Is 70+K Miles of Use Unusual?

[Jim Allen]

August of 2000, we drive home with a spankin' new, flaming red Honda Accord V6 Coupe. We take note it has Michelin MXV4 Plus Energy tires and think we should get decent wear from them.

Boy, howdy!

Fast forward to March 2009, nearly 70K miles are on the car and the same tires are still mounted with an average tread depth reading of 4/32 (some with 5/32+), having started new at 10/32". I'm good about maintaining pressures (though these tires don't bleed much air). I rotate at every OCI (annually or about 7K miles).

Being an older guy, 70K seems fairly remarkable. I'm tempted to buy the newest version of the same Michelin skins and die of old age before the next tire change. I'll be changing them out before next winter but I guess I'm wondering if mine is an unusual story or not?

 

[Johnny]

Not unusual as all, especially on a car like your Accord. But you might be in for sticker shock as they have gone up in the past 9 years, but I would replace them with the same tire.

 

[IndyIan]

I've got about 65000 miles on the tires on the factory uniroyal tiger paws on my 03 Tracker. I should actually measure how much tread is left but they are no where near the wear bars. I only rotate them when I put them back on after winter. The fronts wear faster so I put the best two on the front.
I do have 5(its a 4x4) of them so I guess that helps. The tires are quiet but wet grip is not good, but that's been the case since new.
Ian

 

[daves87rs]

I've heard pretty good things about the tiger paws...

 

[PF52]

My dad was well into the 70K range when he replaced the factory tires on his 2002 Impala; they had lots of tread left but because he rarely has them rotated (ie, only when he has the brakes serviced), they were wearing a little funny and made some noise on the highway. Mom didn't like the noise, and made him get new tires. If it was my car, I would have just rotated them again and kept driving; they had no dry rot since they keep the car in the garage and it only gets exposure to the sun while they are actually driving.

 

[fsskier]

Lighter cars and straight ahead interstate driving seem to contribute to long tire life..... And Michelins generally wear well.
Our 1994 Escort Commuter car went well over 100 K miles
on a set of Michelins X-ones. I had purchased them slightly oversized (175/65-14 is standard, installed 175/70-14)

The pressure was always kept at 36 psi - maybe a hair more.
Wheel alignment is maintained with the stribeline-tapemeasure-torque applied method which is likely more accurate then the guestimate toein-toeout that is used on alignment racks

The original Goodyear cheapies lasted 48K miles.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Being an older guy, 70K seems fairly remarkable. I'm tempted to buy the newest version of the same Michelin skins and die of old age before the next tire change. I'll be changing them out before next winter but I guess I'm wondering if mine is an unusual story or not?

70K is not unheard of, especially if you don't drive in a spirited manner. I can't seem to get more than 20-30k out of my tires, but that's just because I don't pick tires based on long tread life (or at least not long tread life alone).

As for that specific tire (MXV4+ Energy), they came stock on my '00 Accord as well. Keep in mind, the OEM version may not be exactly the same as the aftermarket version that you will replace it with. Personally, I thought these tires were pretty c_r_a_p_p_y when it came to dry/wet grip, snow traction, and steering response. There are better tires out there for less money, but if you liked all the characteristics of the MXV4+ and the price is acceptable, go for it.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
I've heard pretty good things about the tiger paws...

Like others have said, there seems to be differences between OEM tires and ones you get at the tire store.
If you plan on getting snow tires then these are OK, we ran them for one winter and that was enough even with 4 wheel drive.
Ours are 205/75R15 and have a traction rating of B, temperature A, and a wear rating of 470, so they are not really good tires other than for longevity. I won't buy them again unless that is all they have at the used tire place.
Ian

 

[lewdwig]

Here they recoat the roads with tar and slag which is really sharp. I don't know if it's that or my wife's driving style but her Mitsubishi goes through a set of tires in 30-35K miles. Currently, she has Continental CrossContact LXs and at 27K they're quite worn.

I believe the Michelin Energys were made for low rolling resistance and not so much for rain or snow traction.

 

[rszappa1]

I have a 2007 Honda Accord with the same Michelins and I have 66,000 on them and have 5/32nds left. I rotate my tires every 10,000 same side front to back. It has been a very good tire and when I have to replace them I will get the Michelin Primacy MXV4....by the way the speed rating is a "V" on the oem and the people at the local Big O tires said that they are really impressed with the condition of my tires. I have always had real good luck with Michelins and in the past that brand tire has corrected a lot of problems that other brand tires had....

 

[CapriRacer]

One of my favorite stories:

I was testing tires with a courier service. They would pickup checks from the local banks every night and deliver them to the nearest Federal Reserve Bank that same night. (That's the way they did this some 15 - 20 years ago before the widespread use of electronic transfer.)

This courier service operated throughout the US - and used the same Ford E-150's everywhere - literally thousands of them!

I was asked to investigate why in Florida the local pick up vehicles could only get about 15K out of a set of tires. (The bank branches were only about a few miles apart, but it took lots of turning to get to each one!)

The guy who asked the question was the purchasing agent for the entire US and he wondered if it was because of the different tire brands that were being used (each branch purchased their own tires through a local source and there were lots of different brands used depending on who was buying the tires).

I asked him to select 8 tires at random from a stock of tires I had and had him specify which set he wanted to wear 15K and which set he wanted to wear 100K. He sent the 15K set to the Miami branch and instructed them to mount the set on any vehicle that was giving low wear results.

Per my instructions - he then sent the other set to St Louis and instructed them to put them on the vehicle that went between St. Louis and Kansas City (a little over 400 miles round trip over I-70).

It took only 4 months for the Miami tires to wear out (at about 15K) and while the St Louis truck had over twice the miles in the same time, the tires weren't even half worn. It took over a year (and over 100K) for those tires to wear out.

If you drive in straight line a lot, then you'll get good tire wear. If you drive in the city (and make a lot of turns), then your tire wear is not going to be as good.