What would cause the front tire to have a cupping wear pattern?
Originally written by akathetroll on 6/1/2008 7:12 PM
What would cause the front tire to have a cupping wear pattern?
In my experience the principal cause of cupping would be under-inflation. I once bought a used Gold Wing that had bad cupping on the front tire. It was so bad that it wobbled all the way home from the seller. I checked the pressure and it was right at 15 psi! It was clear that the previous owner was not into maintenance. On my Harley rig I run 40 psi in the front tire and 42 in the rear. I usually run the sidecar tire a little lower to increase the footprint, say around 32-35 psi or so, but that''s just me. It's important to check them at least every few days.
If the tire is a very cheap brand, I would suspect that it might be more prone to cupping but that's only a guess on my part. I'm sure about the inflation issue, however as I've seen it work.
Usually, the cupping is found on the front tire on a motorcycle. I don't recall seeing it on the rear tire of a bike.
I see that you have a Gold Wing. When I was on the GWRRA site with my 1994 SE a few years back, tire cupping was a constant complaint. It's usually more common in a heavy bike with soft front suspension such as the Gold Wing. Slightly heavier fork oil or stronger springs and proper inflation will help to combat it. That's what I did on my Gold Wing and I never had the problem again,
Out of balance condition will also cause cupping.
Lonnie
Originally written by Hack'n on 6/2/2008 1:56 AM
Out of balance condition will also cause cupping.
Lonnie
Good point. It would tend to make the front suspension pump.
Just a question what is cupping?
What I know from front tires with blocks like trial tires is that they wear the blocks uneven so that they look like a saw. At the end you loose quite a bit of grip and the direction becomes spongy.
Regards
Sven Peter
Sven,
With street tread tires the cupping is actually scooped out places in the tread. caused by abrasion.
Lonnie
