Michelins aged before they wore out.

[HonorAndHonesty]

As a former Professional Automotive technician I already know the answer to this question but here is a set of tires that have been in service since fall 2011 and have approximately 40000 miles on them. How do they look....

They are 9 years old now, they were 3 years old when they were put on new. I will be mindful of the age of the new tires in the future for sure. These obviously sat a while.

I know it's time to replace these tires but I want everyone to tell me just to do it because it's a hard pill to swallow since they spent $760 on this in the new set equivalent will be $860.

This time around we should put many more miles on this van.

The Michelin Harmonies have been great and they're just now starting to develop a little bit of out of roundness.

This is an all wheel drive Sienna that originally came with Dunlop run-flats and those were horrible noisy rough riding tires so we're just taking our chances with regular tires now.

Going to go with Michelin Premier A/T.

So how's the old ones look to everyone? Let me have it.

 

[dishdude]

Expect to see that in Arizona not Indiana. When you dismount the tire, flex that sidewall and see how wide those cracks get.

 

[gregk24]

My Michelins on the Accord were very cracked as well at 45Kish miles. Replaced with Pirellis and couldn't be happier.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Michelins are great tires but some of us just don't drive enough each year to get the life or full value out of them. My personal feeling is if you don't drive over 20K miles a year buy a good cheaper tire that has about an expected 60 to 70k miles life expectancy.

 

[E150GT]

I buy Michelin. I want the best when my wife is on the road with my baby. When we bought our Buick this summer it had great look Michelin’s on it. 10 years old. I bought new ones.

 

[wemay]

Originally Posted By: E150GT
I buy Michelin. I want the best when my wife is on the road with my baby. When we bought our Buick this summer it had great look Michelin’s on it. 10 years old. I bought new ones.


Because those that buy other brands care less? Look, Mich are great tires but there are other excellent brands.

 

[E150GT]

Originally Posted By: wemay
Originally Posted By: E150GT
I buy Michelin. I want the best when my wife is on the road with my baby. When we bought our Buick this summer it had great look Michelin’s on it. 10 years old. I bought new ones.


Because those that buy other brands care less? Look, Mich are great tires but there are other excellent brands.

Not at all. I should have worded it different. When I want the best. I don’t have Michelin on my truck. Wasn’t worth it. I would have liked to though. When it came to my wife’s car, I wanted the best and I didn’t care how much those were.

 

[andyd]

The cracks on that sidewall look like it was run under inflated.

 

[bullwinkle]

That's some major UV damage! I actually have 2 Bridgestone Dueler Revo (Ones) on the front of my F-450 with 2002 date codes-they don't have that sidewall nor tread cracking-but I had a set of Mastercraft Courser A/Ts that cracked almost that badly in only 3 years!

 

[slacktide_bitog]

This is why Michelin says that only starting with 8.5/32 on the Premier is no problem. Because they will have the same useful service life before they start cracking

 

[wdn]

Last winter I replaced a set of Michelin X Radial from Costco that were 10 years old and has 70,000 miles on them and still had 4/32” which is fine in most parts of the country and fine here in New Hampshire, but not in the winter. So I replaced them on my Corolla. But both the tread appearance and the sidewall appearance were fine. Black, no cracks in the treads, no cracks in the sidewalls. They looked nothing like yours in the photos not even close. If I lived further south would still be driving them. They would easily made it to 80,000 but due to that age Michelin will not warrant so there was no point driving them down to the wear bars. We replaced them with a new set of Defender T+H A/S

 

[ragtoplvr]

Lots of people having Michelin fail like that. both of us at work with Michelin tire have had that failure, and both of us bought Goodyear Intrega to replace them. I still use Michelin tires on my motorcycle as they wear out in a year and grip very well.

Rod

 

[meadows]

May not help, but I would add 5 PSI.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: gregk24
My Michelins on the Accord were very cracked as well at 45Kish miles. Replaced with Pirellis and couldn't be happier.


Same here except that I have been much happier with the Pirellis that I have ever been with the Michelins.
My set made it to 22K.
The odds of my buying another set are slim to none, and slim just left the country.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Looks like typical Michelin cracking. Of course, Michelin will insist it's your fault, because their tires are perfect!

 

[irv]

I put 85,000 kms on mine on my old truck and they passed a safety with flying colors when I sold the truck. I have heard Michelins will do that but it isn't anything to be overly concerned about, or so I am told.


What does it mean when my tires start to show signs of Aging, ozone cracking or weather cracking?
The life of a tire cannot be measured by miles alone. Tires are composed of various types of material and rubber compounds, having performance properties essential to the proper functioning of the tire itself. These component properties evolve over time. For each tire, this evolution depends upon many factors such as weather, storage many factors such as weather, storage conditions, and conditions of use (load, speed, inflation pressure, maintenance etc.) to which the tire is subjected throughout its life. This service-related evolution varies widely so that accurately predicting the serviceable life of any specific tire in advance is not possible.

It is impossible to predict when tires should be replaced based on their calendar age alone. However the older a tire the greater the chance that it will need to be replaced due to the service-related evolution or other conditions found upon inspection or detected during use.

While most tires will need replacement before they achieve 10 years, it is recommended that any tires in service 10 years or more from the date of manufacture, including spare tires, be replaced with new tires as a simple precaution even if such tires appear serviceable and even if they have not reached the legal wear limit.

The warranty covers defects in workmanship and material for the life of the tread or 6 years from the date of purchase, whichever occurs first. With no proof of purchase, the warranty period is for 6 years from the date of manufacture (this is indicated in the DOT # on the sidewall).

 

[69GTX]

My last set of Michelin Primacy were at 3 yrs old and 25K miles when they started to show light cracking. I figured at 6 yrs they'd be cracked enough to retire them. Unfortunately that car was sold and the tires went with it....I'll never know. But that car was kept in the shade all the time with tires inflated to around 34-38 psi....in a fairly cool New England climate. It's the tire...not the operator.

My previous set of Michs went 52K miles over 13 yrs - they were fairly badly cracked and worn as well.

 

[Nick1994]

Replace them, with something else than a garbage Michelin that dry rots.

 

[CKN]

Michelin tires dry rotting has been discussed many times on this board-yet they re still the greatest gift for mankind according to some here on BITOG.....

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Michelin tires dry rotting has been discussed many times on this board-yet they re still the greatest gift for mankind according to some here on BITOG.....


Only to you and Crown Vic fantasy.

unbelievable...