| Author | Message | ||
     M2nc |
I mentioned this on another thread, but did not want to hi-jack it, so I started this one. I have a cut or tear on my new Diablo Stradas on the Uly. As much as everyone cusses the D616, here I try my first non-Dunlop and it fails in less than 1000 miles. I just want to figure out what happen to this tire. I had a blow out on the rear D616. To the tire's credit, it stayed on the rim and I was able to pull off safely even though it happened in a curve and I was going about 70mph. After the blow out, I bought Pirelli Diablo Stradas. I too wanted to go to the Syncs but was in a pinch and could not find D616s or Syncs locally, so with the mileage I put on the bike, the Stradas were my third choice. I was shocked how much better the bike behaved. I also noticed that the bike tracked better even at slower speeds, or heeled over hard. Now I wish I could say everything was peaches and cream with the Pirellis because they are not. Right after changing the tires out, I headed out with my daughter to the C3 junior ride. We had clothes, tent and sleeping bags, pillows, lanterns, tool kit, meds, etc., etc., etc., I had all three bags full, plus the tent poles and one sleeping bags strapped to the triple tail and super-structure of the trunk. I estimate that with bike, riders and gear we were close to 900#. The weather was mostly clear in the low eighties and we rode about 320 miles the first day on everything from interstate to State Park Twisties. At one point the guys stopped and we off loaded the girls and we took turns taking a corner while others took photographs of us coming by. The guys said, "Man, you could hear your tires through the curve!" They were not squealing, more the sound of tape being pulled off. I became concerned at the comment and inspected the tires when we got home. I notice that I had a cut in the rear tire. It goes about 2/3 of the way around the tire and it confused me on how it got there and more importantly, was the tire cut or separating. 1313 and a couple guys from work, one that use to drag race motorcycles looked the tire over and we all agree that we can not see how this was road damage. Though the line in the tire is linear through the entire 2/3rd of the tire, each tread block is separated to the base on the front of the block, but intact at the back. Then again on the next tread block and again and again for most of the tire. It is off to the left side of the tire, so it happen as the bike was heeled over in a curve. The local distributer will not honor the tire because it has too many miles on it, just over 500 miles. I rode the bike before the trip to break the tires in and then the two day trip. So here I am thinking to myself, I have about 60,000 miles on my three bikes with Dunlop OEM tires without a hitch, and this is my first non-Dunlop and it failed in less than 1000 miles. A picture is worth a thousand words, see what you think. Has anyone ever had a tire cut/separate like this? Notice how the last part of the cut/separation ends at a seam in the tire.  | ||
| Garp |
What pressure were you running them at? | ||
| Angelwild327 |
looks almost like when the tire came out of the box, they cut the box to open it and made a slice in the tire as well. | ||
| M2nc |
I checked it a day later and it was a bit low at 33psi cold. The tire was fine when I left the dealership. I remember admiring the tires and did not see the cut then. Plus how is it that the cut does not go all the way through any of the thread blocks, but to the bottom in the front. Also if anyone was to try to do it by hand after the installed on the bike, it would be pretty tough to stay linear and move the bike forward to keep cutting 2/3rds around the tire. | ||
| Ulendo |
as the tire spun up on a balancer ? I've seen slices like that ( albeit on car tires) when the kid gets the backspacing wrong, and the edge of the balancer lid hits the spinning wheel/tire assembly. second though ( if you're sure it wasnt installed like that) is to suggest you look inside the rear mud-flap thingie, and see if you've got / had something caught in there | ||
| Bigblock |
I'd try talking to pirelli directly, that's just bad business not taking care of you on that tire! | ||
| Bartimus |
Have you loaded the bike on or off anything using a ramp? I had the same identical cut on my Diablo's due to the tire riding up on the edge of the ramp. (which did have a sharp edge on it) | ||
| 12r |
My Pilot Powers have an almost identical mark in virtually the same place that runs the whole way around the tyres front and rear. It's so uniform it looks like it's supposed to be there. It's about 2mm deep and looks like it's been done with a scalpel. Definitely not there when I bought the tyres but it was there after I rode home. I check it regularly and it's almost as if there's a join in the rubber that's peeling apart as the tyre gets used  . It hasn't deteriorated in 6000 miles. | ||
| Ulywife |
12r - did you take it back to the dealer who put your tires on? If so what did they say? This bike shop is telling me it's road damage. I don't see how, considering it's cutting the beginning of the block and never all the way through and then again on the next block, etc. Today when I pick the bike up and the "old/new" tire, I'm taking it to a friend who's a manager at another bike shop and have him and a tech look at it. If they tell me it's road damage, then I'll let it go. But if they tell me it's a tire defect and worth pursuing, then I'm contacting Pirelli and the distributor who is currently denying the claim. | ||
| 12r |
No, I never returned the tyres. Our tyre fitters are a little obtuse at the best of times, so I figured I'd wait for it to get worse before I took it back. But it hasn't deteriorated, it's just 'there'. I fact I'd forgotten about it until I started reading this thread  | ||
| Diablobrian |
I'm not sure, but could this be where the different rubber types join together? Aren't all of the tires mentioned dual compound tires? | ||
| Honu |
I had a cut very similar on a new Dunlop 207, just figured the shop had used a utility knife to cut the packing off the tire. Did not have any problems with that tires performance. | ||
| Chainsaw |
Contact Pirelli with the serial number of the tire. If it's a manufacturing defect, I would expect them to make it right. | ||
| Ulywife |
