Michelin Tires Are They Really That Good ?

I sell quite a few of the Pilot Sport PS2 and Latitude Tour HP's. Never had a complaint (other than the price). They do balance and wear much better than the competition.

^ Agreed. Acura uses a lot of Michelin tires and honestly, nothing else wears/rides as well over the long term. We've tried dozens of different tires on these different cars from Yokohamas, Kumho's, Continentals and bridgestones. In orders of those 5 tires, they go Michelin>Continental>Kumho>Yokohama>anything else>Bridgestone.

I've been through several sets of Michelins on various vehicles and have been very satisfied with all of them. It's been just the opposite with Dunlop. I've never owned one that wasn't out of round or worse. Only blowout I've ever had was on a Dunlop tire with over 50% tread.

Nathan JansenvanDoorn wrote:

codrus wrote: If Michelin's high performance street tires are the standard to beat, then I think Hankook (RS-3), Toyo (R1R), BF Goodrich (Rival), and Bridgestone (RE-11) have done an excellent job of beating them. :-) Michelin really don't make a tire that's competitive in ST-class autocrossing.

'Cause, you know, the only measure of street tire performance is auto-xing and lapping days.

Its more "performance" than driving down the freeway or sitting in stop and go traffic.....FWIW, PS2's are OK, but aside from the pilot sport cup, they do not make a "High performance tire"

LTX M/S2'S on the last 3 SUV's I have owned. Can't beat 'em.

The Pilot Sports on the J-H spent a lot of time sitting still, unfortunately. Got a screw in one a month or two ago, they were made in 1999 so I figured I'd better replace 'em. I wasn't bonkers about pricey Pilots again so I bought Sumitomo HTR4's, that's when I realized just how shaky the 13 year old Pilots were. Not sure if the tires were at fault or it was due to not being driven.

I'm not rich so no Michelin race tires.

But PS2's last twice as long as the tires mentioned, ride better, are quieter, etc. Tradeoffs. Different strokes. I did say 'street tire performance'.

An interesting article here: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/michelin-pilot-sport-ps2-page-2

yamaha wrote:

Nathan JansenvanDoorn wrote:

codrus wrote: If Michelin's high performance street tires are the standard to beat, then I think Hankook (RS-3), Toyo (R1R), BF Goodrich (Rival), and Bridgestone (RE-11) have done an excellent job of beating them. :-) Michelin really don't make a tire that's competitive in ST-class autocrossing.

'Cause, you know, the only measure of street tire performance is auto-xing and lapping days.

Its more "performance" than driving down the freeway or sitting in stop and go traffic.....FWIW, PS2's are OK, but aside from the pilot sport cup, they do not make a "High performance tire"

In reply to Nathan JansenvanDoorn:

The better/quieter ride is subjective and completely dependant on the car, treadblock design, and sidewall stiffness.......I haven't seen a set of PS2's last 40k+ miles though. Heck, the ones I have came off a 3L z4 after 26k miles and they're at the wear bars(staggered 18's)

Edit: I reread that, my bad.....I'm still used to seeing Z1 SS/Z2 listed among autox tires, in that list there, the longest lasting should be the bfg.

codrus wrote: If Michelin's high performance street tires are the standard to beat, then I think Hankook (RS-3), Toyo (R1R), BF Goodrich (Rival), and Bridgestone (RE-11) have done an excellent job of beating them. :-) Michelin really don't make a tire that's competitive in ST-class autocrossing.

yamaha wrote: .FWIW, PS2's are OK, but aside from the pilot sport cup, they do not make a "High performance tire"

I think y'alls definitions of 'high performance' are getting mixed up with the definition of 'jaded'. None of michelin's high performance street tires have treadwear as low as the RS-3, Rival, R1R or RE-11. But, i would venture to guess if you compared any of those to the 320 treadwear Pilot Sport 3, the difference in traction would be much smaller than the difference in longevity, and comparing any of them to what michelin calls 'streetable competition tires' probably wouldnt turn out any better on sum of traction+longevity.

The ONLY set of Michelins I bought were horrible. From the moment I put them on it felt like I was always driving on 6" deep rain grooves. The car would dart back and forth between the lines following all the imperfections in the road. I completely rebuilt my suspension and did two alignments because I couldn't believe that a "superior" tire like a Michelin could cause it. Luckily (after some serious foot stomping) I got tirerack to completely warranty them and replaced them with some Bridgestones. Car handled like an e46 should after that. I won't say I'll never buy another set, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Sometimes bad tires pass through their quality control.

The common auto-x tires (RE11/Rival/RS3/R1R) are considered "Extreme Performance Summer Tire(s)".

With that said, I think the Michelins wear and ride great, but they do lack in the "performance" feeling. In my years of dealing with tires and the like, I have come to the conclusion that Bridgestone cannot make a tire that is round. I think their molds have flat spots built into them.

All of the Michelin tires I've had have been far superior to any other brand I've had. The only exception was some Firestones I had on a truck that I thought were as good as the Michelins that they replaced.

