Dunlop Elite 3's are Done

[stroker ace]

Here is a few pictures of my rear elite 3 at only 7400 miles, front is down in the wear bars. I won't be going back with these any time soon I'm not sure how you guy's are getting better mileage. Bike 90% ridden two up, tire pressure checked before every ride.

 

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[Sleeperhawk]

Dang, I never get less than 15000 on the E3 and we are 90% two up and usually going between 70 and 80mph. Something is not set up right.

[LilBeaver]

Here is a few pictures of my rear elite 3 at only 7400 miles, front is down in the wear bars. ...

tire pressure checked before every ride.

...

 

 

Okay so what pressure were you running at?

 

Last month I put 6500 miles on my brand new set and they still look fine... I maintained ~40 PSI front and rear.

Maybe its just me but in Pic 3 it looks like you've got no tread on the right side but some left on the left side. You make a lot of right turns or what?

Edited August 24, 2010 by LilBeaver

[eazyduzzit]

I got 12,000 out of my rear. Still running the front.

[V7Goose]

From what I can tell in the pictures, you have something major wrong with your bike. That tire is worn unevenly, and it is so significant the actual shape of the tire has changed.

 

It is very difficult to perform an accurate diagnosis from just a couple of pictures, but I would not be so quick to blame the tires. My first guess would be either a bent frame or improper tire beading.

Goose

[Dave77459]

I'm with V7Goose. It reminds me strongly of my trailer tires, which were out of alignment. You say your front was also worn like that? Even if the rear was out of alignment, wouldn't the front roll straight since it steers?

 

Dave

[friesman]

Have you calibrated your pressure guage lately? those look like they might have been underinflated. My e3's have close to 15000 miles on them, with a lot of 2 up. Always at 40 lbs front and rear/ About a year ago i threw out an old gauge when i got the new good (60 bucks) digital the old cheap digital one was out almost 10lbs.

 

Brian

Edited August 24, 2010 by friesman

[V7Goose]

I'm with V7Goose. It reminds me strongly of my trailer tires, which were out of alignment. You say your front was also worn like that? Even if the rear was out of alignment, wouldn't the front roll straight since it steers?

 

Dave

Not necessarily Dave, a bent frame can cause the front and rear tires to fight each other. Also, if something did damage the frame, the same incident could have easily caused other damage to the forks, And if someone was so incompetent to improperly mount the rear tire, there is every reason to believe they would have been just as incompetent on the front.

 

Perhaps post #5 is the magic number to get tire problems properly diagnosed (that is where I nailed your problem in that three page thread!), but I wouldn't hold out much hope of that here - we just don't have enough information or evidence to tell much other than something is definitely wrong!

Goose

[Skid]

Regardless of how many miles you got, I would have never ran them that far down without tread. That is too dangerous, but I'm with the others. Something doesn't look right about the way the tire wore.....

[Rick Haywood]

Have you calibrated your pressure guage lately? those look like they might have been underinflated. My e3's have close to 15000 miles on them, with a lot of 2 up. Always at 40 lbs front and rear/ About a year ago i threw out an old gauge when i got the new digital, the old one seemed to be out almost 10lbs.

 

Brian

 

 

I was told by the snap on district tool rep that most digital air guages that cost under 50 bucks are not very acurate. He says a 10 dollar old style slider gauge is as good as anything made.

[waterbug]

I have a E3 on the back with about 7500 miles so far and it still looks new and the front is still the origina 404 with 14500 on it. I think I am going to have to get a new front before the end of the year though its starting to feel funny.

[OB-1]

We only got 10K-miles out of our Elite III rear tire. 99% of our riding is two up. Our tire didn't show uneven wear. The best mileage we found so far has been the Michelin Commanders. We have an Avon Venom on the rear now. We always get good mileage out of the front tire, but the longest rear tire mileage has been 14K-miles with the Commanders.

[davecb]

Interesting. I would have to agree with underinflation. Now here is something new.. Went to the local stealer today. Asked for prices on the MT90 front, and the 150/90-15 rear. I believe these are the sizes..It appears, the rear tire is no longer being sold. You have to order a MT85/15 for the rear. This is a smaller diameter tire. They did show the new 150/80-16 for the front, but the back tire has disappeared. Any help on this?? Any other suggestions on long lasting tires>>

[Sleeperhawk]

Interesting. I would have to agree with underinflation. Now here is something new.. Went to the local stealer today. Asked for prices on the MT90 front, and the 150/90-15 rear. I believe these are the sizes..It appears, the rear tire is no longer being sold. You have to order a MT85/15 for the rear. This is a smaller diameter tire. They did show the new 150/80-16 for the front, but the back tire has disappeared. Any help on this?? Any other suggestions on long lasting tires>>

 

Dave, the rear tire for 2nd gen has always been MV85B15 for the rear tire from Dunlop.

Dunlop never used the 150/90-15 designation like other manufactures.

 

I would never use the MT85/15, almost 100lbs less on load.

 

I just looked at Motorcycle Superstore and they have the MV85B15 in stock. So do a lot of other websites.

[davecb]

Dave, the rear tire for 2nd gen has always been MV85B15 for the rear tire from Dunlop.

Dunlop never used the 150/90-15 designation like other manufactures.

 

I would never use the MT85/15, almost 100lbs less on load.

 

I just looked at Motorcycle Superstore and they have the MV85B15 in stock. So do a lot of other websites.

