Michelin tire weather cracking question.

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by beenthere

why would you keep buying junk and what made them junk to you?? Been lots with good reviews of a few of the asian tires. although i would not buy.im with ya, just wondering why. I buy GENERALS usa since the begining of truck tires. most advances were made by them on truck tires. check it oujt.. now owened by overseas but still made here. HS model for highway steer use, or all position

Just to clarify I didn't keep buying them. Bought several at a time and put them in different services and watched to see. Most of the China and India tires rounded out across the tread and looked more like an inner tube. Were talking heavy duty tires, not light trailers

Bought a lot of the odd tires at business closings for pennies on the dollar from their unsold inventory. All steering tires and critical tires were top of the line and the "cheapies went on trailers of different types"

Have had Generals and Multi Mile and they did perform Ok but I cant really say any tire was great all the time, it varies over the years and different batches

So far Michelins have performed across the board near the top or at the top factoring in tires on the F350, F550 and cars and so on. I have had plenty of tire cracking but no failures (from cracking sidewalls) over the years and hardly any of the cracking on Michelins so this whole deal has been very interesting to follow

[flattire101]

Daydream37 Call Michelin by all means. I was a Michelin dealer and Michelin almost always will make some sort of warranty concession if the tires were in service less than 6 years. They will instruct you to go to an AUTHORIZED Michelin dealer, that's OK. You will get a number or just record your information from Michelin and they will start a file on your claim. Dealer will call Michelin in your behalf and explain what he finds. Tell dealer you are uncomfortable with the tires that are not showing cracks and you would like them replaced also. More than likely you will get an adjustment for all the tires. Hope this helps. Tell dealer the magic word is "Policy Adjustment"

[flattire101]

Daydream37 6 years from day put in service was always the cutoff for warranty, but I've been retired/tired since 2010 and number of years may have changed since then.

[NHRA225]

My Michelin XRV Story>>>>http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/anot...ry-252245.html

[Arizona]

I had an 8 year old Michelin drivers front on Moho blowout in 1995. There were no sidewall cracks but was just dry rotted. After that I’ve been replacing tires every 5 years. I bought new xze Michelin’s in 2011 that we’re in the Arizona and Nevada sun most of the time and the last 1.5 years in Las Vegas storage. I just replaced them in December with very small hairline cracks the sidewalls. You can’t by how they look. I replaced with toyos because of price. Remember dry rot happens on the inside as well as outside. Once you’ve had a front drivers blowout you become a proactive tire replacer.

[Arizona]

BTW- I had 4 out of 6, four year old tires on my pontoon houseboat blow out from Tucson to lake Powell. No sidewall cracking at all. Light boat just big. The guys at discount tires told me they recommend replacing boat trailer tires every 3 years because of dry rot.

[RM Art]

Having been a masonry and concrete and tile contractor for decades:

Owned [or rented] untold # of trucks, equipment, trailers, cars etc.

I know [have experienced] effects of tire rot, i.e. simply too old tires.

Currently I'm purchasing a really nice condition, fairly low mileage [40K] and for years pampered 1999 Fleetwood Bounder 28T; professionally installed banks exhaust 5 yrs. ago and complete new roof topping just three years ago. Interior like new. A great condition coach! Private owner [72 yrs.] is fully attached to this rig. So unfortunately his wife passed a couple years ago. He is now ready to let it become owned by another loving couple. He kept it up and exercised it during last few years. He insisted that he and a neighbor get its contents fully shined and well prepped for my wife's and my travel excursions. Great guy and a new friend of ours for sure!

Coach should be ready for us to take ownership within a week or so. Downpours have hampered his and friend's procedure of getting it ready for send off to us as new owners.

Regarding tires:

All tread is super deep. Few miles travel. There are four Michelins on the rear [different brand on front, can't recall name - show no cracks]. Coach is 150 miles from where we live. We visited once so far and did a pretty good review. Enough to know what a great coach it is as well as what a good guy it is that is selling it. I've not seen the DOT age due to all tires' DOT's being inside. Planning to replace all six tires with 225/70R 19.5 Hercules truck tires; my favorite tire shop is in knowledge of soon replacement.

Question:

I've been into Michelin website and read as well as viewed items regarding miniscule hairline cracks on sidewall of their tires. According to their info the micro-cracks have no meaning toward blowout. So... what is your opinion that if I find the DOT date has not reached the 6 year generally agreed replacement schedule that I could run these tires for a small amount of miles [say, 500 +/-] before I actually replace all 6 tires simultaneously?

Input always appreciated!

[RM Art]

Guess I can see from posts 47 and 48 - already answering my question in post 49... That I should change all six tires immediately upon ownership... DOT date being OK or not!!

[Jim_HiTek]

Originally Posted by RM Art

Regarding tires:

All tread is super deep. Few miles travel. There are four Michelins on the rear [different brand on front, can't recall name - show no cracks]. Coach is 150 miles from where we live. We visited once so far and did a pretty good review. Enough to know what a great coach it is as well as what a good guy it is that is selling it. I've not seen the DOT age due to all tires' DOT's being inside. Planning to replace all six tires with 225/70R 19.5 Hercules truck tires; my favorite tire shop is in knowledge of soon replacement.

Question:

I've been into Michelin website and read as well as viewed items regarding miniscule hairline cracks on sidewall of their tires. According to their info the micro-cracks have no meaning toward blowout. So... what is your opinion that if I find the DOT date has not reached the 6 year generally agreed replacement schedule that I could run these tires for a small amount of miles [say, 500 +/-] before I actually replace all 6 tires simultaneously?

Input always appreciated!

Not sure I agree with the '6 year' replacement thing. I go by what Michelin says and for my model tires they say the should be inspected on the inside by a tire professional starting a year 7 (maybe year 6, doesn't matter much), once a year. And they should be replaced at 10 years of age no matter how good they look.

Check what they say about any Michelin's you happen to run across. Might be different.

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

Not sure I agree with the '6 year' replacement thing. I go by what Michelin says and for my model tires they say the should be inspected on the inside by a tire professional starting a year 7 (maybe year 6, doesn't matter much), once a year. And they should be replaced at 10 years of age no matter how good they look.

Check what they say about any Michelin's you happen to run across. Might be different.

100% correct. Steer axle tires are the critical ones on all large vehicles. To maximize use and minimize expense you can as many do install new steers and move the take offs back. If you have a tag axle having a tire problem on the rear tires is less of an issue other than mechanical damage. Checking and inspecting the tires on the inside, outside, and 360 of the tread is important on any tire not just older tires.

Not all but many of the older motor homes I have seen and looked at closely have had tires well beyond 7 years of age. I am not saying to drive anything you don't feel safe with no matter what vehicle. In all our travels over 50 years I have never came on a motor home with a blown tire resulting in an accident. I have came upon and had roads blocked due to motor home fires several times.

My personal thoughts and what I do is inspect, monitor and replace or move when physical evidence shows any defects or significant wear.

All the good take off tires are resold and put on heavier duty service most of the time. A regroovable tire like the Michelin's and others that are stamped on the sidewall have a lot of extra strength built in for a very good reason.