Hi All,
Need everyone's valuable opinions again. I'm mulling over purchasing new tires. My '05 SWing has 8300 miles as of today; had 2000 miles when I bought it. As far as I know, the tires (IRC's) are original and are in, what appears to me, to be "excellent" shape (perhaps leaning toward a flatter profile since I don't do aggressive cornering, like some). I've had a couple "experienced" riders take a look at them to get their opinions on their condition and they seem to think the same as I do. The tires have always performed well for me too, wet or dry.

Still, I was wondering if maybe just the sheer age of the tires might be a detriment and might be hiding something I'm not seeing. Have read a couple places where folks have gone up to 12 and 13 thousand miles without problems but was thinking those were the exceptions to the rule, with maybe 8000 or so miles being a max high average (my ewag).

Any Help? Thanks

My 2002 Silver Wing has what I am guessing are the original tires. Not sure if there is a way to tell with certainty; there were at least three prior owners before my purchase over Labor Day weekend in 2010, but it only had 6,650 miles and (just my best guess) the tread wear looked about right for that mileage. What concerns me are cracks on the sidewalls. The next trip for my Wing may be on the back of a trailer to a shop for tire replacement. The cracks don't look too severe, but I don't like them.

Although my tires may be three years older than yours, if you are seeing anything like that on your tires, replacement is probably the way to go.

IMHO, cracks in the sidewall are the death knell for any tire.
As soon as you see cracks, it's time to get new tires.

You don't want an air leak while travelling down the interstate at 75 mph, especially while being tailgated by a sewage truck loaded with the offal from every dirty Tennessee public bathroom.

I am with you on this one BigBird... Cracks are signs of the tire structure beginning to fail... MIGHT get another 5,000 miles, MIGHT get hurt NOW... get new tires.... not worth the risk to gamble here.

Hey Gary, Can you close that shower curtain?

Wes... I got me some new shorts....

Hi "redeye'
I think I'm in the process of answering my own question. Those sidewall cracks you speak of are what I've been intent on looking for and, after closer scrutiny, did find some on the rear tire (a goodly amount too); none on the front though.

Still, even with the tread itself being really good, based strictly on comparison with other tires, it's just a matter of time; so better not press my luck. In addition, I went out and looked for the date stamp on the tires and they read 2804 and 2904. If I'm not too badly mistaken, that's the week and year, which does not bode well for me.

Looks like I'd better start making plans for changing out tires. Maybe will go to the Diablo's or maybe even "Darkside(?)". Oh well, we'll see.

And, Oh Yes... Gary... PLEASE... go back to the old avatar

Dick (guessing the "O" comes from your last name, sorry if I'm wrong),
Like yours, my rear tire shows noticeable cracking. The front tire is better but not great. Although no crack on either tire compares to Gary's previous avatar, I was fairly certain before, but this settles it for me. Off with the old, on with the new. Both tires. And soon. And thanks to the other responders on this thread.
--Steve

DickO,

I had the Hoops (OEM), 2 sets of Diablos, and this set are Metzlers. The Diablos and Metzlers are very good tires with the Metzlers I think just a tad bit nicer. But the Diablo's lasted 10,000 miles and I could probably have put on another 1,000 to 2,000 miles on them. If the Metzlers last that long I would rate them a bit better...but if they don't then the Diablo's are better.

But they are so, so, close in comparison you can't go wrong with either. The Hoops were good too but the others are stickier it seems in turns.

Dick O.... I have the borg looking out for me now... don't mess with me... Now this is one good looking hillbilly....

Some may not be aware that the borg was created to locate the strange odor coming from certain small buildings in the hills of Tennessee....

Jeff, you do a lot of riding to work and home I think... tell us about that. How fast?, Lot of stop and go... things that might cause tire wear....

Whatever you do, do it soon. Rumour in the Aust. tyre trade is that prices will soar soon due to shortages of material derived from China.
Have you had any news to this problem?

I would definitely spring for the new tires. When I bought my bike, it only had 4K miles or so on it, but was 5 years old. It still had the original tires, which were in good condition, even the back tire had decent tread. After I put about 1K more on the bike, I swapped out the tires (I was getting bad cupping on the front, and had the same concerns you do about the tire age) to Diablos. WOW!
Huge difference in ride, you won't regret it for a minute. As for saving money by removing and remounting the tires yourself; I say go for it if you're so inclined, and if it makes you nervous at all, or you have to buy extra tools or something, you may just want to shell out the extra $50-100 to have it done. I did mine myself using some of the great pictorials here, and the shop manual. I will likely do it again next time, although I may purchase a head stand for the front tire, as there isn't a great, safe way to get the front off w/out a decent stand. (IMO)

There are so many threads here on tires, I'm getting a bit confused. I'd like some advice.

I have just under 10,000 miles on my 2009 SWing, still on the original BS Hoops. I can probably get 1500-2000 more out of the rear but I don't want to push things. The front is still in fine shape.

