Dunlop Roadsmart raised area on front tire

I have a front Dunlop Roadsmart and it only has about 5K miles on it and looks new; however, I'm developing a slight raised area on the center. It's more prominent on the left side (as you sit on the bike) of the tire. I do majority commuting on the slab, so I'm used to getting flat spots on the center of the rear tires, but never the front. Now this is NOT just a flat spot, it's actually raised almost like blistered and possible slight cupping, mostly on the left side (sitting on the bike). See the photo below. You can see a slightly dirty area just right of center that is the raised area. It's not just a flat spot that transitions to the radius of the tire, it's actually raised up a bit, I can really feel it when I run my finger over it.



I've been running 39-41 psi since I got these tires to help prevent cupping.

Has anyone else had similar issues with any tires? Any ideas??? Any concerns???

FJRBluesman said:

I have a front Dunlop Roadsmart and it only has about 5K miles on it and looks new; however, I'm developing a slight raised area on the center. It's more prominent on the left side (as you sit on the bike) of the tire. I do majority commuting on the slab, so I'm used to getting flat spots on the center of the rear tires, but never the front. Now this is NOT just a flat spot, it's actually raised almost like blistered and possible slight cupping, mostly on the left side (sitting on the bike). See the photo below. You can see a slightly dirty area just right of center that is the raised area. It's not just a flat spot that transitions to the radius of the tire, it's actually raised up a bit, I can really feel it when I run my finger over it.

I've been running 39-41 psi since I got these tires to help prevent cupping.

Has anyone else had similar issues with any tires? Any ideas??? Any concerns???

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I have a very similar problem with Pilot Roads on my '04. But in my case the raised area is uniform and eventually presents a 'rib' down the center about 2" wide. I've boosted the pressure to about 40-42 and it has reduced but not eliminated the problem. I think it is just the nature of the tire: harder compound in the center, just doesn't wear with the rest of the tire.

McRuss said:

I have a very similar problem with Pilot Roads on my '04. But in my case the raised area is uniform and eventually presents a 'rib' down the center about 2" wide. I've boosted the pressure to about 40-42 and it has reduced but not eliminated the problem. I think it is just the nature of the tire: harder compound in the center, just doesn't wear with the rest of the tire.

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That sounds about right.

WW

You may need to use your front brakes more aggressively and wear down the center portion. Don't think the front RoadSmart has dual compound construction, only the rear.

https://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/tirecatalog_tire.asp?id=101

"MT-Multi-Tread compound rear tire incorporates a long-wearing compound in the center of the tire tread and a lateral-grip compound on each shoulder to maximize cornering performance and provide class-leading grip and feel."

If the front was multi-tread they would have likely mentioned it.

I didn't know those POS tires could go 5k & still have any tead. Mine was raise at about 2500 & toast soon after . . . .Not any longer lasting than a set of Pilot Powers were for me, mileage tire ? Not in this lifetime for me . . .YMMV though and does !

This happened to mine at about 6000 miles, and stayed that way until it was toast at 10000 miles. No ill effects at all. Matter of fact the last 2000 miles where a trip to the Indy GP race, which anyone that went will tell ya, was a rain fest. Always had good grip.

I think it is normal ware for any dual compound front tire. Do what you want, but like I said above I would ride it until the tread is gone.

Just my 2 cents,

Dana

For me personally, the Dunlop RoadSmart has proven to be the absolute WORSE POS offering from Dunlop in many years.

Like all new tires, they were pretty good when new, but about 1500 miles into it, the "ridge" build-up was so pronounced, turns-in started to become an "effort". At the 2500-mile point, it was abundantly clear these tires were complete shit. I can not recall in the past 8-10 years (which represents a lot of tires for me) how fast I wanted to dump these soup-sandwich tires, even with many thousands of miles to go on them.

I couldn't stand it anymore at the 4300-mile mark, and ripped these pieces of shit off my rims. Still had the better part of 2000 miles left on the rear, but it wasn't worth the massively bad turn-in effort.

Poor, poor Dunlop.... they can't win for losing. If they only could have solved they incredibly abrupt rear treadlife on their D220 tire, they would be Heroes Among Men. I have never before (or since) leaned over the FJR and CBR1100XX so far, and with so much confidence, than with the Dunlop D220 in dry conditions. They were beyond phenomenal in every way. save for their 3500-mile treadlife. :glare:

That Roadsmart's ridge looks similar to what happened to my BT-20. I began to feel a very slight pulse in the bars at 45mph cruise. It developed a small bump & had a ridge starting to run around the circumference of the tire but still had usable tread depth left. When I noticed the bump & ridge I changed it out right away. According to the mechanic that changed the tire, the ridge was caused by separation of the piles (tire damage from hitting a pothole at or something like that.)

Mine looked like that too but at about 2500 and it was shot by 5k. What a POS. I'm still running the rear Roadsmart and at 9K is looks pretty good

I have the same phenomenon with mine. An e-mail exchange with Dunlop and some conversation with the local dealer might get me some new skins, but I won't put them back on if they haven't changed the tire any.

I just put a Dunlop up front 10 days ago & I had the Strada in my hand too but thought it better to match the rear RS - Oh well. I wonder if the ridges are from tire damage vs tire wear - the rubber thins as you ride until you hit a big enough bump then ...

Maybe it's not a tire problem at all, I don't know. I replaced the stock bridgestone with a Strada and after a couple thousand km's it has worn the same as the original.

