I just purchased a K1200RS which needed a new rear tire but after taking it home (in the rain :eek1 ) pulled into the garage and noticed some bits of tire shedding from the right sidewall. Is this normal when tires get older? Its on the para lever side so I double checked for contact wear and couldn't find any. Before spending a few hundred $$ to replace my tire, I want to make sure the new one doesn't get chewed up as well. Pics: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8057130248/" title="photo 1 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/8057130248_b78b2f6961_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="photo 1"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8057129004/" title="photo 4 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/8057129004_cd1583a83c_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="photo 4"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8057129610/" title="photo 3 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8038/8057129610_ecbe097f2d_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="photo 3"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8057129935/" title="photo 2 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8179/8057129935_a8f36a7a84_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="photo 2"></a>
Sure looks like it is rubbing on something. I'd check Tire pressure, recommended tire size vs what is on there, wheel bearings etc. Not normal. Did the final drive go bad and the original owner have it repaired, but left the old damaged tire on?
Stock Rubber: 170 60 17 at 40 PSI (+-3 PSI for digital reader) BMW recommends 42 PSI but I cant see how +-5 PSI would cause that kind of wear. Performed 2 test: -12 and 6 o'clock check for rear bearing play without luck. -I put my finger between the Brake Rotor and Final Drive housing spun the wheel, while trying to move it horizontally to test for play but didn't feel any pressure change on my finger. Here are a few more images showing the space between the paralever and tire: Bottom Looking Up: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8057235037/" title="photo 4 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8455/8057235037_f22bb4a943_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="photo 4"></a> Top Looking Down: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8057236365/" title="photo 2 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8312/8057236365_8a6bed0efc_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="photo 2"></a>
The chafing looks like it's happened at a slow speed, and there appear to be lateral marks on the tread?
That is foreign object damage. I had road debris hang up on my swingarm and rub the edge of my tire just like that. It left all kinds of scraped marks and rubber shreds. I didn't realize it was there, until the tire sucked it through and it cleared itsself:eek1 Don't know what the debris was, but it freaked me out when it cleared.
Interesting. I noticed the lateral marks in the pictures but you cant really see it on the wheel in person. I'm going to peel all the little fibers off and watch it over the next 2 days for more contact. Think its possible the tire is just out balance? Wouldnt I feel that pretty easily on my ass at 90 mph?
James, The material was mechanically removed from the side of your tire. It wasn't a result of any out of balance, heavy braking, skidding, overinflation or any other tire fitment reason. For example, a shred of shrink wrap with a little chunk of pallet, protruding staple points, snagged in the plastic, could spend time bouncing around on the junction of tire and swingarm, chewing that edge down. Riding in adverse conditions, like the rain, would make it hard to detect an insidious incident like that. The fact is, if you tried to manually remove that much material from the tire, it would take a belt/disk sander, razor knife and at least 15-20 minutes of honest work at the bench, to accomplish that kind of damage. Chewing up a specific edge of the tire, like that, takes outside influence. Another example is when my muffler wasn't properly spaced away from the new wider rear tire. The muffler clamp wore down the edge of the tire, each time the suspension compressed far enough for contact.
Completely understand. Now that it appears the debris has gone, i'll replace it this weekend and really watch for any wear over the next week. I hope its not the bearing (causing rubbing on the paralever housing) as it would suck to dump $$$ into a bike I haven't even put 100 miles on yet.
Have you removed the wheel? Just to make sure the spacer is still there. There has been quite a few riders of them K1200RSs that have experimented with removing that spacer to correct their tendency of pulling to the right. Wouldn't be me doing such things, I have the 5.5 wheel, not much room between the tire/swingarm and I know that a tire may change shape at speed....just enough to rub the swingarm.:huh But....I'd go with some of the earlier post,just because that bike has been repainted, they never came in white from the factory.
It would suck to not spend a couple hundo and get it checked out to see what's up, instead of slapping on a tire and waiting for it to 'splode.
After nearly a week and 728 miles later (took a little drive Sunday to scrub the new tire ), everything looks great. Glad to know it was something so simple. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8077051740/" title="photo 1 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8333/8077051740_75a2661c64_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="photo 1"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmolinaro/8077059721/" title="photo 2 by jmolin8808, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8077059721_0fa35ac0e8_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="photo 2"></a> Spacer was installed. As Snowhawk guessed it was just something that got caught in my wheels way.
