Date:         Wed, 20 Jan 1999 10:10:13 EST
Reply-To:     SyncroHead@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Davis <SyncroHead@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Michelin X-RadialPlus  -- Comments please??
Comments: To: gordo@HAWAII.EDU
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

In a message dated 99-01-19 19:00:36 EST, gordo@HAWAII.EDU wrote:

> Does anybody have experience with this tire?.  Any comparison to the
>  (discontinued?) Michelin MXT would be helpful.

The MXT tire is not discontinued.  It's just not in the standard Michelin
distributers catalogs.  Every Michelin dealer can order them.  You just need
to make the dealer call the distributer.  I talked to 6 tire dealers in
southern california and only one knew of the MXT.  All the others just said
there's no such thing.  They think that every Michelin tire is in their little
catalog.  Their catalog probably only has half of Michelin's tires, but they
are the half that accounts for 99% of the sales.
MXTs (which appear to only be made for the Vanagon) should cost about $80 to
$105 each plus M&B.

You mentioned Costco in your message...........
Last August Michael O'Mara wrote:
------------------------------------------------------
Good News!  I would try COSTCO!   The people at any store could not
order them (I tried 5 different stores - some multiple times each), it
was not in there "book" and had no special odering information for this
tire in the "special" book.  I decided to TRY to get COSTCO to order
them.  Persistence paid off!  I called Michelin and they told me COSTCO
could order them.  I was provided the Michelin order number.  Went back
to the COSTCO store(s),  still no luck.  E-mailed the COSTCO Corp from
their own website and was given the good news - the store could order
them.  I got COSTCO (local store - Kirkland) to order them from Michelin
after being informed by the tire buyer how to do so.  They arrived in a
week, got 'em mounted and they are keeping me on the road as we speak.
Icing on the cake - $78.99 each plus tax.  Cherry on top - Costco had a
special "$28 off " 4 tires deal that week so the mounting and balancing
was free!  COOL, HUH???!?!?!
For any of you who want to press your COSTCO tire salesman into service,
the COSTCO item number on the tire and on my receipt is #66044.  Maybe
if we buy these often enough, they will realize they have a market
besides Dodge Caravans and Toyotas .  Let 'em know you are out there!
-----------------------------------------------------

Regards,
Jim Davis