I have original tires on my 2018 Ultra with 12000 miles. Here is a photo of damage I found while inspecting the tires and I am ignorant as to what happened to cause this. Any help so this does not happen again?
And I know I am asking an oil type question but any opinions on Commander III or American Elites?

Thanks

 

I sure am glad you caught that!! before it blew out on you!! it pays to always inspect tires regularly!!

 

Commander III's have a known problem with the fronts where a vibration/buzz occurs at certain speeds. I had them, and removed them for AE's. They're a great tire. If you want more info on the CIII issue, there's a huge thread in the tire section here.

 

Looks like that tire is worn pancake-flat and is due for replacement anyway. I like the American Elite's myself.

 

That looks like a ‘cracking’ good the tyre to me. Not bad miles from it, don’t think I have got that much out of a tyre. Good catch on seeing that before a blow out.

 

Was the bike exposed to freezing temps?

 

if you are not down to the wear bars yet, the Dunlop warranty says that you should get a tire pro-rated at 50%, not including labor charges. i'd get with your service department and see if they'll help you out, if you want to go with another stock tire.

 

I have been running the American Elites, but with the free install at dealer I went back to original Dunlops. They are the same tire construction with a different tread pattern. I got 20,000 miles from the original set of Dunlop’s.

 

Found the same thing on my 2014 flhtk stock rear tire had less than 10000 miles. Was a tire defect. Haven't bought dunlop's since.

 

Yep. I live in Denver so it is very possible but it was garaged and this winter is not nearly as bad as previous. Good point