Are Michelins overpriced and overrated OR

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Michelin markets tires under three brands. Michelin, which is the top, premium brand (and priced as such), BF Goodrich, midpriced, with many touring and performance models, and Uniroyal, the economy line.
Continental makes Uniroyal. The Michelin MXX3 (over $225 per tire around '99) was the best tire I've ever had on any car. I can't stand Michelin's Energy and touring tires.
 
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Originally posted by moribundman: ....Continental makes Uniroyal.....
Only in Europe! In the US, Michelin owns the name. To make matters worse, The Dunlop name is owned by Goodyear, except in some places - Japan being one of them.
 
I think Yokohama (own Falken) is a better bang for the buck in terms of quality. Sure, my OEM Yokohama that came with my Integra was junk, but everywhere else I heard people like their Yoko and would buy it the 2nd time around.
 
1sttruck, I stand corrected. What I meant was that treadware on a Pirelli rated at 100 can't be compared to the treadware on a Goodyear rated at 100 other than that they're both not expected to last as long as a Pirelli rated 400 or a Goodyear rated at 400. Besides, real world driving and conditions usually dictate the treadware regardless of the rating. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=48
 
"What I meant was that treadware on a Pirelli rated at 100 can't be compared to the treadware on a Goodyear rated at 100 other than that they're both not expected to last as long as a Pirelli rated 400 or a Goodyear rated at 400. Besides, real world driving and conditions usually dictate the treadware regardless of the rating." It seems that another consideration besides differences in how makers apply the wear ratings is the speed/load ratings; an all season non rated at say 400 won't last as long as a V rated tire with a similar wear rating at high speeds. At legal highway speeds I'd expect an all season rated at 700 to wear better than a V rated tire with a wear rating of 400. 'Actual' variation in driving aside, for me the wear ratings might still be useful when considering tires for the one vehicle and one driving style.
 
Hey Blue_Goose, how often are you rotating your tires? My local tire guys are recommending 4K or 5K mile rotations with some of the newer designs for exactly the problem you mention--developing lots of road noise. Seems to be a bigger problem with FWD cars since all the rears do is brake, never accelerate.
 
Depending on how fishtail prone your ride is a good set of tires can save your life, your passengers and other motorists & pedestrians in your path. After realizing the life saving benefits of good tires, it is hard for me to call Michelin over priced. GY Eagle HP's nearly killed me, GY Eagle GA's although smooth and quite caused loss of control and multiple occasions. I will say part of the LOC was me underestimating snow and rain conditions relation RWD car handling. After running more expensive snow tires like Bridgestone Blizzak WS50 which made me nearly invincible in snow and Michelin Pilot Sport A/S which are super sticky, excellent cornering and wet braking/control ... I have been taught with tires often you only get what you pay for. Correlating to Michelins Arctic Alpin, IMO the Blizzak is a case superior at a lower price. Lower price tires like the BFG Traction T/A, Kumho ASX, Falken ZIEK 512 .... I would sell them to anyone but can not comment on driving experiance. I do not think the average Joe can go wrong with Goodyear Triple Treads,Comfort Treads, or MN Hydroedge tires either. Again you get what ya pair for.
 
You get what you pay for alright. A little hype,Big name and abit lighter wallet. **,GY,FS,Mich,there tires are $$$$ at the higher end and those are there best tires but from there mid priced down is just junk and you pay for name.
 
"To make matters worse, The Dunlop name is owned by Goodyear, except in some places - Japan being one of them. " Not exactly. Sumitomo has owned Dunlop for quite a while and now owns the part of Goodyear that makes passenger car and light truck tires. Bridgestone seems to have the same marketing idea as Michelin, three brands at different price points. Bridgestone Firestone Dayton
 
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Originally posted by Jimbo: ....Not exactly. Sumitomo has owned Dunlop for quite a while and now owns the part of Goodyear that makes passenger car and light truck tires.....
Try this quote "You could say that Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America knows its way around the tire industry. The company, a part of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, makes tires bearing the Dunlop brand name......" http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/111/111875.html
 
Ok, lets try again. This global economy is complicated. Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Japan's #2 tire maker (after Bridgestone), makes tires under the Dunlop trademark. Through its alliance with US-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Sumitomo Rubber makes Goodyear-brand tires in Japan, while Goodyear makes Dunlop tires in North America and Europe. Sumitomo Electric Industries owns almost 30% of the company, and Goodyear owns 10%.
 
CapriRacer- Want to disclose who you work for? It appears as though you are staying fairly neutral in your responses so I don't see a conflict if you disclose. I have been a Goodyear man for quite a few years now and plan to stay that way although I am always open to suggestions. I always enjoy going back and forth with someone and then finding out that they're an engineer and I have been schooled. It's all good.
 
