Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:13:35 -1000
Reply-To: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject: Re: Tires again..specifically Michelin
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuJ+6EdKkt+5_RokMCCyKPx_ADzGxkrcc4=3m4eRYF89TA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
key words here are 'used michelins' ...
obviously that's not workin' for ya.
fwiw ...I only do one model of Michelin Tire..
the Aqilles 205/65 R 15 LT .
those can be hard to find ..and spendy ...$ 150+ last time I bought a
new one.
At the same time I have at least 7 other tires in that brand, model and
size ..
and no failures of any kind.
Some of them have to be 7 yrs old at least.
re "steel cord exposed' ...
that should never happen of course..,.
and IMO usually occures from low tire pressures, alighment issues,
balance issues, or drivin' 'em too hard.
I balance my own tires too ...seems to work well enough.
I also do 'string and carpenter's level' front end alignments and I'd
say that works quite well too if one is careful and meticulous.
On 7/22/2015 2:48 PM, Don Hanson wrote:
> 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...
>
| 
