Road Smart FAILURE

Ok..

I've been noting the Road Smart failure list on the forum. I've been watching it grow. I've got two Road Smarts to add to the list.

1 rear tire....it picked up screws, nails...you name it....like no other tire I've ever owned. Only 3,000 miles and it's toast.

2 front tire...a much more serious issue. The tire produced a huge blister yesterday. I've not ridden this tire hard in any way. Even the twisties have been taken moderately since this tire was mounted. I put this tire on the bike just before Moonshine. It only has about 3,000 miles on the rubber.

I've attached images. Sorry for the focus. I'll try to bet better images and repost them. You can see in one photo....that the length of the blister...is about 10 inches long!

I contacted Dunlop. They advised me to take the tire to a local dealer for assessment...and to then call Dunlop. I told the Dunlop rep...I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER DUNLOP TIRE. He didn't comment....

I know others have posted and warned everyone....but I'll add to the advice. Watch out...somethings not right with these tires.

I'll post up after a local dealer takes a look and reports to Dunlop...and Dunlop's end response.

Forest

Scary looking pictures, lucky it didn't happen on a long trip and far away from home.

I've tried almost every tire on my STeed but the Dunlops are one manufacturer I've lost faith in and will not try based on what I've seen on this site. Thanks for the additional warning Forest.

Forest, let me know if you need a set. I just got in my BS 023s and I'm not in a hurry to install them so if you need a set fast you can just pay me for them and come by and we'll put them on. I can put another order in w/TwoBrothersTires.

So.. STrep had one fail at Moonshine and yours just after Moonshine and many others have noted the failures....

I'm all for giving a manufacturer the benefit of a doubt but they need to recall these things, simple as that.

Thanks Joe...I've got a front PRII in the garage. I'll give you a call and see what your tire changing schedule looks like.

Thanks again!

uptoblackwood said:

Thanks Joe...I've got a front PRII in the garage. I'll give you a call and see what your tire changing schedule looks like.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

I'm open saturday if you want me to come over.

I have 9k on my roadsmarts with no problems. I watch them like a hawk and probably would not buy another set because of problems others have had.

Big Red said:

Ditto, So far Roadsmarts have not given me a problem except for a nail in the rear tire which got plugged and a golfball sized hole in the front tire from hitting a mini-boulder. In all honesty, sometimes you just get a bad tire or a batch of tires regardless of the brand

Click to expand...

I suppose it's possible that it could be a bad batch... but the failures are pretty widespread, different locals, different years... yeah, not everyone rides the same amount so I understand two tires sold out of the same batch may fail pretty far apart and in different areas of the country... but... the valkyrie guys used to call the (I can't remember the tire model) dunflops due to the delaminations they would experience. Assuming that's a real word in the tire biz.

I ran 2 sets... the 1st set seemed fine, the front on the 2nd set was bad after just 400 miles, the rear tires always seemed to be fine to me.

I'll keep an open mind and maybe Tim will update us when they figure out what's going on but, sometimes it just takes one bad apple to kill any brand loyalty... I'm pretty sure that's the last tire I'll get if I need one.

Not to mention...it only takes on bad tire to "kill" a rider....not just brand loyalty.

Yikes...4:

Strep (Anthony) had the exact same thing happen on the way to moonshine after a valve stem failure. His blister seemed to go away then return on our way to St Louis to see the Arch . We had Kreis and Tim/Two Brothers along and they got him to a shop and a new front installed to save the trip for him.
Dunlops you got to just love the confidence they inspire

No idea what type of pavement and riding style you have, but that tire was done a little while ago.

To me I would not buy it in your case because it simply doesn't last long enough and what you have there is a tire run longer than it should have been run.

You should expect more than 2000 miles out of a tire, I am not saying you are wrong about feeling that way and I personally don't use Dunlops for the reason that they simply don't last long enough for my riding style.

Welcome to the club (sorry you got in...) A lot of these delaminations are happening on tires that are nowhere near worn out. Mine had about 4K and good tread depth left on it. (I usually get 10K on a set.) The number of these being reported here, and on other fourms, indicates to me that there's something amiss. I don't know if it's unique to the ST1300, but that's the fitment which is relevant to me.

Anyone here that is on some of the other MC Forums? Is this happening to other makes of bikes or just when fitted to the ST?

Holy Cow !!! If they're not cupping then they're bulging.
I guess I'm lucky, I'm on my 2nd set and have not had a problem - YET.
It would be interesting with the range of resources and communication capability we have on this forum - to determine if Dunlop has a lot-to-lot quality control issue or a general design problem.
I wouldn't want to put any tire dealers on the spot, But, if we could initiate a poll on where we purchased the tires and what date codes are on those tires, that might indicate if this problem is random or concentrated on certain lots of tires.

There are a number of potential causes for this,
Delamination caused by production fault in bonding of tread to structure.
Air infiltration between tread and casing caused by damage through penetration inside the casing from possible fitting error.
Water or contaminant ingress from a penetration from an external source such as a nail or similar.
Impact damage to tread causing (1) above.

So if there is no external sign of penetration the tyre needs to be removed carefully for internal examination to establish cause.
The tyre should be visually examined at removal for damage then sent with a report to the manufacturer. The report should state all conditions of use, pressure normally run at and any abnormal handling or performance issues.

Perhaps you can let us al know what on earth Dunlop thinks the problem is...... if they will ever tell.....

Honestly I don't want to worry about this kind of crap!! I just want to ride.
I don't worry about my car tires. I put air in them, check them weekly, (bike daily) and that should be enough.

Not sure this has anything to do with the problem but:

I have noticed that some tires have a thicker section of rubber on the inside than others. If I explained it as rubber, then cords, then rubber in a sandwich. The inner most rubber is micro thin on some tires. I found this out by using a tire buffer to apply a patch. I went right thru the rubber layer inside and the cords were showing so fast I couldn't believe it.

So I am wondering, maybe Dunlop is one of the tire manufactures that uses a super thin inner layer. Somehow air has to be passing from inner layer thru the cording and getting trapped by the tread compound.

Not only is it a hazard and an expense but it's a doggone inconvenience too. Maybe we should sic Tony Stewart on it.

I had the same bubble on mine. That was my last set I will ever own for sure!

Wow Forest only 3k on them? I have a set that wore pretty quickly but I more like 6k on them and they just hit wear bars. I will be going back to Metzelers for my next set.