I'm not ready to go to the Darkside, even though I have a spare set of wheels. I may fit one up in case I need to make an Interstate trip just to save the "real" scooter tire, but it wouldn't stay on long. I like to turn corners too much.

All that said, is there consensus on what the best tires are for the SWing? The Hoops have been good, but they're a bit pricey -- I'm hearing $125 for the rear. The Pirelli Diablos sound good and are quite a bit less money. But how do they last? I tried Pirellis on my Helix and they stuck very well but didn't last. What about Michelin, do they make a good tire for the SWing? Anyone with experience on Metzelers?

I'm looking for something that sticks at least as well as the Hoops yet won't disappear like a superbike tire. Help!

In most of the (non darkside) tire threads I've read, people are happy with the Diablos and the Hoops. Fewer are happy w/the IRC tires, and I've only seen a limited number of threads w/people using other makes like Avon and that German brand, I can't remember right now. ;-)

Unfortunately, what you're asking for doesn't seem to exist, pretty much every rear scooter tire I've read about has a short life expectancy, and because of the size of the tire, there just aren't that many brands out there for us to choose from.

I like my Diablos a lot so far, but I've only gone a couple thousand miles on them, so can't speak to their longevity.

Yeah, I'm not interested in the IRC. That's what are on my spare wheels and boy did they wear funny. Of course, I have no idea how they were used or maintained.

I would be pleased with 10K miles. If the rear Diablo can do that, then I'll probably go with that.

I got about 10,000 from each rear tire for my Diablo's. It seemed like the Hoops may get a few more miles from them but they aren't as nice as the Diablo's...IMO. The Metzlers are very good too but I have to see what kind of mileage I get from them. The Diablo's and Metzlers are very sticky which is what I like and they take the twisties very good too.

I have had IRC's, Avons and Shinko on my swing. They all grip well but dont last very long. I realize my driving is a little on the agressive side so thats probably why 5000 miles on the rear is all i get. I went with Darkside on rear and have a shinko for the front waiting to go on the front. I was pretty impressed with the shinko on the rear is why i decided to get one for the front. It is the least expensive tire and it lasted longer than the avon......Just MY Two Cents :-)

Picked up my Silver Wing last evening with its set of new Bridgestone Hoops freshly installed. Although this morning was rather chilly, I needed to travel to a nearby town and enjoyed a 100 mile ride on the Swing in mid-twenties (Fahrenheit) temperatures. Although the ride quality on the initial 15 mile highway run didn't seem dramatically different, I quickly noticed the improved turning performance.

At any rate, I'm pleased to have those old tyres off the Silver Wing. The technician who installed them concurred with several members on this site that those cracked sidewalls needed to come off.

My rear Diablos lasted more than 10k when I changed mine, and I put that on in about 6 months of riding (mostly interstates but also a lot of back roads and twisties including the tail of the dragon). They handled twisties and everything beautifully and they're my tire of choice if only they lasted as long as I wish they could - I'd go through 2 rear tires in a season, which gets pretty costly. I switched to a darkside Sumitomo and have only ridden 3 times on it. I guess with everything, there's a compromise. I love how the Diablo feels, and will always have a Diablo up front. I certainly miss my Diablo rear on twisty roads, as I'm not yet used to the darkside (it doesn't grip the road as much and I find I'm having a tough time with turns). It might just be because I run 40 up front and behind; maybe I haven't found a pressure that works for my darkside tire yet.

But yes, my rear Diablos lasted more than 10k, and probably could've gone another 1 to 2k more but I didn't want to push my luck. JeffR and Honda_Silver and Cosmic Jumper all remember how much Murphy likes to visit me.

For what it's worth... I finally got my IRC's changed out to the Diablo's on Tuesday, the 15th (at the dealer). It was a damp, cool ride (60 mile roundtrip) and can't say I noticed a whole lot of difference on the way home. 'Course, not having done a ton of miles and a lot of "twistie" riding like most of you, my analysis would be severely lacking anyway.

My only gripe came when I got home and started to clean the bike in preparation for a PGR mission the following day. Seems as though they managed to get a whole "bunch" of what looked like white talc not only all over the tires and wheels, but on the belt case and rear fender area. I noticed some of it when they wheeled it out to me (guess I should have raised hell then). When I called back to see if they could tell me what that was all about and they had to apologize 'cause they didn't know.

One of the people I talked to surmised that it was a talc they use for removing the tires from manufacturing molds; I had guessed at an installation talc. However when they checked with the tech, that supposedly wasn't it. Oh well, it's cleaned up now and all's well. They did manage to get the pressures right and got the job done in pretty good time. Final price was right at $263.00. Will let y'all know more as I get back in to riding again.

The Diablo and the Metzeler FeelFree (what a stupid name) are identical, only the profile is different. Both were produced by the same manufacturer, Metzeler belongs to Pirelli. In my experience the FF ist the best choice for the SW.

RJ