Ok thanks for all the opinions guys...now let me give mine on the 2 sets of Michelins I have had on the car over the past few months......OEM tires were Conti CH95's...fairly smooth and quiet tire but wore out very quickly....replaced with Goodyear Comfortreds...I really wanted to love this tire as they were just about dead silent...I'm not kidding when I say that...almost could not hear them at all...what ruined it for me was the jokers at Town Fair Tire...first of all they put 3 205/15's and one 215/55 on the car.....couldn't figure out why they could not get them running smooth [Roll Eyes] Then when they put the correct tire on they mounted it with tread direction opposite the other tires....I know they are unidirectional but when they mounted that tire all of a sudden that one new tire started to get quite loud. Not to mention that the Comfy is a little too soft for a Matrix...if you pushed them at all they got pretty loose.... SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....I decided to trade in the tires under TF's 30 day trade policy and replaced them with Michelin HydroEdges...for the 1st week I never thought I would find a better tire ever....very smooth quiet and stuck to the road like it was a Z rated tire (T rating).....and then the noises came...these tires began to roar and whine and sing and whistle like no tire I have ever heard before [Confused] At all speeds it was evident...going down the highway I sounded like a jeep with a huge lift kit and giant mudders.....on the postive side they were smooth riding after about 7k miles...really was a decent ride but the noise! Fast Forward to end of February...I picked up some alloy OEM rims for my Matrix and no way was I putting the HydroEdges on the new rims...I decided to get new tires and keep the Edges on the steelies for winter. I ponied up the cash and got another set of Michelins, the Exalto A/S an H rated semi performance tire....thes tires ride quite a bit stiffer than the Edge's did but somewhat to be expected due to not being a touring tire like the Edge. They even don't feel as stable as the Edges did which is odd given their speed rating. One thing it does share in common with the Edge is a bad one...while not quite as loud as the Edge's were, these tires can roar with the best of them especially driving slow...what is up with Michelin tires and sound?? Ok I'm at the point of putting people to sleep but I sort of answerd my original question....Michelin tires on my car are the 2 loudest sets of tires I have ever heard on a non truck vehicle...I'm at the point I just want to trade them in on some snow tires and go out and get something else(michelins 30 day ride guarantee) I almost went with the TripleTreds and I'm kicking myself for not....these darn Michelins are pretty expensive for sure and I expected a little bit better...yeah I'm picky and maybe the Comfy's make any tire sound loud but just seems weird that the Contis were ok but both sets of Michelins howl! Ok I babbled enough...just wanted to share how the Michelins worked out for me.....not too good [Frown] Goose [Patriot]
 
I think someone got it right before when they said "you get what you pay for." The thing is, when you buy Michelins you get the same quality as Toyo or Yokohama (among others, depending on the type of tire), but with much more advertising. Michelin tires are good quality and I'd have no problem putting them on a car if they were free. But they're not, and for every type of tire they make (R compound, Max performance, all season high performance/touring, etc.) there's a tire made by another manufacturer that's just as good or better for less money; sometimes a lot less.
 
my experiences have been that many of the OEM michelins (XWR, MXV4, etc.) seem to have inferior life, as they tend to get odd wear patterns or similar, relatively early. Their aftermarket tires seem to be quite good, as are their hi-perf tires... but you do pay for them. Id buy with confidence, knowing that I really coudnt go wrong with their product. BFG tires (a michelin product) are quite excellent as well. JMH
 
"..when you buy Michelins you get the same quality as Toyo..." In our case, buying passenger all season tires, our experience with Toyo is why we ended buying Michelins. A few years back we bought the 'good' Toyo A/S tires ar Les Schwab, as they have very good service and the tires seemed decent enough. By about 20k miles they were squirrely enough in the rain that I had them siped, and they worked well enough in rain until they wore out, but they weren't very good snow tires. Les Schwab offered some BFG Control tires that worked well, we put them on both cars, and when those wore on the older car I tried some Toyo A/S again as it looked like the factory provided more siping. They're ok, but when it came time to replace the BFGs on the newer car we went with Michelins. I expect te Michelins to last as long as the Toyos, and to work better in the meantime.
 
do you remember which model Toyo and Michelin you used? In my experiences, the TPT seems pretty comparable to the MXH4 and MXV4 at a significantly lower price. The same goes for the Proxes 4 as compared to the XGT V4. iirc, the 205/50-15 XGT V4s on my ex girlfriend's car cost more than the 205/55-16 Proxes 4s on my dad's car. Of course this is a very subjective topic, but I haven't found a Michelin tire that I thought was worth the price.
 
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