[edmann]

I have changed many tires over the years, but this last one was my first out of round tire I have ever purchased in 30 years. After some conversation at the local dealer I am told this is not so uncommon. Have others bought out of round tire also? This is new to me. Thanks, Ed

 

[Zeke]

One avon that I could not balance no matter what method i used. Had a hell of a time getting it replaced at no cost,. But same here 1 tire after 42 yrs of riding. Not common at all. IMHO

Zeke

 

[casualemt]

A few years ago I had a gl1800 and needed tires, I thought I would save some money and buy a tire online...I got a bridgestone shipped to me, and took it to my local Honda dealer to get mounted...cost extra to mount a tire you bring in...I got the bike back and the thing was wobbling like crazy, took it back to the dealer, and the tech showed me that the tire was out of round, I mean you could see it! Of course the dealer didn't stand behind a tire they didn't sell. Well the rub was I would have had to pay them to remove the tire, so I bought a set from the dealer and had them installed, end of problem. the online seller was great about taking the tire back and refunding the money, but my attempt at savings cost me about $40 dollars more than just buying from the dealer...Now I buy the tires from a dealer, and bring my wheels in to have them mounted, so if I have a problem with a tire, they stand behind it..

 

[Motomadman]

Yep! Avon. No problem with warranty. I mount my own tires and had a hell of a time with this one. Was not out of round more like exessive lateral run out. Never leave for 1000mi trip the morning after new mounts.....

 

[14wntr]

My last set of Metzlers had an out of round rear. This was evidenced by the slight up down motion at 35 mph. It drove me nuts. I thought I had a bad rim until the tire wore out. It was showing cords on one side and wear indicators on the other. I now run Avons and no issues! WEEEEE!

 

[C-A-D]

In fact one fellow biker in Finland was not too happy with his wobbling LT (after tyre replace) and made some complaining, investigation and tyre-swapping. It seemed to became obvious the wobbling feature of LT (at low speeds) seemed to be extremely present with Metzelers made in Brazil (if I remember correctly). There was clear problems with the shape/form of many metzelers made in Brazil. All out of shape. After replacing couple of new (Brazilian made) Metzelers finally he found a non-wobbling one - made in Germany. Do not claim to this to be very scientific study, but the fact these wobbling issues being so random - maybe just some truth behind...

 

[budzee]

My Lt had been rail smooth for 70k. I bought a new Metz. M880 for the front from a BMW dealer but took it to a local Honda dealer to have it installed. I installed the wheel myself and had a bad low speed wobble. Took the wheel with tire mounted to the BMW dealer to let them try to balance and they showed me a slight bump in the rim. I had the rim straightened for about $250. Turned out not to be the problem, still had low speed wobble. The options for dealer replacement were to buy a new tire and send the old one back to Metz. for inspection. Time and money prevented this. I added Ride-On balance stuff and it helped some but no cure. Problem now is this tire is wearing better than any I have ever had and has decide to last forever! WTF!

 

[cul8tr]

Metz tires, new to worn out, follow a groove in the road like a train on a track. Anyone who has ridden on many make of tires will know this is a fact. I have even run shinko and kenda (cheap tires) that had a much better feel then the Metz! Never ridden on dunlap on the lt but have on the harley's, same issue as the metz. If the lt's wern't so heavy i would never use metz or dunlap. Let the argument begin

 

[deanwoolsey]

I used to build tires. Out-of-round happens every day. Usually it's caused by sloppy workmanship. The only way to tell for certain is to x-ray the tire with it mounted. Too expensive for the company as a production process. They all look good coming from the mold. Most are out of round internally and develop balance/wobble issues after they get some miles on them. If you can seen lateral or vertical run-out with a freshly mounted tire just replace it and save yourself some headaches.

And while I'm on the subject of tires, one of the causes of front end wobble is a stretched bead from poor mounting technique. If you are mounting your own and hear any type of snapping or popping from the tire, you're in trouble.

 

[edmann]

thanks for the input and interesting comments!

 

[jzeiler]

My second replacement front was ever so slightly out of round. Could barely detect it spinning the front wheel. That was the only time replacing a front tire did NOT correct the "hands off" wobble. I went ahead and put 15K on it anyway - no problems.