Opinion on Metzeler Roadtec Z6

[wiggledbits]

Sorry not asking what the best tire is just looking for other experience with them.

So I have these on my 11s with 5" rear wheel. I find them hard and a bit slick where when leaned over maybe half way and a small squirt of the throttle I can feel the rear slip. starting a corner I can feel the front slip some at times. I have scrubbed the elephants feet in the rear and the head on the front so I do try to push a bit but they are supposed to be a sport x-over tire. I run at about 35psi cold rear and 33 in the front. Mfg says 42psi! The compound just seems hard. I've gotten great mileage out of them (about 5k and maybe 3 or 4 more to go) but I'm just about ready to ditch them. I'm afraid to change the pressure and push it. I know lower makes the almost impossible to turn.

Does anyone running/have ran these tires have/had the same confidence uninspiring experience with the Z6?

[SergioK]

1st, you are running them too high PSI... those should be hot pressures, not cold. Try that. 2nd, it's not a pure supersport tire so...

[roger albert]

Nothing really wrong with 33/35 for cold pressure on the street.
If I wanted more grip, I'd go 32/34 (if solo, otherwise at least 33/37 two up).

They don't get that hard to turn with lowered pressure.
Track guys run generic street tires at 30/30, or even a bit lower, all the time, and have no trouble making much faster turns than you'll need on the street.

So, to recap, the pressures you're using aren't bad, but if you feel you need a bit more grip, go a bit lower. Won't hurt a thing.

[Paulaner]

I ran Z6's as my first tire on the 11, got 7k miles.

Switching to M5's was a revelation! My bike (first BMW for me, mind you) went from being a teetering,wonky old-man's eccentric to being a sweet, smoothly falling leaf in the corners. Since then I've tried PR2 and -016, but will go back to M5 next....

[jaytee]

With thousands of miles and how they get squirmy partially leaned over, it sounds to me like the tire has a flat spot and the profile had been compromised.

[wiggledbits]

I understand these are not a pure sport tire and are a compromise between traction and mileage.

I'll try dropping the psi. When they were mounted the shop had 28/30 and it turned slow to me at the time.

This is my first BMW and the first modern street bike I've had since the late 70's. Before I bought these I searched for what might be a good sport tourer but it all seemed like just a huge religious argument to me at the time. I don't think I will go Z6 next time.

I may be over estimating the life but they still look good, too good for the miles on them. I do push them, maybe not as hard as some of you all do but I am the one waiting for others to catch up when I ride with another BMW and Duc.

No flat spot on them.

[8ball]

I have these on my '05 r1100s and have over 4k miles on them and have been very happy with grip and handling. I run 38R/36F, if pressures fall by 2lbs or more steering gets heavier and handling seems to fall off. I'd buy them again, good compromise of handling and wear.

[PFFOG]

Never ran them here, but have ridden them a lot in Europe, I have been very impressed with them traction wise. Trusted them enough to grind the center stand repeatedly on a R12RT, R1150 R, and F800ST over the years. Wear was also pretty good.

Here I go track days a lot, and usually go with stickier rubber, so I don't have to keep swapping tires. For street the supersport rubber is probably overkill, heck the Tourances on the GS's I have ridden, have never giving me pause, even 2 up, leaned far enough to grind the center stands, and kill the chicken strips.

[wiggledbits]

Originally Posted by 8ball

I have these on my '05 r1100s and have over 4k miles on them and have been very happy with grip and handling. I run 38R/36F, if pressures fall by 2lbs or more steering gets heavier and handling seems to fall off. I'd buy them again, good compromise of handling and wear.

Hmmm that is interesting. My numbers are F/R BTW. Like I said I think the wear is great but wonder why I'm experiencing what I am. When I bought the bike the PO had Z6s. I was to new to the bike and had to replace them after about 1,000m to be able to compare the old and new. I have only experienced the Z6 since getting back on the road with a sport bike. I guess suspension setup and how one rides maes a big difference because I have only read good reports on these.

[dadicool59]

Ive got em on my new RT.
Bike is 20kg heavier than my S so not a huge difference.
I find that they work fine but are not in the same league as others that ive used.
I am 220lb and i run 36 front and 42 rear, have done for years, bike handles beautifully and I have avoided the feathering that I used to get when I ran softer PSI.
My RT has got 10,000ks on it and they still look fine when I would have normally been looking for a new rear by now.
I have just put a new pair of Michelin PR3's on my S, I love them and so does the bike.

