Michelin Tires: OEM vs. Replacement?

[turbojimmy]

Wondering if anyone has any experience with Michelin tires.

My '04 Sienna came from the factory with Michelin Energy LX4 tires on it. At about 3k miles, my wife rammed a curb and tore one open. I replaced it with the same exact tire (all markings are the same) from a local tire shop. The van now has 13k miles on it. The OEM tires all appear to have at least 50% of their life left on them. The tire I replaced is toast - right down to the wear bars. Not uneven wear - uniformly worn out. I could see if it were 2 tires bad at this point (like maybe the 2 front ones), but the only tire that is worn out is the replacement tire. Pressures were maintained properly, rotated with oil changes per the manual. Is this a Michelin scam or did I just get a 'bad' tire? Either way it pisses me off.

Jim

 

[Turbo Indian]

I would have to say you got a bad tire. I swear by Michelins, I put them on my work 1 to all the time. I was able to get about 68,000 miles out of them, & that truck was heavy! I talked my dad int them for his 1/2 ton 4x4 he loves them, he got about 80,000 out of his.
I would go back to whear that 1 tire was purchased & talk to them.

 

[phillyturbosix]

IMO: Michelins are the best tire for the money. Had them on 3 different trucks and loved them. They do tend to wear faster then some other tires. But I think they are the best tire around and I use to sell tires about 10 years ago!

 

[gn85]

Michelin's are pretty decent tires. I usually have BFGs, but can't complain too much about Michelin's. Sounds to me that your wife's incident with the curb may have done more harm.

13,000 miles isn't a lot of miles for tires to be wearing out. I have a Trailblazer with BFG Open Trails and at 40k they still have 5k to go.

 

[turbojimmy]

Thanks for the replies. I have Michelins on the Caddy. I don't know how old they are, but they look brand new (46k miles on it so they probably are brand new). I've only put aboue 3k miles on the car but they're great tires - rain performance, cornering, traction and road noise are all really great.

The curb incident was low-speed at the McDonald's drive-thru. I had the suspension checked when they replaced the tire, they said it was okay. It is suspicious that that one wore quicker, though it was rotated out of that spot a while ago.

I'll just have to suck it up and put another one on it. It's going to the stealer next week to have them look at the brakes (making noise at 13k miles, but pads and rotors are fine). I'll have them check the front end again.

Jim

 

[UNGN]

I never put a new tire on the front. If you have to, rotate it to the back after a thousand miles or so to harden it up, before putting it on the front.

13K miles sucks, though, for that tire. I learned my lesson with my first Mustang GT. I bought a new set of tires and didn't rotate them and the fronts wore out in 8K miles. Rotated the backs to the front and the set went another 15K miles, and after 20+K total miles, the rears swapped to the front looked better than the original fronts at 8K miles.

 

[turbojimmy]

I never put a new tire on the front. If you have to, rotate it to the back after a thousand miles or so to harden it up, before putting it on the front.

13K miles sucks, though, for that tire. I learned my lesson with my first Mustang GT. I bought a new set of tires and didn't rotate them and the fronts wore out in 8K miles. Rotated the backs to the front and the set went another 15K miles, and after 20+K total miles, the rears swapped to the front looked better than the original fronts at 8K miles.

It really only has like 10k miles on it. It's already been rotated to the back so I'll put the new one there. The front ones do wear quicker between cornering and the FWD, but the left front one still looks as good as the other 2 OEM tires that are still on it. That one tire is just a freak.

I had Goodyears on my Exploder and they lasted 60k miles. I expected the same from the Michelins. Looks like I might get half that from the 3 'good' tires.

Jim