When I found this post I was hoping someone had the answer too. My Ultra front tire appears to be mounted backwards too. When I first looked at the bike on the showroom floor, it was parked next to two other Ultras, and noticed that it was different from them. The salesman didn't know why, but knew there was a recent change in the tires. After looking at some other '09's at a recent HOG picnic, it appears that the change was made around the 1st of April. All the tires we looked at that had the tread running like the red bike's, had manufacturing dates of the 13th week of '09 or earlier. Week 14 (1st week of April) and later, they go the other way. Maybe some engineer from Dunlop will read this and explain.

 

Good luck with that! Seems we won't get that lucky because Harley will give you the "that was Dunlop's doing, not ours" and Dunlop will give you the same in reverse. Don't know why it's such a big deal. Somebody either screwed up or it was a design change. Why so evasive, who knows.
When I contacted Dunlop, it was basically, 'we only build what Harley tells us to build'. True to a point, but tire experts should at least be able to advise Harley which way the damn tread goes! Perhaps time will tell.

 

That's easy. They're called lawyers. If either party says anything they open themselves up to law suites and that isn't going to happen!

 

Do the 408 work better?

 

Do you know what you call 1000's lawyers stranded in the ocean? " A good start "

 

So how do we put pressure on Dunlop/Harley to get us replacement tires at pro rated prices, base on mileage. Clearly we have a defect in design here.

 

Can someone explain cupping so a newb will know what to look for?

 

MOCO replaced my front tire at half price for the tire. I didn't start the ball rollin until 9k miles and they said it was basically wore out so they would only pay for half. The labor was not reduced, but I took the wheel off the bike and took it to the dealer.

MY dealer was great about this and made repeated calls to MOCO to get at least something worked out. The tire was cupped very badly. Made an airplane type sound for the last few thousand miles I ran it(replaced it at 13k miles). Sounded like wheel bearing was going to fall out. It was EASY to see the cupping. The center tread blocks ended up being about 3/8s in. different in height!!!

Centenial HD in Patalaska Ohio did a GREAT job!

Happy with the 408 and drove through a Frog Strangler in Indiana and really felt confident driving.

BTW... my rear went to 2/32nds at 16k miles. Happy with that, too.

 

I worked at a GoodYear tire plant for almost 8 years. Goodyears, Kellys, Dunlops, and one other generic brand were the SAME EXACT TIRE! The machines made the same raw tire, some went to GY molds, some to K, Some to Dunops. Same tire, just different branding on the sidewalls.

As far as front versus rear, today I put a "front" tire on the rear of my Sportster. Are there any safety issues with that? It is a Dunlop HD tire. Thank you.

 

[quote=RANDYDOWDY;5291567]I worked at a GoodYear tire plant for almost 8 years. Goodyears, Kellys, Dunlops, and one other generic brand were the SAME EXACT TIRE! The machines made the same raw tire, some went to GY molds, some to K, Some to Dunops. Same tire, just different branding on the sidewalls.

As far as front versus rear, today I put a "front" tire on the rear of my Sportster. Are there any safety issues with that? It is a Dunlop HD tire. Thank you.[/quote]

Your comment at the the end if illogical. Not sure what you are trying to say.

BTW - were you a janitor or tire designer at Goodyear? That might make difference on the credibility of your statement too!!!