Michelin Defender treadlife issue, again

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I was under the impression Michelin fixed the treadlife issue with the Defender series midway in their production span. I'm seeing some shoulder wear with a set of the Costco version, made in 2015 at Michelin's Italian plant.

I took the van in question to Firestone for an alignment and they've noted 5/32" of wear, more so on the shoulders. The van has about 26-27K on this set. The previous Michelin X Radial DTs lasted almost 60K, they still had plenty of life left but I made the decision to take them out of service due to the fact they were almost 10 years old with signs of excessive cracking.

The van will be going back to Costco for rotation and balance, I'll ask them about this. I understand minivans are hard on their tires, but either Michelin hasn't really fixed this issue or that Firestone's pulling my leg? At least the local store did quote me for 2 Firestone All Seasons instead of their usual Primewell push if I wanted to replace the tires in question.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Sounds like tire pressure should be bumped up.

I've kept the air pressure at 35-37PSI. There is a slow leak from one tire I'm having Costco figure out.

I've showed my dad how to use a pressure gauge but I'm not sure if he's complying.
 
Shoulder wear...agree with Nick1994; the pressure is too low and the edges are wearing.

Some tires flex more than others and require higher pressure for the same footprint; what is the max inflation on the tire? Probably 45....try 42 psi for about 4-5000 miles and report back.
 
+1 more air ...over 40 PSI ...wear will slow down and you may get better mileage too. Or you could follow the door sticker like an owners manual lemming and wear them out quickly and blame the tires.
 
Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
+1 more air ...over 40 PSI ...wear will slow down and you may get better mileage too. Or you could follow the door sticker like an owners manual lemming and wear them out quickly and blame the tires.

Hmm...

If I follow the door jamb sticker I wear out the center of my tires.

If I follow my owner's manual I get perfect wear.
 
My 2003 VW Passat never wore the tires properly when inflated per the sticker, mind you there were numbers for half load, full load and below 100mph and above - 4 set of numbers.
Rears called for something like 29 at lowest setting. 2 sets of aftermarket tires wore like this (both shoulder wear indicating underinflation).
After I started using 35 psi all around the wear was normal on subsequent sets.

Maybe you suffer from underspec'ed pressures?

Krzys
 
Hmm, I'm thinking pressures are at play - after I get the rotation and balance done at Costco, I'll air up the tires to 38psi. Toyota calls for 35, 44psi is the max pressure per Michelin at full load.

There has to be a way to find out the sweet spot by looking at the tire footprint after driving the car on a wet surface.
 
I have the same tires from Costco on my 06 Malibu. It weighs 3,250 lbs. Same problem. Wearing quickly most noticeably on the shoulders. I keep them above the recommended pressure and have recently gone even higher. Right now they are riding like rocks. Not worth it. I wouldn't recommend them. Asked Costco if they have any complaints and I got a brainless stare in reply.

If you don't wait in line for 1 hour for a balance and rotation every 12,000 km or 7,500 miles you have no tread wear warranty. I might get 55,000 miles out of these 90,000 miles tires.
 
Originally Posted By: nthach
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Sounds like tire pressure should be bumped up.

I've kept the air pressure at 35-37PSI. There is a slow leak from one tire I'm having Costco figure out.

I've showed my dad how to use a pressure gauge but I'm not sure if he's complying.


have them check the bead seal and if needed slap on some bead sealer. this fixed the leak on my Subaru
 
Does anyone really get 90K miles out of a set of Defenders? I get 60K out of my sets, and I'm pretty OCD about tire-related maintenance. Because of this, I get a nice proration out of local DT shop, and slap on another set for 2/3 of the usual asking price (before whatever rebates are then available). Otherwise, the Defenders serve adequately.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: Kawiguy454
+1 more air ...over 40 PSI ...wear will slow down and you may get better mileage too. Or you could follow the door sticker like an owners manual lemming and wear them out quickly and blame the tires.

Hmm...

If I follow the door jamb sticker I wear out the center of my tires.

If I follow my owner's manual I get perfect wear.


It varies from vehicle to vehicle, and between tires on each vehicle. Proper pressure will have the entire surface of the tire in contact with the road, and will result in even wear on the non steering wheels. It's well established here that the door jamb sticker is a great guideline for the OEM tires, and is usually tuned to give the best ride (exception: sports cars). I take it as a great guideline of where to start; if your edges are wearing, your tires are underinflated, and if the center is wearing, they're overinflated. Kawiguy454 is right....we here at BITOG are not lemmings, and adjust things on our vehicles according to what we're using.


Originally Posted By: khittner
Does anyone really get 90K miles out of a set of Defenders? I get 60K out of my sets, and I'm pretty OCD about tire-related maintenance. Because of this, I get a nice proration out of local DT shop, and slap on another set for 2/3 of the usual asking price (before whatever rebates are then available). Otherwise, the Defenders serve adequately.


Got 100k out of a set of the predecessor (LTX/MS2) on the ex's Wrangler.


Originally Posted By: nthach
Hmm, I'm thinking pressures are at play - after I get the rotation and balance done at Costco, I'll air up the tires to 38psi. Toyota calls for 35, 44psi is the max pressure per Michelin at full load.

There has to be a way to find out the sweet spot by looking at the tire footprint after driving the car on a wet surface.


I read an article (Road and Track maybe?) several years ago, which suggested turning traction control off and seeing what the patch looked like....
 
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
(Post paid by Goodyear)

Meh, while Goodyear's aftermarket series are good tires, the stock Goodyear-made Dunlops on this van and the no-Integrities on a Prius soured them to me.
 
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