jrprich

It escapes me how a higher pressure could decrease the center wear on any tire.............

Suthunman

As luck would have it, I bought a set of these tires today. They are to be installed tomorrow.

I went to the Michelin website and sent them an email asking them about this issue. I will post their response.

I am replacing the original Goodyear run flats that came on my 2003 Vert. I had not looked closely at them since I am replacing them because of age. I just went out and took a look. They are worn more in the center. The car has 14k miles on it and the tires need to be replaced because of the wear in the center. I've only had the car since last October so I have no way of knowing what air pressure has been ran before that.

I will be keeping an eye on these new tires for sure.

C5Nate

Yes, please let us know.

I probably have babied these Pilot sports more than any of my previous tires.

My BFG KD's that I had prior to the Pilot's worn very evenly.....they wore out fast but evenly. They saw lots of track time also. They were also my favorite so far, too bad the stopped making them in SSS or runflats. (Yes, yes I know, but its my wifes daily driver so non-runflats are out of the question).

The factory Goodyear’s wore out at less the 20k on the rears due to my heavy foot. The fronts wore out due to GM's aggressive alignment from the factory.

2003 electronblue

No problems with mine i run them at 32psi tires now have 30,000 miles on them can't say enough good things about them i will buy another set when needed again..

Suthunman

Their response did not address the issue of premature wear in the center. Maybe I should have been more specific with my questions.
I got my new tires yesterday. So much quieter than the Goodyears and tramlining is a non-issue now. As I had read on the forum, they don't look as good as the Goodyears. I didn't really realize how noisy the Goodyears were til I got the Michelins.

Here is their response:

May 09, 2012



Hello Greg,



Thank you for your email. We welcome the opportunity to serve you.




In regards to the email you sent stating:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I ordered a set of pilot sport a/s plus zp for my car today. They are to be installed tomorrow. Tonight, while looking at a forum on the internet, I find someone complaining about the center of their rear tires wearing completely to the cord in 12,000 miles. The outer edges of the tires only showed slight wear. It was also stated that Michelin is aware of this problem and it has been an ongoing problem. Someone on the forum suggested lowering the air pressure to try to compensate for the wear in the center. Another person said Michelin suggests raising the air pressure to combat this problem.
I intend to go ahead and put the tires on my car. What should I do????? Also, what is the warranty on this particular tire?

Thanks
Greg

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If the replacement tires are the same size as the original equipment tires on your Corvette, use the inflation pressure as specified by GM which can be found on the placard located on the driver’s door jam or in the vehicle owner’s manual. They have determined the optimal inflation pressure for load, ride, handling, rolling resistance and treadwear performance.




The Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP tires have a 30,000 mile warranty for the fronts and a 22,500 mile warranty for the rears.


We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Michelin.

Jet-Jock

They are telling you BS.

http://www.michelinman.com/tire-sele...formance-sport

Offers true ultra-high performance for all seasons and a 45,000-mile warranty.


http://www.michelinman.com/mediabin/...warranties.pdf

Page down to page 2 and read the chart.

Ultra-High Performance Sport Tires, Pilot Sport A/S Plus before March 1, 2011 45k, after March 1, 2011 45K.

I would call them.

Also, Michelin doesn't segregate ZP and non. It's just a Pilot Sport A/S Plus

Sonny71

I put on 4 new A/S ZPs in March and will be watching them closely. I run 30 - 32 lbs all around.

doje

Due to the inability to rotate tires on cars with staggered sizes, the rear tires will only receive 50% of the normal mileage warranty.

vette99coupe

Have a set of these michelins on it with 28K and they're still like new. No wear, etc. Keep pressure 28-30 too.

