Michelin tyres need replacing after 4k miles ?

keith1950

I don't think it will be tyre issue, Michelin usually wear very well....my current tyres are only down to 4mm after around 43,000 miles!

neilmcl

Yet another good reason to regularly check your tyre depths and pressures yourself.

arcon5

It's completely possible and yet avoidable by regular checks.

drofluf62

Thanks for all the comments.

It wasn't the tread depth that meant they needed replacing but that one side of the tyre was bald.

The car literally drives straight down an A road to the station and back. No tight turns, no speed bumps, no roundabouts. It has done that for the last two years, since the tyres were done. It lives a very sheltered life. My husband is a very conservative driver. No need for braking here like London where we lived prior to this. Even doing the South Circular every morning for 6 years we didn't have new tyres ever.

I'm not sure how a general motorist can know if the tracking is done properly by the garage? And as for suspension and balance, well it has been regularly serviced as recommended, and being very experienced drivers we have noticed no issues. I don't know anyone myself ... Obviously these being people who drive cars, and leave the technical side to their garage ... who regularly check the balance or tracking. I asked around yesterday and most people said what's tracking! For most people it's something done when they replace a tyre .. Or hit a big pothole. You can't have it done every time you hit a little one. We'd be in daily!


Michelin taking them in to investigate anyway. I fear they will say it is potholes. But four thousand miles! I reckon the tracking was set wrong at the start myself.

Thank you

AdrianC

drofluf62 wrote: »

I'm not sure how a general motorist can know if the tracking is done properly by the garage?

You watch for wear starting to become noticeably uneven, when you do your weekly basic checks of the car - tyres/fluids/lights...

colino

OP you are absolutely right, some cars are are hyper-sensitive to their chassis geometry being spot-on, others less so, and even then, you could have it checked and re-aligned at great cost, but have it knocked out bumping over a kerb on the way out of the garage.
You either check it when you, "pothole it" and immediately notice a difference in the car, or when you notice uneven wear on the treads on your weekly tyre checks. Unfortunately with the latter, some of your expensive tyre tread has already been scrubbed off, but it isn't a regular service item.

Joe_Horner

drofluf62 wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments.

It wasn't the tread depth that meant they needed replacing but that one side of the tyre was bald.

I'm not sure you quite got my point.

As an example, this tyre:



is still ok. It's obviously not ideal, but it is both legal and safe, and would also pass a properly done MOT, because what matters is the depth of those 4 central grooves (and anything that was originally as deep as them) and - as you can see near the top - they're still comfortably above the wear bars.

Even if the tiny amount of remaining pattern on the shoulders wears away, as long as those grooves are deep enough, the tyre is serviceable.

A tyre place advising you to change them at this point is fair enough, they won't perform as well as when they were new. But a tyre place telling you that you must change them at this point either doesn't understand the regs or is misquoting them to force business from you.

The only exception to that is if, by "bald" you mean with the cords showing.

arcon5

The above tyre is no where in hell advisable. Legal from a technical view point, but even if the vehicle its on now gets tracked, it's going to be a very short period of time until general wear sees the edges through to the cord. In fact the right hand has a dent appearing classic sign its about to hit the cord.
It should have been spotted long before that state.

The fact you drive in a straight line is irrelevant! If the wheels of not tracked or balanced you will effectively be dragging the wheel(s) down that straight road.

Joe_Horner

One slight problem with that little outburst - that tyre wasn't worn by a tracking error. It's a classic example of long-term slight under inflation - in fact, so classic that I borrowed it from the Dunlop site where it was illustrating just that problem.

Other than that my point was that, as I said, it's not ideal and recommending replacement would be reasonable. But it's certainly not illegal or dangerous at that point, so pressuring a customer into buying a new one by giving the impression that it is dangerous or illegal and "must" be changed is dishonest.

Not sure where "driving in straight lines" came from though???

arcon5

The straight line comment relates to one of ops comments about only driving a straight road, with no tight turns.