Touring Tire Issues

My bike's mfg date is Nov 08. I bought it Dec 08. I rode it 10000 miles til May 09 when I brought it in for severe cupping and loud noise on the D407F front tire. HD wouldn't replace it under warranty so I bought a new D407F as that was all they had.

Rode it another 10000 til about Jan 10 and brought it back for same problem. Dealer said "no problem" and immediately installed a new D408F. He said they didn't want ANY D407F tires on the road.

I asked him why he replaced this one under warranty and not the other one. He had me fill out my information on a form and sent it to HD to reimburse the price of the tire I had to buy and the install. I should know something by next week.

If they send me my money then I'll have to eat crow as I whined and complained on the forum about how I was getting screwed. If they don't send me my money I'll probably whine and complain some more.
 
Got my new front tire Thursday. No charge. Had about 7,000 miles on the tire. The dealer could see the cupping. My dealer is Hot Rod Harley, Muskegon, Michigan. I was a little scared that they were going to charge me a pro-rated price based on their input when I scheduled the service appointment. When I described the issue, they explained what they would do per the technical bulletin. But, when I brought it in, they just replaced it for free after inspection. Nice. Would have never know about it if it weren't for the HD Forums. Thanks guys!
 
Never recieved the letter and have watched for it. When I went in for the fuel tank bracket recall, dealer never hesitated to make the warranty change, as soon as I mentioned a high speed vibration. I didn't think the cupping was too bad and wouldn't have worried about. Was surprised (happily) because I had 11k miles. I believe this dealer is tryin'... +1 for Legend HD, Silverdale, WA
 
I have 14700k and the tire is cupping worse every day. Kind of like riding on a knobby tire feeling through the bars. The warranty guy said no replacement for me. Too many k's on it to even be considered. Disappointing to be sure. While I was there though, he noticed I had a nail in the rear. So I get a new rear for free (tire warranty) I'm going to replace the front at the same time at my cost and try to get HD to pay afterward.
 
Received a letter from moco stating that they refunded the price of a new front tire plus cost of installation in the form of a credit for me at my dealer. I've got the salt,pepper and hot sauce-all I need to do now is catch a crow. The bonus is that the dealer gave me a $50 gift card about a month ago because it was taking so long for moco to do something.
 
Hey Watch Guy, that sound bogus to me. I'd try another dealer. I had 14500 "miles" (23,335 k) on mine with significant cupping and the dealer covered it, no problem. It was kind of funny, the service rep looked at me and asked if I'd been feeling any vibrations while riding the bike, all while nodding his head in an exaggerated up and down motion. I said, "yeah, now that you mention it, it's been vibrating pretty good lately!" He said, "no problem, we'll take care of it!" Forty minutes later, I had a new front tire and clutch adjustment. The clutch I had to pay for but the rest was free!

Good luck & Ride Safe,
Steve R.
 
I'm going to take the fight to HD Canada instead of getting into it with the dealer. Sometimes I think the front line people get an attaboy when they talk someone out of warranty. This guy seems ok but I'll tell him I'm going over his head.
 
I've worked for auto dealers (long time ago) but never for a motorcycle dealer. I've never heard anything about employees getting praised for talking a customer out of legitimate warranty service so I'd cry foul on that claim. It would ultimately be "very" counter productive in the long run.

One minor addendum to my story. When I first mentioned the cupping issue to my dealer while talking to them over the phone, they expressed concern that Harley might not cover it because of the mileage I had on the bike, but said to bring it in and let them look at it anyway. It seems that whether or not they'll cover the tire depends on what you're specifically complaining about. The cupping, in and of itself, isn't a good enough reason. Tire noise due to the cupping isn't either, but feeling vibration in the bike because of the cupping, apparently is, hence the visual clue I was getting from the service tech when he asked me about vibration issues. At least that's how I interpreted things at the time.

Good luck with your issues!
Ride Safe,
Steve R.
 
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