Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 17:14:50 -0600
Reply-To: jondvo@GMAIL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: jondvo@GMAIL.COM
Subject: Re: Tires again..specifically Michelin
In-Reply-To: <013d01d0c5b2$9a1da8f0$ce58fad0$@gmail.com>
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Last time I got Michelin tires for my pickup, they replaced Continentals of which 2 delaminated. These were load range D tires and they worked fine for another 20k miles
That was5 yrs ago, now use Nokian
I think part of the problem is the load rating vs expected use. The continentals were SUV tires and made by General tire I believe and too low rating for the use. This was on a Frontier crew cab , not a big truck.
Sent from a rotary phone
> On Jul 23, 2015, at 7:46 PM, Jeff Schwaia <vw.doka@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Michelin "use to be" a good tire. Not anymore. Getting by on reputation.
>
> They have lost some big lawsuits due to tire separation issues. I know someone right now that is in the middle of a lawsuit for just that reason. Right front tire separated on her mother's Ford. Vehicle flipped, hit a tree. Dead instantly.
>
> I wouldn't put them on anything I own.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Don Hanson
> Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 5:49 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Tires again..specifically Michelin
>
> If you have this brand tire on your van you may want to check them for tread separations. Take the wheels off and roll them along a flat floor...If it wobbles or tips over...look more closely..In my experience, every single time I have done that with a pair of Michelins, I have found a bulge in at least one....
>
> I again found 2 of the 4 tires on my "other" van had nasty bulges and even steel cord exposed in the tread on one of them, despite have great looking tread depth and unchecked sidewalls...This time they were Latitude
> X-Ice, snow tires in 225 70 R15 size with a 1765lb load rating. I don't
> have the build date at hand...They're probably older, but no other brand tire I have had, even really old ones, so consistently dies, like these seem to always do....Sure, one should always check the build date on any used tire before you drive on it....right!...How many of the folks blasting along on the 6-lane freeways beside you have done THAT, do you think?
>
> This makes it almost 100%: of every 4 tire set of used Michelin's I
> have found at least one nasty bulge on the treads...and I have had, in the past few years, about 10 sets of wheels with Michelin tires come my way on various vehicles...mostly on Vanagon rims.
>
> This time it is an AWD GM Safari I've got for work and off season driving. This van has a similar drive line to the Syncro...viscous coupling ...so now I have to go buy 4 new tires (or 8, if I get street treads and snow treads, too) remember, on an AWD drive vehicle, tires need to be identical circumference, so you can't just replace one or two...gotta be a matched set.....
> .I noticed a vibration when I went onto a smooth section of Interstate, so I pulled the wheels to re-balance the tires (I do my own balancing) and as I rolled one around the shop it tipped over..."Oh no, not another one!" I said to myself..."Stupid! You should know better than to try run any Michelins by now" but I didn't have the cash to buy new tires, so I put them on, after a close look at their condition (they looked great) and hoped....The street tires with this van were worn AND had bulges I could see without even trying, too (3 out of four on the street treads)....So of the 8 Michelins with this van only 3 were safe...
>
> I can assure you all that I won't be buying any Michelin tires for either my Vanagon or this GM Safari 'syncro wanna be'...or any other vehicle in my fleet...
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