Long Tire Story

[TravEX]

I'll try to keep this as brief as i can,,,i bought my 02 400EX on May 31,,,on June 1st (my second ride), i cut the left rear tire, it was a 1 1/2" cut on the top of the side wall, i was riding on a trail me and my buddies have ridden on for over 2 years without any problems at all, i didn't slide into anything or notice anything that i could have hit, i called the dealorship, no warranty on tires, had a tire overnighted ($90) and then took the wheel to 3 places before they could breakdown the old tire, anywho, got the new tire put on on June 5,,,June 8th (5th ride on the quad), i cut a 1" gash in the top of the sidewall on the right rear riding on a GRAVEL road, no sliding or roosting, just freakin riding,,,loaded the EX up and flew to the dealor, no warranty, but i convinced him to swap the wheel and tire off a new EX and i would pay for the replacement ($76),,,these were the stock tires, Ohtsu M/R 501 20x10x9's,,,

My questions/concerns:

1) What in the heck is the deal with these tires,,,a bad pair from the plant?

2)Are the that weak?

3) I'm VERY close to just ordering new wheels and tires (Holeshot XCR's) and just using these for spares/road rides,,,

4) Has anyone else had problems with them?

the parts manager i talked to said that i am the first customer he has EVER ordered a replacement for a damaged tire,,,he said they are great tires and they have seen absolutley no problems out of them,,,could they have been dry rotted or something?

also, before i rode the quad the first time, i adjusted all 4 air pressures down to 4psi per the owner's manual,,,

sorry for the novel, but it is VERY frustrating having a new quad and having trouble,,,later

[crashinmatt]

geez i never had any problems, except for them gettin bald. but that was after a year and a half of ridin between 4-7 days a week.

[TravEX]

thanks, that's encouraging,,,i just hope it was a rare occurance, and i don't have any more trouble,,,later

[Nausty]

well the stock tires do puncture easy because theya re a softer compound and I have had to replace a tire because a cut on the side wall also except I hit something.

[Juggalo]

yeah the stock tires are only 2 ply and kinda weak but i haven't had any problems and i've hit plenty of sharp stuff.

[zzbudzz]

my stock tires are going bald FAST!and i got a used '02 400 in feb and they still had the red lines all the way around them!crashinmatt you say you had them for a year and a half?wow!oh and the side walls are very soft ,i'd say too soft .i can't believe i haven't cut mine yet.knock on wood! he he

[TravEX]

ok,,,thanks for the replys,,,i will probably be looking at some more tires,,,later

[crashinmatt]

yeah i had mine , well close to a year and a half. they were totally bald. i mean bald, kinda like slicks. it was like a month or two shy of a year and a half, that i got different tires. it sounds crazy but thats what happened

[NJ300ex]

Try running some more air pressure. That will help the problem some.

[worm]

no acctually more air pressure will make it worse......it tire will be hard and wont flex if you do hit something sharp..

[TravEX]

i'm just hoping it was a bad pair of tires,,,

i ride on wood trails, hay fields, LOTS of gravel, and rocky dirt,,,what do ya'll think about the Holeshot XCR's all the way around,,,what would ya'll recommend for the terrain i ride in,,,thanks in advance,,,later

[Nausty]

xcr sounds good to me;)

[Blysster]

Mine were also terrible. After only one month or so I had about 10 plugs and patches in the rear. They still had about 90-95% thread on them when I bought the Razrs.

I've been running those 4 ply razrs for a year now and have only gotten one flat from them (from a nail)

I think changing those worthless 2 ply stock tires was the best upgrade I did so far... There is nothing more frustrating than having a good riding day ruined because of a flat tire.

I still have the stock tires from 1999, they have about 40%tread left and i hit all kinds of crap wiht htem, havn't had any problems with them/

[Texan32]

Getting a set of 4 ply tires is never a bd idea. Just one thing. In you first post, you said "...ordering wheels and tires..." If you don't plan on spending alot of extra money on beadlocks or race wheels, i would stick with the stockers (wheels). The factory wheels have rolled beads which make then hella strong! I am running a set of douglas .190's and have two nice bends on the inner lip. I beat the tar out of my factory wheels, and all they got is some dings and scratches. Though there's not much to it, but that rolled bead lip makes a huge difference.

Just a little advice from experience...

[TravEX]

thanks for all the help

texan32

to be honest, i really wanna just buy the tires premounted on the wheels bacause of the PAIN that i had trying to get these other tires changed, and to also have these for spares and for looks on some rides (i have a 4th of July parade coming up and i will prolly put them on for looks), and speaking of looks, when i order the wheel/tire kits, what are the choices of wheels and what do the Douglas .190's look like, anyone got pics of them,,,

ya'll are right about a flat RUINING a good day of riding,,,iwas so pissed and disappointed, cause on my 2000 Scrambler 400 that i had, iwent through stobs, sharp rocks, thorns, and all kinds of crap with those Titan 489's, and never any problems (well i had liquid sealer in them too, but no gashed sidewalls like these 2 on the EX),,,

i'm gonna put liquid sealer in the stock tires, since they won't be used that much, and since their 2 ply,,,

i guess i will order the XCR's and Douglas .190's after i see some pics of them and look at the other choices of wheels,,,

Thanks again!

Trav

[TravEX]

o, and where do ya'll recommend ordering from on-line,,,i've got a Dennis Kirk catalog requested, but i'm kinda wanting to order tonight or tomorrow,,,i ordered all the stuff listed in my sig from moto-man,,,i also plan to order a DG front bumper, Renthal bars, and maybe a kill switch,,,later

[Taco]

www.rockymountainatv.com

[TravEX]

well i went online on rockymtnatv, and ordered 22/7/10 Holeshot XC's on Douglas .190's, 20/11/9 Holeshot XC's on Douglas .190's, and some other stuff while i was there, hehe (DG front bumper, Renthal Bars and Grips, speedometer and billet protector),,,later,,,thanks for all the help

what a ***** dude that hadda sucked for u, no freaking warranty(sp). which is really freaking gay!

[TravEX]

yeah it sucked, and what really surprised me was i was riding in familiar places, just riding (trying to get used to my new quad), and 2 freakin CUT sidewalls on 2 of my first 5 rides on the thing, something doesn't smell right to me, but oh well, the dealor doesn't care, they got to jack up the price on 2 tires and sell them along with selling a quad,,,i understand that they don't warranty tires, but i didn't like their attitude about the whole thing (telling me "well, whatcha done was slide that thing sideways into a sharp rock" which was crap),,,anyway i'm through with going to that dealorship anyway (i shoulda went to the bigger one which is 10 minutes closer anyway, but a friend advised me not to), i don't plan to ever go back there again,,,i can't wait for my new stuff to come in and put the new wheels and tires on and hit road signs with the old ones,,hehe,,,later