What is cupping? Though I don't have no where near the miles some of you guys have. I should hit 1k mark on Saturday and want to address the issue when I take it in for the 1K service. This way everything can be done at one time.
Thanks!

 

I just returned from a month long trip on a new "09" Ultra I purchased about a month before my trip. I had about 1,500 miles on the bike before the start of the journey. I kept an eye on both front and rear tires during the whole trip. At around 9,000 miles (on the way home) I began to notice severe cupping on the front tire, the back tire looked great. Since I had the tire and wheel warranty I wanted to try and make it to my dealership to see if the tire could be warrantied. After having the tire replaced by my dealer I asked if it could be a warranty issue. No such luck!

 

UPDATE:

I'm now at 18,000 miles and will be replacing front and rear within the next two weeks. So that'll be about 19k for the set - nothing to scoff at for sure and in fact outstanding performance for the rear tire.

The front is pretty well cupped but since it's summer and the dry season i've not worried about it. Other than being a bit noisy it handles fine. The rear tire is wearing perfectly and just starting to reach the wear bar at 18k.

I plan to go with the D408 but they dont offer the Wide White Wall for the cast wheels on my RK so I guess I'm still stuck with the thin pinstriped white wall or a blackwall unless anyone knows that a WWW is available for the cast wheel on my standard...

 

I have 2200mi. on my 09 street glide. I am getting a vibration and a humm I can hear from the front tire. I have to bring it in for warranty work (seat and fender) but plan on asking them to ride it. I'm guessing I will get the thats normal treatment. I have owned 10 bikes and never had one do this.

 

I have over 3500 on my '09 SG with the 407 front tire and so far, no issues...Of course before each ride I assure that there is 36 psi of air in the front tire...Maybe or maybe not that has something to do with it....

 

I have no experience with this, but there was a thread around here a few weeks ago that seemed to indicate that they actually did more than just turn the arrow around. Apparently, the tire is actually different in terms of internal construction than just a flipped arrow. Don't remember who the source was, but that seemed to be the consensus.

 

alright guys this is a copy and past of my rant on another thread.

good luck on getting HD to replace it..
i tackled this as the "calm" HD owner 3 diff times... and it got me NOWHERE!
even with 2 case #"S. @ 4K miles.. 6k miles...and 8500miles
the 4th time i went in with another case# and an ATTITUDE.
warranty denied again.
now the attitude went through the roof.
and i let eveyone in the store know it.
the owner came out... $100 and i got a new tire installed right then.
HD is trying to sweep this under the rug and not fork out the $$ to replace ALL the screwed up tires..

on the FL models the tire changed from the 407 to the 408 mid production.
dubbed as a "design change" BS
the 2010 have the 408..

now get this...
go look at a 2009 rocker.
i know it is not the same model...but
the tire is marked D407F BUT it has the tread pattern of the D408F WTF gives. how screwed up??

now after i got my new tire installed (d408)i was told to run it at 40 PSI by the service manager.

HD is hoping riders are wanting to ride and will just fork over the $$ to get a new tire to do so. yea i was one of them.
by the time HD does a service bulletin or a recall ALL of the tires will have been replaced by at the oweners expence..they are banking on it.

 

I started my trip to sturgis from ft. lauderdale with 4600 mi on the ultra. I started to notice the handle bar wobble at slow speeds, but being my first ultra, I didn't think much of it. At 10K mi, I stopped in Horn Lake, MS to get the service done there and was told the front tire was cupping. Unfortunately by the time I got back to ft. lauderdale I had over 12K mi and the front tire was down to 1/32 tread. I noticed when I stopped along the way home the front tire felt hot and while on the hwy at speed it was really loud. I am forking out the money for a new tire now, but it's a D408. It's amazing that everyone agrees that most go through 2 rears before changing the front, but I still have about 4/32 on the rear. Yet "there is nothing wrong with the D407", but for some strange unknown reason the moco and dunlop change the front tire mid model year??? hmmm. I'll be interested to see if I still get the wobble this afternoon when I pick it up with the D408 installed.

 

Picked up my Ultra the other day with the new D408 front tire. Amazing the difference. My bike is quiet again and no more handlebar wobble at slow speeds. Hopefully this tire last longer than the D407. It's funny how no one at the dealers admits to knowing about the cupping issue, but it's the first thing the mechanic checks for when you bring the bike in for services. And it's bullshit that the sales people don't know. Of course they know, they are instructed to play ignorant. What reason would they switch from the D407 to the D408 mid model year? I am hoping someone comes out with a new tire for the rear before mine is due for a replacement. I am refusing to buy anything from the dealerships that I am not forced to from now on.

 

I called Harley about a week ago and was informed they would be replacing defective front tires for this cupping issue (nothing about rears as it appears this is a front only problem) with the 408s. This will be done at no charge and no proration for wear/miles. She was careful however not to use the word "recall". I then called and spoke to the GM at my dealer, and he knew of the issue and said the MoCo had just told them a few days prior and that the replacement tires weren't available yet. I don't doubt there will be a mad rush, but I am content milking every mile I can out of my defective 407 front.