Reviews on Dunlap Elite 4 tires

[IBArider]

My Goldwing 1800 came with Bridgestone tires and the Goldwing 1500 I used to have came with Dunlop tires. No problem with either but since the new Dunlop Elite 4 for the Goldwing 1800 has been on the market for a while I was wondering if anyone who has tried them could reply with their review.
Information on their style of riding, the tire handling in hot temp, rain, curves and ride comfort along with their mileage. Thanks to those who take the time.

[SubMaWing]

Hello - new to this forum.

I recently put a set of Elite 4's on my 2016 Wing. I have about 5,000 miles on them now. I replaced the OEM tires at about 11,500 miles (they still had some life, but I had some plans).

Overall, I like the 4's. But I will say there are some nuances I am not entirely happy with.

Likes:
- At 5,000 miles I seem to have barely worn them at all. I am not sure how the mileage will play, but it seems like it will be significantly better than OEM.
- Haven't had any issues with cupping or uneven wear, yet. My OEM set already showed cupping at 5K.
- I haven't had any head wobble with these tire. Is it the tire, the balance or something else? I don't know, and I don't really feel like taking the time to figure it out.

Dislikes:
- The front likes to wander around a bit more than I am used to when riding on grooved or rough pavement. I can feel it in the handlebars.
- Tar snakes: I have never had a tire that reacts so poorly to tar snakes on any bike I have owned.
- Wet grip: this is subjective, but I have broken the back end loose from a stop on wet roads a couple of times with the Elite 4, and I do not recall that happening with the OEM set. I don't gun it - this was what I would consider a normal take off.

I am not disappointed - depending on the mileage I get, I might repeat. If the mileage isn't significantly better, I will likely try something else next time.

YMMV,
Tim

[Scooter363y]

I have put the fours on about 3,000 miles ago. Still rides great. The stock front tire had some wear problems in the first 4,000 miles. A high ridge was developing in the center of the tread. I know set pressure at 40 psi on both tires. So far no problems and the ride is great. I also installed centramatic wheel balancers at the same time. Very impressed with the ride and handling. I would highly recommend these products

Scott

[GLer]

I am very concerned with the various reports I have heard on the E4 slippery trait.

At the same time, there are some folks who swear by then. Presently, I don't know if I should or not pull the trigger on a set of E4

[PastoT]

I've run my E-4s since Jul 2016, 7-8k miles and I've had no issues. Wet tar snakes are a problem regardless but I've not had any puckers to speak of. The tread looks untouched so far. I run them at max PSI with balancing beads. I've not doubted my E-4s on wet surfaces until I read a few negative reports and I then found myself being more careful... Still I've ridden through heavy rain, snow and slush and could easily see my tire tracks, even if my trailer was hydroplaning and never gave it a second thought; never broke loose. I get 19k from a set of E-3s and they only start singing to me in corners after about 12k miles. So far my tread has so little wear that I can't measure it. Now I'm not ham fisted with the throttle and rarely drag my pegs but have several times run down the road with 40mph crosswinds in the rain, leaning heavily and they've never given me concern. The first 1k miles or so will remedy the new front tire tread design that feels a bit weird on rain ribbed highway. That was a real concern when I first mounted them, to me that is more unnerving the front feels like its jumping back an for the between the rain ribs. Two weeks after I put on the E-4s I ran 2500 miles with a heavy camp trailer through all kinds of weather on all kinds of road surfaces and temps from 36 to 1112F, no issues at all.

If you have run E-3's I think the E-4's will last longer and seem to perform about the same; I never had issues with the E-4s but my E-3s did slide twice when turning across a very wide cross walk stripe in the rain, that was a bit slick, I also felt the rear drift out in a turn in Las Vegas at 125F - that could have been moving black top too at that temp.

[Rednaxs60]

Talked to the Dunlop reps at the local bike show and was informed that E3s are being phased out and Dunlop will only market E4s starting next year.

[AZGOLD]

Got about 2000 miles on my E4's ... mounted on a 2006 GL1800.
So far, I've run them in high heat, high winds and lots of curves but no rain yet.
The only place I've lost traction was in some deep gravel ... expected.
I wouldn't say I'm an "aggressive" rider but these tires have done many mountain curves and a few 115 mph straightaways ... no problem.

