Rear Tire Split - Dunlop

[jacoh]

hi all,

I have a stock Dunlop 180-55ZR on the rear of my B with about 11,000km on it.
Yesterday I was leading a group and while we were stopped another rider told me that he noticed that I have a cut right across the tread of the tire. At first I thought he was mistaking the mould line that all those tires have, but sure enough, the rubber appears to have split jaggedly but approximately right were the mould line is. Because it's jagged, I'm pretty sure it's a split, not a cut.Anybody else seen this problem? No, I didn't do any burn-outs or otherwise abuse the tire.

Jacoh

 

[hdlover]

Jacoh,

I've never seen the cut, but at 11,000 km (6,000 miles) that tire should be pretty much end-of-life. I have two V-Rods and I only get about 6,000 to 7,000 miles from the rear tire, and hardly much more from the fronts. I don't do burnouts or put the bike under any particularly hard use, but the center four inches of the tire wear quite quickly. Just put on a set of Metzler tires on one V-Rod... time will tell how those wear...

HDLover

 

[karthy]

Dont forget to check if this could have been a retread or manufacturers processing defect Even though I have never heard of thoese but stranger things have happened remember not everything is perfectly produced and it could result in a cut similar to your photo. In the end though Harley will tell you that is a sport bikef tire and that they wear faster than othersnormal tires. I raised Holy Hell with HD HQ but in the end it was the dealership who gave me off something on the backend of a service/warrenty repair. Also dont forget at 100+ miles an hour I want to know that every component on this bike is working to its fullest potential. I dont want to Orphange my kids to save a few bucks here and there also try Ebay if you plan to buy new some people have some out there they might be willing to part with cheaper than normal.

Karthy