Are Michelins really better than the other brands?

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grampi

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A couple weeks and a few hundred miles on a new set of Michelins and I find myself wondering this very question. I constantly hear how much better Michelins are than the other brands, but so far I haven't seen anything special about these tires. Yes, they ride nice, they're quiet, traction seems to be good, handling seems good, but they don't seem to do anything better than any other new set of tires I've had.

The last two sets of tires I've had on my Corolla were Kumhos. Overall I'd say I've been satisfied with Kumho tires, but they haven't been perfect. One tire from each set developed a thump at some point, and while this problem didn't render the tire unserviceable, it was very annoying, so I chose to replace those tires. The other thing I noticed about the Kumhos was the compound seems to lose some of its flexibility over time causing wet traction to suffer, and road noise to increase. So in short, Kumhos aren't the best tires when it comes to aging. I'm wondering if it's in this area where I will realize the superiority of the Michelins, or is all this superiority talk nothing but a bunch of hot air?
 
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I don't even know if my experiences are valid in a small car context, as we have Michelins on all our trucks.

I can tell you that on big vans and hard working pickups they are unbeatable. Superior performance and VERY long life compared to other tires.

Time for some other econo-box owners to chime in...
 
What describes it best for me is consistency. I think with Michelin, you may not always get the best tire. But you get their best tire more frequently than some other tire makers. I.E. fewer defects.

Therefore, consistent quality is what you get with Michelin from what I've experienced.
 
On my work fleet of Explorers we used Michelins almost exclusively. After well over a million miles we never had one problem with them. I have been using General Grabber HTS on a few vehicles and they are working well with a problem on one tire not directly related to the tire.

It maybe just me, but it seems Michelins hold up longer, handle road hazards better including far less flat tires.
 
Originally Posted By: grampi

The last two sets of tires I've had on my Corolla were Kumhos. Overall I'd say I've been satisfied with Kumho tires, but they haven't been perfect. One tire from each set developed a thump at some point, and while this problem didn't render the tire unserviceable, it was very annoying, so I chose to replace those tires. The other thing I noticed about the Kumhos was the compound seems to lose some of its flexibility over time causing wet traction to suffer, and road noise to increase. So in short, Kumhos aren't the best tires when it comes to aging.


I agree 100% with the above Kumho statements/issues. I've now owned them on a Civic and a CR-V. I haven't had the wet traction issue down the road, however.

But, tirerack.com has them at the highest rating by users for the lowest price, and that's why I use them.
 
Michelins are made in USA/Europe vs. Kumho made in China... That's a big difference right there.

Noise/traction/wear aside, I doubt that rolling down a highway you'll feel much of a difference on a well balanced tire. The differences are more of tire consistency, need for a lot of weight during balancing, chances for broken belts/misbalances/sidewall bubbles/etc.

It's the difference between a bit more and a bit less quality overall. Harbor freight vs snap-on.. Both may getthe job done, one is better.
 
Most USA made michelin is BF Goodrich. I just bought some hankook optimo to replace the absymal OEM bridgestones on the Subaru and I'm liking the price performance ratio of these tires. Look at tirerack opinions and customer feedback and their hard test data on two or three SPECIFIC tires to compare - "michelin" being "better" is just a generalistion. Most people think BOSE make the best speakers - ask and audio hobbiest or "phile they would likely tell you that bose (aka: "blows") are a very poor value and provide just a low-end ranking performance.
 
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I've had a set of Khumos, and they were okay, but not cheap enough to justify the short life they had, as well as the loss of wet and snow traction as they aged.
Michelins have been satisfactory on every vehicle I've ever put them on.
You do pay a little more, but I have never had a bad or bad wearing Michelin tire.
They seem to balance with very little weight, they stay balanced, and rain and snow grip remain decent for the life of the tire.
You do get what you pay for.
 
Quote:
Are Michelins really better than the other brands?
Well, they are an upmarket brand, so usually the answer is "yes." If you want an economy tire, Michelin offers the BF Goodrich and Uniroyal brands. That said, there are some Michelin-branded products that are not so great--especially in the OE tire lines.

Another question is, "is the price premium for Michelin worth it over other brands' upmarket offerings?" I would say the answer is usually "no."
 
I suspect that Michelins have more consistent quality controls over their line(brand) of tires than many other (econoline) tire brands, meaning that you pay a little more but the outcome is very consistent.

I had, in the past, some sour experiencs with BF Goodrich, Bridgestones (esp. the Firestone "clones" casted in SAmerica after the acquisitions), Firestones, GoodYear, etc. Most of them disappointed me so far: from weight shifting (have to re-balance every several months in order to keep the vibration under control, etc.) to thread squirm, and premature thread wear, etc.

I've been fully satisfied with Michelins so far, no aforementioned issues encountered with this particular brand.

Q.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Michelins are made in USA/Europe vs. Kumho made in China... That's a big difference right there.

I have yet to own a set of Kumhos made in People's Republic of China. Mine were all made in Republic of Korea which has been a longtime ally of the United States. Kumho, Nexen and Hankook were all Korean.

There might be Chinese Kumhos though
21.gif
I just haven't had any.

