Avon roadrider cracking

[Nessism]

Are you sure that this is corrosion and not a casting defect?

The rim is peppered all over with similar, but smaller, spots. I think it's corrosion due to water and a corrosive element inside the tire. At any rate, that's my theory.

[salty_monk]

Checked my Avon's tonight... seem good, certainly nothing like yours. Batch code is 3007

Dan

[themess]

re: "batch code"

DOT requires not only that the year of production be molded into the sidewall, but also the production week. I don't know if other manufacturers do so, but Firestone also molds in the identification of the curing press. A factory can have hundreds of curing presses, and some manufacturing defects can be introduced at curing. Including the press number can sometimes all the manufacturer to rule out large numbers of tires, both in examining tires that remain in warehouses, and in conducting a recall, should that be necessary.

[waterman]

Update

Finished dismounting and mounting new tire today. Really didn't see anything on inside of defective tire to suggest any weakness in cracked areas.

Rim looked about the same as I remembered it from last fall, some darkish stains and a little bit of rubber on bead area. I cleaned rim with abrasive 3M, again no surprises. Mounted using Murphy's oil soap with water. Went a little easier but maybe since my oldest son (15 yo) helped, that may be a first for him. He is a good kid (takes after Mother.)

While apart, inspected spline gear. The 650 has a shiny silver color spline, didn't notice any wear. Lubed and reassembled.

All in all went fairly smoothly. Visited NHTSA and filed a online complaint about defective tire. Haven't had time for ride, maybe tomorrow.

[scottb]

After searching for information regarding rear tires, I found this thread. Today (5/9/09) I purchased a rear Metzeler ME880 Marathon tire,size MT90B16. I removed the rim and tire from a 1982 GS850L. I had the local shop that i purchased the tire from mount and balance the new tire. The numbers on the sidewall of the tire is DOT XE WM J699 1208. I would think the 1208 indicates the tire was made Dec of 2008?
I installed the new tire on the bike. After seeing this thread about new tires with "cracks" in them, I went out and looked at the tire. On the left sidewall of the tire, directly under the arrow of rotation is a 3 inch long "crack" that resembles the ones at the beginning of this thread. This tire has zero miles on it, as I just installed this tire today, but did not ride the bike. I will talk to the shop on Monday regarding this crack.
Is it possible that these "cracks" are caused by the mounting process? I did not mount this tire myself, but was done by the shop. I also wanted to post this to show maybe this problem is not limited to Avon tires.

[Zooks]

As far as mounting tyres is concerned - If you have nothing else available, rather than using soap or petrochemicals that will damage rubber, use KY Jelly (or any kind of 'personal' lube). It's specially designed to not damage rubber. Think about it for a moment.

(I'm being very serious BTW)

[Zooks]

One more thing - throw away your crappy Avons and get some Battlax's. Never had a problem with them.


(Zooks ducks and runs as he starts a 'tyre war')

[almarconi]

Today, after work, I notice a tire on my porch, looks nice, date code 5105

Tires unlimited sent you a replacement tire from 2005? If they are selling old stock, I would avoid buying from them.

[tkent02]

One more thing - throw away your crappy Avons and get some Battlax's. Never had a problem with them.


(Zooks ducks and runs as he starts a 'tyre war')

Except they don't stick anywhere near as well, don't last as long and cost a lot more.
Other than that they are great tires.

[Zooks]

Except they don't stick anywhere near as well, don't last as long and cost a lot more.
Other than that they are great tires.

It was obviously tongue in cheek. The last set of tyres that I bought down here, the Battlax's were the 'best buy'.

I'm no Casey Stoner or Valentine Rossi but I do scrape the exhausts every so often and have never had any nasty surprises (yet).

[TheCafeKid]

I wont say the BT's are horrid "tyres" but i dont particularly care for them. I have had problems with them wanting to square off really early in their life, and saw toothing is pretty common ive found as well (and yes, i check my pressure regularly) I find the Avons handle far superior to the BTs IMO. The profile makes the steering feel much lighter and quicker, and so far, the combo of my Avon VenomX up front and the AM26 in the rear makes my dear ol Essie run on rails in the corners. I havent had a squirlyness out of em yet that I didnt intentionally cause. They stick like glue, and feel smooth as glass at high speed...

[mighty13d]

After searching for information regarding rear tires, I found this thread. Today (5/9/09) I purchased a rear Metzeler ME880 Marathon tire,size MT90B16. I removed the rim and tire from a 1982 GS850L. I had the local shop that i purchased the tire from mount and balance the new tire. The numbers on the sidewall of the tire is DOT XE WM J699 1208. I would think the 1208 indicates the tire was made Dec of 2008?
I installed the new tire on the bike. After seeing this thread about new tires with "cracks" in them, I went out and looked at the tire. On the left sidewall of the tire, directly under the arrow of rotation is a 3 inch long "crack" that resembles the ones at the beginning of this thread. This tire has zero miles on it, as I just installed this tire today, but did not ride the bike. I will talk to the shop on Monday regarding this crack.
Is it possible that these "cracks" are caused by the mounting process? I did not mount this tire myself, but was done by the shop. I also wanted to post this to show maybe this problem is not limited to Avon tires.

1208 means the 12th WEEK of 2008 not 12th month. also if they are 'weather cracking' already and you just bought them with 0 miles, get whatever place you bought them from to exchange them. That's not cool.

[scottb]

Thank you for the correcting me. It is the 12th week, not the 12 month.

[scottb]

I took the rim and tire to the local shop that I bought the tire from. They agreed that my tire had a defect and will replace the tire.