Michelin Dry Rot Problems

[Falken]

I was wondering if anyone knew anything about Michelin's dry rot problems?

Did they clear the issue up?

Anyone experience it?

Thinking about getting a set of Michelins soon...

 

[toneydoc]

My wife has Michelin Energy radials on her car. 6 years old and 52000+ miles and have another 6-8k miles left on them. Garage kept since new. No dry rot problems yet

 

[Danno]

I have bought Michelins "forever" and have them on 3 of my 5 cars.

No issues. Will buy more as my tires wear out.

Almost like the "wax in Pennzoil" theme that never goes away.

 

[Roadkingnc]

Petroleum based tire shine products will make the sidewalls crack

 

[mrsilv04]

4 Michelin LTX's. Date code of 3207. Been on truck since 4807.

No problems here.

 

[Need4racin]

happens in the deep south US at 4+ yrs old.

 

[Rand]

which michelin tires? wouldnt surprise me on oem tires as they are made as cheap as possible to the car manufacturer spec.

 

[OVERKILL]

The LTX's on the Expedition are about 4 years old now and look great.

The Pilot Super Sport's on the M5 are too new to judge at this point.

We've owned about 5 or 6 pairs of the LTX's and never had any issue with dry rot.

 

[JHZR2]

Can't say Ive noticed it on the sets we have run. The only tires that have dry rotted are no-name chinese tires.

No signs of cracking either on the current michelins, which is nice. Ditto for bridgestones. Contis not so much.

BFG, owned by Michelin, have always been good IMO for not cracking or rotting. Though my only experience is sets of BFG AT tires.

 

[cutlassvillager]

My previous pilot sport plus all season tires started to dry rot a little but they were probably 5-6 years old at least. They just started getting to the wear bars as I started getting uncomfortable with the dry rot. I chose to replace them with super sports as age seemed to be more of a problem versus mileage (along with many other reasons). I did use tire shine often which was probably a factor as well. I now only use Aerospace 303 as its supposed to be better for the tires as far as tire shine goes...

 

[Cooper]

The Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires I just removed from my Civic were 2 years old and 40k miles. They had significant dry rot. Most Michelin tires I have purchased have had it. I just bought my first set of Bridgestone tires.....testing the waters after being a faithful Michelin buyer for years.

 

[Hollow]

...what Michelin dry rot issue?

Can't say I've ever experienced it.

 

[CapriRacer]

First, I think Michelin tires are more prone to cracking than other brands. I think that is because they use harder rubber compounds in certain areas of their tires.

But I also think those cracks aren't as critical as for other brands because of WHERE the cracks on the Michelin's show up and how superficial they are. Tread cracking and lower sidewall cracking - which is where the Michelin's crack - is NOT a critical area.

 

[tommygunn]

I think it's because Michelin tires last so long.

For example, the MXV4 tires have almost infinite tread life. After 10 years, of course the tires will have cracks, but they'll still have half of the tread remaining. Many people with these tires will just keep running them "oh you know there's still plenty of tread remaining so it's all good"

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
First, I think Michelin tires are more prone to cracking than other brands. I think that is because they use harder rubber compounds in certain areas of their tires.

But I also think those cracks aren't as critical as for other brands because of WHERE the cracks on the Michelin's show up and how superficial they are. Tread cracking and lower sidewall cracking - which is where the Michelin's crack - is NOT a critical area.


I guess we drive too much, as we routinely buy a few sets of Michelins every year for fleet trucks and personal cars. They have earned our trust and we get fabulous performance out of them.

I have yet to have any problems ever in many years, one defective tire was replaced super quick and easy but no other issues at all.

 

[gofast182]

I've had Michelin Pilots as OE on many Hondas/Acuras and while I haven't kept one longer than 3 years, nothing ever showed up in that time and the tires always performed admirably. I probably wouldn't replace with like-kind due to price but I'm happy if the car comes with them.
The only brand of tire I no longer trust and would never buy is Continental.

 

[oilstudent24]

Had some dry rot on Michelin Primacy MXV4 H rated tires. Sidewall cracks within about 1 year and a half. Noticed the same thing on another set of MXV4 when I bought a slightly used vehicle. The date code was about 2 yeras old and the same sidewall cracking going on. No sidewall shine used on the first set I bought and garaged frequently. DT pro rated them though. I have some ltx m/s 2 and they are starting to show some small dry rot in the tread, but they are about 4 years old and perform great. LTX MS and MS2 have great treadwear the primacy not so much both rode and performed well though.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
First, I think Michelin tires are more prone to cracking than other brands. I think that is because they use harder rubber compounds in certain areas of their tires.

But I also think those cracks aren't as critical as for other brands because of WHERE the cracks on the Michelin's show up and how superficial they are. Tread cracking and lower sidewall cracking - which is where the Michelin's crack - is NOT a critical area.


This is very interesting. I've posted before about the cracking I've experienced with previous Michelin car tires before (more on that in a second). The cracking has always been circumferentially down near the bead area, and indeed, it appears to be superficial in nature. Is this the lower sidewall cracking to which you refer?

I've had that occur twice on me, both with Michelin car tires. Incidentally, both were OES tires: Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus and Michelin Energy MXV4 S8. I've never had the lower sidewall cracking to occur on truck/SUV tires. I had a set of LTX M/S on a Nissan truck once, and they were at least 8 years old by the date code, but they looked great. The Cross Terrains on our Acura and the Latitude Tours on our CR-V look fantastic still. The Cross Terrains are about 3 years old with about 45,000 miles on them and the Latitude Tours are about 2 years old with about 20,000 miles on them.

Next up will be a set of tires for the Acura, likely a set of Latitude Tours.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
This is very interesting. I've posted before about the cracking I've experienced with previous Michelin car tires before (more on that in a second). The cracking has always been circumferentially down near the bead area, and indeed, it appears to be superficial in nature. Is this the lower sidewall cracking to which you refer?....


Yes

 

[hattaresguy]

The two year old tires on my truck are starting to lightly crack.