[SandmansGoldwing]

I ride in the Pacific NW weather all year (except snow/ice) and I've ran E3s through temps ranging from 104 to 26. Rain, lots of rain, many times with standing water on the freeway. I have never hydroplaned at 70 MPH. In the city, I have slipped the rear starting at intersections if I'm too close the the oil line. If conditions warrant (leafs in the fall), I'll start in second gear. The E4 is reliable and has predictable solid traction. I'm looking forward to running E4s

[Magic23]

I've been running E4's this season on the front and rear with balancing beads. The tires seem to grip well in dry and wet road conditions. I haven't noticed very much tread wear in about 6,000 miles. They were a great investment.

[keithg64]

I'm more like Magic23 but I have 16k miles and they still look good.

[PastoT]

I'm on my second set and the first served me well with over 16k miles on them before swapping them for fresh ones before a 4k mile trip. I actually saved the used set just incase I needed 2-3k miles worth of tire in a pinch. They were wearing a bit, left side front and some rear tire feathering. I run them at max PSI with beads and don't see cupping/feather until around 10k and that is minor. The only issue I find is the new front tread pattern doesn't like rain ribs for the first thousand miles or so, not terrible just a bit of searching. Its un-nerving at first but in my case it always vanished the first day, as I often put new rubber on just before long trips. I have 8k on my current set and I see a slight wear on the left tread of the front tire and only a slight hum in the corners from the rear tire from feathering.

[tamathumper]

I've got about 8,500 on this set, and I don't see any abnormal wear on them. I don't see too much wear at all, to be honest. I was worried they'd be whooped by now, but they're holding up nicely.

They perform well in the wet, on grooved pavement, and on tar snakes. I was skittish about every little thing in the road at first, but they've been great. I decided not to take off the weights and put the RideOn in them before I left on my big trip. That was one new variable I didn't want to bite me in the seat, so they've been going all this time on the original balance and weights.

[AZgl1800]

Dennis Kirk says my new E4 rear tire will arrive on Wednesday...

[C-dub]

I have about 4k miles on my E4's.

No complaints other than a little squirrelly when on rain grooves in pavement. Nothing to bad, just weird.

I measured the depth before installation and have measured every 1k miles. So far I have about 15% wear on the front and 20% on the rear.

About a week ago was the first time I broke the back tire loose in a corner. It only slid out about a few inches and was due to hard acceleration while cornering at around 40 mph and I maintained control and kept going without any issues. First time doing that on my Wing, but not my first on a street bike. I think it was probably more due to not being fully warmed up rather than anything else.

[AZgl1800]

About a week ago was the first time I broke the back tire loose in a corner. It only slid out about a few inches and was due to hard acceleration while cornering at around 40 mph and I maintained control and kept going without any issues. First time doing that on my Wing, but not my first on a street bike. I think it was probably more due to not being fully warmed up rather than anything else.

about 3 years ago, I went riding around Grand Lake in Oklahoma, it was right after we had experienced about two weeks of hard rains and some flooding.

The road maintenance crews had not been able to clean all of the state roads, and I went into some fairly sharp turns where evidence of a lot of sand and gravel was still on the road.

at the time, I had an E3 on the rear, and it slide out sideways as I was powering up for an uphill left turn.

I sensed it quickly and let off the throttle and the bike straightened up immediately and all was good.
For those of us who learned to ride on dirt bikes, IMO, we have a better chance of recovering from these type issues.

If a Goldwing is a person's first ever motorcycle experience, I feel the same "slide out sideways" would have resulted in the rider going down. That rider would not have the "built in muscle memory" to correct for that problem.

[POPPY'S WING]

Hi. Everyone. I put a set of E4s on my 2012 back in March . They have about 10,000 on them now.Some wear of course,but still look good. I'm not an aggressive rider . I run 36-38 front 41-42 rear. I'm happy so for.

[Asphaltmaniac]

Ive 17200 on mine. The rear looks ok but the fr is right at the wear bars.And of course shows more wear on the left than the right side as usual...ha! I will get another grand out of them easy. Without looking at my maintenance records I think I used to get 15500-16000 out of the old dunlaps.

[rick3015]

I haven't got anywhere near the mileage out of my Elite 4s you guys have. Mine are on an '08 and at 13,200 my front is shot. I run them at Dunlop's recommended tire pressure which is 38 front and 41 rear. The tread on the left side of the front tire is worn almost smooth, while the center and right side still have a couple thousand miles of tread left.

[PastoT]

You can't run the recommended gl1800 pressures on the Elites. I find the max pressure on the tire prevents cupping and feathering for thousands more miles. As for the left side of the front tire wearing it is also impacted by left turns that are longer and typically faster. If it is at 38 it's 3 psi or and softer thus more suseptical to wear. I found mine suddenly cupping and returned the pressure from 37 to 42 and it cleaned up within a week or two. I think the low pressure increases internal temp and allows the river to soften exponentially.

