High speed death wobble!

[DryRider]

I have owned the bike since new. I have always put the stock tires on when replacing. This time I decided to change to the Pirelli Scorpion trail 2. I felt the stock tires squared off pretty fast with all the high speed travel I do. This new tires gives me the death wobble at freeway speeds and follows all the grooves in the road...front end feels light and unstable. I have 70 miles on them. It's really a bummer... the tech said they balanced out perfect. I have the correct tire pressure and all the spokes are good and tight. Anybody ever have luck returning tires? Just sick about it! I really spent some $$ My dealer is great hope he can help. I will call him Monday. The tires I put on even won some awards, just now in 2017 for adv bikes...I don't understand.

 

[Madhatter]

check that you don't have the rear preload set to high... that will raise the rear creating less rake and with sensitive tires make things a bit unstable... back the knob off that's my bet . I've seen it before.

 

[AdvToorer]

I have several thousand miles on Pirelli Scorp Trail II over all kinds of surface and speeds and never experienced and wobble issue. Are they completely immune to grooves on the road? No, but compared to my previous Mitas Dakar tires they are very solid.
I would not rule out bike issue.

 

[RonH]

Just wait a few hundred miles and chances are everything will be fine. New tires profile being more rounded makes the handling real twitchy with lots of tires. Let them square off a little before getting too concerned.

 

[DryRider]

Mine is the ES running on one plus luggage. Bike is not going to get much better than it is today very soon. This is my 28th bike and I had this happen one other time and it was the tires. I think I need to try and return them now while I can. I just can't believe it...doesn't make much sense to me. I had three sets of stock tires without issue. I thought I'd try the pirelli and see if it stayed round longer. My high speed and hot days squares them off flat pretty fast. But I guess a guy could have bigger problems...so I'll shut up ::002::

 

[Pterodactyl]

Just a suggestion..... If you have not already done so, make sure both tires are mounted so that they are rotating in the proper direction.

 

[WJBertrand]

Bad balance job or a defective tire.


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[TenereStreets]

I'm on my third set of Scorpion Trail II's and never had a death wobble in 24k miles. Maybe you were holding on to the bars too tight?

 

[Jackal]

Did not read all the reply's but how is the neck bearings on the bike ?

 

[DryRider]

THANK YOU Nice suggestion Kevin...rear tire has been mounted in the wrong direction...wow glad you all tried to help. Nice work and Thank you...I'll have the shop turn it around.

 

[blitz11]

Wow! That was a great suggestion. Nice!

 

[Dogdaze]

THANK YOU Nice suggestion Kevin...rear tire has been mounted in the wrong direction...wow glad you all tried to help. Nice work and Thank you...I'll have the shop turn it around.

Or, you may want another shop to correct the error and bill the offending shop...................... that was a school boy error if I ever heard of one!

 

[EricV]

If the tire direction change doesn't help, check/re-torque your steering head bearings. Its not uncommon for them to be loose on low mile bikes.

 

[Squibb]

Ridiculous mistake; shameful.

The last guy we had with tyre problems, in Aus, found his wobble issue lay in the simple fact that his wheels had been balanced using the old static method. Make sure whoever re-fits these is certain the tyre beads have 'popped' & are even at the rim, then dynamically balance them before the re-fit. Obviously a double check of the wheel bearings should be a standard procedure, & just make sure, as others have suggested, that the steering head bearings are OK & correctly adjusted.

Sounds like you are about to get your old bike back again ........................ KEN

 

[DryRider]

Yes this forum is where I turn when all else fails, What a great group of riders we have here. I'll have them turn the tire around but I'm gun shy now. These Pirelli's better be solid as a rock at very high speeds or I'm going to make them take them back. My concern now, is should I just bail and tell them to take them both off and go back to stock...I know they will meet my needs for stability or try them corrected to see. I know this is a hard choice and I will probably let them correct the issue and try them. Hope this will be a thing of the past soon as I did not ride this weekend because of it. Thanks again guys, by the way my bike has 20K miles on it and I have changed the plugs and fluids, air cleaner and some rear brake pads on...but never had anything else done like grease or check any other bearings, pivot arm or steering head. Thoughts?

2014 S10 ES

 

[AdvToorer]

I'm skeptical a tire mounted in reverse direction would have any impact on stability. ::013::

Looking forward to report after tire mount is corrected.

 

[bob dirt]

I'd still have the balance re-checked. I use dyna beads. My E07's felt weird at first, now they're fine.

 

[OldRider]

Ridiculous mistake; shameful.

The last guy we had with tyre problems, in Aus, found his wobble issue lay in the simple fact that his wheels had been balanced using the old static method. Make sure whoever re-fits these is certain the tyre beads have 'popped' & are even at the rim, then dynamically balance them before the re-fit. Obviously a double check of the wheel bearings should be a standard procedure, & just make sure, as others have suggested, that the steering head bearings are OK & correctly adjusted.

Sounds like you are about to get your old bike back again ........................ KEN

There is absolutely nothing wrong with static balancing wheels. I've static balanced wheels on small aircraft, drag racing rails, pro dirt trackers and drag bikes with very good results.

 

[Madhatter]

a directional tire mounted backwards can cause issues , that why they put a directional arrow on them.

 

[OldRider]

a directional tire mounted backwards can cause issues , that why they put a directional arrow on them.

I've seen a lot of bikes with the tires running backwards and no problems. It's a very common practice to put Michelin rear tires on backwards on the front of Goldwing trikes. It's an old Harley trick to run rear tires backwards on the front to double the mileage. The main reason for directional arrows is to have the sipes in the tire going the correct direction to remove water. I do like mine running with the arrow for sure.