Unusual tire condition

domekrome · Post by **domekrome** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:37 am

The Pilot Powers that I have benn raving about in another thread have a small groove running the full circumference of both tires; these grooves were not there when new. Have you seen anything like this before? Am I worrying about nothing?

I have gone back to the dealer and made them aware of the situation. They will be raising the matter with the distributor, and Michelin Canada.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kromedome/ ... 116438985/

MartyWadd · Post by **MartyWadd** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:53 am

That's a tough one. How deep are the grooves? How long have they been there? They look like something just scraped the dirt off. Is this a possibility? Oh, by the way, I know nothing about motorcycle tires.

domekrome · Post by **domekrome** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:56 am

MartyWadd wrote:That's a tough one. How deep are the grooves? How long have they been there? They look like something just scraped the dirt off. Is this a possibility? Oh, by the way, I know nothing about motorcycle tires.

The grooves are approximately half a millimetre deep. They were not there when new, and a buddy pointed them out to me during a long ride recently. Both front and rear have similar grooves. There is nothing extending from the bike, at either end, capable of doing this.

mfbRSV · Post by **mfbRSV** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:59 pm

Nothing wrong with your tires, it's just a seam from the manufacturing process. The five sets I have used had have all had it.

No worries, just git-ur-done!

CWH · Post by **CWH** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:27 am

I have used Pilot Roads and Pilot Sport tyres on 3 different bikes (R850R, Rockster, Honda CBF600) and never seen suffered from this. Just checked thee Pilot Roads on the CBF and there is no sign of this on my tyres.

It may however be unique to the Pilot Power tyres but it does seem odd. Any loss of material on the tyre carcass around the circumference would surely put the wheel out of balance and affect tyre grip?

Chris

mfbRSV · Post by **mfbRSV** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:57 pm

Here is a link to the apriliaforum where a few blokes discussed this issue.

http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/show ... light=seam

Having some good friends here in Greenville SC who run the AMA support truck for Michelin I am confident in their knowledge of the tires. Actually, I tried a set of PP's on my Rockster over two years ago, before they were released to the public.

CWH · Post by **CWH** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 4:28 am

MFBRSV, interesting thread, you learn something new every day. It will be interesting to see what the officiaal view is from Michelin Canada.

CWH

domekrome · Post by **domekrome** » Mon May 29, 2006 5:55 pm

Never heard from Michelin, that's fine. I have put 8,000 kms on these tires now, and I'm about to replace them. I'm going with Pilot Roads next.

Post by **Biff's R** » Mon May 29, 2006 6:44 pm

I have the same line/grove on my Pilot Roads.

domekrome · Post by **domekrome** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:33 pm

Biff's R wrote:I have the same line/grove on my Pilot Roads.

How do you like the Roads?

stig · Post by **stig** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:05 am

I'm just coming up to 10,000km on my rear Pilot, I noticed the line or groove about 3000km ago and thought I'd wheel spun on something sharp.
It doesn't appear to have degraded or affected the performance, of the tyre, but I would like an answer to what it is though.

domekrome · Post by **domekrome** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:38 pm

Consensus seems to be that it is a result of the manufacturing process, i.e. something in the mold.