2?

If you prefer one over the other, why?

[NeilS]

What are the differences between the Pilot Road and the Pilot Road 2?

If you prefer one over the other, why?

PR2s are dual-compound tires. They use a harder compound in the center of the tread and a softer compound off-center. This, in theory anyhow, gives better cornering traction, less "squaring" of the tire when you ride mainly straight, and longer life.

My bike came with PR(1)s, which I was very happy with. I got over 12000 miles out of them, at which point the front was worn to the bars and the rear was severely squared. I replaced them with PR2s. I haven't run them long enough to know which are better, but I'm hoping the extra life will offset the extra cost.

BTW, I see you're in Arlington. Who, if anyone, do you like for service?

[papasong]

Hi,
So far I've only used Greater Boston Motorsports, because they are two blocks away from where I live.
It's also where I purchased the bike.
I'd love to know of other authorized shops in the area. I think there's one in Brockton.
But for convenience, this is the best for me. So far I haven't needed them for anything other than scheduled maintenance visits.
Best,
Jeff

[deilenberger]

After spending a weekend on the belt-sanded tires, including 110 miles in rain - they are right back to feeling as secure as they did when new.

Gotta but some new belts for my sander..

[kay bill c]

Don done the belt sanding myself in the past with no problem's,As long as you got thread bars showing on the front you should be able to tackle that one as well.My PR-1's are just about to come off and I'll most likly go with the PR-2's also.Was wandering if that dual compound rubber really loaded up the belt sander? Did you have to replace belt or just clean it? For my future note's,not that I would use this tecniqe mind you.

[deilenberger]

No problem loading up the sanding belt.. more roughness than I liked on the soft bits of the tire, so I finished it off with a palm buzzer sander (orbital/vibrating). Just after a while the belts do wear down..