Well, Dunlop has said that the tire hasn't changed at all since its inception. By reading the posts here, I can deduse that the wear phenomenon is not abnormal. And if the tire hasn't changed, it's reasonable to assume that they'll wear the same way again. Net result is I'll ride these until they fall off and replace the set with something different.

I think I'll try to stay away from the dual compound tires. Trying to mach compounds to wear rates doesn't seem to be working out so well thus far.

Having never tried the "roadsmarts" yet, I can't comment. I do agree with Warchild on the D220's. I have run my current set all year, and they handle great!! I can regularly drag the pegs with total confidence. I do however do a fair bit of hwy commuting and have managed to accumulate 12000 kms!!! The front looks new, and the back has about another 1K or so left. Although, the temps up here really never went above 70, so perhaps that has allowed the higher mileage.

Oh...... and opt8low ........your avatar is almost as good as Pierre's

mattster31 said:

Having never tried the "roadsmarts" yet, I can't comment. I do agree with Warchild on the D220's. I have run my current set all year, and they handle great!! I can regularly drag the pegs with total confidence. I do however do a fair bit of hwy commuting and have managed to accumulate 12000 kms!!! The front looks new, and the back has about another 1K or so left. Although, the temps up here really never went above 70, so perhaps that has allowed the higher mileage.
Oh...... and opt8low ........your avatar is almost as good as Pierre's

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Sorry no real comment about tires, other then my POS B21 is coming off soon and I'm going with a Strada front. My real comment is opt8low has the best avatar. That's one nice a@@ in my opinion. Where did you find her.

I'm with Warchild on this one - my Roadsmarts have about 3500 miles on them and the raised rib on the front is so bad and the turn in effort is so high that my hands hurt from pushing on the bars. The bike handles like a freakin' truck with the tires in this condition. As much as I hate to throw away something that still has decent tread on it, they're coming off over the Winter.

Considering that I only live about 20 miles away from Dunlop's headquarters I think I'll drag them over there and have a talk with an old acquaintance from my roadrace days - Jim Allen, head of the motorcycle motorsports division. Maybe he'll toss me a couple pair of Qualifiers or something! Doubtful, but probably worth a try.

I certainly won't be buying any more Roadfarts soon.

I have had a very simalar problem with a Avon Storm front tyre (mileage unknown).

Please see the following link for more info https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...mp;#entry528350

I have had two new Continental Attacks (Road) fitted today.

I had the shimmering on the steering at speeds from 30-50mph, above this it settled down. It originally was thought to be a wheel balance problem.

The situation with the ridge in the tyre will get worse, and the steering when slow manoeuvring in car parks or heavy traffic become very strange.

The ridge caused a flat side on the right side of the trye this is the opposite side to you and this could because I right on the left in the UK and you ride on the right. The flattened side was not uniform around the circumference of the tyre.

With the tyre removed and inspected there was no sign of de-limination of the radial ply.

The tyre specialist stated that this type of wear is common sports touring motorcyclces.

The only other thing that I should state that both tyres were filled with Ultra Seal by the previous onwer, whether this contributed to the problem I can not say.

I hope this comment helps you.

Alan

I'm starting to believe this is a common deal with multi-compound tires. My Avon Storms and Bridgestones wore the same as you describe, but the Bridgestones were the worse of the two. I now have the Dunlop Roadsmarts and I can see the same thing starting to appear. My next set will be the PR2's and then decide from my experience on which is the better of the group. As of right now, here are my ranking of the brands I've had on the bike. I've been satisfied with the Roadsmarts, but I don't think they will last as long as the Storms.

1. Avon Storms - 10000 miles

2. Dunlop Roadsmarts - 2000 miles and counting

3. Metzlers (OEM) - 9000 miles

4. Bridgestone B021's - 5400 miles but could have gotten more, guessing 7500.

alanprorib said:

The ridge caused a flat side on the right side of the trye this is the opposite side to you and this could because I right on the left in the UK and you ride on the right.

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Bing, bing, bing! We have a winner. The "ridge" is not a raised section or blister. It is not caused by "dual compound". As has already been mentioned, tires that have dual compound apply this technology to the rear tire only. I am not aware of any tire that has a dual compound front. The ridge is a part of the original tire tread that has not worn away.

What is happening is that you will (always) have 3 areas on a front tire that experience more wear than the rest. The center section will always develop a flat spot if you ride any amount of straight line slab. It is also the section that gets the brunt of the braking traction since most of the braking is done with the bike vertical and predominantly applied to the front wheel. The width os the flat spot will depend on how high the tire pressure is, which effects how the tire squishes under load, and what the contact patch will look like.

To both the left and right sides of the front tire cross section profile you will also tend to develop 2 flat spots. That is because you apply progressively more lateral cornering force to the tire as the lean angle is increased. Everyone will have a "comfortable" lean angle, which is the maximum one you will (subconsciously) navigate most corners at. The lateral loads at these increased angles are much higher (increasing at a logarithmic rate) than loads at less than the max angle.

Bikes ridden in the US will generally wear the left side flat into a tire faster than the right side. This is because, since we always drive on the left side of the roadway, a bike will be heeled over longer navigating a left turn in the road than right turn. THere is also the fact that "flat" roads will have a center crown which decreases the angle between the road and bike when turning left, further increasing the tire load. Likewise, bikes in the UK will wear the right side.

I do not disagree that the Dunlop Roadsmart may front tire may wear these flats faster than some other tires, as I have never owned one, just at what causes them. I presently have a Roadsmart rear, paired with a Strada front. And yes, the Strada front has also developed these same ridges, though not as badly as what is described above.

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