Bridgestone Tires & Freezing Temps = BAD!

[ScubaCinci]

Yikes!

http://www.klr650.net/forums/showthread.php?t=110552

I contacted Bridgestone and sent a link to the photos. I got this reply back:

"Jim, the tires have experienced this type of cracking due to being in freezing and below conditions. Unfortunately this condition is not covered under the workmanship and materials warranty."

I swapped several more e-mails trying to get them to show me where there is a minimum temperature rating for their tires, but they wouldn't give one. The closest I got was:

"I forwarded this back to our motorcycle rep. however in the summer you should be fine, but in the winter time you will most likely run into this issue if the tire is exposed to colder than freezing conditions."

Apparently Bridgestone only designs their tires for warm weather use, and WILL NOT honor a warranty problem if the tire was used in cold weather. Since KLR owners are hearty riders and many use their bikes in a large range of temperatures, I wanted to point this out. If you choose to use Bridgestone tires in winter months, especially at temperatures below freezing, inspect your tires often! Where I live, I won't be able to use Bridgestones between late August and early June!

[mello dude]

Holy shit! I have never seen a tire crack like that.

[jschaf]

It looks like someone gave it a liquid nitrogen bath & whacked it with a hammer. I wouldn't think that the tire would have much traction even before it cracked, being so brittle.

[c7fx]

I have and from more than just one mfg company

[ReconRat]

I've heard of race tires doing that, but never a street tire.

I've had many street tires sit outside and freeze. Nothing ever happened.

edit: now worried about the future...

[RHill]

http://s226.photobucket.com/user/nhdiesel/library/ST1300/Bad%20Tire?page=1

wow that is insane

[serpentracer]

sounds like someone made that up to shut someone up. that's not caused by freezing temps. and if you believe that you're naive.

that's a bad tire period. and for them to not honor a warranty (if it is under one) is sleazy.

[whaler]

This does not add up. I have ridden this and many other brands at near zero and have not had a problem. They will be harder, and not much for traction. There is defiantly more to this story.

There was thread and pictures going around a few years ago with Michelin PR2's having blown out the front and back causing a rider to go down. That thread made its rounds, and in the end looked to be a false claim. Just like the current ebay thread, some people will not admit fault, and will go to no ends to prove someone else is at fault.

[Kmanlyst]

I have a set of BT45s on my 250 and they sat outside this winter and never cracked.

[snot]

Wonder is a dealer would take care of it, if you take it in.

[mgbgt89]

I have a set of BT45s on my 250 and they sat outside this winter and never cracked.

I rode 2 winters on a set of BT045s sometimes below zero and they held up fine. Traction was better than the conti-motions i have now.

I've rode on many different tires in below freezing temps and have never seen a tire fail because of it. Crap for traction yes, but no cracks or anything like that.

[Hoblick]

sounds like someone made that up to shut someone up. that's not caused by freezing temps. and if you believe that you're naive.

that's a bad tire period. and for them to not honor a warranty (if it is under one) is sleazy.

actually that is a cold tire crack. it happens. how often? i dont know, but i have seen it as well from different manufacturers

[wantahertzdonut]

Did this happen while riding or just sitting?

I bet most of us keep our bikes in the garage and most of our bikes have seen temps below freezing, even below 0. I've never seen this or had it happen to any of my friend's bikes. I'd say bad tire, but they should cover that if that is the case.

[Agent3012]

I've seen that linked thread pop up in some other forums, and it turns out there's some more info that may shed some light on what happened.

The tire shown is a rear tire for a smaller bike like an FZ400, mounted to the front, in reverse, on an ST1300.

I'm told this called "going double dark", where you mount a car tire on the rear, and a rear MC tire to the front.

I forwarded the klr650 link to my Bridgestone tire rep to see what he had to say. Here is his complete response:

I wasn't aware of this, we only deal with race product so this must have been going through someone at corporate. From what I read though it sounds like it wasn't warranted because of the how it was used. A rear tire flipped the wrong direction and used on the front of a bike that is really heavy and exceeds the rating of the tire. Tires can "cold crack" if they are below freezing and suffer some kind of impact. I have seen that with our race product but they have to have some kind of impact while they are below freezing they don't just sit there and crack. So I am not sure we are hearing the whole story maybe the guy is just upset how it was handled I am not sure. I don't think this is something to worry about, as I have never seen a tire just sit there and crack.

After reading the whole thread over there, I have to agree. First of all, running a rear tire that is designed for a light bike as the front tire on a really heavy bike is a recipe for disaster in the first place.

Second, it is obvious that nhrider isn't sharing the WHOLE conversation that he's had with Bridgestone. He's just picking and choosing the most damning sounding quotes, out of context. The quote about the tires having experienced this type of cracking due to being in below freezing conditions sounds bad if that's all there is to it. But, if it's in the context of saying that letting the tire temperature get below freezing and then, say, hitting a big rock in your gravel driveway as you pull out at the beginning of your ride, before the tire is properly warmed up, then you can start to understand how being really cold could eff up any tire (of any brand).

Third, nhrider posted that he was riding at triple digit speeds the night before he noticed this. Again, if you're going to run a rear tire that was intended for a light bike as the front tire on a bike that weighs double what the intended load is for that tire, and THEN go triple digit speeds, you should not be surprised at ANYTHING that the tire does. Overheating the rubber in a tire can do funny things to it. Especially if you do it multiple times. How do we know that on top of everything else, he didn't have 25 psi of air in the tire? I'm not saying he did. I'm saying we don't have the whole story. We don't have the complete chain of emails. We don't know everything he said to Bridgestone and we don't know everything Bridgestone said to him.

So, personally, I don't see anything so far that will make me change my tire buying. I've been running Bridgestones on my GSX-R for at least 4 years now and they have been awesome. Stick good enough to drag knee. Last longer than any other sport tires I've tried. Still stick good even at the end of their life. Work well in rain and in cold. Knobbies on my 525 also work good and last just fine. But then, I use the tires as intended by the manufacturer....

If you want to stop buying a certain brand of tire because of one story you read on the Internet, let me tell you about the time I crashed on Dunlops because they were still cold after 25 miles of riding. Oh, and hang on, I'll go get you a sob story about Michelins, and another one about Metzelers, and one about Pirellis, too. So then what brand are we going to buy?

[Hailwood]

I always think it's interesting the way that people misuse/misapply tires and then get upset when they don't perform. It's not that different to putting gas in a diesel engine and expecting it to run.

There is a temperature (glass transition temperature) at which rubber will transition from compliant into a fairly brittle material which can lead to brittle cracking - so that part is absolutely not BS. It's not something that will occur statically (while sitting), but can occur from an external input while operating in these temperature ranges. This temperature varies depending on the rubber compound which is dictated by the product type/application, and is another reason to ensure that tires are chosen appropriately for the intended usage.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Hailwood