New Dunlop Elite 4 Tires Installed Today

Had a set of the Dunlop Elite 4s installed on my 2016 F6B Deluxe today. Sounds like lots of folks like them. I got 10,124 miles on the OEM Bridgestones. The rear tire was right at the wear indicator and the front was getting pretty close, so decided to take advantage of the $75 rebate (tires and service/installation). I don't like thin rubber and it is just not worth saving a few bucks to get that last few miles and the risk that it brings, plus I have a 2k mile trip coming up in a few weeks.

I don't ride "aggressive" but my riding is "spirited," although it is much more "tamed" than it was in my earlier years. I put 150,000+ miles on my 2002 Wing and tried just about all the tires at one time or another, but eventually decided that the Bridgestones were the best overall for me. Their mileage was just never that great for me, usually about 8500 miles, but I really liked all other characteristics. Bridgestones are a great tire, but I thought I would give the Elite 4 a try. Sure hope that they are greatly improved over the Elite 3s, which I never liked (other than mileage).

The E4's are great tires. I had them on my Victory Cross Country. You should also get good mileage along with great handling in the curves.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by F6Bster

Had a set of the Dunlop Elite 4s installed on my 2016 F6B Deluxe today. Sounds like lots of folks like them. I got 10,124 miles on the OEM Bridgestones. The rear tire was right at the wear indicator and the front was getting pretty close, so decided to take advantage of the $75 rebate (tires and service/installation). I don't like thin rubber and it is just not worth saving a few bucks to get that last few miles and the risk that it brings, plus I have a 2k mile trip coming up in a few weeks.

I don't ride "aggressive" but my riding is "spirited," although it is much more "tamed" than it was in my earlier years. I put 150,000+ miles on my 2002 Wing and tried just about all the tires at one time or another, but eventually decided that the Bridgestones were the best overall for me. Their mileage was just never that great for me, usually about 8500 miles, but I really liked all other characteristics. Bridgestones are a great tire, but I thought I would give the Elite 4 a try. Sure hope that they are greatly improved over the Elite 3s, which I never liked (other than mileage).

---

I think you will like them fine...I have about 6,000 miles on mine and they still look like new and are wearing great..Regards and ride safe

I think you will like the Elite 4s. I am getting ready to replace the set I have on my F6B in the next month. I am very satisfied with the handling on all road surfaces both when the road is dry and when it is wet. The best feature of these tires is the that they wear better than anything I have ever had on any bike. The set I am taking off is coming up on 19,000 miles which is a lot more than I have ever gotten out of any motorcycle tire. I check my pressures on a regular basis and replace tires as a complete set.

I hope you enjoy your new tires
Az Wingrider

Thanks for the comments. Hoping I have good luck with them also.

I installed a set last week. Went to Lake George for a few days, put just under 1,000 on them. Felt squishy on tar snakes on some twisties. I slipped a bit. Haven't hit any rain yet. Smooth and nice handling otherwise. Jury is still out for me.

I have about 12k on a front the center harder compound has many miles left in it. The edge 1/3 on each side very definitely showing much more wear and I likely replace in 2-3k miles. The recent rear has about 2k miles looking fine. I bought a cheap Chinese tpms system off Amazon to monitor presyyres

Had 12,000 miles on my OEM's and went with Elite 4's. At 20,000 miles they have no flat spot in the center (my OEM's did at 8,000).
They are wearing great. Will do E4's again when needed.

Having the 4's put on now. Pick up Tues. Heading out on a 5 wk summer journey. Hoping this tires will be decent in the flat lands and at 10K ft.

I now have the 4 on the front and bridgestone on the back. Works great for me. The 4 on the back I found to be to slippery in corners especially in the rain. I ride aggressively so you should have no problems. I lost the rear end 4 times with the 4 on the back and 0 times with the original stones.
Ride safe and enjoy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lloydmoore1

I now have the 4 on the front and bridgestone on the back. Works great for me. The 4 on the back I found to be to slippery in corners especially in the rain. I ride aggressively so you should have no problems. I lost the rear end 4 times with the 4 on the back and 0 times with the original stones.
Ride safe and enjoy

---

Wondering, how many of the "4" times you lost the rear end, were they in the rain? How's the rear feel on dry corners?

Lost the rear 4 times? Did you go down? or are you saying you spun the rear tire and slipped the bike, but it grabbed and you were puckered to the seat?
Happens with all tires, no matter what brand you are on. Tire traction and wet are a hard one to define...please explain your comment

Thank you...

I wanted to go with Elite 4's, have always run the elites on my previous wings, 1200 and 1500 and always liked them. This is the first time I've had radials on a bike. I usually get very good mileage out of my tires. My original stones, I got 17K on the back tire and just changed my front at 20K on my 16 deluxe. So I put original stones back on due to the price I got them for. I should have replaced them about 3K earlier on each though, ran them a little past wear bars. I ride mostly interstate back and forth on a long commute. Probably will try E 4's next time, waiting to see more results. I do like the way the stones handle and I'm not a big fan of bridgestone at all. I've always been able to get high mileage out of all my tires as long as I've been riding, in fact the guy at the local bike shop (not dealer) mentioned when I took the wheel and tire to him to mount for me, he said the wear was perfect on the tires, so said I'm doing everything right. But have always gotten nearly twice the mileage out of the front vs. the rear. Had always done two rear tires for every front tire. Maybe that won't happen with radials. I run 40 psi both front and rear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by billsim

Had 12,000 miles on my OEM's and went with Elite 4's. At 20,000 miles they have no flat spot in the center (my OEM's did at 8,000).
They are wearing great. Will do E4's again when needed.

---

What pressures do you run? I'm on my 2nd set of Elite 4's, didn't get anywhere near 20,000 miles out of the first set, and I'm adament about checking tire pressure.