If money were no object, I would just buy Michelins always, but I don't think the premium price is proportional to how much better they are. I think Michelins are 15% better tires but cost 40% more.

z31maniac wrote: Not on a car, but on my sportbike I tried a number of different tires over the course of 30,000 miles. The Michelin Pilot Power 2CTs were noticeably better than any others I tried including the Metzeler M3, Pirelli Diablo's, Dunlop 208s. I got more mileage out of them, the softer outside compound just STUCK, and I liked the sharper turn-in compared to the other tires (more triangular shape). Haven't tried any Michelin car tires yet though.

same here, I like my power 2cts alot

Vigo wrote: I think y'alls definitions of 'high performance' are getting mixed up with the definition of 'jaded'. None of michelin's high performance street tires have treadwear as low as the RS-3, Rival, R1R or RE-11. But, i would venture to guess if you compared any of those to the 320 treadwear Pilot Sport 3, the difference in traction would be much smaller than the difference in longevity, and comparing any of them to what michelin calls 'streetable competition tires' probably wouldnt turn out any better on sum of traction+longevity.

I've owned a couple of sets of PS3s on my various Audis, and I got the same 10K miles out of them that I got out of the set of Hankook RS3s that just came off. The Michelins were quieter, but they didn't have the grip of the Hankooks and the cost was significantly higher. There wasn't nothing wrong with the MIchelins, they certainly weren't bad tires.

Ouch! If i got 10k out of a Michelin i'd try to get it warrantied or a pro-rated refund toward something else. Of course, if you didnt buy from a retail outlet with decent people in it at pretty much full price, that's a trick.

If money were no object, I would just buy Michelins always, but I don't think the premium price is proportional to how much better they are. I think Michelins are 15% better tires but cost 40% more.

I agree with that.

as fast as I go through tires on my dd I could never justify a set of michelins on my own dime. especially since I pulled a solid 50k miles out of a high performance all season hankook. I would guess they were half the price of a comparable michelin.

the other cars dont get driven THAT many miles a year so again, cheap or used tires.

I do have some LTX M/S on the MPV though. That the previous owner bought. They are nice.

High performance all-season, lulz.

Vigo wrote: Ouch! If i got 10k out of a Michelin i'd try to get it warrantied or a pro-rated refund toward something else. Of course, if you didnt buy from a retail outlet with decent people in it at pretty much full price, that's a trick.

I bought 'em from Tire Rack, where I buy pretty much all of my tires.

There was no treadlife warranty offered on them, nor did I expect one. Treadlife warranties are for all seasons, and are typically offered on tires that are hard as rocks.

10-12K is what I expect for sticky tires on a 4000 pound car with AWD, not enough camber, and a loose nut like myself behind the wheel. Michelin PS2s, Yokohama Neovas, Hankook V12s, Hankook RS3s, they all fell into that range, as did the various tires that I had on my previous S4.

In reply to z31maniac:

25k miles a year so yea all seasons are fine with me. At least they're not touring tires.

Michelin makes plenty of high performance tires. They say BF Goodrich on the side.

There was no treadlife warranty offered on them, nor did I expect one. Treadlife warranties are for all seasons, and are typically offered on tires that are hard as rocks. 10-12K is what I expect for sticky tires on a 4000 pound car with AWD, not enough camber, and a loose nut like myself behind the wheel. Michelin PS2s, Yokohama Neovas, Hankook V12s, Hankook RS3s, they all fell into that range, as did the various tires that I had on my previous S4.

Well, if they fit your expectations i can understand why you wouldnt want to chase down a partial refund, but i'd be pretty pissed if i paid 'extra' for michelins and didn't get anything extra for the money. Then again, im pretty dang cheap.

Speaking of how Michelins tend to crack and appear dryrotted after a few years, i have a set of General Exclaim UHPs that i bought in 2007 that have literally sat in the sun their entire lives and arent even starting to crack. They've also never gone totally flat in 6 years, i think i've added air only once or twice. I've only put about 10k on them in that time. I'm kind of amazed by them for that reason.

Glad to see the Michelin love. My new car has a set with 17,000 miles on them, so seems like they have good life left. I also think they are the most expensive pair, I always did Walmart tires on my cars so this will be a fancy treat for me.

I certainly feel fancy.

Coldsnap wrote: I certainly feel fancy.

The only complaint anyone has about Michelin's is the price.

noddaz wrote: The only complaint anyone has about Michelin's is the price.

Yep... and that goes back to the ol' "You get what you pay for".

Warren v wrote: Michelin makes plenty of high performance tires. They say BF Goodrich on the side.

Kinda like how all the good "Goodyear" tires say Dunlop on the sides.....

Vigo, I agree with you, theres a set of 8yo hydroedges that have sat stacked outside of my garage all summer, they have no issues. I have only seen the "cracking sidewall" issue on the cheap cheap Michelins the OEM's use(Its a well known issue in the new sho community for example)