hello all,
sorry for sounding stupid but...I have a 2005 road king classic. had spoke rims and the rear broke. replaced with a set of 2004 road king cast rims that had almost new rubber. Now I have what i thought was just tire/road noise coming from the front but its only there around 40 mph. the rear might be starting. I think it might be alignment but looking for any other advice. tires are at 40 psi rear 35 front. 20psi in rear shocks.

also the brakes are rubbing, as in that low grinding noise that goes away when i apply any front brake pressure. sprayed the can of brake cleaner but didnt really help that either.

thanks
Kevin

 

questions for you:

2004 cast rims- HOW OLD are the tires ? There is a DOT date code on the tires- 6 years is about maximum life- the rubber gets stiff and cracks.

you can google how the date code works.

mike

 

Tires are in great shape. I thought it might have been the spacers on wrong sides. Went and swapped them but the the left caliper wouldn't fit. The brakes are dragging so maybe that's the problem. Any ideas on how the fix that. Pads look plenty thick.

 

If you think you have a brake problem, think about paying a pro to give the bike a clean bill of health.

rather than you going through the "tires ? Bearings ?, wheels ?, brakes ? " as you ride down the road wondering if the bike is gonna lock up and throw you off.

sometimes riders try to take on working on the bike because they can see all the parts.

are you up to this ? do you have the manual, the tools and the experience ?

and it's that date code good on the tires ? I see LOTS of out of date tires for sale on my local craigslist.



Mike

 

A fellow rider has a 2007 softtail and had a new front wheel put on. His had a tracking problem after this and come to find out the front wheel was on backwards. It was a HD wheel and was put on as normal. Problem was there was a directional arrow embossed near the valve stem and it was showing the wheel was mounted backward. Had it turned around and tire remounted and pulling went away. The brakes worked the same either way as the rotor mounting bosses machined into the wheel were offset to keep the rotor the same on either side or both when running dual rotors. Wouldn't hurt to check it out. The dealership said they had never seen this before.

 

I have an 06 ultra with spokes, My tires where worn out so I replaced them at the dealer with dunlaps. I now have the exact same problem. A low pitch howl type whine that starts at 38 mph and ends at 42. I checked everything and gave up. Your post just helped me believe that I do have a tiny bit of sanity

 

I put new E3s on my 06 RKC and they make the same noise. it must be the tread pattern because if I lean left and right, the noise goes away. It only occurs when I am straight up.....glad also to know it is not just me

 

It does not matter what shape tires look like they are in. As mkguitar asked, HOW OLD are the tires? Don't let their appearance fool you. If they are old, making noise is the least of what they will do. Every tire has a manufacture date, check it.

 

You don't say what tires you are running. If they are the D402s my experience is that the rear tire starts howling at about mid tread life. It got loud enough that I though I had bearings going bad. When the tire was replaced, the new one ran quietly until mid tread depth again. As best I could tell, the front tire never made any noise. What I suspect is that the noise from the rear tire is reflecting off the windshield and leading you to suspect the front tire.

Since that time I have been using the Dunlop E3 front and rear. As has been reported with all NEW tires, there was no tracking and they ran smoothly. Now at mid-life tread depth I am getting some tire noise again and they do track to some extent. What has changed is that mid-life on the D402 was about 7500 miles while mid-life for the E3 is about 15,000 miles. (For the rear tires)

 

I recently had a front Metzler 880 Marathon installed. I now have a howl that comes and goes. I have heard it at slow and faster speeds and I especially hear it when cornering at around 35-45 mph. I wondering if the Indy screwed something up during the install or if Marathons are noisy. I do have a Marathon on the rear with no howl that I have ever noticed.