Michelin X, Destiny, Harmony, Agility

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I just bought some Michelin Destiny tires for my 84 Civic, 175 70 13's, and wonder if anyone has any comments. Evidently the same tire is marketed under different names for different retailers, X for Costco, Agility for Sears, Destiny for Discount Tire and Harmony for everyone else. They have a good rating and come with an 80k tread life warranty.
 
I have a set of 215/60R16 94S. They are just okay. Nothing to write home about. IMHO, the factory Toyo's had much better traction, and were quieter. But the Toyo's were bald at 20K.
 
Well, I've had good luck with these small Michelin's and I hope the new replacement model is just as good.
 
The tire test from Consumer Reports in November 2005 said the michelin x had very low rolling resistance and was rated second best in all season tires they tested.

I might buy a couple in either 205 65 15 or 215 65 15 soon. Just want tires that stay round, don't separate belts and last a long time for the daily commuter.

Good luck with your tires
 
i have the michelin x in 215/65/15 on a Nissan Frontier. Much better overall than the tires it replaces - Firestone Wilderness. Better ride, better handling, better under wet conditions. i bought these at costco, was going to get the BFGoodrich, but they talked me into the michelin, plus $15 per tire rebate helped in making the decision.
 
The Goodyear Tripletred was rated number 1 by the Consumer Reports for all season tires in 205 65 15.

However here it is about $20 more than they stated and the Michelin was about $15 less, so I decided and bought some Michelins.

Had some Tripletreds before and they are good tires, but this time went with Michelin.
 
I bought Destiny's for my 96 Civic in Nov. I've had Harmony's on my MB 240D for 3 years/40k miles with no problems and little wear.

After 30K miles the Kumho's on the Civic were getting to be dangerous in the snow. The Michelins on the Civic are almost as good as the original Dunlops in the snow. Dry handling doesn't seem to be as good as the Dunlops or the Kumho's. I attribute that to tread pattern and harder rubber.
 
We'll be using some Destinys (same as Harmony I'm tld) on the newer car. I originally was considering the Goodyear Tripletread but when I was able to look at one I noticed that it didn't have much in the way of shoulder lugs, which seem to help in mud (not as much of a concern except for parking on wet grass) and snow (much more of a concern). They kind of looked like smaller cousins to the LTX M&S, which I wish was available for my truck. The dealer had teh impression that the Destiny seemed to do better in deeper or slushy snow, but the Tripletread did better on ice. I asked the dealer about balancing problems, and he commented that the Michelins tpically used less weight. When pressed about tire life he has observed that the Tripletreads don't seem to last as long as advertised, and the performance doesn't seem to age as well as in a more traditional tire.

Next was Destiny vs the Hydroedge, and he said that he started with a set of the Hydroedge but switched to the Destiny because of noise. I asked about Nokian WRs, and he said that they were an excellent tire, but they were more expensive and had a wera rating of 400 vs something ridiculous like 740 for the Destiny.

Anyway, for a boring set of all season tires for boring Taurus, the Destiny seemed like a decent tire. I do wish that I had put on a set of Nokians for the beater, as it doesn't get the road trip miles like it use to so wear isn't as much of an issue, and I could have skipped on having to get a set of snow tires for next year.
 
Great thread. We have an 04 Hyundai XG350L...it came with Michelin somethings, and had a bad pull to the right for the first 18or 20k miles, when we finally took it to the dealer and said fix it or else. They put on a pair of Mich Harmony on the front, charged us about $30/each and told us to not rotate until the others were ready for replacement and then put on new tires and rotate. We bought Goodyears at Sams club, right pull came back right away plus a "nibble" in the steering wheel. Took it to the dealer, he said it is the tires again. Called Sams, they'll take the Goodyears back, so put on the Harmony tires, but at full price. They said that the tires on it cost much more than the Harmony, and I thought at $108 it's plenty. But treadwear...these original tires only lasted 33k, on the back for most of their life.

BTW, Hyundai's 1000000000000k bumper to bumper warranty does not cover tires, even if they are well below rated mileage.

We do like the Harmony, good to know that they are labeled with different names at different places. Thanks
 
Larry & All, I've been following this post and wondering if there is a way to "know" that the indicated cross referance is really true or not.

I've talked to the folks at America's Tire Co. and heard the same thing, but are the spec's really the same and are the alternates really just re-branded, or are there differences?

Point in fact is that the Consumer Report tested the Michelin "X" and gave it very good wet traction and also low rolling resistance ratings.

This seems at odds with CapriRacer's admonition that of the three factors governing tire performance must balance. The three factors being "As a general rule, the trade off is: traction vs tread wear vs rolling resistance." according to him, and I'm fairly sure he knows what he is talking about given that he is a tire engineer with a "Major tire company" by his own declaration. I PM'ed him asking for guidance on my needs and true to what I would expect from a responsible person he declined comment and refered me back here so others could see his replies.

Kudos for honesty, but I really could have used a bit of help that he could have offered without compromising his position.

OK, rant over, but the question still remains, are the perported re-brands really equal if in fact they are actually re-brands, and how can we know?

Sorry for the book here, but I'm exhausted trying to sort through the manufactuerers c rap. John
 
quote:

Originally posted by John Hilmer:
Larry & All, I've been following this post and wondering if there is a way to "know" that the indicated cross referance is really true or not....... but the question still remains, are the perported re-brands really equal if in fact they are actually re-brands, and how can we know?

Here's I would do to determine if they are the same:

Gather together all the "specs" I can find - UTQG ratings, weight diameter, etc. Then look to see what dififerences there are.

If the tires are the same, then the dimensions , weight, etc should be nearly identical. UTQG rating are a relatively good way to help sort this out too, as any retailer is going to want to have this as a selling point.

Hope this helps.
 
There can be huge differences in individual perceptions about a given tire, based on what I've seen looking for truck tires. Some reasons seem to be driving style, ambient conditions, vehicle type, vehicle weight, and tire pressure, although that may not be as big of a deal in car tires as in truck tires.
 
CapriRacer,

That suggestion and the clarification in the other thread have helped a bunch.

A call was placed to Michelin and the question asked about the similarities/differences of the tires in question. The answer was "They are all made on the same basic tire with treads being somewhat different on each.", but there wasn't any information revealed about tread compounds.

1sttruck,

I agree completely with what you say if you are refering to the individual reviews at the tire rack. I've read those until I'm bleary eyed and have found that in order to extract anything meaningful as you suggest, requires reading between the lines and discounting most of what is written.

We are on opposite ends of the tire size range and this probably makes things worse in trying to learn from those reviews.

I'm beginning to see that the vehicle weight and style of driving are huge with respect to how folks that provide meaningful reviews there.

Thanks for your thoughts.

John
 
Boxcar, I have those on the wifes Camry and they have served well with good control and very good wet weather traction. It is getting close to time to replace them and I'm considering the Goodyear Triple Tred or the Michelin X this time. The Symetry's are starting to get a bit noisey and are down to 5/32 so it is time. John
 
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