[Kieran R1100S]

for what it's worth Z6 came standard on my 09 R12R, I did about 350km on them and couldn't get them off quick enough. I found them hard, no feed back worse tyre I've ever experianced.
When I had my ZX10 and was riding crazy with a bunch of guys most of us wore running Michelin Pilot Power and found them absolutely fantastic for a sport tyre. Great feed back never let go in the dry and wore getting 5,000 km out of a set. With my R12R I deciced I wanted to slow down a bit so I replaced the Z6 with Michelin Pilot Road. We can't get them here any more but at the time I bought 2 sets. I took a big rick because I new no one that had tried them as they are marketed as a touring tyre and I wanted to get great milage. That I did I got 9,000km out of them and they performed great in all areas. Dry, wet, great feed back and never let go. I also bought 3 sets of Continental Motions from the USA which landed very cheap for our standards because I didn't expect to get the milage I was getting from the Michelin so they wore sitting on my rack for 2 years. I sold 1 set and still had 2 left. I just put a set on last week and again they are a marverlous tyre. Straight out they feel great, excelant feed back and no signs of letting go in the dry.
I've run Conti's Brigstone and Michelin and found all sport touring tyre in there range to be excelant! I've always run 36psi front and 40psi rear 1 up and 42psi rear 2 up for summer and I let both tyres down 2 psi for our mild winter riding where temps only get to between 4c-14c through the day. Most guys I ride with run a lot lower temps then I do but I can safely say I have never had a slide while road racing with any of them. The Z6 that sat on my rack for 18 months I gave to a mate who had this 1125R Buell and I saw him have a massive slid out of the rear which he did recover from. I warned him about the tyres but I suppose he couldn't refuse the FREE factor. He was having so much trouble from the Buell with stater problems, rear axle and bearing collapes @ 4,000kms it went back under warrenty and they replaced the whole rear end. Once that was fixed he was able to step out of it because he threated to Sue, so they bought it back of him. so the crap tyres went with the bike.
Z6 tyres are there for guys who potter around on there bike and get 20,000km out of them, don't have a problem because they are never putting there bike into one!

[Kieran R1100S]

Originally Posted by dadicool59

Ive got em on my new RT.
Bike is 20kg heavier than my S so not a huge difference.
I find that they work fine but are not in the same league as others that ive used.
I am 220lb and i run 36 front and 42 rear, have done for years, bike handles beautifully and I have avoided the feathering that I used to get when I ran softer PSI.
My RT has got 10,000ks on it and they still look fine when I would have normally been looking for a new rear by now.
I have just put a new pair of Michelin PR3's on my S, I love them and so does the bike.

You just beat me to my post and I just read yours.
Maybe the Z6 work better on the RT because the bike has more weight and the tyre bites the tar more and gives it better grip, just my thought.

[wiggledbits]

I'm about 180 on the bike only ride single. Sounds like I need to go up in psi. I just got a 5.5 rear so I have some additional options when I do make the change. I know the turning characteristics will be different but.. well it looks kinda bad ass. :-)

[wiggledbits]

Originally Posted by Kieran R1100S

You just beat me to my post and I just read yours.
Maybe the Z6 work better on the RT because the bike has more weight and the tyre bites the tar more and gives it better grip, just my thought.

Come to think of it when I read those reviews the really good reviews were from the bigger and heavier bikes. Maybe they have a few sneak out of QC with a harder compound.

I'm going to try up and down a little on PSI. The rear I seem to get more feel from but when the front slipped the last time I just about pooed.

[Martin Glasser]

and then get a Michelin Pilot Road!

[dadicool59]

Originally Posted by Kieran R1100S

You just beat me to my post and I just read yours.
Maybe the Z6 work better on the RT because the bike has more weight and the tyre bites the tar more and gives it better grip, just my thought.

Maybe. I wont be replacing them with Z6's.
The most likely replacements will be PR3's for the RT.

[wiggledbits]

Well I pumped the F&R to 36/41 and found a world of difference. I get more feed back from the front and the back feels much better. I can maintain a line much better now and am gaining some confidence in them. Compound is still to hard for my liking but until I burn these up they'll have to do.

[Meeni]

When I did the same on PR2, the bike felt unstable and prone to understeer. I run 32f 35.5r on michelin tire, and would not go over 34f without a passenger.

[sgoodwin]

Wiggle I found the same when I ran them, lower pressures seemed too loose with no feel, I ended up running them at 36/42. However they handled like crap for the last half of their lives anyway. Big thumbs down to the z6.