I was down looking closely at my front tire yesterday, and I noticed that it's showing signs of dry rot. This is on a '13 Street Glide that I bought new just a few months ago. There are pretty obvious cracks in the rubber in the side wall of the tire.
So is this something I should take to the dealer to warrenty?

 

Dealer visit is in order, plan to leave it or spend about an hour shopping..

 

Not being able to see your tire, I don't know how bad it is NOW. Be prepared for them to say it isn't bad enough yet for a warranty replacement but continue to watch it. That happened to my son and the tire continued to deteriorate and was eventually replaced. He got 6 or 7000 "free" miles out of the old tire when the new one was installed. They usually look for long cracks (an inch or more) extending around the tire circumferentially. Weather checking doesn't seem to count although that shouldn't be happening in 3 months either. Is it a white wall and are you using any strong cleaners on it?

 

There are many things I can overlook, but tires are not one of them. I'd scream like a USMC Drill Instructor until they replaced it.

 

Ok....thought I'd bring this back up to let people know how it went. Rode down to the dealership (two hour ride) to show them the tire.

Walked into the service dept and told the guy I had a brand new SG ('13) with dry rot in the front tire. Now....understand, I'm geared up for a fight at this point. Got my bullet points all ready to go and everything.....

Guy says...."Well, I'll just have to replace it for you". I'm standing there looking at him like he just stole my thunder. He says...."Yeah, we've been seeing that a lot on the front tires.".

So they pulled it in...changed the front tire in about an hour and I was on my way. Dealership is Tripps Harley Davidson in Amarillo Tx and I'm pretty glad they're my dealer.

So if you've got cracks in your sidewall of your front tire...get it into the dealership.

 

Very common issue. Dealer tried to BS me on mine so I called and got Dunlop and Harley corporate involved. I have had mine replaced x2 under warranty at absolutely no cost to me. The one I have on now is doing the same thing so my dealer is talking to Dunlop to see WTF is going on.

 

OP Glad to hear everything worked out for you....Just goes to show not all dealers are the same and you have a good one!!!

^^^This Statement^^^ is very disturbing...2 tires going on a 3rd..WTF That sucks!!! Please keep us updated...

 

Do the tires have date codes on them like cage tires?

 

Yes they do. Link:http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/...ignations.aspx