Well, $184 later, I'm back home with the bike, a new Pirelli and the "old/new" Pirelli. I plan to call Pirelli and see what they will do. I talked to another dealer and they said they've never seen a manufacturer back a tire. Maybe if I squeak enough I'll get somewhere! With the tire off the bike, I can take better/clearer pictures and get an actual measurement of the distance of the cut. We'll keep you posted. | ||
| M1combat |
Well... I don't know exactly how the construction process works at Pirelli but it "looks" kinda like a failed vulcanization of different compounds... That's jsut my best guess though. I'd get Pirelli to replace it for sure. | ||
| Ulywife |
I'm hoping that Pirelli will make good on this tire. I'm not even going to worry about it until Tuesday. I plan to enjoy the weekend and hopefully I won't have to be calling about 2 failed tires! Everyone have a safe weekend and we'll let you know what they have to say. | ||
| Scott_in_nh |
I once got a flat on the VW Scirocco 16v I used to have. I had recently put some Yokohamas on it and was very pleased with them and it was no fault of the tire (puncture) that it went flat. Nor was it Yokohamas fault that since they had very soft sidewalls that the tire was ruined in the short distance it took to stop. The problem was I had just purchased these tires and the local Yokohama store told me that that tire was no longer available and I would have to go with the replacement! What the F? I paid for 4 matching high performance tires not 3 + 1! So I called Yokohama USA customer service just to see if they could find me a tire. After listening to my story (polite, no threats, demands or if/thens- I was asking for their help) they sent me a new, matching tire for FREE. So I hope Pirelli stands up too, it shouldn't always matter how it happened..... Good Luck! | ||
| Oldog |
I have seen similar flaws on my 207s' and 205s' I think that its where the different compounds meet, the tire making noises that can be heard off bike is quite ODD I hope that you can get it resolved, please keep us informed. | ||
| Diablobrian |
Please keep us informed on this. I'm a big fan of Pirelli/Metzler tires, but I can't stand bad customer service. No matter how good the product is. I'd rather sweat than bleed, wouldn't you? White is definitely the FASTEST color Buell. | ||
| Ulywife |
Update as of 5/31/06 I just had a return phone call from Jeff at Pirelli. Told him of our tire issue, for which he said he had never heard or seen such on a tire. He made the comment "that's not right" and agreed that it didn't sound like road damage since the treads were not cut all the way through. He said to me that Pirelli doesn't warranty tires, it's up to the dealership to warranty the tire. When I told him that the dealership and supplier denied the tire, he said "it's because they don't understand what their responsibility is regarding warranty issues". He asked for the dealers name, phone number and contact name. He will make contact with the dealer tomorrow and discuss this issue with them and call me back. In the meantime I sent pictures to Jeff for his viewing and thoughts on the tire. While trying to make his point, he did say to me, "If you had a warranty issue on your Buell, you'd take it to a Buell dealership right? You woundn't take it to East Troy and expect it to be fixed would you?" My response was "Yes, I'd certainly would contact Erik Buell and BMC if I wasn't getting my problem resolved at the local dealership and in fact my husband met Erik Buell at Daytona this past year". That comment might have held water if he was saying "Honda", but not Buell. Needless to say he picked the wrong motorcycle company to compare for customer service/warranty issues! I guess it's now up to the dealership to make or break our return business. We'll keep you posted as we have more information. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
That comment might have held water if he was saying "Honda", but not Buell. Needless to say he picked the wrong motorcycle company to compare for customer service/warranty issues! nice.  FB | ||
| Oldog |
Way to go Kristi! were there a few seconds of silence as a responce? He said to me that Pirelli doesn't warranty tires, Good to know this may preclude them from purchase consideration in the future, I for one will be following this closely } The right thing is not always the easy thing, but its always the best thing, From the porch the Ol Dog | ||
| Ulywife |
were there a few seconds of silence as a responce? There was some stumbling, as you could tell it wasn't the response he was expecting to get! We'll see what tomorrow brings. | ||
| Buellbob |
As soon as I looked at the photo it looks like someone cut the wrapping material off the tire with a knife. The cut stopping at what looks like a seam may just be a coincidence. Bob | ||
| Ulywife |
As soon as I looked at the photo it looks like someone cut the wrapping material off the tire with a knife. The question then is why didn't the cut go all the way through each tread block? It stops short each time and then starts again with the next one. At this point, I feel that Pirelli has at least responded and stated that they didn't feel that this was road damage and something was wrong. As for why the don't warranty the tire, I don't know. Maybe it's just a chain of command that this has to go through. First the customer to the dealer, dealer to the supplier and then from the supplier to the manufacturer. Who knows. I guess we'll all learn this together. It will certainly determine what type of tires or at least what dealer I spend my money with next time the Uly or M2 need tires. I think we are buying a rear tire for each bike every 3-4 months. | ||
| Buellbob |
The first thing that came to mind was how the photo reminded me of how grocery stockers some times cut the tops off boxes to save time and sometimes inadvertently slice the product inside. Maybe the person taking the wrap off didn't realize what he was doing. If he used light pressure and held the blade at a shallow angle the blade would have just skimmed along the surface of the tire and not gone into the tread grooves. Personally I cut the wrap off between the inner beads where there a little gap.jm2c Bob | ||
| Sgthigg |
Same groove on my pilot powers too. Appeared after 500 or so miles. I have close to 6k on em now. No problems. |