 

 

 

Thanks George...

[hunter 1500]

 

Okay so what pressure were you running at?

 

Last month I put 6500 miles on my brand new set and they still look fine... I maintained ~40 PSI front and rear.

Maybe its just me but in Pic 3 it looks like you've got no tread on the right side but some left on the left side. You make a lot of right turns or what?

Tires will always wear on the left side more because of the crown in the road and the fact that a left turn is longer than a right turn.

That being said I only got 5k out of the rear Brickstone and 75k out of the front. Riding one up and 40 lbs in the rear and 36 in the front. I ride aggressively on roads with a lot of corners though. Makes a difference where and how you ride. Just my 02 cents.

PS I now have 5k on the Mic Comander and it is hardly showing wear after riding in WV for 5 days and towing a trailer all the way there and back.

[BuckShot]

I have never had a MC tire were unevenly--Something has to be wrong somewhere. Had one guy say his tire wore unevenly because crown in the road,but he also said they ride by themselves 99% of the time. In that case,with the crown in the road, I could possibly see tire wearing uneven.

[Flyinfool]

Even if you were to consider the crown of the road a a contributing factor, the crown would cause the left side of the tire to wear faster, this one is worn on the right side. It may be the camera angle but that tire sure looks like it is bulged out on the right side.

[V7Goose]

The uneven wear that is usually attributed to the crown of the road and longer left had turns is there on virtually all FRONT tires, but almost never shows up on rear tires. In countries where we drive on the right side, that extra wear is always on the left side of the front tire; where they drive on the left side of the road, the extra wear is on the right side of the front tire. The difference in wear is always very slight, and it is usually only visible when the tire is almost worn out.

 

And as I said above, it is extremely rare to see this wear on the rear tire.

 

But more importantly to this thread is that fact that the uneven wear in the pictures is on the RIGHT side of the rear tire, so even if you disagree with me that rear tires do not show uneven crown wear, that cannot be the issue here.

 

I will also flatly state that there is absolutely no way that the problem shown in those pictures is from under inflation.

Goose

[LilBeaver]

I guess I could have been more clear in my original post. I was fishing for more information; all else in terms of a direct response to that have been said so I'll can it for now.

 

I am very curious as to what caused this unusual wear though, hopefully we'll find out.

[stroker ace]

I'm not sure how to answer all the questions but here goes. Bike history bought it with 803 miles on it. The guy had knee trouble and could no longer hold it up. He bought a Goldwing trike and parked this one.

 

I usually kill a set of tires a year on every bike I've had and some several rear tires. I live in East,TN and within 5 minutes of " Devil's Triangle " hwy 116, about a hour from Deals Gap aka the " Dragon " hwy 129, and the " Moonshiner " hwy 28 along with several multiples of others and run some combination of these every week.

 

I ride aggressive. Nothing wrong with the bike that's been found. The stock Dunlops's made it around 4,500 miles. I put a set of Metzeler"s Me 880s in '09 ran them 12,000 miles no issues down to the wear bar front and rear very even wear. Heard all the rage about the new elite 3 put them on I haven't liked them since day one but thought if they would wear for more miles I would learn to like them.

 

 

I normally don't run my tires this long but the last several miles have been local ( still no excuse ). The tire pressure has been at 41 front 40 rear the whole time. Front is down in the wear bars. I do ride a lot of right hand corners, the remaining tread of the left side of tire is around .015 on the calipers. The bike currently has 23912 miles.

[OB-1]

How does the bike handle without your hands on the handlebars? Does it drift or pull to either side? Does it shimmy or shake on deceleration? Riding a bit with no-hands or light-hands on the bars should let you see if there is an alignment problem.

[YamaDuck]

The way that back tire is worn you have a problem but I don't think it is the E3's. I have 14000 on mine and still going strong. Anyone can get a defect but the right side being worn more than the left just isn't right. Do you always ride the Devil's Triangle in one direction? The Michelin Commanders are good tires if you try them or any other high mileage tire recommended here and you still get bad tire mileage then it is definitely something wrong with the motorcycle. The bad part of that is if you do put another set of anything on and you do have a motorcycle problem the problem may be getting worse. I would definitely have the motorcycle checked just for my own satisfaction.

[stroker ace]

How does the bike handle without your hands on the handlebars? Does it drift or pull to either side? Does it shimmy or shake on deceleration? Riding a bit with no-hands or light-hands on the bars should let you see if there is an alignment problem.

 

 

You can ride with no hands on the bars no problems, no shimmy or shake.

[stroker ace]

The way that back tire is worn you have a problem but I don't think it is the E3's. I have 14000 on mine and still going strong. Anyone can get a defect but the right side being worn more than the left just isn't right. Do you always ride the Devil's Triangle in one direction? The Michelin Commanders are good tires if you try them or any other high mileage tire recommended here and you still get bad tire mileage then it is definitely something wrong with the motorcycle. The bad part of that is if you do put another set of anything on and you do have a motorcycle problem the problem may be getting worse. I would definitely have the motorcycle checked just for my own satisfaction.

 

 

Yes always ride the Triangle the same way mostly right handers. What would I be looking for in a problem. The bike still handle's great ( not at the moment ). The tires are just worn out mileage was not as expected on my part from them. I spend more time leaning in the curves than riding straight line and more right hand curves than left.