I have about 6,000 miles on my E-4's and they look like new..Not an aggressive rider and check tires often..Had best luck with ride and wear at 41psi rear and 38 psi front....Regards and ride safe

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pumper

Lost the rear 4 times? Did you go down? or are you saying you spun the rear tire and slipped the bike, but it grabbed and you were puckered to the seat?
Happens with all tires, no matter what brand you are on. Tire traction and wet are a hard one to define...please explain your comment

Thank you...

---

one time turning left at a t junction in the rain. The rear tire lost traction and spun out almost to no return.
one time on the tail of the dragon on a turn riding aggressively on a dry road
one time turning right of a main road in 2nd gear.
one time turning right off a main road in 1st gear on a dry road with a bit off dirt
Put 23,000 kilometers on those tires..in each time I just grip the tank off the gas slightly and ride it out.
so the rear feels slippery to me me with those tires..only my opinion based off my riding style.

put 64000 kilometers on 3 sets of stones and never repeated the above

hope this answers your questions..ride safe and enjoy

I tried replacing my stock Stones with the E4's, front and rear, when I replaced the originals @ 13,500 miles. @ about 1500 miles the rear tires started to get very noisy and picked up a vibration when I turned left or right and got off center. I left them on and when I got to about 6000 miles it was getting so bad that I went ahead and went back to a set of stock Bridgestones. The front tire by then was also starting to cup and wear pretty badly in the middle. I have a Super Brace on the bike and I also have changed out the neck bearings for the Allballz tapered bearing so any wear on the front was just plain tire wear. The E 4's also always felt like the bike wanted to wander off of center to the left or right. Probably due to the high center performance design of the tires.
I have almost 3k on the Stones and absolutely no wear so far and the bike seems to track more steadily and stay centered more. Hope this helps, looks like I am one of the few here who was not impressed with the E 4's but that is my opinion.

Lots of great info shared by everyone. I’m doing a Colorado mountains day ride on Monday so I’ll have an initial impression of how I compare them with the Stones. My buddy is putting a set Friday on his Valk Interstate. 2k mike trip the 2nd week in July will show me how they work for me in most conditions.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BobR

I tried replacing my stock Stones with the E4's, front and rear, when I replaced the originals @ 13,500 miles. @ about 1500 miles the rear tires started to get very noisy and picked up a vibration when I turned left or right and got off center. I left them on and when I got to about 6000 miles it was getting so bad that I went ahead and went back to a set of stock Bridgestones. The front tire by then was also starting to cup and wear pretty badly in the middle. I have a Super Brace on the bike and I also have changed out the neck bearings for the Allballz tapered bearing so any wear on the front was just plain tire wear. The E 4's also always felt like the bike wanted to wander off of center to the left or right. Probably due to the high center performance design of the tires.
I have almost 3k on the Stones and absolutely no wear so far and the bike seems to track more steadily and stay centered more. Hope this helps, looks like I am one of the few here who was not impressed with the E 4's but that is my opinion.

---

I agree you are one of the few that have issues with E-4's...Don't know why, maybe just a rare incident or ??...Most with E-4's have no problems and seem to like the tire compared to the Stones.....Ride safe

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lloydmoore1

one time turning left at a t junction in the rain. The rear tire lost traction and spun out almost to no return.
one time on the tail of the dragon on a turn riding aggressively on a dry road
one time turning right of a main road in 2nd gear.
one time turning right off a main road in 1st gear on a dry road with a bit off dirt
Put 23,000 kilometers on those tires..in each time I just grip the tank off the gas slightly and ride it out.
so the rear feels slippery to me me with those tires..only my opinion based off my riding style.

put 64000 kilometers on 3 sets of stones and never repeated the above

hope this answers your questions..ride safe and enjoy

---

I was really happy with the stock Bridgestones and averaged 18,000 miles on five sets, but decided to try the E4's. I have about 10,000 miles on them now and although they are wearing great, I have experienced similar "loss of traction" events as lloydmoore. I never experienced any of these issues in the 90,000 miles I put on Stones. I don't like the trade off and will go back to Bridgestones if these E4's ever wear out.

I really liked the overall performance of the Bridgestones. As indicated earlier, I could only get abut 8,500 miles on rear on the many sets that I used on my 02 Wing. Just got 10,124 on the stock Bridgestones on my F6B. I am amazed at the mileage that some get on their Stones. I don't ride aggressive, but not even close to some on the mileage. I replace my tires when they hit the wear bar, so presume that some others do so also. I could probably have gotten another 2k miles, but the rubber would be so thin it is just not worth the risk in both handling and punture potential. Perhaps I use the throttle too much!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BobR

I tried replacing my stock Stones with the E4's, front and rear, when I replaced the originals @ 13,500 miles. @ about 1500 miles the rear tires started to get very noisy and picked up a vibration when I turned left or right and got off center. I left them on and when I got to about 6000 miles it was getting so bad that I went ahead and went back to a set of stock Bridgestones. The front tire by then was also starting to cup and wear pretty badly in the middle. I have a Super Brace on the bike and I also have changed out the neck bearings for the Allballz tapered bearing so any wear on the front was just plain tire wear. The E 4's also always felt like the bike wanted to wander off of center to the left or right. Probably due to the high center performance design of the tires.
I have almost 3k on the Stones and absolutely no wear so far and the bike seems to track more steadily and stay centered more. Hope this helps, looks like I am one of the few here who was not impressed with the E 4's but that is my opinion.

---

Spot on. My same experience. Mine are wearing ok, but all of the above.

My OEM Stones lasted 11,500 on the rear; 16,000 on the front. I now have almost 8000 miles on the replacement rear Stone, and it still looks like it has lots of treadwear left. Weird.