6 yrs,102,000 Miles 2006 Outback Michelin Harmonys

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I was doing the fall maintenance on our 2006 Outback today and checked the tread depth of the tires. I put the Michelin Harmonys on when we bought the car in 2008 when the car had 38,000 miles on it.

The car just turned over to 140,000, and the Michelin Harmonys still have 6/32nds of tread left-I measure each tire in several different spots and it was at 6/32nds every time. They have worn evenly, never given us a single problem, get good traction in all conditions, and have never been rotated. The car was aligned when the tires were put on, but has not been aligned since. These tires have been a perfect match for our Subaru's winter ability and helped get my wife safely home in some significant snowstorms over the years.

At 6 years and 102,000 miles it's time to replace them. They are just starting to get a little noisy and I'm sure some of the snow traction will have deteriorated. And with winter coming up now is the time to get it done. It's a shame that Michelin no longer makes the Harmony-it's been an outstanding tire that far exceeded my every expectation.

I'm going to go with either Michelin Defenders or General AltiMAX RT43s. Both seem to have solid reviews and good winter performance for an all season tire. I'll have to decide soon-some of the rebates run out at the end of the week. I hope that whatever I choose does as well as the Harmonys.






 
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That is some fantastic tire life! Have you considered the Pilot A/S 3's or are they not really appropriate for this application?
 
That's great tire life. I never had that kind of luck with Michelin's or any tire for that matter. I had cord separation a few times with Michelin Tires long before they wore out.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
That is some fantastic tire life! Have you considered the Pilot A/S 3's or are they not really appropriate for this application?


I wanted something with a bit better snow traction. Since we're in a very rural area snow traction is extremely important. Although she's retired, my wife still sits on several boards and has to go into the city once or twice a week. I don't want to worry about her getting home in the winter.

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Proper alignment, tire rotations and correct tire pressure will give you many miles of use.



The car was aligned when the tires were put on, but not since. I've never rotated tires and keep them at about 4 pounds over the door sticker.
 
I have the General Altimax RT 43s on my Jetta, and have been very happy with them over 25,000 miles so far. Excellent traction through all road conditions, quiet ride, and good handling.
 
I have defenders. and while their winter traction isnt bad for light occasional snows(example november or april snows that melt away).. t hey arent so good in deep or packed the tread pattern just isnt aggressive enough.

of course I run winter tires so nothing really measures up to those in the winter. The defenders were better than the kumho 4x I had.

I'd go with the general altimax RT43 H-rated.

or pirelli p7's
 
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I got 30K out of the set that came on the Focus. Burnt them right off.

Now that it's aligned, I'm interested to see how much I get out of the 50K mile rated Coopers. If I get 40 I guess I'll be happy.
 
100k, that is crazy good life. I'd be tempted to buy another set of rims for the replacement tires to run for the winter, then return to these old ones. Not worth the effort or cost, but tempting to just see how far they could go.

Although if they are are getting noisy I'd get rid of them too.

Good luck with the next set. I am trying out rt43's myself on two cars.
 
Michelin's non-performance tires last a long long time!

The Defender will probably give you at least as much mileage and at least as good ride/handling.

The RT43 is a good tire, too.

Michelin tires are expensive, but worth it, so if you have the money, get the Defender, but if not, there is nothing wrong with the RT43
smile.gif
 
In all my years on this earth, I have never seen a tire go 100K, Just saying .....
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
I have defenders. and while their winter traction isnt bad for light occasional snows(example november or april snows that melt away).. t hey arent so good in deep or packed the tread pattern just isnt aggressive enough.

of course I run winter tires so nothing really measures up to those in the winter. The defenders were better than the kumho 4x I had.

I'd go with the general altimax RT43 H-rated.

or pirelli p7's


Funny
laugh.gif

I/we have both...the RT43 that I just installed on my wife's RX-300 and the P7 that were installed my my daughter's Mazda3 in May'14

The jury is still out on both(for me anyway!). Both get super reviews from customers on the TR but, I haven't read anything from CR. Does anyone know what CR says of either or if tested???

