Another Metzler Z6 bites the dust

[HIghside]

1st of all hello to everyone on the forum. Like many I have been lurking in the background for months, picked up my new 06 FJR in May and have benefitted greatly from the posts on this site.

I am located in San Diego, Ca.

To the point....I had pretty much dismissed the posts on self destructing Metzler Z6 as bad luck, but have now joined the club. Was planning on a nice weedend ride to a friends but when I went to prepare the bike the rear tire was flat. 2500 miles on the bike now.

On inspection it has an approximately 1 inch long tear located about half way from the center of the tire to the edge of the tread. I had ridden to work two days before and all was fine. Fortunately it gave out while sitting in the garage rather then when I was out and about on the bike!

I have told the shop to save the tire for me as I want to post pictures from the interior and exterior of the tire. Not aware of having ridden over anything and would have to say I have been happy with the Z6s up to this point but am now replacing both with Michelen Pilot Roads.

Any new advice on approaching Metzler on warranty compensation would be appreciated.

The shop was of course completely useless on this subject.

Does provide an opportunity to lube the splines with since the tires are coming off anyway.

Again thanks to everyone on the Forum.

 

[SkooterG]

Welcome to the forum! Sorry your first post had to deal with bad news, but as you said, at least it happend in your garage and not out on the road.

I'll tell you one thing, you'll never see Metzelers on my FJR.

Perhahps I will see you in San Diego sometime. Love to ride there.

 

[Geezer]

Couldn't hurt to approach the dealer where you bought the bike and try to press them to cover it under warranty. If these problems aren't brought to Yamaha's attention they will continue to sell bikes with these tires.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Well, I have never tried the Metzlers because of what I have read on this forum, and you just reinforce my decision, so thanks for sharing your bad news with us. I'm trying my first set of Pilot Roads and putting them on Friday Morning. I bet that by Sunday morning I have more miles on my Pilot Roads than you will...wanna have a contest?

Just kidding. I am riding to Colorado Friday/Saturday on my new tires so I figured I had a good chance to win the bet...then again...you could one of them real long distance guys...like Skooter

 

[pawtracks]

Sorry about your bad news.

I have Pilot roads on my '05 and love them.

Bought the bike used & it came with Metzlers, I like the Pilots much better.

I'm moving to Italy in less than a month so I won't get a chance to ride with you unless you want to come out to Julian Monday morning (my last ride before the FJR gets crated on Tuesday) If you're interested send me a PM.

On San Diego tires I got my Pilot roads at Cycle Gear .

Somewhere around $250 mounted & balanced if I recall.

You have to bring them the wheels off the bike.

If you are less mechanically inclined or just hate getting dirty this guy was giving lifetime tire mounting for $100 a while back. A few guys I know use him and have had good luck.

 

[donaldb]

I just ordered a new set of Pilot Roads from Ride Now. Total price shipped is $234.37. The cost of mounting and balancing at local shop is $27.50 each--provided I take off the wheels and bring to them. The local shop will charge only $7.50 if I were to buy the tires from them---but their price for the tires is $140.00 more than Ride Now. So, I still save $100.00. Total price mounted and balanced=$289.37 :glare:

 

[weekend rider]

I have had all the brands on my bike mentioned, Metz did not like them as for warranty from shop or from Metz don't hold your breath, Michlen Pilots very good very low mileage tire, NOw have avons best warranty and from my point of view better tire and better performing tire than than the pilots or metzs.

weekend rider

 

[XLR8]

I've had 4 sets, my friend 3 sets, another friend 2 sets and then there's the countless BMW riders and riders in Europe that ride the Z6 where the Z6 are very popular. I'm just tossing it out there.

I think there was a bad batch at one point but I have no worries about this tire. And I'll probably put a set on my GSX-R.

-r

 

[number9]

I have ran severa sets of the Z6 on my ST1100 and never had an issue with them. They are GREAT tires, but don't last very long - best I got was a tick over 6,000 from a rear. Last set I switched to a Z6 front / Avon ST rear and have been VERY happy with that combo.

 

[bmwhd]

For every Z6 horror story here I can up you two BT020 self destruct tales from BMW land. And don't get me started on the number of people over there that HATE the same Avons we love.

Now, for every one of the above, I can point you to a thousand happy owners of each. Don't let the internet be your sole source of decision making information. It magnifies problems by its nature.

For me (and me alone) the Z6 makes a wonderful choice. It's the best handling tire I've ever had on a bike.

 

[Dallara]

Count me in as one of the Anti-Metzler League...

Like many with BMW R-1150-R's (prior to getting my '06 FJR-1300-A) I had heard what wondrous, fantastic, incredible tires Metzler Z-6's were, so when my OEM rear Dunlop took a powder at only 4,500 miles I popped for a set - front and rear - of Metzler Z-6's...

Mind you, this was after hearing miraculous stories of how they gripped like glue - wet or dry - and yet returned 6,000, 8,000, and even 10,000 miles on BMW R-1150-R Roadster's. How could I go wrong???

Well, first off, the first rear Metzler Z-6 lasted only 4,030 miles before it hit cords right down the middle. And I don't mean just a little bit of cord showing here and there. Nope! Solid cord all the way around, big time. What was scarier here was that the tire went from still showing wear bars to the cords in less than 300 miles!!! Now, I admit, I ride pretty hard, but still getting only 4,000 miles of what was supposed to be *Miraculous Mileage Wonder Rubber" was very disconcerting to say the least.

