Bridgestone Battlax BT-45 Autopsy

[bob109]

Just recently removed a Battlax BT-45 Tire after 23K miles of service/wear. My inquisitive mind requires me to take my bolt cutters and razor knife to the casing and dissect it. There's nothing, IMHO, which provides some evidence of the tires construction and what remains of the thread/tread. In the case of this Ax there's 1/2" rubber thickness remaining in the tire center. The original thread/tread depth of the Ax was 9/32" and was 3/32" depth when removed. Thats "one thick" tire

Just a note about the wear of the Ax in comparison to the OEM Stone. The OEM tire displayed more "center wear" (less thread/tread remaining) than the Ax which showed more "off center" wear. The opposite of each other!

Some pics of the severed Ax! The tire was used on the front wheel of my F6B

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[Steve 0080]

Should that not be the other way around??? That doesn't make sense !!!

[bob109]

Should that not be the other way around??? That doesn't make sense !!!

A pic of the OEM Stone (L) and the Ax (R) which clearly shows the OEM with less thread/tread remaining in the tire center as opposed to the Ax which had more center thread/tread remaining. Sorry for the confusion

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[Steve 0080]

Your killin me Bob...I was all hot to try the AX !!!!.....It's OK I'm hot again !!!!!

[bob109]

Your killin me Bob...I was all hot to try the AX !!!!.....It's OK I'm hot again !!!!!

Steve:

IMHO the Ax outshines the OEM Stone in handling, smoothness and longevity! I couldn't be happier with it overall performance. When I first mounted the Ax, I recall you mentioning that if the tire was continually subjected to curvy/twisty roads it would show signs of off center cupping. That's exactly what the Ax did. That said, given a choice, I'll take the Ax over the OEM tire any day

[Steve 0080]

I still want to try it...as you know there are not many curves here !!!