How to prevent odd front tire wear?

[senseamidmadness]

Speculative question but I'm sure lots of you have experienced it. How and why does the uneven "feathering" or "scalloping" wear occur on Oilhead front tires, and how can it be prevented?

Personally the wear seems to be worse on my R850R with stock shocks than it is on my R1100RT with aftermarket ones. I noticed the scalloping on a front Avon Storm 3D X-M within 6,000 miles on the 850R. The RT I haven't put as many miles on yet, but the Pirelli Angel GT tires I got it with had no visible uneven wear.

Nowadays I run 40 psi front and 42 psi rear in my tires, but for the first few thousand miles with my R850R I ran Avon's recommendation of 36/42. A few months ago I swapped the wheels and tires between the two bikes as I think the Angel GT's fit the Roadster better than the tourer, and now after maybe 2,000 miles with the Pirellis on the 850R I have started seeing that uneven wear in the front tire again.

 

[Omega Man]

I adjust tire pressure to compensate for scalloping on the F800GS.

OM

 

[mikegalbicka]

Running a few pounds higher helps me.

 

[c10950]

More rebound dampening .

 

[Paul_F]

40/40 works for me.

Got tired of tires scalloping.

 

[BC1100S]

I run the recommended 36F - 42R pressures and make sure my forks/shock is in good condition. Have never experienced feathering/scalloping on either my R or K bikes.

 

[etiennelau]

More rebound dampening .

This is the main culprit. I ran 36/42 on my 2010 R1200RT and it still feathered and scalloped the front tire. Only way it ever got fixed was to send both Front and Rear Struts to Ted Porter and have them re-built with ESA II Welbers. WOW what a difference. I no longer feel like I am being tossed out of my saddle now whenever going over bumps on the hwy.....so can you imagine with that kind of suspension looseness what that does to the tires? They very likely were losing or very close to losing contact with the road. I know this because I have taken several sweepers in town doing about 50mph, and mid-turn bump would cause the front end/bike to slide over....scarey as can be.....

 

[senseamidmadness]

Suspension makes a lot of sense, and would explain why my RT does better than my R. I have a set of Fox Clickers that I need to revalve and rebuild, and after that they're going on the Roadster...should be a nice improvement to performance, comfort, and tire wear.

 

[rbourey]

Suspension response is part of the culprit.

Perhaps the other part of the equation is the improvement in braking on these models over the airheads to allow harder braking.

The cure is to stop using front brake.... But what fun is that if we brake to go fast on these capable models?

All front tires with tread will get scalloped due to wear with braking forces.
Some tread patterns are more prone to scalloping then others. .
Find one you can live with.

(Personally, other than a subtle change in sound, I've never noticed a decrement in performance with even severe scalloping)

 

[cajunrider]

Air pressure and/or suspension. It may take a little trail & error to find the BEST setup.

Now... let's talk PTTR...