This is a bunch of BS!!!
They have a cupping problem and instead of fixing it they just change the direction of the tire??? I just went and checked mine and have the 408. So my tire is backwards??? What a clusterfuk this is.

 

No man, you're good to go. If you have the D408F on the front then the MoCo or the dealer took care of the issue. This only affects folks who still have a D407F on the front.

I think everyone ('09 touring bikes) has a D407 on the rear, which aparently isn't an issue.

BTW: there must have been some sort of change that came out for the air valve of the front wheel. I have a small offset that makes it real easy to put any sort of air hose on. The valve itself is straight, but is mounted slightly towards the outside of the rim (not dead center).

 

I have a D408F on my 09 RKC. It is definitely the "reversed" tread that looks like it would channel water toward the center of the tire.

My rear has the tread in what would look like the "proper" direction. It certainly seems like all the did is reverse the rotational direction in the switch from 407 to 408F.

Also re: the valve stem placement on the front, I have laced wheels, and the stem comes out nearly perpendicular (horizontal) to the tire. It's a breeze to deal with. The rear, on the other hand, is a real bitch. Normal "vertical" orientation right damn next to a spoke.

 

Paul, I think all they did is turn the tire around, change the arrow and rename it 408. I seriously doubt this tire tread was designed to be mounted in that direction and I don't feel it is safe in water. It is pushing the water towards the center of the tire instead of away. backwards from any other tire design I have ever seen. I will be willing to bet we will never see it again either. It is the exact opposite of my rear tire. How can that be right? Seems to me they are fixing their unintentional screw up with another intentional one, at our expense. I'm not happy about it.

 

Dale, I think you're onto to something here.

I have attached two pics, a closeup of my '08 Fatboy front tire, and a closeup of my '09 Street Glide.

My SG has the D408F on the front, which does look like the tread is backwards from what was set up for the Fatboy. Seeing these treads side-by-side is interesting:






Wow.... they are just oposite of each other.

 

Actually..... the Dunlop E3's that everyone loves so much has the front tire going in the "opposite" direction as well. No known issues..

Just sayin.

lp

 

Thanks Lp. That is real good to know, even if it makes the whole thing more confusing to me.

I'm not about to lay claim that I can "out-engineer" anyone from MoCo or Dunlop. I have to trust that these two BIG companies must know what they're doing to outfit the the various HD models.

To be honest - I went through two sets of tires on my FB, with the front tires (each time) showing signs of cupping. I always thought it was a steering head symptom (or forks, etc.) because I was pretty careful checking air pressure on a regular basis. My warning marks would show up on the rear, and the front was cupped. When I traded the FB (for the SG) I was on my third set of tires (just added) in 22k miles on the clock. I was getting about 9k miles out of a set of tires.

 

Rode quite a few miles in the rain with my 408's...didn't seem to have any problems, but who know?

 

Thanks for showing the pics of the two different tires. Definitely looks backwards but I can't imagine Dunlop would design a tread that would be inherently dangerous in wet conditions - a leap of faith? lol

It's too early to tell if the D408 gives better performance - no cupping or much less - than the D407.

I currently have 13,600 miles on my original set of tires. The front is cupped and I doubt it will make it more than a few thousand at best. I'll probably have to change it along with the rear tire at about 15 or 16k. This sucks because in the past I've typically gone through two rear tires for every one front tire. I do want to go with wide white walls so I guess it's ok so i dont have mixed tires.

 

Well, that IS interesting. I don't know WTF to think about this whole mess. Warning signs are going off in my head like crazy though.