How do you know if your tires need to be replaced? Stick around we're gonna go
over some of the telltale signs that your tires are worn out.
Tires are one of the most critical components keeping us from landing on our head.
There are many factors that contribute to a tire being worn out including the most obvious.
This is an extreme example of a tire being flat worn out. This is what we jokingly
refer to as "throwing sparks." The rubber has worn away revealing the metal bands,
or chords, that hold the tire together. When the rubber starts making these
weird patterns, that means the metal chords are just about to wear through.
It's worth noting that a tire does not wear at the same rate throughout its life.
As the rubber becomes thinner, the tire actually wears faster.
Like car tires, motorcycle tires have wear bars. When the tire wears down to the point
where these bars are level with the rest of the tire, it's time to replace it.
Most modern motorcycle tires the front tire is tasked with moving all the water
out of the way. This often means the rear tire will have a solid strip of rubber
with no saiping or tread in the center. This is done to help the rear tire wear
more slowly and withstand more abuse from acceleration. This is why it's
important to always run matched tires. Not only can mismatched tire
construction cause we're handling issues, but the tread pattern on matching tires
has been specifically engineered to work together.
The problem with tires with this solid strip of rubber in the center is that
it's very hard to tell when the tire is at the end of its life, particularly for
those of us who live in ride in the real world, where we wear out tires in the
center long before we wear them out at the edges. So here's our plea to the manufacturers.
Race slicks use these little dots to indicate wear. When the
dots disappear there is no more rubber on the tire. So manufacturers; please put
these dots down the center of these rear tires. It would be so helpful so that we
could more accurately be able to tell when a tire is wore out, so we don't end up in this situation.
The wear bar isn't even yet flush but... cords!
All tires are stamped with the data manufacture. The stamp is a four digit number molded into
the sidewall of the tire. If the number is "2714" that means the tire was
manufactured in the 27th week of 2014. If the number is "0516" that
means the tire was manufactured in the fifth week of 2016. If the stamp is only
three digits long that means that tire was manufactured before the year 2000.
So, how old of a tire should you run on your bike? Don't confuse the manufacture date
with the "Sell-By" date. Most manufacturers recommend the tire be sold before the
tire is five years old. When you're buying tires it's good to be mindful of the age
a tire that's three or even four years old is fine. But also pay attention to the age
of the tires on a used bike that you may be considering. If the tires look great
but we're manufactured 10 or more years ago, you'll probably want to add the cost
of new tires into the price of the bike. Here's the thing, as rubber ages it
interacts with the air in the atmosphere causing oxidation. Oxidation causes the
rubber to harden and become brittle. The rubber will wear away much more slowly
but will offer significantly lower levels of grip.
Oxidation also shows up as cracks, or "checking," on the sidewall. Cracking on the sidewall, or in between
the traction blocks, indicates severe oxidation and it's a sign that the tires
should be replaced. Which brings us to the third reason why a tire wears out.
Heat increases the rate of oxidization, so if your bike lives in a hot garage, or
you live in a hot environment, your tire will lose its grip more rapidly because
the heat accelerates the rate of decomposition of the rubber.
What's more, every time your tire warms up and cools down it goes through a heat cycle, which
also compromises the grip the tire can provide. When a tire has gone through so
many heat cycles that it can no longer provide adequate levels of grip, that tire is "baked-out."
And not all tires deal with heat cycles the same way.
A race tire or even a DOT race tire that can withstand extreme
heat punishment on the racetrack, may only be able to withstand two or three
heat cycles before the level of grip is significantly diminished. While a sport
touring tire may not be able to withstand the abusive punishment and
heat like a race tire can, it can typically survive a lifetime of heat
cycles from normal riding stresses, before grip decreases. However, tires
intended for cooler, wetter climates are less capable of dealing with too much
heat when used in hot, dry climates, and may bake-out long before the tread is
worn away. This is part of the reason racers and track day riders use tire
warmers. Not only to keep the tire warm and grippy, but to reduce the number of
heat cycles that tire will have to endure. This is also why it's a good idea
to try to replace your tires and sets. Your front tire is going through just as
many heat cycles as your rear tire, and is baking-out at the exact same rate.
We've seen a lot of riders who will replace the rear tire, and then a few
months later replace the front tire, and then a few months after that,
replace the rear tire again. So they are always chasing a new set of tires.
And nothing makes your bike handle like new like a fresh set of tires. So, again, if you can
swing it, it's always best to replace your tires as sets. But if you can't, for
whatever reason, then at least stick with matched tires. Knowing how old your tires
are, or how many heat cycles they've endured, may be a bigger indication as to
how worn your tires are, then how much tread remains. Being aware of these
things can help you make the best decision,
to know when it's time to buy new sneakers for your bike.
The way we tend to know the mileage left in a tire is the simplest of all:
We track mileage.
We've collected a fairly substantial database of tires that we ride, and the mileage we got out of them,
and we've posted that information on our website. There are still a wide range of factors
involved here, so we don't take these to be gospel, but they do give us anecdotal
evidence to determine if a tire should be replaced before a trip, or
can go the distance. So here's the bonus; below we put in a link to our tire
mileage calculator. It's a Google sheet that will help you predict how long a
tire will last based on how long tires of the same make and model have lasted
you before. This is how it works: We've included the mileage of how long
Pirelli Angel GT's have lasted us, taken from our Tire Mileage Chart just as an
example. The only caveat is this really only works for a single make and model
of tire. Different makes and models can provide vastly different levels of
durability, even two different sport touring tires from two different
manufacturers can last from 3,000 miles to 6,000 miles. So you'll want to add a
new sheet for each new make and model of tire you run. Next we measure to the wear-bar,
not to the bottom of the sipe, because we plan to replace our tires at
that point, not when the tire is bald. Which is this number. Then we enter in
the mileage we got from previous versions of the same make and model and
the tread depth, to the top of the wear bar, when we replace the tire. If you
replace it early you'll get a number greater than zero and if you rode it
until it was bald you'll probably end up with a negative number. From this point
you just enter in your bikes odometer reading when you installed the new tire.
Then at any point later in time you come back, re-measure your current tread
depth, and the current odometer on your bike, and it will tell you, roughly, how
much more life you can expect from your tire. Hopefully this will help you know
if you have enough tire left over for that weekend trip, or, so that you can
plan your budget accordingly and not be taken by surprise when your tire starts
throwing sparks. But one last thing, that if you want to get the most out of your
tires, you need to stay on top of your tire pressure. We strongly recommend you
run the pressure recommended in your bikes owner's manual, not the max PSI
rating stamped into the sidewall. Get your hands on a quality tire pressure
gauge and check your pressure at least once a week, or before any long ride.
We've provided links below to our Tire Mileage Chart, our Tire Mileage
Calculator, a tread depth gauge that we like, and of course, a quality tire
pressure gauge. Please click like and subscribe, leave a comment below, we read
every comment and try to respond to as many as we can.
Thanks so much for watching and ride well.