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Reason for editing: Last Edit: November 16, 2013, 13:15:11 PM by Troll

I have about 14,000 on my Michelins, with even wear all across the tire, and a lot less wear than you have. In that mileage, it has worn only 2/32 of an inch. I ride hard, and I ride fast....and do 1,000 mile days, so if there were going to be problems, I would find them. Here are a couple of pictures. I, too run 28 psi. You could almost say I was obsessive about tire maintenance...With the pictures you posted, I can see 2 possible problems. One, and perhaps the least likely one, would be severely crowned roads in your area, or perhaps a constant prevailing wind...the second would be rear wheel alignment. I would suspect that as a probable cause. Most people use the little marks on the swing arm to adjust the chain. That works ok as long as they are accurate. My preference would be to measure the axle to swing arm pivot distance, and either remark the swing arm, or find some way to measure from a point that is REALLY the same on both sides. I use a caliper to measure the distance on my W-650....my Drifter has no adjustment. Notice, in the second picture how the tread profile has not changed since new. I put these on a year ago last August. Depending on what they look like by July, I may replace them before next Drift-In....I'm estimating them to have about 20,000 by then.

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Posted by kw-retrorider

- November 16, 2013, 08:12:29 AM

Could not find any discussion on this, so starting a new topic.

I ride solo and am running Dunlop D404 tires front and rear. They were installed new two years ago. The rear tire is fine....even wear, plenty of tread depth. The front tire has off center (to the left) wear that is down to the tread marks or less. Mileage is only about 7,000 miles. I am good about keeping 28psi front and rear in tires per the manuals. There are no other handling issues.

Read a good article about this off-center wear at www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html

That said, apparently this type of wear is common on cruisers. This is my first Drifter:
- Has anyone else had this type of tire wear on the front?
- Is this short amount of service life normal for the these bottom of the line Dunlops?
- Thought rear tires wear first because of weight distribution?
- Aside from putting another Dunlop on the front to keep the tire characteristics matched....can I put another brand on the front, like the Metz 880 you guys seem to have good luck with, or must the front and rear be matched?

Happy to received any thoughts on this. Photos included.

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