Metzeler 880's Concern!!

[tbone57]

Yes, there could be some connection I guess and thats a great comparison. I was fortunate to have my local work with a distributor that had "Customer Satisfaction" as a number one priority. It appears that the distributors have and should use their leverage to the makers of these bad tires. If they refuse to sell their products, maybe we will all have safer and better products to ride on.

[johbren]

Just thought id bring this thread back to the top and up date the latest on the Metzler side wall cracking issue. I just turned 4000 miles on mine and the back tire just isnt safe any more. It has developed large splits in the tire where the tread meets the sidewall. I was hoping to make it through the summer but with a trip coming up im not taking a chance on this tire. Lesson learned no more buying tires over the internet. You just cant get any help if you have a problem. The place where im having a new Maxxis whitewall put on told me that if I had bought the tire form them they could have got me a replacement for free. No more Metzlers and no more Oneida Suzuki.

[tbone57]

Please post and take pictures, so others can see what we have experienced first hand.
Thanks

[johbren]

Sorry but my digital camera broke a few weeks back.

[CRoberts]

My firm is looking to help an individual who was seriously injured when his Mezteler 880 started to disintegrate for no reason. The tire had very low mileage when this occurred and was always well maintained. Does anyone on this thread have more information/photos they can share of their 880 problems? From what we're reading, our client is not alone in having trouble with this tire.
-Chris Roberts
Feel free to contact me at croberts@smithandfuller.com if you have any information you can share.

[tbone57]

Bad news for Metzeler and your client. Sorry to hear about this. I have responded to you privately if you need to talk, however, it may be interesting to create a new post to see how many riders with the 880 whitewalls purchased in the last year or two from Brazil, do not have cracks forming, I suspect many do, as evident on Harley forums as well.
Its a shame that such a good looking and handling product has missed the boat in either the manufacturing process or the engineering process in the past year or two.

[johbren]

They are complaining on the Kawasaki nomad forum about these Metzlers. Its not an Isolated case its everywhere.

[johbren]

Hey Tbones is that a Sears 106 that you have? That was the first bike I ever had a Sears 106 back in 1968 it was blue.

[tbone57]

It is a 1968 sears campus 50. Has 600 original miles, oil mix, and a three speed, goes about 45mph top speed as I recall.

[tbone57]

Would love to see the various tire sites (distributors) give us their twist on warranty returns, procedures, and guarantees as to the tire lines they sell, and how they stand behind their products or pass you on to the seemingly unresponsive manufacturers. I know first hand that Parts Unlimited was very responsive as to my Metzeler problems. Might be good to see which companies are the best to deal with before we buy our next set of tires, and which ones we should pass on regardless of price! I'm sure that although I had problems with my 880's, others have had stories about their warranty resolution attempts.

Come on JC Whitney, Dennis Kirk, Tires Unlimited, Oneida Suzuki and the rest, lets hear how you handle tire and warranty issues, we are all ready to buy, just give us your line.

[DNW VZ800]

I just put on a new Metzeler in September and now the bike is stored but I know am going to take a close look......thek bike is on a lift with the tires off the ground.....

[tbone57]

Well it has been 4 days so far, and NONE of the big guns of internet or catalog sales have provided us with return and warranty policies of their companies. In fact it should make us all wonder why they are not responding at all! After all, we are potential customers to each one! I know of several local dealers (independent and not) that handle any problem whether its tires or other bike parts immediately even if they have to deal with the manufacturers direct on your behalf. I guess REAL customer service is as close as your neighborhood supplier (at least in my case). I suggest that the next time we make a major purchase (ie tires), it is best to know the backing of the vendor we select before the purchase is made, in writing. Kind of scarey that none of the internet big guns are willing to put their company return and warranty policies before us all so we become informed buyers of their products and customer service. What a great opportunity for any of them to get US as their customer, and all we are asking is the type of customer service that they provide to their customers when a problem comes up. That is when we all find out the true price and value of the items that they sell, when a problem comes up!!!! We are all eager to tell others of the great deal that we got from a particular catalog or internet dealer, but a greater testimonial is how that seller handled us with a return or problem if it came up.

[Uncle B]

METZELER - Tire Registration

Originally Posted by tbone57

Well it has been 4 days so far, and NONE of the big guns of internet or catalog sales have provided us with return and warranty policies of their companies. In fact it should make us all wonder why they are not responding at all! After all, we are potential customers to each one! I know of several local dealers (independent and not) that handle any problem whether its tires or other bike parts immediately even if they have to deal with the manufacturers direct on your behalf. I guess REAL customer service is as close as your neighborhood supplier (at least in my case). I suggest that the next time we make a major purchase (ie tires), it is best to know the backing of the vendor we select before the purchase is made, in writing. Kind of scarey that none of the internet big guns are willing to put their company return and warranty policies before us all so we become informed buyers of their products and customer service. What a great opportunity for any of them to get US as their customer, and all we are asking is the type of customer service that they provide to their customers when a problem comes up. That is when we all find out the true price and value of the items that they sell, when a problem comes up!!!! We are all eager to tell others of the great deal that we got from a particular catalog or internet dealer, but a greater testimonial is how that seller handled us with a return or problem if it came up.