But then it got worse...

I still had plenty of mileage in the front Z-6 so I thought to mileage it out I would simply put on another rear Z-6 and when it cooked off at another 4,000 miles the front would be ready with 8,000 on it. That was all well and good, for a while, anyway... Had our local shop mount me up a rear Z-6 just prior to taking the BMW along on a Texas Hill Country Ride - the debut ride for my FJR-1300, BTW. I brought the BMW along as a "spare" in case I, or anyone else on the ride (about 25 folks) had a problem over the weekend. Sure enough, one guy needed the BMW on Friday, and another on Saturday. Only problem was for the poor guy on Saturday... He got less than 30 miles before this happened:

You are looking at a Metzler Z-6 with less than 500 miles on it, and that was inflated to the proper pressure, and had no signs nor evidence of any puncture or other damage... And this is what it did. Rider who was on the bike was a very good and very experienced one, and he first noticed the tire felt like it was *walking* a bit while at speed (about 80 MPH), so he stopped and checked the pressure, which was fine. At that point the tire looked fine. Less than 5 to 10 miles later he said it felt unstable again so he pulled off the road. Sevral others witnessed what happened next (though I wasn't one of them). As he pulled off the tire appeared flat, and when inspected has visibly scratched and scuffed up the rim. As they all watched, over about the next minutes the tire deformed and distorted into what you see above.

We got the bike back to the hotel, and later it was trailered back home and the wheel and tire taken to the dealer. A rep from the distributor came and examined the tire, also taking digital pictures of it and sending them off to Metzler (which is really Pirelli now anyway...). Metzler did give me a new tire, completely free of charge including the mounting and balancing, and requested the tire back for their inspection. No compensation for my damaged rim, however, period.

Best part of the whole story... Metzler rep on the phone after seeing the digital picture above, along with others taken at the shop... According to the guy at the dealership, he said "Well, we have seen that before, but not often. It usually occurs early in the tire's life cycle or not at all..."

Just what I want to hear about my tires! How about you???

I have this THIRD Metzler Z-6 on the BMW, but only until it wears out, or fails again. After that it's Michelin Pilot Roads for me!!!

Just my two cents... YMMV.

Dallara

 

[Splatterdaddy]

For every Z6 horror story here I can up you two BT020 self destruct tales from BMW land. And don't get me started on the number of people over there that HATE the same Avons we love.

The BTO20 came stock on my '06FJR. The Michelin Pilots came stock on my my '02 Honda 919. 3000 miles on my FJR now and I'm looking for a new tire. I'll try the Avons because that's the only tire I haven't tried. If I can get over 4K from a rear tire I'm satisfied. 3000 miles is a bit low though even with 145 horses kicking away at it.

 

[tripletango]

I've had 4 sets, my friend 3 sets, another friend 2 sets and then there's the countless BMW riders and riders in Europe that ride the Z6 where the Z6 are very popular. I'm just tossing it out there.
I think there was a bad batch at one point but I have no worries about this tire. And I'll probably put a set on my GSX-R.

-r

My 06 came with them and I now have 7000 miles on them. This is the longest life I have had out of a rear tire and it has even had the experience of riding with TC TWN radman orangevale et al at the WFO! I am going up to the EOM from Charlotte area on Thursday and plan to ride it there then change to Diablo Stradas for trip back to TX.

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

I just ordered a new set of Pilot Roads from Ride Now. Total price shipped is $234.37. The cost of mounting and balancing at local shop is $27.50 each--provided I take off the wheels and bring to them. The local shop will charge only $7.50 if I were to buy the tires from them---but their price for the tires is $140.00 more than Ride Now. So, I still save $100.00. Total price mounted and balanced=$289.37 :glare:

I got my last set of Avons for $275 mounted and balanced and the shop took them off and put them back on the bike. Really good deal. Drive in and in less than an hour ride back out.

Just purchased a set of Perelli Corsa III's. Buy the rear get the front for $25 in shipping cost. This set will cost me about $230 total to buy and mount and balance, plus he will install off and on. The shop I use is a small independent and I have been doing business with him since 2002 buy of my FJR.

 

[evil_henchman]

I had a Z4 (OEM) and a Z6 on the rear. Went to a Pilot Sport on the front a while back and just put a Pilot Road on the rear on Friday. I'm liking it a lot so far, seems to just fall right over into a turn like the Z's never did.

 

[shu]

I've had 4 sets, my friend 3 sets, another friend 2 sets and then there's the countless BMW riders and riders in Europe that ride the Z6 where the Z6 are very popular. I'm just tossing it out there.

I think there was a bad batch at one point but I have no worries about this tire. And I'll probably put a set on my GSX-R.

-r

My 06 came with them and I now have 7000 miles on them. This is the longest life I have had out of a rear tire and it has even had the experience of riding with TC TWN radman orangevale et al at the WFO! I am going up to the EOM from Charlotte area on Thursday and plan to ride it there then change to Diablo Stradas for trip back to TX.

give us a report on the stradas when you can, eh?

thanks,

shu

 

[bmwhd]

Dallara,

There is no doubt that's a scary picture and story. My only point is I've seen BT020s do the exact same thing. Sometimes, you just get a bad tire. Doesn't matter what brand.