Tire Wear

Douglas Laird, will you please tell us if that is a Michelin tire, or a Metzler tire. If my memory of older car tires serves me right, the XZX was a Michelin tire used in the olde days on Peugeot, Volvo, some Mercedes, etc 

This is THEE case where a picture would speak 1000 words.

And, what air pressure do you have in all three of the tires on your Sidecar rig ???

Hi Doug:   We have not used the Michelin XZX 165SR15 tire:

But we have used the similar Vredestein Sprint Classic 165HR14 on our former K100/EML combination:

and the Nankang CX-668 165/80R 15 on our former R1100GS/CSM combination.

All of these tires were replaced at ±10,000 miles.  Yes, I have read of other folks getting more miles out of these 165R14/15 tires, but such has not been our experience.   10,000 miles may not "sound good" but that's +2x the mileage expected from motorcycle pusher tire.

P.S.  Our first automotive pusher tire was a Nexxen on Mrs. SwampFox's Burgman/Texas combination; it was replaced at 9,300 miles when the tread wore out in the middle because we ran it a little over-inflated.

Lee:

Thanks for the prompt and detailed response re: tire wear.

Somehow I was of the belief that 'automobile' tires could be used on the hack and the sidecar, thus getting better mileage. The tire I descriobed is described and designed forl use on light weight sports cars. Softer rubber for cornering?

With the tire size I mentiond would there be automobile tires that would fit and provide longer wear?

Its not the cost of the tires its that I take long trips, ie, 10,000 plus miles and finding the tires (rear bike and sidecar) can be a pain.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks, Doug

Michelin. 38lbs

Doug, are you saying you are  running  38 psi in the  Michelin XZX car tire, as the  pusher tire on the  rear wheel  of the  bike  ???

If so, then you  have  exactly  Pi too much air in that  tire.

Run 35 psi, checked when cold....specifically when using a Michelin XZX car tire.

In other  words, remove Pi.....remove 3.14159 psi from  what you  previously  used, and your overall  mileage  from a  new Michelin XZX car tires will be.....10,000 + 3,141.59 miles, for a  total of 13, 141.59 miles.

Math.......doesn't  lie.

Douglas, On a long trip swap the pusher and sidecar wheels/tires. Do it when the pusher still has sufficient tread life left to be safe on the sidecar.   You should be able to go 15,000+ miles without needing to buy a tire.  

 Motorcycle and car tires are to different things.

On our 750 Rig I run the same 15 inch car tire on rear of bike and sidecar. The sidecar had a 16 inch motorcycle wheel on it. Converting it was a great move.

The Larger Road Glide limited uses a 195/65R16 car tire. The sidecar uses a 12 inch car tried rated at 118 mph and suited for more weight than the sidecar will ever carry.

All tubeless. I will not run tub tires anymore.

Seems I recall, several years ago, there was a post suggesting a method to help determine proper inflation of automotive tires on a sidecar rig.   It went something akin to this:

Load your rig to the "road weight" and put a puddle of water on a smooth surface such as a concrete garage floor or driveway, then roll the tire through it, checking for even tread displacement, the idea being you can readily see if the tire is obviously over/under inflated.

I never tried this method.  But I do recall, for unpaved roads, I preferred about 28 PSI in the Nexxen pusher on the GS rig, which actually "did OK" on slippery dirt roads.  (Anyone remember riding the slippery dirt roads after the ±4 inch rain during the the "Kisatchie TURD" in Louisiana back in 2017?)

Dust,sand also works.

Looking at wear now I had more wear on inside of Bike rear tire than out side.  Side car tire prefect front tire prefect. I will need to look at this when I put sidecar back on.

Cause most likely is rear upper needs to be extend a bit.

I didn't have much luck with a Car tire.. 8500 kilometres is I recall correctly. Of course it was a soft one in 17 inch. Bridgestone Something or other.  Of course you can't find a 17 inch tire now that fits so a moot point.. Some day I might spring for a 15 inch wheel from Stoker so I can run a BFG mud terrain but not yet. 

Having great luck with a Dunlop Trail Max Mission, a Moto tire.. I think I have found the go to that lasts for me. For now. 🙂 

Car tire sizing can be tricky. For what ever reason mounting a 15 inch car tire on 15 inch motorcycle wheel is hard. The car tire is just a shade smaller than the wheel.  My 750 rig runs 15 inch car tire on rear of bike and sidecar.

Example my RGL rig factory bike rear is a 180/55 18.  No way on earth a 18 car tire would work . But swap to a 16 inch wheel and a 195/65R16 and prefect fit.

same height 1/2 inch wider .

  It can take a lot of home work to find the right match.

The 750 looking at it one day I realized on the sidecar all I needed to do was swap the axle that was easy. Take a wheel same as the bike had and either flip the wheel and it fit right on or cut the hub off and not flip it both worked fine. Then mount same 15 inch smart car tire and go.

Quote from FlyingMonkeys on February 8, 2024, 9:07 pm

Doug, are you saying you are  running  38 psi in the  Michelin XZX car tire, as the  pusher tire on the  rear wheel  of the  bike  ???

If so, then you  have  exactly  Pi too much air in that  tire.

Run 35 psi, checked when cold....specifically when using a Michelin XZX car tire.

In other  words, remove Pi.....remove 3.14159 psi from  what you  previously  used, and your overall  mileage  from a  new Michelin XZX car tires will be.....10,000 + 3,141.59 miles, for a  total of 13, 141.59 miles.

Math.......doesn't  lie.

I'm just pleased to see that after 4 days, no one has had the "audacity"....that's right, I said "audacity" .....to challenge my math tutorial.

Math.......doesn't lie.

(sidecarists may lie, but math doesn't lie) (and dang it, this is another place where we need smiley faces icons, so people know when we are having fun)

Douglas--looking at your avatar pic, it looks like you have a "typical" DMC GS rig.  This tells me that the 15" rims being used on the sidecar and as the pusher are both automobile rims sourced by DMC for this purpose, and they are NOT motorcycle rims. I have the same setup on my DMC GS rig.  This means you're stuck using car tires on those two wheels.  There are many posts about this but, in short, you can put a moto tire on a car rim and a car tire on a moto rim if your rims are 13", 14", 16" or 17".  But NOT 15".  Fifteen is the only size where the diameter of the bead seat of the two types of wheels are incompatible.

This means, then, that the recommendation from Kevin above is a good one. When the pusher wears out, swap it with the sidecar tire.  Because the sidecar tire will wear much more slowly.

Another thing you might not know is that the alphanumeric size of  165SR15 is the equivalent of a modern P-metric size of 165/80-R15.  Which is helpful to know when shopping online for new tires.  As for wear, 10,000 miles is decent.  The XZX is an older Michelin design used mostly on classic sports cars.  I remember using the XZX on my 1964 Triumph TR4 that I owned in the '70's.

A decent replacement tire is the Americus Touring Plus All-Season 165/80-15 available at Walmart for around $80.  [LINK] Tread depth of 10/32 is pretty good and it has a UTQG rating of 500AA which is better than most tires in this size. If you've not done this before, a word to the wise -- dismount the wheel from the bike and take it to Walmart in the trunk of your car.  When they ask for the make and model of the car just tell them that the wheel goes on a homemade custom trailer that you use for transporting your racing lawnmower.  (Or whatever.) If you tell them the wheel is from a motorcycle they will likely refuse to mount it.

 As for the 15 inch tire and wheel thing is not 100% correct. We have been using 15 car tires on the sidecar and bike rear for a long time.

It is a tight fit mounting it. You must take your time and use lube on the wheel.  On the 750 we have found the Smart car tire is the best fit.