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Tire Tread Depth ?

P

Paul_F

RK Ryder
I was planning on taking my '98 R1100RT for a 700 or 800 mile ride this week but am thinking of postponing the trip a few days until I pickup a set of tires.

At present, I can see no tire wear marks. The Michelin PR4 & PR3 have a tire tread depth 3mm or 4/32nds. Am I being paranoid or is there still travel life left with these tires? :dunno
 
Only you can decide, but IMHO you have plenty of tread life left there. If both of the tires have 4/32 tread depth now, then the rear is about half way and the front is barely worn.
 
Some folks get a lot more miles out of a set of tires than others. Riding style, tire inflation, road roughness, and other factors
contribute to the life of a tire. Another factor is the degree of risk that the rider is willing to accept. Many folks are ok with
having a tire wear to the "wear bars", which are typically placed with 1/32 of an inch (0.8mm) of tread left. The recommended
minimum tread depth is 2/32 of an inch.

Perhaps the most important job of the tire tread is to channel water away from the rubber / road interface in wet conditions.
If the water is not adequately channeled away from the rubber / road interface the tire can hydroplane and the loss of
friction can allow the bike to slide. I have had this happen during a very heavy rain storm. Fortunately, I did not
crash. My tire had slightly more than 3/32 of tread in the center of the tire and a bit more at the edge. Never-the-
less I decided to replace the tire.

On my 2018 R1200RTW the tread depth is between 3/32 and 4/32 of an inch. I plan to ride this bike to the upcoming
rally in a few weeks. I would rather have fresh tires before departing to the rally. I know that some folks plan to
replace tires during the rally, but I like to know who is working on my bike. Thus, I will have both front and back
tires replaced soon by my local BMW shop.

There is some useful information regarding motorcycle tires at the links below -

https://www.msf-usa.org/downloads/MIC_Tire_Guide_2012V1.pdf

https://www.bikebandit.com/blog/street-motorcycle-tires-guide
 
Paul_F said:
The Michelin PR4 & PR3 have a tire tread depth 3mm or 4/32nds.
Click to expand...
Are you checking at the center sipe.
On the PR3 and PR4 I always measured at the center. I'm a touring rider so I wear the center out first.

New PR3.JPG

New PR4.JPG

P1040476.JPG
 
Lee,
If I'm not being too nosy, what are the weird contraptions that look like skis on the bikes behind the pile of tires. Is BMW making snowmobiles now and I missed it?
 
m_stock10506 said:
Only you can decide, but IMHO you have plenty of tread life left there. If both of the tires have 4/32 tread depth now, then the rear is about half way and the front is barely worn.
Click to expand...

On my new front tire, it measured 4/32, replacing a 2/32 worn tire. The rear is 7/32 new. I was surprised the front brand new was 4/32 and not more.
 
brownie0486 said:
On my new front tire, it measured 4/32, replacing a 2/32 worn tire. The rear is 7/32 new. I was surprised the front brand new was 4/32 and not more.
Click to expand...

It may be your gauge.
The PR3s and PR4s we've had in the past had 6/32" depth for the front and 8/32" depth on the back when new.
Most sport touring tires we have used have similar thread depths.
 
I never measured the tread depth on the many Pilot Road tires I have gone through, but have always gone by the tire wear indicators. I have found their wear to be very slow and predictable and have not had a situation where they were not at the wear bars and 800 miles later they were suddenly toast. So, I would go on that 700-800 mile ride and replace them when they are at the wear bars. Only exception might be if I was expecting to ride in heavy rain and they were very close to the wear bars, then I might replace them before the trip. My 2 cents.
 
The Anakee IIIs on our GS have 3/32 to 4/32 at the center with only 3200 miles on them. We're headed to Lebanon which is only 300 ish miles away. 300 there, 300 on a planned Friday ride, 300 back. The Anakee rear should have started life at 9 or 10/32nd's so doing them math we'd get home on a completely worn out tire. I don't like the sound of that so we'll be changing them next week before heading to Lebanon.
I'd rather get new tires too soon than run old tires too far. :)
 
The P4 has 6 mm when new. I averaged 4000km per mm on my last four rear tires. (down to the wear bars) That was on an R1150RS. On my RS your tire with 3 mm would last me another 8000km. My buddies think I am nuts as I track my tire mileage accurately. But then I don't get caught hunting for a tire while on a tour.
 
Roughly half tread at 3200 miles. There should be an easy 2,000+ miles left on them. I would run them this trip, then get thinking about changing them.

But then, I had a tough time backing my Harley out one morning, flat back tire. Shoved a plug in it and went on a 500 mile ride. Oh yeah, the tire was pretty much bald when I shoved the plug into it. I had a new tire, but kinda forgot it needed to be changed.
 
Tires

I had a set of z6 Metzelers on my bike don’t know where I would measure tread they had nothing in the middle when new91A82C75-BB6C-4521-ACE3-7E0F6AD97F12.jpeg
 
Tire Depth Update.

After 750 miles, one quarter on back roads and the rest on interstate, pulling a small one wheel trailer, the front tire's tread dropped from 4/32nds to 3/32nds and the rear remained at 4/32nds. :thumb

Thanks to all for your advice. Looks like I'll keep the tires a bit longer but I'm tempted to replace the front before heading to Lebanon. :dunno

Cheers!

P.S. If you haven't had a chance to ask for a volunteer position in Lebanon, please send me an email. :type
 
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