Great example. I rode 1200 miles heavily loaded with a trailer in 110+ temps and on day two the rear tire was terribly worn when I got home. It still has 16k on it, but was 2k less than I had expected and looked worse than any tire I'd changed out. The pressure was 4psi low when I checked at home, pretty sure that was the culprit. I have FoBo sensors now and watch pressures and temps closely. Probably the only issue with E-4s, at Max pressure they last but it's a trade as you lose there cushy ride.

[C-dub]

Probably the only issue with E-4s, at Max pressure they last but it's a trade as you lose there cushy ride.

This seems to be an issue that I'm mulling over. Over the past several months I've increased the pressure on my E4's by 2-3 pounds and am so far getting excellent wear from them without any adverse effects. I have noticed the slightly less cushy ride you mentioned.

The part I'm still mulling over is in regards to suspension. I've considered the Traxxion Full Monty because of the sometimes rough suspension when hitting rough roads or railroad tracks and other things. However, several people have mentioned that doing that entire suspension upgrade also causes a loss of cushy ride. So, here I am with my road couch or RV on two wheels wondering why I want to turn this into a 900+lb sport bike.

In the long run, I don't think I do and will probably save the Traxxion money for some kind of trailer in the future. My wife hasn't complained about the ride with the increased tire pressure, so there is that.

[rick3015]

Hey Tom, follow Idahoan, thanks for the information. I will run my new set at max pressure. You were more help than the local Honda shop.

[PastoT]

Hey Tom, follow Idahoan, thanks for the information. I will run my new set at max pressure. You were more help than the local Honda shop.

I also balance with beads. The main reason I've stuck with the E-3/4s is they've saved my hiney twice as unadvertised run flats.

[tmjdmay]

Have a set of the E4s, and I think there great. Only have around 2k on them and have no issues with them. I feel that they should hold up well as far as the miles go. Excellent tires especially for the curvies! I really thought about going to the dark side but decided not, I'm just used to a standard motorcycle tire. The E4s probably will be my tires for a quite while.

[Viking]

I put an E4 rear on last spring at start of ride season, but kept the E3 on the front as it looked pretty good, and was only a year old. In September 2019, I finally pulled the E3 and put on the new front E4 that I had waiting. The rear had about 8K miles on it by then and still looked good. I will likely be getting a new E4 rear mid 2020 but the front will probably go the distance till my next full tire change which will be spring of 2021, all things considered. I run the pressures at 42/41 and I have Progressive suspension front and rear. I am satisfied with the ride, the wear and the handling. I liked Avon tires better, but had very poor service with the rear, having belt separation at less than 5K miles and having to fight with Avon over replacement, so even tho they were probably the best tires I have had on this bike for handling, it takes more than that to make a good tire. The E4s have been described as a bit slippery, and that is a fact. The rear breaks free pretty easily in wet conditions. I am an aggressive rider, so have to watch myself in such situations. I still have not found a tire as good as the Dunlop D250s that came as OEM on this 2009 bike, but it is move on from there as Dunlop has. I would buy E4s again.

[C-dub]

Just an update on my DE4's in case anyone is interested.

My wife and I just passed 16k miles on this set of tires yesterday. It was time to measure tread depths since I try and do that every thousand miles to keep an eye on their wear. I'm a fairly anal retentive Medical Technologist and a data hoarder.

I did measure their depths brand new, but not all the way around like I'm doing now. 30 points on the front tire and 22 on the rear. That's each of the little holes on the rear and similar points on the front for consistency. Remember the above self admission.

It appears I'm losing about 0.1mm of tread every 800-900 miles. The front/rear tires were about 4.0/6.0mm new and I'm down to 2.0/2/5 after 16k miles. Dunlop recommends replacement at 1/32 of an inch, which is a gnat's hair under 0.8mm. I might have as much as 10k miles left, but that seems really optimistic. With a big (for us) trip planned later this fall of around 3k miles I'm thinking about getting another 4k (for at least 20k on this set of tires) before replacing them in late August or early September. I've never gotten more than 10-12k on a set of motorcycle tires before for about the same price or more than these DE4's. I couldn't be happier with them and look forward to pushing past 20k on the next set.

I do have the centromatic wheel balancers on that I'm sure are also contributing to their mileage. That is something else to keep in mind for anyone that does not have some method to keep their wheels in balance as their tires wear and age. And they have not been on the entire time these tires have been on. The tires had about 6k on them when the balancers were installed.

I have not pulled a trailer and only about 30% of my riding is two up.