Even if Michelin still made the Harmony, they juuuuuust may not be the same the 2nd time around. But, it remains to be seen! I don't ever remember reading anything special in particular about the Harmony(just average tests/reviews, IIRC).
_____________________________________________________________________

But for the OP(Pop_Rivit), between the General(good value) and the Michelin(pricey-er), it's a difficult decision as either could/would be fine I imagine!
smirk.gif


With the General having an edge in snow traction and foul weather driving and the Michelin could last the test of time. How long will you be keeping the Subaru?

Best of luck in your decision!

CB
 
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It might be time for my lecture on tire wear.

Most tire wear occurs in the cornering mode. The more corners you take, and the more severely you corner, the more rapidly a tire wears. Drive in a straight line and you hardly get any wear at all.

You could think of this as the difference between city driving and country driving - with country driving having lots of miles between turns.

It is not uncommon for people who pull RV trailers to get over 100K in a set of tires - all because the drive long distances on the highway.
 
Originally Posted By: JDW
In all my years on this earth, I have never seen a tire go 100K, Just saying .....


It's really quite simple. The Harmony was originally a 90,000 mile tire which means that it was a more durable compound to begin with, along with fairly deep tread. Our Subaru spends the vast majority of its mileage going straight down the highway at 55 mph, so compared to "city" vehicles there are very few turns that scrub the tires. Add to that both my wife (the primary driver) and me are conservative drivers.

To put it in perspective, these tires have lasted just beyond the treadwear warranty, which is not that uncommon. If winter wasn't on the horizon I might wait a while before replacing them. But since my wife is the primary driver I want to keep her as safe as possible, and that means replacing the tires before winter.

It is the same reason the car didn't need brakes until 120,000 miles and still has the original clutch.

Originally Posted By: 6starprez
How is it possible to go 6+ years / 102K miles with no tire rotations and have even wear on all tires?


It was aligned when the tires were installed, and you can see my above information for the type of driving the car does. As far as rotating the tires, if I would have seen evidence of uneven wear I probably would have rotated them (after fixing the cause of the uneven wear). But I check the tires twice a year and have never had an issue.

Originally Posted By: Char Baby

With the General having an edge in snow traction and foul weather driving and the Michelin could last the test of time. How long will you be keeping the Subaru?


I'm guessing that we'll keep it another 5-6 years. At the current annual mileage that would put it somewhere around 200,000 miles and about 15 or 16 years old.

Right now, despite the success with the Harmonys, I'm probably going to go with the Generals because of the combination of price, treadwear warranty and foul weather ability. Assuming we keep the car to 200,000 miles, they'll last for the rest of the time we own it.
 
Agreed!

When we traveled more often by car(family vacation, school events, travel sports, running kids around) and put on several hundred thousand miles on our vehicles before retiring them, we would often get the tire manufactures wearout rating on most of the tires and often more miles in fact! Sure, we sometimes didn't get the mfg rating for miles but, it is what it is!

Since we've been empty nesters, we haven't been getting even close to those ratings though, we're using the tires longer(more years) but, getting only about 1/2 the rated mileage. Lots more city/town type driving with the normal highway stints from on ramp to off ramp journeys.
Did some more flying too!

Now since I have retired, we plan on(and have been) traveling by car more often again. This should help us to get closer to the tire mfg's ratings and getting our moneys worth in terms of miles, instead of years of usage.
 
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Originally Posted By: JDW
In all my years on this earth, I have never seen a tire go 100K, Just saying .....


My father was on track with his (low mileage) 2001 F350 on the original Firestone Steeltex Radial. They had 40K miles on them when we took them off for dryrot. Only used about 2/32'' in 40K miles.
 
Originally Posted By: JDW
In all my years on this earth, I have never seen a tire go 100K, Just saying .....

The Uniroyal tiger paws(perhaps the same tire?) on the Tracker were going to go that far with similar wear, but they never were great in the wet from the start and probably would've driven us to snow tires sooner, if they were on a 2wd vehicle.
Ours were starting to harden more and were useless offroad, so we replaced them even for summer use with about 80k miles on them and around 2/3 tread depth.
 
Originally Posted By: 6starprez
How is it possible to go 6+ years / 102K miles with no tire rotations and have even wear on all tires?


AWD Subaru with manual transmission (OP mentioned clutch) - it means permanent 50-50 torque split - driving mostly in straight line.

I bet I would have worn them in 50% of the distance thanks to my aggresive cornering.

Krzys
 
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