nmbsun

I was really glad to get the Goodyear run flats off of my C5 because of the noise and rough ride. I then bought a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP run flat tires. I put 12k on these Michelins and both rear tires developed a complete crack around the entire tire where the part that hits the road and the sidewall begins. Michelin would only give me a 90% warranty and I had to pay the other 10% to get new Michelins.

I hope this is an isolated event but if you have or have heard of this please post a reply and let us know if Michelin run flats are bad tires.

Also, if you have found a better run flat tire please post your experience. Thanks

Evil-Twin

Only?
You used 30 % ( 12,000 miles ) of those rear tire's life and they are replacing them for ONLY 10%.

nmbsun

It should have been a 100% warranty replacement as it was a fault of the tire maker. A complete crack around the tires, especially with low miles on the tires, is a fault of the tire maker. For that matter, I have 12 year old tires on my lawn tractor and they don't even have dry rot!

Bent98c5

How many years have u had them

CQRT

jrose7004

I think they were fair with you.

nmbsun

Here is the Michelin warranty:
6 Years / Free replacement first year, 2/32" or 25% of wear, then prorated until 2/32" remaining depth

When my tires were checked they had 9/32" tread left. So only 1/32" had been used so a full replacement should have been done.

On tire rack . com you can see the warranty for the least expensive tire for my C5 which is a Sumitomo HTR Z lll. The warranty for this tire is:
6 Years from production or purchase / Free replacement for 6 Years from date of purchase or worn to 2/32" remaining depth

Be that as it may, for a tire that has a crack around it like mine did, I will not purchase Michelin tires again. Makes no difference about the 12k miles on the tire. The damn things were made wrong and were coming apart!

Anybody found a better tire that they like better?

JR-01

They should have replaced the tires for free, including mounting and balancing. The tires had dangerous defects that could have resulted in an accident.

Phanni

You did not answer how ole the tires were.
That is some important information.

chipscvettec5

Appreciate the info, will definitely keep an eye out for this.....please inform us how old the tires were.. Thanks

'Shifter

Never had a problem with mine, other than the typical run-flat stuff (noisy, less performance, etc...).


Matter of fact, rather than throw them out after changing to Pilot Super Sports, I put them on my daily-driver, where they are working just fine (probably 20k on the front ones, 7k rear)

pewter99

I had a set of those for 6 months....sold them because they sucked

Vetteman Jack

You really need to state how long you had the tires on the car. If greater than a year, then Michelin was fair in what they offered you.

troyguitar

I think the best run flats right now are the PSS ZP that come stock on the C7. You'd need new wheels to run them though. I think base C6 wheels with spacers in the rear would be the most economical option.

GoldenFlame

Never had the cracking issue but mine had those tires when I bought it. It took me 2 months until I got rid of those pieces of crap. Rode like crap, spun like crazy, no thanks....

zagger

Seriously, drove 12K on the tires and got brand new ones for 10% and still not good enough
Average daily driver is expected to accumulate about 12K miles per year. Don't know if the OP uses the car as a DD but somehow I don't think so and even at that this would put the tire at 1+ years old. I think they did you wright and stood by their warranty.

racebum

you're crazy

michelin is probably the highest quality tire manf. on the planet. their only real contender is yokohama and generally michelin makes a better tire

don't let one bad exp turn you, tires should be replaced on a sports car at 4yrs regardless of mileage anyway.

you got a GREAT deal from them. 12k miles is what? half the life of the tire for the average driver? more important are years. that 6 year policy they have is REALLY generous

if you really only used 1/32 in 12k miles you might want to re consider why you own a sports car in the first place

JR-01

I had a horrible experience with top of the line OE Michelins on a new Subaru. They were shot after 20K miles. I would never buy them again. I know people that have had similar experiences. What makes you believe they are the best tires on the planet? Having tread separation on a pair of Michelins after 12K miles are not what you expect from a quality tire. It sounds like they were not abused.

racebum

we have no answer on how old they are, age is far more important for tread separation issues, even if we assume they are under 4yrs old duds do happen with all brands

as for my comment on them being great, their new compounds, like the pilot super sport are downright fast for a street tire that can go the type of mileage they do. this is a utqg 300 tire that by all measures will go a whopping 25-30k miles and compete with tires that average maybe 15k miles a set. they are also extremely fast in the rain, like north of .9g in a downpour. currently no one else has a tire that will do everything this one does, the only close competitor is yokohama with their advan v105

if you wasted a set in 20k miles and they were OE for subaru one of two things comes to mind. either the toe in the alignment was off..which can happen even on new cars, or, subaru spec'd a soft tire to make the performance numbers look good. my guess would be the alignment

if you're bent at michelin as a whole for some reason, my second choice would absolutely be yokohama if i had to just pick brands. honestly it should be tire model, not brand as all brands make bad models at some point. yokohamas prada 2 was a POS if ever there was one. most of their passenger tires are really good though, same with sport tires

JR-01

Nope, had it in and alignment was perfect. It wasn't only that they wearing out fast. They would not hold air or stay balanced. They were 60K mile tires on a Outback Limited(not a performance car by any means) that lasted 20K miles, and I babied that car. I then bought a set of discount tires that lasted 40K miles on that car without a problem.