How to Tell When Your Motorcycle Tires Are Worn Out | The Shop Manual

Your motorcycle's tires play a huge role in its safety, handling, and performance, so it's important that they're in good condition. How do you know when it's time for new rubber? We'll explain the four main reasons you should replace your tires in this episode of the Shop Manual. This dose of Shop Manual knowledge is brought to you by Bridgestone. Need tires for your bike? The new RS12 offers race-inspired performance for the street and track. Pick up a set today at RevZilla.com. The most common reason tires need to be replaced is wear. They've served their tour and lived a good life, and the tread is simply worn down after 5 or 10 or 15,000 miles of use. To help you judge how worn your tires are, there are actually treadwear indicators molded into the tire. They're identified by either a triangular symbol or the letters TWI and if the bar is level with the tread anywhere across the tire, it's time for new rubber. Even if a tire isn't eroded all the way down to the limit, it might still be worn unevenly. Rear tires tend to wear down the center and get a flat spot, while front tires often get triangulated or experience cupping or scalloping when the tread grooves or blocks are worn down on one side but high on the other. Uneven wear can cause steering issues, vibration, and even instability. So if your tire's profiles are looking a little wonky, that warrants new rubber. Another reason your tires might need to be replaced is damage. Punctures from nails and screws and other sharp and pointy bits is at the top of the list. We've talked about when and how it's okay to repair a puncture. Link to that video is down in the description if you want to learn more. But at the end of the day, the safest bet is always to replace the tire. Other issues to look out for include cuts and tears, tread separation, and perhaps a bulge in the tread or sidewall from a big impact, like hitting a pothole at speed. Dry rot and deep cracks are also grounds for replacement and are typically a result of our next tire replacement red flag, age. Most manufacturers recommend that tires should be taken out of service after seven to ten years, even if there are no obvious issues like tread wear or sidewall cracks. That's because over time, waxes, oils, and other volatiles will migrate out of the rubber, the material will oxidize and harden, and the tires will lose compliance and traction. So how old are your tires? The date of manufacture is printed right on the sidewall. The four-digit number in the oval symbol is the tire's date code, and it follows a week-year format. So this tire was made the 36th week of 2018, meaning it's seven years old. Now, a seven, eight, or even nine-year-old tire might still technically be serviceable, but maybe it just makes you a little uneasy, which brings us to our final reason for replacing your motorcycle tires, preference. Your motorcycle's tires may be nearly new with a nice round profile and square, tidy tread grooves, but maybe you just don't like them. I've certainly installed tires that I didn't gel with because of the way they handled or worked for my application. Perhaps you've installed ADV-style tires and you realize they handle pretty poorly on the street, or maybe you know that your new motorcycle's OEM tires aren't going to have enough traction for the way you want to ride it. Swapping still-good rubber because you don't like it or it doesn't work for you is a totally legitimate reason. Now, that's not something I'm likely to do because even with my sweet RevZilla discount, I am way too cheap to replace tires before their time is up. On that topic, if you want to get your money's worth out of your rubber, check your tire pressures. Properly inflated tires not only handle better, they wear better. At the end of the day, your tires are the only thing connecting you to the road, so they've got to be in good condition, and now you know how to tell if they are. Hey, everybody. Appreciate you watching this episode of the Shop Manual, and hopefully you learned a thing or two about how to determine if your motorcycle's tires are still serviceable. Now, that tire age concept is a bit controversial, and I have dived into that topic deeply in the past. If you scan the QR code on your screen, it'll take you over to an article I wrote that goes into all of the details. Also, if you like this show, make sure you're supporting our sponsors. For this episode, it is Bridgestone Tires, and of course, if you make a purchase through RevZilla, you will be supporting the Shop Manual, Daily Rider, and CTX-P. So, thank you.