Avon Storm have soft underbellies

dcarver · Jun 19, 2007

Just returned from a 650 mile weekend, picked up a small nail in the outer tread. No big deal, rear is just about toast, maybe can eek another 800 or so out of it.. Plug the nail hole, inflate to 42 psi, go mow lawn, check tire pressure later.. 25 psig. Not good. Get the soapy water spray bottle out and find that the nail hole is sealed just fine..Now the rest of the tire is another story. Each white spot is a leak, each pix is a 45 degree tire rotation except of course the last pix. Take a look.

and here is the plug.. holding pressure just fine.

I don't recall running over any CHP induced spike-strips, and the pattern of punctures isn't that repetitive. It appears the Storms may just have a very soft underbelly or that this particular tire had a very unlucky life. The front, BTW, is just fine, no leaks, and about 1/2 worn. Both front and rear have 2,800 on them.

painman · Jun 19, 2007

Dang there Don, sure your not doin the off road thing? I only got holes like that when I was ridin my Yami TT. Good luck with the next one and really I've never heard of so many tire brands having such a hard time as around here. Go figure. PM. <>< :blink:

HaulinAshe · Jun 19, 2007

You know better than to sleep with a carpenter's wife!

Warchild · Jun 19, 2007

After only 5500 miles on a set of Storms, I was forced to mount another set last night, but really hated to toss the rear tire.... still had a good 1000+ miles left on it. But only the foolish or inexperienced pull up to the Start Line at the Utah 1088 with anything but fresh tires... B)

dcarver · Jun 19, 2007

painman said:
Dang there Don, sure your not doin the off road thing? I only got holes like that when I was ridin my Yami TT. Good luck with the next one and really I've never heard of so many tire brands having such a hard time as around here. Go figure. PM. <>< :blink:

Actually, it very well maybe the dirt road is causing these wounds. It is compacted road base, essentially, lots of tiny rocks firmly embedded with sharp points contacting the rubber.
Actually, I crossed a stream on the way home, this fish was sleeping then got really pissed I was disturbing his afternoon nap..

painman · Jun 19, 2007

Ah, the dreaded doberman tirepincher sauras. Not to messed with. I actually caught one of those and had an FJR license plate in its interior. PM. <><

Toecutter · Jun 19, 2007

dcarver said:
Actually, it very well maybe the dirt road is causing these wounds. It is compacted road base, essentially, lots of tiny rocks firmly embedded with sharp points contacting the rubber.

That'd be my guess. I was concerned about that when I rode into Rick Mayer's place a couple of Novembers ago. The FJR is pretty heavy to be taking off-road.

2800 miles? Hooligan! How's the front holding air?

Fencer · Jun 19, 2007

I have a Storm that I Toasted in 5000 miles. I am waiting to dispose of it next time I go by a recycler.

If there is interest I can cut it in half a take a picy of the genetic make-up in a cross section.

brazos parker · Jun 19, 2007

Holy Sh*tola...WTF is that all about?

I have been planning on putting Storms on my bike this summer when I replace the Azaros...but w/ such spotty performance (good and bad)...I dunno...maybe BT021's are in my future.

Groo · Jun 19, 2007

Told you to swerve around that family of porcupines... but Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

twowheelnut · Jun 19, 2007

I'm turning you in to PETT!

pickax · Jun 19, 2007

What a bad looking fish! Looks South American, but what is it? Sorry for hijack, looks like I better not count on the storms to last the year.

dbvolfan · Jun 19, 2007

My guess is the rocks on the road are a major contributor. I passed over a stretch of road the other day while coming home less than 1/2 mile from my house (it looked like a dump truck had lost part of its load and traffic had crushed the rock during the day into smaller pieces).

When I got in I was pulling little pointy rocks from my tire like teeth! Guess I got lucky and none of them pentrated but some did take out some nice chunks of rubber. at the time I was going to take pics and post them to see if anyone else had seen this with their Storms because I rode over the same stretch with my Spitfires on my much smaller Shadow and had no issues at all.

Toecutter · Jun 19, 2007

pickax said:
What a bad looking fish! Looks South American, but what is it?

Looks like an African Goliath Tiger Fish.

charismaticmegafauna · Jun 19, 2007

"Quinky-dink" This forum just keeps helping. I've had a couple slow leaks over the years and have always wondered what was the culprit (thoughts were: didn't quite seal at the bead?, poor valve?, tire porosity?...?). Never actually looked for the little small white bubbles like 'dcarver' so graphically showed.

As luck would have it, my FJR has had a slow leak rear tire for a while and I've just been suffering with it. Today I looked for the little bubbles -- well, what'd'ya know! One small leak right in the center of the rear Pilot Road and another really small leak in the same area of the face about a foot further along. I plugged the small leak and am counting on slime to stop-up the really small leak (just didn't want to make it bigger in order to install a plug). The bigger of the two looked like it had a sliver of something (small plant thorn-like) that fell apart when pulled-on.

Of course, a sort of "pre" tire shopping has begun.....

Does the thought occur to anyone else that these tires just aren't quite good enough...?? :blink: :angry:

Wolfhound · Jun 20, 2007

Softer stickier tires do tend to be softer than Hard mileage type tires , duhh . . . .Never saw anything like those pics before, quite interesting. Hope we can get a cause for the problem. The tire or the road ? Avon has a great warranty program, hopefully some answers from them whether a design or manufacturing problem or road conditions with soft tire . . .

Looks like a Arizona cactus tire !

user 357 · Jun 26, 2007

Well..........That does it for me..........Pilot Roads are my next tires......... :blink:

dcarver · Jun 26, 2007

Twowheeler said:
Well..........That does it for me..........Pilot Roads are my next tires......... :blink:

TwoWheeler.. I ride pretty hard, that explains the short tire life.. and I live on a horribly bad dirt road too. The PR's are good, yeoman like tires. The Avons though.. they are the best for handling, braking, cornering IMHO. I just ordered 2 near rears and 1 new front..

FJRocket · Jul 1, 2007

I'm here to substantiate that "soft underbelly" on the Storm. Now I probably DID run over something that made two holes in my tire. But DANG, after seeing how thin the belts are on these things, I'm not so sure I want to go back to a Storm again. I certainly would NOT run a Storm until you see the cord (are you listening SkooterG?!). Chances are extremely good that you will easily get a puncture or multiple "micro leaks" like dcarver.

I had about 4+K on my Storms when I left on a little jaunt. Enough above the wear bars that I THOUGHT I could go about 3K more, especially since most of it would be droning along with the crowd on the slab. Well, I was wrong. When the tire went flat and I started putting the rasp through the holes, it sure didn't seem like there was anything "substantial" left around the holes. Yes, after another 1600 miles or so, about 600 of those using mostly the sides in Colorado, this rear tire it T O A S T.

Looks like when the Storm gets to just a ways above the wear bars, it's time to be changing them, not just thinking about it and trying to eek the last few miles out of them. Man, that tread sure went away fast.

Avon Storm have soft underbellies

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