Tire Hop

[indybobm]

I changed my front tire on my 98 Tourer over the winter. Took the wheel into the local Honda dealer to have the Metzler ME880 installed and balanced. Took my first ride of the year yesterday. Took it easy on the tire as it is  new. Only rode 40 miles.  Winter has been rough on the roads in central Indiana and they are not very smooth. At first I noticed what felt like a slight pulsing in the front wheel.  By the time I got home, it had developed into a slight hopping sensation.  My first thought was bad balancing.
I put the bike back up on the jack so that the front tire is in the air. I fashioned a pointer that would barely touch the outside of the tread as the tire is rotated.  When rotating the tire, there is what appears to be a low spot. There is a six inch section of the circumference that is lower. This low spot gives me a radial runout of about .060 inch. The rest of the tire looks good.  Direction of rotation arrow pointing in the right direction.

1.   What is the maximum allowable radial runout on a tire?
2.   Dealer put ½ ounce of weight about 90 degrees from the stem. The low spot is 180 degrees from the weight.  Coincidence?
3.   When a tire is out of balance, where does the tire wear occur? On the heavy side of the tire or on the light side?

Bike was smooth as silk with the old tire.  Front forks torqued in correct sequence.  Front end bounced, etc. I really thought it was a balancing problem until I noticed the runout, but I do not know how much runout is too much.

[Jess from VA]

Perhaps the tire is defective.

Since you payed the dealer to mount and balance it, I would ride it over and ask their opinion on if it is defective and should go back to Metzler.  (And should they have noticed it when they first saw/mounted it?)

[indybobm]

The date code on the tire is April of last year. Less than a year old. Got it from Bike Bandit. The local Honda dealer, Dreyer at Whiteland is pretty good. I'm sure they will work with me. The Dreyer dealer in Indy is the oldest Honda dealer in the country. Still have people that knows Valkyries.

But really, how much runout is allowable?

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

How much air pressure are you running? also if it sat a long time may just be a flat spot from sitting and needs to be ridden to round out. My blazer sits for months at a time and the tires all get flat spots until it is driven about 30 miles or more.

[Bighead]

How much air pressure are you running? also if it sat a long time may just be a flat spot from sitting and needs to be ridden to round out. My blazer sits for months at a time and the tires all get flat spots until it is driven about 30 miles or more.

Bingo I would bet it has just been sitting on the same spot and tire flat spotted it should work its way out. I always store my new tires lying on their side to prevent that. I had a one, one time that took a couple hundred miles to stop.

[art]

.060 sounds like a lot ,check  with the Honda dealer about it and see what he thinks is too much.

[salty1]

Is the bead fully seated at the flat spot?  ???

[Bighead]

Is the bead fully seated at the flat spot?  ???

Don't know about his but yes they do the bead part don't flat spot it comes from sitting in one spot or being stored standing up and the tread will get a flat spot where it sits.

[Rio Wil]

40 miles is plenty of time and distance to warm a tire up and relieve any flat spot...you said the issue was worse by the time you got home.....ya got a bad tire.......060 is way too much runout...

[TDL]

I had the same problem with a new dunlap e3. I tried to rebalance but had a shimmy at 40 I could not get rid of. Don't take the chance, get a new tire, you wont get rid of it by balancing it.

[indybobm]

Still working on the front tire problem. Yesterday, I put the bike back on the jack and checked the front wheel installation. Went for another ride today. First 30 miles everything is ok. Kind of feels like a very slight wheel imbalance around 45mph but not too bad. After 35 miles, you can start feeling the front end start hopping a little. Like you are riding over small repetitive bumps. Nothing real bad but not right. Guess it is time to get on the phone and start the process of getting another tire.

[indybobm]

I called Bike Bandit on 3/11/14. They are sending a Return Authorization shipping label. When they receive the front tire from me they will send me a new one. They will then send the old tire to Metzeler. Hope it works this way. Removed the front wheel from the bike.
Today, I took the wheel to the Honda dealer to have the tire removed. Good people. The tech put it back on the balance machine to check the balance again. The balance checked good but from about 60 feet away I could see that the tire is out-of-round as it spun. The tech said Tire has some hop to it but the rim is good.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks everything will be good.

[salty1]

I called Bike Bandit on 3/11/14. They are sending a Return Authorization shipping label. When they receive the front tire from me they will send me a new one. They will then send the old tire to Metzeler. Hope it works this way. Removed the front wheel from the bike.
Today, I took the wheel to the Honda dealer to have the tire removed. Good people. The tech put it back on the balance machine to check the balance again. The balance checked good but from about 60 feet away I could see that the tire is out-of-round as it spun. The tech said Tire has some hop to it but the rim is good.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks everything will be good.

Glad things are coming together for you. I'm surprised a Metzler tire gave you problems.   ???   If it was a Shinko it could have been "Stinko".   

[indybobm]

Glad things are coming together for you. I'm surprised a Metzler tire gave you problems.   ???   If it was a Shinko it could have been "Stinko".   

Actually, the tech at Honda said that they have seen a number of Metzeler failures in the last year, including tread separation. Of course, everything man made is subject to failure.

Received the postage paid return label this afternoon. The tire is on its way back to the dealer.