jrprich

Correct, the devil is always in the fine print
Here is the fine print:
------------------------------------
Treadwear – Mileage Warranty Coverage for MICHELIN®
Passenger and Light Truck Tires
MICHELIN® passenger and light truck tires are covered by a
manufacturer’s limited warranty for treadwear. For the mileage
warranty associated with a specific tire line, please see your
Michelin tire retailer or visit us at www.michelinman.com/
promise. Some vehicles come from the vehicle manufacturer with
“split fitments” – meaning different size tires on the front and rear
axles. Because these tires cannot be rotated as recommended by
Michelin, the mileage warranty on each rear tire will cover half
the number of miles as the standard mileage warranty for that
particular tire design. Michelin Self-Supporting Zero Pressure (ZP)
tires have the same mileage warranty as the standard tire line
of which they are a part, up to but not exceeding 30,000 miles.
DOT-approved competition tires (e.g., MICHELIN® Pilot® Sport Cup
tires) are excluded from any mileage warranty. MICHELIN Winter
tires must be used during winter months only, defined as a period
beginning on or after September 1st of a given year and ending
no later than April 30th of the following year. Michelin winter
tires require documentation of the timing of the installation and
removal of the tires each winter to maintain coverage under the
limited warranty for treadwear.
-------------------------------
So the deal seems to be that since Vette tires are “split fitments” – the Rears would only have a warranty of 22,500 miles. And if they are ZP (run flat) models they would only have a 15,000 mile warranty as ZPs are limited to a 30,000 mile warranty then the “split fitments” detail applies which cuts the 30k to 15k.

My most recent set were purchased in 2009 and now have about 30k on them. The tread is still good but the centers are worn more than the rest. All that said, I still love these tires and would/will buy them again,

jrprich

Actually they do.
Read further and you will see that they limit ZPs to a 30k warranty. Then the "split fitment" loophole applies which reduces the warranty on the ZP rear tires to 15k

Jet-Jock

Well when I presented mine, the factory rep didn't even hesitate to issue the warranty replacement.

False advertising if you ask me. When you run your business that way and mislead, you no longer have my business. Happy I dumped the Michelin's for Nitto's.

Sinister-one

Michelin tires are POS'es...... chuck'em and get better tires at a lesser price, Hankook's or Nitto's.

WalterSobchak

On my extra car I had these tires on a 17" rim they were 245/50-17 and they did the same thing in regard to the center rib. this was about 7-8 years ago. It took mine 18,000 miles to get that way though.

jrprich

So this thread got me thinking and I went out and measured the centers of my rears.....2-3/32 was all that was left and at or past the wear bars. These are just over three years old and have 33k on them.
Stopped at the Discount/America's Tire shop where I buy most of my tires and had them take a look.

Good news: they are covered by the 45k warranty, he didn't mention the fitment or ZP fine print.
Bad news: Since they have 33k on them the tires only have an exchange value of $87 each. At their current M+B, Out the door prices the two replacements will cost me $587 for the set of two. They did not have the ZPs in stock but will have them tomorrow. Also said that this set will only have a 30k warranty.

Red99FRC

I had the same problem with a set of Michelin non-runflats. Same thing - I ran the normal pressure, and the center rib wore out way before the rest of the tread.

jrprich

If I still lived in Texas I might agree.....at least on price.
But in Oregon a C5 DD needs a quality AS tire as the conditions can change in five minutes. I have owned several different types of Michelin tires on many different cars over the years and have found Michelins to always be a high quality tire.

Jet-Jock

and me as well.

Jet-Jock

These tires, say from 0-12k are really superb in handling grip wet or dry, or cold. That's probably a function of the reason their width is nearly an inch less than summer UHP and MP tires.

From my experience they just don't wear well, and the Plus model didn't completely solve the issue. I decided to go back to the full width summer tire considering I live in FL.

Corvette_Ed

This is the first I've seen these tires mentioned and I was beginning to wonder because I was looking at either Hankook's or Nitto's. I have a "tire guy" that gives me pretty decent prices on high-end tires, and Hankook is one of his favorites to keep in stock. Which series of either brand would you suggest for a daily driver/weekend speed warrior? I put about 500 miles a month or less on mine.