Bad Michelin Defenders ?

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
In my opinion, the side-to-side rotation as important as front-to-back. And I'll caveat that to say that it's not as important for DEPTH of tire wear, but for the PATTERN of wear.

Many vehicles, and especially newer FWD platforms with neutral or slightly positive camber in the front, will wear a heel-and-toe sawtooth pattern in the outer (or inner, or both) tread blocks fairly rapidly (like, within a few thousand miles). Add in some rear toe on many FWD cars, and the tire is generating that scrubbing wear pattern on BOTH ends of the car. This pattern is a major contributor, in my experience, to poorer ride quality and increased noise. Keeping the tires on the same side of the car will just wear this pattern deeper and deeper until tire noise is so unbearable, the tires are replaced due to noise rather than due to physically wearing out.


You mean like this:

Not just recent FWD cars... This is an early 80's RWD Mercedes!

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The thing I personally fear on this approach is that as the vehicle pivots on the front jackstands, that metal edge digs into undercoating/rustproofing and damages it.


I'm not sure how you'd ever avoid that, except with a 4-post lift. But I place the jackstands at the jacking points for changing a spare. I suppose that it does technically pivot on those two fulcrums, but it's a non-issue in my opinion as far as damage to the vehicle.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
You mean like this:


Maybe -- if you can run your hand around the tire, circumferentially, and feel "edges" in one direction and "smooth" in the other direction, that's the sawtooth pattern I'm describing.

http://www.motoscrubs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1571&start=10

It's hard to avoid -- just part of the physics of tire rotating. Add in ANY camber or toe and you have multiplying forces there.

And, true, it doesn't happen only on FWD cars. I have found it to be more severe on cars where there are non-neutral camber and toe settings on the front AND on the rear. This is most typical with FWD cars, but will happen to some degree on any vehicle with an independent rear suspension.

 

[JHZR2]

Great link! In my case, though the pic was on the rear, it was the front suspension causing it, FWIW.

 

[ryanschillinger]

One thing to consider is sometimes you will get a radial pull as its called with certain tires on one side or another in the front positions. If you get that, cross the fronts side to side and see if it goes away. If so, make sure to keep the tires on their respective sides or you'll get the pull every other rotation.

 

[JBinKC]

I got a cash proration refund of approximately 75% of my original purchase price on these junk tires at discount tire about 2 months ago. So yes that model of Michelin tire has been very overrated. At least I was very pleased with the customer service at discount tire.

 

[ryanschillinger]

Mine are still doing very nice, but I'm only about 3k miles into them. Went and had my alignment done yesterday. The toe was out on all 4 wheels but other specs were good. Would explain the heavy inner edge wear on the tires that came off.

 

[Cardiobuck]

I can second the concerns of the OP.
We have 27,000 miles on our Michelin Defenders on the '11 CRV and are down to 6-7/32nds all around.
I rotate them with oil changes. The vehicle does not feel out of alignment, and the tread-wear is even. I like everything else about the tire but we will be lucky to get 55,000 out of this 90,000 mile tire. It is never taken off road and never has a load and/or trailer. It is used the way it was designed, to drop kids off and get groceries. The Michelins are lasting longer than the terrible OEM Continentals though.

 

[demarpaint]

I took a lot of heat here for posting bad Michelin tires. I don't see myself buying their tires anymore because of the problems I had with them over the years.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Cardiobuck
I can second the concerns of the OP.
We have 27,000 miles on our Michelin Defenders on the '11 CRV and are down to 6-7/32nds all around.
I rotate them with oil changes. The vehicle does not feel out of alignment, and the tread-wear is even. I like everything else about the tire but we will be lucky to get 55,000 out of this 90,000 mile tire. It is never taken off road and never has a load and/or trailer. It is used the way it was designed, to drop kids off and get groceries. The Michelins are lasting longer than the terrible OEM Continentals though.


Check your alignment. It's not good enough to be "in spec". It's got to be set up for tire life optimization to get good life out of any tire. The CR-V can eat tires pretty quick if you have a lot of toe in the alignment. Front and rear toe in is common with these -- neutralizing that some will help dramatically with tire wear.

 

[ryanschillinger]

I've noticed a lot of CRV's I inspect having worn original tires at 25-30k miles. Don't know if it's alignment specs or the original tires' quality.
My Defenders are still holding up great so far on the Civic. I have 6k miles on them now, so they are still babies.