Tire warning - Mich PR3's

Coyote Chris

Coyote Chris

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I just read two road tests of the PR4s. Motorcyclist Magazine, August, is saying, " Michelin's engineers admitted the PR3's thin sipes, meant to give water an exit path from the contact path, could wear unevenly. The fix was a chamfer along the sipe's leading edge." While this may well have been fixed in the PR4 with its "3 new patents", every owner of these PR3 tires needs to be aware of this design defect. At best, hopefully, it means the tire just doesn't last as long as it should. At any rate, it isn't your bike (or in this case mine which shows this problem). IMHO, an honorable manufacturer that has admitted this mistake could at least supply the owners a cupon for a discount on a new PR4.
 
Re: Tire warning

I read the same review but it does not change the fact that a lot of forum members have gotten long life from their PR3's with no problems. For touring with heavy loads or at higher speeds you might consider the GT version of the PR4.
 
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Re: Tire warning

I don't look upon this as a design "defect" so much as a learning experience for the Michelin engineers. Many times a product designed with the best of intentions doesn't live up to expectations. Similarly, design features (read sipes) sometimes have unintended consequences. Hopefully, Michelin has learned from this and the PR4 is an improvement. Extending the state of the art is never always certain.

Mike
 
It's a tire/wheel post, so that's where it goes. People think putting something in General gets read more than other sub-forums, but not true.
 
Even with the problem, the PR3's were doing so much better than the other brands I tried. I'd stay with the PR series if I could. Unfortunately they don't make them in the sizes I need for the Guzzi :(
 
20,546 miles on my PR3s now, and they still look fairly good! No scalloping or squaring off to speak of. Weirdly, my front seems to be wearing faster than my rear. (Tires, that is! My personal rear has somehow slipped to the front, where it's useless.) I have a new set of PR4s in hand, but I'm curious about how much I can push the PR3s. I would have liked to get the GT flavor, but couldn't match the size.

These tires were balanced with two ounces of high-density ceramic beads in the front, and three ounces in the rear (grinding media). It may be superstitious behaviour, but I'm going to do that again with the PR4s. Both the current tires look perfect, just smaller.
 
Don't get me wrong. I love the PR3s and I don't know why Jim is having so bad a problem with them (his PR4s that is) on rain grooves...but responsible manufactures want and need feedback...witness all the recalls on car issues.
It appears they know they have a design problem of which I was unaware. And have addressed it on the 4s. I would have felt better about my bike and tires had I known about this cupping issue. I will be sending them the
particulars and see if they want to perhaps allow a discount on a new PR4. In the end I don't really care and will be replacing this tire with a PR4. I am just used to a quality tire like the Dunlop E3s going 20,000 miles on my
Connie.
 
20K is what I would expect out of a quality tire like the PR3. I weigh 155 lbs and I do tour with a load but in the main, much of my touring is done in cool weather and at slower speeds (thanks Oregon). BillyDoc, how would you characterize your riding as far as speeds, load, etc?
Don't forget that your bike's rear end needs maintenance too (Note to moderators...even though I personally know everyone's rear end needs maintenance, I didn't make some flippant stupid remark about it! I am a new man!


BillyDoc said:
20,546 miles on my PR3s now, and they still look fairly good! No scalloping or squaring off to speak of. Weirdly, my front seems to be wearing faster than my rear. (Tires, that is! My personal rear has somehow slipped to the front, where it's useless.) I have a new set of PR4s in hand, but I'm curious about how much I can push the PR3s. I would have liked to get the GT flavor, but couldn't match the size.

These tires were balanced with two ounces of high-density ceramic beads in the front, and three ounces in the rear (grinding media). It may be superstitious behaviour, but I'm going to do that again with the PR4s. Both the current tires look perfect, just smaller.
Click to expand...
 
RedNigel said:
Even tho Rick got 18k that one time, I think 20K is out of bounds. It would be a freak thing to get that far
Click to expand...

Au contraire! I got 18K out of my rear Dunlop Roadsmart 2 and 24K out of my front Roadsmart 2. I probably could have squeezed another 4K out of the rear but I had a puncture and a long trip was scheduled. When you buy a premium tire, you expect premium performance.

Mike
 
My C10's last tires lasted 21k and they were still legal. And they were not duel compound....OEM tires last 6-8 k IMHO.
Till this trip, my PR3s had 6 K on them and had hardly any wear....at 8k, there is cupping but pleanty of tread....
 
My front PR3 has about 10-11K on it and has some moderate cupping. My rear PR4 has a couple thousand and looks brand new.

I didn't get that kind of mileage consistently on my Concours C-10. I think the best I ever got was about 21K on a front Michelin Pilot GT and about 18K on the rear. More typical for me with all the tires I used was 15-18K on the front and 10-12K on the rear.

The rear PR3 I had bought in Gainesville, FL, on the Epic Ride had about 13K on it and was worn square.
 
I have always thought of cupping as a suspension problem rather than a tire problem.
 
Chris,

I weigh about 175 lbs, am over 70 and don't ride too aggressively . . . usually. I have a rack/backrest on the bike that probably weighs about eight pounds, and also carry a compressor and tools in the left saddlebag that I'm guessing is another 10 lbs or so. Almost all my miles are city commuting to and from work, mostly at speeds around 50 or less. In fact I de-registered my car a couple of years ago and haven't used it since. For a good comparison, I got about 8,500 miles on the OEM tires, but that includes a gentle break-in period of about a thousand miles.

So, I would characterize my riding as a modest load, modest speeds and pretty good roads here in Pensacola, except when they get destroyed by too much rain. I'm pretty sure I can get a few thousand more miles out of these tires, especially the rear one. All the stopping and going I do on my commute, especially the stopping, seems to have done in the front tire more than usual. I do seem to attract people who think it's fun to pull out immediately in front of me, forcing me to test the ABS system repeatedly. I'll post a picture of the tires after I change them out in a few months.

Bill
 
I also commute in stop and go traffic and I usually wear out my front tire before the rear.
 
On the front, that certainly is a factor...but reading that interesting article that M. posted along with the admission of the engineering faux pas has lead me to believe otherwise.

karl said:
I have always thought of cupping as a suspension problem rather than a tire problem.
Click to expand...
 
OK, I have to fess up...we C10 jockies found out that if one uses the GoldWing sized Dunlop E3s, the C10 went down the road like a train on a track and the tires wore like Iron...not much clearance in the wheel wells but they worked and still do till this day for my C10.
Riding the C10 with the OEM tires put the fear of the Lord into me when I passed a semi or crossed the Columbia River over a high wind swepted bridge....

Phil Tarman said:
My front PR3 has about 10-11K on it and has some moderate cupping. My rear PR4 has a couple thousand and looks brand new.

I didn't get that kind of mileage consistently on my Concours C-10. I think the best I ever got was about 21K on a front Michelin Pilot GT and about 18K on the rear. More typical for me with all the tires I used was 15-18K on the front and 10-12K on the rear.

The rear PR3 I had bought in Gainesville, FL, on the Epic Ride had about 13K on it and was worn square.
Click to expand...
 
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