Are My Michelin Tires Dry-Rotting?

Email a link to this thread to Michelin CS. Chris

Well Michelin's corporate customer service man called me and after arguing with him and being told how I should be grateful with the 60% off offer and I responded that in this economy THEY should be GRATEFUL for MY BUISNESS!! He stood by the ozone damage party line B.S. but upped the offer to 70% off, I told him that if that's the best that the tire company I have patronised all my adult life could do to make right selling me defective tires and perhaps endangering the lives of me and mine it would have to do but I'll never have anything to do with that company again that is unless the replacements do the same thing!

This whole ordeal has really opened my eyes to Michelins adversarial attitude towards their customers, in the beginning I had to deal with a call center that wasn't part of Michelin and after numerous times on hold, trying to understand the off-shore person I was forced to speak with, being told that they themselves are the final level I would be able to deal with which after tracking down their corporate office in quebek Canada to be automatedly answered in French then English asking for a extension number so I could not reach an actual person and then calling their head office in South Carolina to finally get to speak to their corporate big-wigs who in the end made it a point to tell me how lucky I was to be getting their attention at all!

This RV'ing we do involves a lot of parts that make the whole and some of these parts can mean our real personal safety and these companies who produce these products should keep that in mind. Since starting RV'ing I've dealt with several related companies regarding product failure and have been treated quite well by most showing me a real interest in after-the-sale customer service and in this case Michelin completely failed(aside from covering 70% of the tires which frankly I earned by aggravation and hourly rate on the phone sitting on hold) in the end the last thing I said to Michelin's corporate man that I was standing outside with a few of my friends who all pull trailers with trucks and when I hang up what he thought we'd be talking about?

Old Irish Saying; Do a good job and they'll tell ten people,
Do a lousy job and they'll tell a hundred!!

You guys and your perfection issues, the tires are fine. It's just surface crazing and won't ever cause you an issue. Michelin tires are the best riding and wearing tire out there. A guess is the hard compound causes this issue.

Toyo tires are OK but they don't always balance out well. They shake at 75 or so and you can't fix it. We pulled them off the rear of the truck and put them on a trailer.

Buy what you want, but for wear, ride and noise the Michelin tire can't be beat.

Just a heads up; my Michelins have done and are doing the same thing on my dually. (tow vehicle)
I don't drive the truck daily and I keep the tires covered with tire covers, not plywood. I can get about 18 months and perhaps 5k and the weather checking as pictured begins, then it gets worse, around the large letters and molding in the tire. I've been a big believer in Michelin for 25 plus years, my Dad swore by them from about 1960 on.
I have 265-75R=16's on the front of my truck ans 235-85-R16's on the rear. For some reason the 235's do it worse.
At first I kept the tires covered to keep the Alcoa's looking good (a bit obsessive about my truck) but when I saw the weather checking I was surprised.
18 months later, repeat.
My daily driver is an older Tacoma 4x4 wearing Toyos. I get about 50k out of a set, my wife gets the same or better out of a set on her AWD SUV.
The truck will get Toyos when it needs tires again. I will try to make them last another year, but I am not optimistic.
I am done with Michelin. They ride great, the tread wears like iron, the LTX M/S's are great in snow and ice, but this is unacceptable.

Take Michelin's offer. You used the tread.

At least they are not telling you to "pound sand" which is what almost all of the offshore "trailer tire" manufacturers will do. (If they speak English at all!)

Sorry sch911, I zeroed in on the second picture.

Here's the latest link from over on the TV section ( lots of photos) and dated 4/15/2014.

MPI_Mallard wrote:
I had six new Michelin LT235-80R17 tires installed on my Dodge dually a year and a half ago and I now see what to me looks like early signs of dry-rotting
Am I correct?

I am very sad to tell you, but you got the Michelin bug. You should start the replacement process with Michelin. The tires are not unsafe to drive. They are aging too quickly. You deserve a financial settlement.
MM49

18 month old tires with less than 30.000 kilometers on them and the sidewalls start to rot?? I bet had Frau Blücher and I got into a wreck on the I-75 coming home last week Michelin would be wishing they had replaced those tires!

In my younger days, I sold Goodyear, Michelin, Riken, Bridgestone and others. I don't think you'll find a tire company out there now who would give you full credit for tires you've already used. That would be like asking your car insurance company to give you the full purchase price of a car you'd put 50K miles on if you totaled it.