Michelin PR3

[HunterTodd]

I am in the process of putting new tyres on the girl and have gone for Michelin PR3's which seem to be the most common tyre used by members of the forum.

I am swapping from Pirelli Angels STs which had 14k on them.  Front was worn to the indicators, Rear was shagged completely.

Anyhow the tyre fitter said I was running the Pirellis too hard at 42 PSI. (Depsite all the info I have saying this is the correct pressure for the ST)

My general question to the forum is what pressure are PR3 users running in their tyres? My tyre fitter say 36 psi and no more than 38 psi.

Thanks Guys

[zevk]

Hi Hunter,

I installed new PR3 recently (1000km) ago and have been inflating 42 psi front and rear. I am very happy with the performance so far and traction is fantastic. 

As I understand, due to the higher mass weight of the ST1300 (+/-300 kg without rider) this is the CORRECT pressure and anything less for this tire will induce premature wear and poor handeling...

just my opinion, no doubt you will get many other opinions...

regards

[HunterTodd]

Thanks Zev,
What tyres were you running before and how much did you get from them?

[Brock]

Yep 42 PSI for me (when I remember to check)

[HunterTodd]

Hi Brock,

What sort of kays do you get out of the PR3s?

[Brock]

Hmmm,

good question, I will go n check my data.. dont go away

Got about18000Ks from the front, and 14000 out of the back. Could expect better with better tyre checks.

[zevk]

I had a bridgestone on front and a metzler on back i think.
The front tire was badly scalloped on the left side but had good treads. rear was at the indicators at 10,000km aprox
i think you will like the PR3 but ask around if a PR4 is available, I think I saw an advert in the US

[Diesel]

Zevk nailed it! (In his initial post)

I run 42 and 44 psi and get 29,000km and 23,000km respectively. Got almost as good out of PR2s previously.

Can't see a reason to change.

Search tyre pressures by user Diesel for more info.

Cheers, Diesel

[HunterTodd]

I had a bridgestone on front and a metzler on back i think.
The front tire was badly scalloped on the left side but had good treads. rear was at the indicators at 10,000km aprox
i think you will like the PR3 but ask around if a PR4 is available, I think I saw an advert in the US

Funny you say about the dfferent wear on each side. The angel ST rear was almost through to the carcase on the right and only just down to the wear indicators on the left. What suprised me was how quickly they went off.

I checked them before a ride up Thunderbolts way and down the Oxley (about 700 kays) and there was still a little tread on the ride hand side. Buy the time I got home it was completely flogged out on the right.

[zevk]

Peter Stevens service manager who fit the tires claimed "all front tires on australian roads will develop some "scalloping" due to the way the roads are constructed bieing sloped to the left or right for water drainage..." interesting theory, not sure if 100% true...

[Malcolm6112]

You will find the front tyre will wear more on the right. The camber of the road is to blame there.

PR3, I have got almost 25,000 from the rear. That's with combined towing as well.

42 is the correct pressure, it also helps getting good tyre wear too.

 

[ST2UP]

PR3 43/46......and did same on 023's got 19k out of front and still had another 2,000 if we had too.


A quality gauge that you trust is the secret, don't rely on the service station gauge, some can vary as much as 5psi or more 


 

[Brock]

vary as much as 5psi

That doesnt mean that the gauge is inaccurate, as the tolerance for them can be +/-5% of max reading. Thats why its a good idea to get yours calibrated if you can...

[Biggles]

or borrow Diesel's 

[Shiney]

I run 42 same as most of the guys... got 21'000 out of the tyres last time

[Biggles]

Do a search on PR3 in the Forum.  They have been thoroughly endorsed by everyone who has fitted them.
And as Diesel says, the subject of tyre pressures has also been discussed at length, and pressures lower than 40 psi have never proven helpful (unless you want to go beach bashing).

[HunterTodd]

Thank you all,

I have got a PR3 on the rear on already and will take the front in on Saturday.  42 psi is the go.

We have all our tools calibrated at work uner our QA system, so I can check my gauge against our standard.

 It will be a real bummer if my gauge was reading low and I stuffed the Pirelli because of it. Having said that the tread on the PR3 looks better to me.

I am having a problem getting the rear brake pads back in.

I can't get the hole for the locating pins to line up with the caliper without a lot of force. Any ideas?

[Brock]

Make sure that the front notch in the pad is hooking on the rail, it some times takes a little fiddling to get it to seat. try the outside one first, and put the pin in to hold it while you do the inside one. If you have to use force, its not in correctly

[HunterTodd]

Hi Brock,

I was going to pull the caliper off to see what I was doing wrong. When I removed the wheel a clip fell out of the front of the caliper. The manual shows very unclearly that it comes from the front of the caliper and I put it in the postion which looked the most obvious but I think I may have got it wrong and the pads are fouling on the clip somehow.

[Brock]

If you have a look at the 1100 manual, section 15 page 20, it shows the break down of the calliper. It should idetify where the bit came from.

If you dont have it, look here

http://ozstoc.com/index.php?topic=433.0

[richo]

I have just fitted PR3's (after the favourable reports on them) and the the SA RTE yesterday was my first run since bedding them.   Chalk and cheese from my old bridgestones.   I have been officially converted.  If I can get anywhere near the mileage that others are getting I will be a happy camper .  Richo