[Uncle B]

METZELER - Recommended_tire_pressures

Originally Posted by tbone57

Because of this site, much positive imput led me to purchase Metzeler 880’s last September for my C50T. I have been happy so far with the handling, etc. of the tires, (600 miles total on these new tires) and promoted these tires to everyone that would listen. Last week after having the bike gone over by my local independent dealer, I thoroughly cleaned the bike, with my annual 4,000 mile trip coming up in 3 weeks. To those that have read my post before, the higher psi requirements by Metzeler were followed religiously by me, right or wrong, but as per Metzelers requirements (see my other posts), but what I discovered upon cleaning these tires only 9 months old with 600 or so miles and a huge trip approaching, scared the crap out of me. That is, weathered looking stress cracks on both tires, between the edge of the wide whitewall and the tread all the way around, both sides. Not huge, but there anyway, and a definite concern before a huge trip. These tires were manufactured only 4 months earlier than purchase, so age on the shelf isn’t a concern I believe, and the tires were purchased from my local dealer via PARTS UNLIMITED at over $450 installed. Needless to say, I immediately drove to my local and had them look at the tires with me. Before long, I had the owner, chief mechanic and others not believing what they were seeing. They told me that they would be in contact immediately with parts unlimited to discover a resolution since Metzeler has a lifetime warranty and hardly any tread was used at all. I have since researched that some of Metzelers tires manufactured in Brazil (Perelli owns Metzeler and also uses the same plant for their tires), have had problems with this, so if you google Metzeler sidewall defects, you will be floored by the number of posts regarding this problem. Stay tuned, and I will let you know how it was resolved, but for now, I had wished I knew about this before my $$$ flew out of my wallet 600 miles ago.
As to how this is resolved by Parts Unlimited and Metzeler, this should be a concern of anyone needing tires.

[tbone57]

I agree that the manufacturers typically have warranty forms and policies to register your tires, which I did. But to a tire buyer (me), that had local backing as to the obvious presence of a defect (both tires), a good distributor will work on our behalf to quickly resolve an issue to get us up and riding again, thankfully that was my case via my local and parts unlimiteds quick resolve. However, if other distributors are merely going to put you in contact with the manufacturer and wait until the tires are sent back for evaluation, weeks can go by, and by the sounds of many, are often blown off by the manufacturers. Just by the sheer numbers of complaints with the Metzeler 880 whitewalls on this site and many others, we should be very concerned about whether this is a on-going defect or a problem with our care and pressures of the tires or both. After spending over $400 on these tires my expectation were great as to a long lasting great handling tire which I meticulously maintained. After 600 miles!!! the pictures speak for themselves and I would bet that many internal memos are floating around between Metzeler and its distributors. I and my wallet found out the hard way that my purchase was a mistake. I didn't research all the complaints that I now find over the net about these tires and their temperamental yet vague pressure issues and explosive nature posted by the attorney above. I now have learned to research ALL avenues before I make a major purchase again, I did that before I bought the C50T, and I am very happy, but I now know that I should have researched th ME 880WWW equally!!!

[ednjacks]

I have been selling tires for most of my life, just started doing bike tires last year. Usually when we get a bad cracking problem the manufacturer will replace the tire for you. Having whitewalls does lead to more cracking because people usually clean the crap out of them. I have to agree with you that research should be done by a buyer before purchasing tires. Talk to youre tire dealer and visit manufacturer websites before buying is about the best advice I can give. Also talk to other riders and see what works for them, sorry you had trouble and I hope Metzler people stand behind their product.

[M50_Limited]

Well I'm about to gety my Met's 200's (black) and was wondering if there is anything new on this?

[tbone57]

Haven't heard anything new, just make sure that the selling party is aware of concerns that have been posted and will back the tires up if there is a problem, metzeler for sure will not. Hope you have good luck.

[geep]

discovered 120 miles from home, quite accidently, had noticed the bike running a bit rough after last fuel stop, but it was raining really bad so was concentrating staying on the road.....this is the 3rd ME on this bike and the first problem tire...ordered the same tire as a replacement where I left the bike the day I found it....scared to ride 120 highway miles on it...now they are having a hard time getting a ME 880....wonder why? I send Metzeler an email and got the standard warranty replacement reply back, sent them these pictures to see if they would bite....funny thing was I had made arrangement to have the back tire replaced by my local dealer just before I went on a little 500 mile ride., only to have this failure....if Metezler does nothing I want the used tire back for further possible litigation
For the life of me I can not seem to attach pictures to this forum...if someone wants to see...i can email them

[tbone57]

Best of luck getting the tires back. Maybe the administrator of this site will assist you in posting the pictures. Most people seem to think that the ME880's are the best thing since sliced bread, (until it happens to them). I believe that Metzeler will not stand behind their warranty at all. I would love to see how many here have actually got Metzeler to send them a tire for free due to manufacturing defects??? and if so, what it was that constituted a defect??? Maybe we can even get Metzeler to comment on these issues?