Road W GT TIRE REVIEW

Road W GT 2008 Goldwing.

Dangerous

Wanted to try something different than Dunlop, mistake. Had shop mount and balance tires. Took for a ride and these tires are very loud. After a few hundred miles of easy riding, took to the highway and found out this thing wobbles all over the place. If the wind blows it pushes you all over. Any grooves in the road, it tracks them. Don't decelerate fast or you will get a heavy wobble. Thought maybe my steering bearings were bad, 700 bucks later the bike does the same thing. Found other similar complaints and checked my tires date codes and they are both from early 2024. Have a bike trip coming up so now ordering Dunlops, at least I know they are safe. Maybe I can sell these slightly used tires to someone at Michelin, they might look into the issue then. I just hope nobody gets seriously injured, or worse from these tires.

Cupping and noisy

Bought a new set of Michelins for my 2018 Goldwing Tour at Amercade 2025, front tire vibrated almost immediately, I called installing dealer DAK Cycles the next week and explained problem, they contacted Michelin and got authorization for a new front tire. I travelled 3 hours each way back to them for replacement. I was very happy with their services,good dealership. Now 6000 miles later I have horrendously loud tire noise and front tire is badly cuppe, I am on top of my tire pressure regularly. I feel this first batch of tires was defective and don’t feel front tire should need replacing this soon,very disappointing. Stan

Bad front tire vibration

In Spring of 2026, bought a new set of W GT's, despite online forum chatter in 2024 about front tire vibration issues. Seller sent me a pair manufactured in 2024. Front tire vibrated so badly, almost turned into a tank-slapper in first 3 miles. Balanced correctly, was swapped out for a tire manufactured in 2026. Not problem with the '26. There is definitely an issue with front W GT's made in 2024.

Bad warranty

I bought a set of these tires last week went for a ride put 150 miles on them and the back tire blew the side wall out. Michelin would not Warranty the tire they said that I must of hit something ( I didn't) very disappointed would not buy them again.

Impressive Wet Traction and Cornering Performance

Guys, I had the best wet traction experience with the michelins on my 2023 gw bagger then any tires in past. Riding home last night from nashville to burbs met some heavy rain. I have never felt such a rock solid performance than with these tires. Swopped in the michelin tires last week on the bike, best decision...work the 500$. Added the centramatic balancers and it so smooth on highways. I am really impressed and high confidence the tires provide and the cornering is superb!! Well engineered.

Great choice for the GW

Handling is superb and it appears I will be over 12k before replacing

Superior Tire for Honda Goldwing

I put these on at 87,268, and I have 105,206, so I am just at the 18,000-mile mark with them. I have ridden them in the rain on the Arkansas Pig Trail Scenic Byway, through the 112-degree heat of Nevada, the twisties of the Great Northern Cascades to Portland, and down the Pacific Coast Highway (in the fog at 55 degrees most of that trip). I've had them on gravel roads and every type of road surface you can imagine, including a short stint on grass. Here are my thoughts: 1) I've never bought tires and looked for comfort, so I wasn't looking for a comfortable tire, but that's what is most noticeable about these tires from the start, like pulling out of the driveway, I noticed it immediately. They absorb roadway imperfections like they are wrapped in memory foam. Despite that, they have excellent feedback on twisties and corners, even higher speed cornering. 2) I immediately noticed a slight wobble on the front tire around 38-40 MPH. It was most noticeable when decelerating and when I took my hands off the handlebars. What's interesting is that over the last 18,000 miles, it never got worse. I've had front tires in the past that developed cupping on the front tire, and there was a violent shaking at 38 MPH if you took your hands off the handlebars. I tested this tire numerous times at 38 MPH, and while the slight wobble was there, it did not get worse and didn't go into a violent shake. 3) The front tire's tread is noisy with any lean, even the slightest lean, depending on the road surface. The front tire is pretty quiet on the rough asphalt where I live, but I noticed on smooth concrete roads in New York, and I think it was Maine, that any lean angle produced substantial road noise. Having said that, most roads, regardless of the surface, produce a slight humming noise, but nothing egregious. There were a few times on smooth, concrete toll roads that the sound was downright ridiculous, like riding on an all-terrain tread pattern. 4) Handling on curves was exceptional, even when pulling a 250 lb trailer. Over 5,000 of the 18,000 miles were pulling a trailer. The tires don't follow tar snakes and did very well on grooved pavement, providing plenty of stability and a smooth ride. Did I mention how incredibly smooth these tires are? 5) Traction gets five stars. I've done many miles in heavy rain, like when I hit that squaw line on the Arkansas Pig Trail Scenic Byway, and had to do emergency braking a few times. I never once felt like I was losing traction. The Michelins have performed equally in my view to the OEM as far as traction, and obviously well outperformed the OEM when it came to mileage and comfort. 6) Front tire cupping. The only tire so far that I have been able to run on my bike with no cupping on the front tire has been the OEM. All others suffered cupping on the front despite running the front at 42 PSI and having Centramatics. There are lots of opinions on what causes it, but OEM front tires do not cup on my bike. I have noticeable cupping on the front Michelin tire. It doesn't cause problems when decelerating or at lower speeds like other cupped tires have had. The fact is, the cupping on the front tire has led me to choose to replace it earlier than I would if there were no cupping. But, I,m replacing it at 18,000 miles; more than acceptable tire life for me. I'm sure I could go plenty more miles on it despite the cupping, but I am putting on a new set. 7) Overall, in every category, the Michelins have outperformed all other tires I've ridden on this bike. The Michelin tread pattern on the front tire creates noise, and on certain road surfaces, it can be really loud, but those extra-loud road surfaces were pretty rare. I'm sold on them. I'll be getting a second set this week on the front and rear.

Smooth, good handling, very quiet even in cornering!

I have a 2022 Gold Wing and recently got a puncture in the original rear tire, so I replaced both tires with this new Michelin Road W GT. You could visually see a huge difference in the tread design, width, shape of the Michelin compared to the original Dunlops. But the best part was taking the bike out for a ride today on the new Michelins, and I am very pleased with them! I could actually feel a difference; these are smooth at all speeds (I didn't go above 81mph though), handle very well in cornering, and are very quiet even in cornering! Super glad Michelin came out with these, and I hope they'll get good tread life too.

After two tires and multiple balancing it would vibrate

At the time of this post 7/1/25, I purchased both the front and rear tires for 2023 goldwing your. I went with the W GT because Michelin has made amazing touring tires for quite some time "commanders", everyone I know that has them loves them. I figured they would of made an amazing tire for this as well. I ordered had the tires installed by the dealer using balance beads. Immediately once I got on the highway the front tire had a major balance issue "I have used balanced beads for a few years and never had issues". I went back to the dealer and had them rebalance it with weights, there wasn't much of a gain. They wanted the bike so I left it, a few days later I get a call, they tell me the following: they switched the front tire with another W GT and it vibrated as well. They then used a whole other wheel and a W GT on it to rule out the wheel being bad and it still vibrated. They put another tire on and the vibration went away. 2 brand new tires and they did the same thing, I wouldn't purchase. Michelin didn't do their testing on these tires for sure. I would not purchase. Let them figure out the issue first.