Save tire with more hp

[R3T]

I been a bit reluctant to write this post, since it just don’t make any sense, but here is the background:

My first rear tire was worn out after 4500 km. Some how I manage to take it to 6000km, but you could see the cord by then.

New tire, new turbo, twice the power and I where planning to change to a car tire very soon. The new Metlzer was only to be use while getting familiar to the turbo power, and I did not expect it to be able to hold on or to last very long.

First I got surprised that the tire manages to take care of twice as much hp and torque without ever losing traction. Not a single burnout!

Then comes an even bigger surprise. After 4000 km of mostly hard to very hard driving, it still looks as good as new!

The front tire on the other hand, is wearing down faster instead. That is easier to explain since I have to use the brakes much harder and more often now.

I have been talking quite a bit of this with my friends and nobody has even come up with a theory until this weekend.

After we stopped, one of my mates said that the suspension is compressed to the bottom whenever I lift the throttle and the tire is also pressed down to about half the height, giving it a larger contact aria to the ground.

So, can this be the reason that the rear tire suddenly seams to last better?

If so, would it be an idea for everyone to go down a little bit in pressure, to gain more mileage?

Can a hard acceleration really save tire, while a slower acceleration eat rubber?

[Diego]

> Can a hard acceleration really save tire, while a slower acceleration eat rubber?

All else being equal, no. There's more to your result than is presently apparent.

Under no circumstance reduce air pressure to try to "lengthen" tire life; it'll cause more flexing with every rotation of the tire, not just during acceleration, producing excess heat and stressing the cords.

[biker1059]

A tire dealer once told me that tires that come on new cars are spec tires, in other words if you buy a Nissan, Nissan sets the specs for the perticular car tire even if it say Bridgestone or Michelin you may be getting not as good of tire as you would from after market. I don't know if this holds true with motorcycles and I really don't know if it holds true to cars tires either, thats just what I was told. Thought I would add to the confusion.

[sbljr]

On 2006-08-21 17:55, biker1059 wrote:
A tire dealer once told me that tires that come on new cars are spec tires, in other words if you buy a Nissan, Nissan sets the specs for the perticular car tire even if it say Bridgestone or Michelin you may be getting not as good of tire as you would from after market. I don't know if this holds true with motorcycles and I really don't know if it holds true to cars tires either, thats just what I was told. Thought I would add to the confusion.

What the tire dealer said is a half-truth, which salesmen are good at because it's hard to get nailed for what you didn't say.

OEM-spec tires can also be BETTER than at least some of the tires in his store (yes, even some of the name-brand ones). There's nothing inherently wrong with OEM tires and they're generally equivalent to mid-line tires from the manufacturer's line or better. The tire companies make vehicle manufacturers terrific deals on their bulk purchases. They don't want their bottom-of-the-line tires going on new cars because new-car buyers can afford better when it's time to replace. Most will replace with similar quality or better, so the better they put on to start with the more they will spend. Low-end tires have relatively little profit even at retail.

As for the Rocket most people (including me) who ride their Rockets moderately and keep the tire pressure close to book are getting much better mileage than reported in the original post.

[dougl]

On 2006-08-21 18:32, sbljr wrote:
As for the Rocket most people (including me) who ride their Rockets moderately and keep the tire pressure close to book are getting much better mileage than reported in the original post.

I have 7000 miles on my first rear tire - could get another 2 or 3K.