As far as the original question, I like Michelin motorcycle tires but I haven't ever gotten enough out of them to justify their cost vs other brands in car tires. Maybe I just had the wrong Michelins.
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
What describes it best for me is consistency. I think with Michelin, you may not always get the best tire. But you get their best tire more frequently than some other tire makers. I.E. fewer defects.

Therefore, consistent quality is what you get with Michelin from what I've experienced.


+1 The range in quality variation of Michelins from their poorest tire to their best tire is smaller in my opinion than most. So their worst tire is probably going to be something that is "acceptable" while many others will have tires ranging from mediocre upwards. Best way to pick a tire in my opinion is to match the type you are looking for by application, then look on a model by model basis across the different brands.
 
I think it depends on the car too...

For my Cav and it's 70 series tire, pretty much anything round will do. (Small and round is good I guess)

But on the other hand, I think you will be able to notice a difference in 60 series and lower tires. Not only in handling, but in the sidewall as well.
 
In my limited experience I find Michelins are worth their money. For one, I noticed some Michelins are made from multiple-draw dies. One can determine this from the visible parting lines. This allows more needed detail in the tread. Other tires can be made from two-piece clamshell dies, where the tread may be compromised so it can be peeled out of the die without harm.

I also noticed some Michelins are more resistant to visible aging than other brands.
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Yes, they ride nice, they're quiet, traction seems to be good, handling seems good, but they don't seem to do anything better than any other new set of tires I've had.


Give them some time, and you may see a difference. I've regretted most every non-Michelin tire purchase I've made, and it's rarely for something "big" like wet traction or anything like that. The best example of this is the Yokohama Avid TRZs I had on my former Corolla. Initially, I loved those tires. They rode nice, and handled great. They were a very nice, well-rounded tire (har har).

But after about a year, they started getting louder. And in the winter months, they hardened up like steel. To the touch, they felt like they had 50 pounds of air in them, and they rode that way too. Alignment was good. Tire wear was even. Inflation pressures were checked (and lowered to try and compensate). They just got really hard in the winter, and a bit unbearable in a small car like the Corolla. The Michelins on the minivan stayed as soft and as pliable and as comfortable as they were in the summer.

There are other areas where I prefer Michelin tires. The sidewalls always have a nice clean and smooth design. The appearance is almost "metallic" or glossy. The tread rubber seems to maintain nice crisp edges as it wears, where other brands I've had would look ragged and torn. Then there's the trueness. Rarely have I had a Michelin tire that didn't take more than an ounce to balance. The X Radials on our minivan each had exactly 1.25 oz. of weight, placed almost exactly opposite the large TPMS sensor on the wheel. Take away: the tires were extremely true.

Yes, you can sometimes get all these things in other brands, but someone else mentioned consistency. I've never been unhappy with a Michelin tire purchase. And for the relatively SMALL price difference between them and a cheaper tire, it's just not worth it to me to buy anything else.
 
Originally Posted By: stubbakatt
It depends on which michelins you have. There are low grade and high grade tires from every manufacturer.

I have the Destinys.

Just to add to the discussion, the other tires I was considering when I purchased the Michelins was the Kumho KR22. They are a 100K mile rated tire (compared to the Destiny's 80K rating), but I went with the Michelins because the rebates Michlin was offering on their tires actually made them less expensive than the Kumhos.
 
If I were to choose a brand of tires blindly, I think I would go with Michelin. My mom's Camry currently has a set of Hydroedges on them and they've worn like rocks and from what I can tell, the traction is pretty good in rain. The best mileage have occurred with them on. They're directional so they're pretty noisy though.

My current car had worn (4-5/32nd) Michelin Pilots on it when I first got it and it didn't hint of hydroplaning when I drove it in the rain. The Falkens that replaced them have worn quick and don't have that great of traction now.

If it didn't cost all my limbs and a first born for my 17" wheels I think I would have put another set on there.
 
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Michelins are made in USA/Europe vs. Kumho made in China... That's a big difference right there.

I have yet to own a set of Kumhos made in People's Republic of China. Mine were all made in Republic of Korea which has been a longtime ally of the United States. Kumho, Nexen and Hankook were all Korean.

There might be Chinese Kumhos though
21.gif
I just haven't had any.


Chinese Kumho's outnumber the Korean ones from my experience. Your experience is clearly different but we have a vehicle with Chinese Kumhos on it right now.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
If I were to choose a brand of tires blindly, I think I would go with Michelin. My mom's Camry currently has a set of Hydroedges on them and they've worn like rocks and from what I can tell, the traction is pretty good in rain. The best mileage have occurred with them on. They're directional so they're pretty noisy though.

My current car had worn (4-5/32nd) Michelin Pilots on it when I first got it and it didn't hint of hydroplaning when I drove it in the rain. The Falkens that replaced them have worn quick and don't have that great of traction now.

If it didn't cost all my limbs and a first born for my 17" wheels I think I would have put another set on there.


Same issue my sister encountered when it came time to replace the Pilots on her 535i. The price of them scared her away.

We use Michelin tires pretty much exclusively. For many of the same reasons mentioned in this thread. We've never had a bad Michelin tire. Cannot say the same for other brands.
 
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