Bad problems with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on both of my cars (long)
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Bad problems with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on both of my cars (long)
A couple of months ago, right after having the tires rotated, my wife's Avant started pulling to the right. Tire shop first said that the alignment had to be checked, which I thought was nuts, since the alignment was perfectly fine immediately prior to the tire rotation. But, I played along, had my dealer check the alignment---which they confirmed was absolutely fine---and then the tire shop said one of the tires must have a belt that shifted. After going through the hell of having the tire shop try to find the culprit by rotating the tires on just one side, and then remounting and cross-rotating the fronts, followed by remounting and cross-rotating the rears, the tire shop called Michelin and Michelin ponied up the $ value of the remaining tread life of all four of the tires.
The remaining tread life, by the way, was not so good for two of the tires (which, by the way, have a 400 rating for tread wear). Over the course of about 16,000 miles, two of the tires had been worn down to 4/32, while the other two were at 7/32. The tires were rotated every 5,000 miles, so why the 3/32 discrepancy between the fronts and the rears is anybody's guess. Also, since people here have reported 15-20,000 miles on Pilot Sports, which have a 220 rating for tread wear, I was certainly expecting more than a projected 21,000 miles for the A/S.
But, Michelin made good, so everything's okay, right?
Nope. I just had the A/S tires rotated on my 4.2 for the first time after 5,000 miles. And, again, just as with the Avant, the 4.2 started pulling to the right immediately after the tire rotation. A different shop did this rotation, by the way, in case anybody thinks the tire monkeys at one shop are doing something strange in the rotation and balance bay. Tire wear was looking good at that point, as the 255/40 17 A/S's start with 11/32, and I had 10/32 left on the front and 9/32 left on the rear.
For various reasons, I lived with the pulling for about two months; the pulling isn't hard, it's more of a drift/wander, unlike the pulling on my wife's Avant, which quickly became an immediate dive for the right shoulder over the course of the 3 or so months where we tried to figure out what was the problem with her tires. Anyway, after putting an additional 2,300 miles on the 4.2 tires, for 7,300 miles total, I went back to the tire shop and, after trying a rebalancing that didn't solve the problem, they agreed to replace the tires. I think the replacement process got shortened, since I told them the exact same thing had happened on my wife's car with tires purchased at a different shop.
The prorated credit is where things get bad, however. The tires now show 7/32 of tread left---so each tire went through either 2/32 or 3/32 of tread in just 2,300 miles, and 5/32 of tread in a total of 7,300 miles. That is just amazingly rapid tire wear for a tire with a 400 rating!
I love the way these tires drive, and it kills me that there seems to be a problem with them. I've seen a couple of posts on boards here, to the effect that Michelin has admitted that the A/S has problems with heavy cars, such as the Audis, but I haven't been able to confirm that admission anywhere else. I know there are several people here who have these tires and love them. Is anybody else with A/S's having belt separation or rapid tire wear problems?
The remaining tread life, by the way, was not so good for two of the tires (which, by the way, have a 400 rating for tread wear). Over the course of about 16,000 miles, two of the tires had been worn down to 4/32, while the other two were at 7/32. The tires were rotated every 5,000 miles, so why the 3/32 discrepancy between the fronts and the rears is anybody's guess. Also, since people here have reported 15-20,000 miles on Pilot Sports, which have a 220 rating for tread wear, I was certainly expecting more than a projected 21,000 miles for the A/S.
But, Michelin made good, so everything's okay, right?
Nope. I just had the A/S tires rotated on my 4.2 for the first time after 5,000 miles. And, again, just as with the Avant, the 4.2 started pulling to the right immediately after the tire rotation. A different shop did this rotation, by the way, in case anybody thinks the tire monkeys at one shop are doing something strange in the rotation and balance bay. Tire wear was looking good at that point, as the 255/40 17 A/S's start with 11/32, and I had 10/32 left on the front and 9/32 left on the rear.
For various reasons, I lived with the pulling for about two months; the pulling isn't hard, it's more of a drift/wander, unlike the pulling on my wife's Avant, which quickly became an immediate dive for the right shoulder over the course of the 3 or so months where we tried to figure out what was the problem with her tires. Anyway, after putting an additional 2,300 miles on the 4.2 tires, for 7,300 miles total, I went back to the tire shop and, after trying a rebalancing that didn't solve the problem, they agreed to replace the tires. I think the replacement process got shortened, since I told them the exact same thing had happened on my wife's car with tires purchased at a different shop.
The prorated credit is where things get bad, however. The tires now show 7/32 of tread left---so each tire went through either 2/32 or 3/32 of tread in just 2,300 miles, and 5/32 of tread in a total of 7,300 miles. That is just amazingly rapid tire wear for a tire with a 400 rating!
I love the way these tires drive, and it kills me that there seems to be a problem with them. I've seen a couple of posts on boards here, to the effect that Michelin has admitted that the A/S has problems with heavy cars, such as the Audis, but I haven't been able to confirm that admission anywhere else. I know there are several people here who have these tires and love them. Is anybody else with A/S's having belt separation or rapid tire wear problems?
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I originally had Michelin MXV4 Plus on my vehicle. I think they're OEM, right? (more)
The tires started to wear out at about 50,000km. I then replaced them with Michelin Pilot XGT/Z4s. However, I also replaced the rims as well and went with OZ Chrono Evolutions. Either way, I found that at 50,000km a premium tire like Michelin should have longer life. At the moment my current Michelin Pilot XGT/Z4s have almost 38,000km on them and their tread depth is still quite good. For now, that is.
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