Caution - Michelin Road 3s disintergrating

Having Michelin Road 3s on my VFR with about 1500 miles on them so far have been disturbed by this thread on the FZ6 Forum of not only his rear tread separating from his tire leaving him stranded but his front disintegrating a few days later causing an accident.

Will be interesting to see how this story pans out, hopefully with Michelin doing some serious investigation to see if the issue is confined to a single batch of tires made in only one country.

Brings back a feeling of deja vu after first then new in '04 pilot Power front tread lift away warning me with vibration BEFORE they did the recall, annoyingly had to replace it at my own cost the time, dohhh should have remembered my normal moto of "not be an early adopter".

FZ6 Michelin Road 3 Thread:
Michelin Pilot Road 3 are here!!!!!! - Page 8 - Yamaha FZ6 Forums - International FZ6 Motorcycle Community Forum

 

Reading further into the story, that both the rear failed then soon the front find myself not 100% convinced its a straight forward manufacturing fault maybe it has been exposed as multiple days of extended high speeds on 100f days although on a fz6 that would be a feat. Also as he says he has near 10,000 miles on them indicates he has had them at least through winter was the bike stored outside also he has 9999miles on the FZ6 he must have had them since new wonder why he got rid of the OEM tires so quick ?

Either way Michelin need to investigate it further and will be interesting how this pans out.

 

I've been using the PR2s on my ST1300 and have been real happy with the rear's mileage. First one got 14,000mi. The front doesn't look like it will make much more than that though. I really don't mind changing out the front & rear at the same time.

I also bought them for my VFR but haven't put them on yet.

I don't think that mine would ever see the use this guy looks like he put his PR3s through. But the ST was fully loaded with camping gear on a recent 6,200mi. trip.

 

F... I was about to have a set spooned on my viffer in a couple weeks when my dunlop roadsmarts gave up the ghost. Some people hate 'em but I've got a little over 6,000 miles on them and they have done everything I've asked of them and don't cup if you watch tire pressure closely.

 

Brand new set of PR3's went on three days ago. Major air loss in front tire today. And tires seemed to be a little sloppy on the back end to. Pressure there was right on the money. So I will have to watch this closely. I pumped the front up to spec. (36 psi) and same with back (42 psi) when I got home. Will check in the morning before I go to work. I can't help but think that zig zag centre tire groove on the rear may cause the back tire to wander a bit.. I will scrub them in good first and see what happens. If they do not handle as well as the two sets of PR2's I have had, then I will see what Michelin will do for me on a switch back to the PR2's

 

I bet that 9999 on the odometer was the trip meter, reset when he put the tires on. He mentioned mileage earlier and there was a few thousand miles different between the PR3's and the bikes.

Just sayin, tires just shouldn't do that tho, look at all the tread left.

 

I just signed up on that forum to stay in touch. Guess I am going to have to keep a detailed video diary on mine until I am satisfied mione are OK. Someone mentioned in that forum the possibility of improper curing. But I am not an expert on tire manufacture either. But this could be a possibility.

 

That thread is traveling around the interwebz fast. I saw it on my other forum a couple days ago. Scary stuff. Especially when he says that that helmst you see in the back of the car is actually him still laying in there.

Stay safe Randy....

 

I had 3 sets of PR2s prior to the PR3s ( with Dunlop Q2s inbetween ) and using admittedly flawed memory think the PR3s are not as quick to turn in as the PR2s, the reason I think they can advertise longer mileage the front appears to have a slightly flatter profile.

For Sport riding with purpose through dry tight twisties I don't like them finding them slow with an imprecise teetering point rather than a linear tipping point ( maybe the previous Q2s spoilt me ? ). :frown:

For general commuting and touring they are good being very stable I haven't noticed any particular squirm but where they excel and do as they say on the tin is in slippery very wet cold conditions on a greenish tinged mountain road here they were brilliant, even better than the very good PR2s were. :smile:

 

I have Q2's now, and not to thread jack, but what kind of mileage did you get with yours?

 

Mileage was good for sports tyres, about 4600 miles for the rear but found as great as they were in warm dry twisties they were a little unnerving in cold, wet, slippery conditions in a way the 3 sets prior PR2s or even even earlier 2 sets of Pilot Powers never were.

Think I'll try the newer SportSmarts next they are supposed to have similar mileage to the Q2s but are better in the wet with a quicker warm up.

 

I've put over 3000 miles on my pr-3s so far, they are wearing excellent with no signs of flat spots, very little wear at all, the front looks brand new still. I've been riding in 100 deg plus weather almost since new. They still almost look like new. The tires are very stable at speed and in the twisties. I haven't had a chance to ride in any wet conditions with them yet so no info on that. My OEM tires were shot after 3500 miles. Looks like I should get some decent milage out of these. At this point I would definitely buy again. I'll have to take some pics and attach tomorrow. I now have almost 6500 miles on them and have no regrets, no where near the wear bars yet. Wet or dry, these are good tires.

 

I've now got about the same on mine, you're right they show very little wear and now think them good in the dry as the Road 2s I had before my last Q2s. Last Fridays long distance day ride through twisties has me finally liking them.

The R3s do as they say on the tin tracking exceptionally well through unexpected Winters early morning cold wet slippery patches with no hint of unease let alone rear step outs I'd experienced with the Q2s at a similar pace in similar conditions. Later on a buddy following on a Gixxer commented at the mid ride coffee stop that I'm now as fast though the warming dry tight stuff as I was on the R2s though probably / naturally not quite as quick as I was on the Q2s in Summer.