Are Michelins Really All That?

[edward1]

From the comments above I can only assume that they have improved significantly in the last 5 or so years. When I was running a company car I tried Michelins once on a V6 vectra, I was regularly changing all 4 (down to 1.6mm) after around 10-12k. No front to back rotation just a twisty fun commute. I ran Pirelli, Firestone and Goodyear on the car and for that car the best wet grip was from the Pirelli, then the Goodyear. The Michelins lasted longer around 15k but the car used to slide all over the place in the wet and to be honest I wished they would have worn out quicker I couldn't wait to get shut.

I then had a Laguna several years later which had Michelins as OEM and they were not better than my previous experience. Hence I won't go near them now.

[egomeister]

edward1 said:

From the comments above I can only assume that they have improved significantly in the last 5 or so years. When I was running a company car I tried Michelins once on a V6 vectra, I was regularly changing all 4 (down to 1.6mm) after around 10-12k. No front to back rotation just a twisty fun commute. I ran Pirelli, Firestone and Goodyear on the car and for that car the best wet grip was from the Pirelli, then the Goodyear. The Michelins lasted longer around 15k but the car used to slide all over the place in the wet and to be honest I wished they would have worn out quicker I couldn't wait to get shut.

I then had a Laguna several years later which had Michelins as OEM and they were not better than my previous experience. Hence I won't go near them now.

I guess it might depend on which range the tyres are from. I've only had high performance stuff (ie, PE2/PS3) on cars I have owned, but my mums car had Michelin Energy or something like that, which I don't think were anything to write home about.

[Timbuk2]

edward1 said:

I then had a Laguna several years later which had Michelins as OEM and they were not better than my previous experience. Hence I won't go near them now.

I think that's your problem, OEM tyres are always going to be the cost saving option... The High Performance versions by the same manufacturer will be totally different.

[dhariwab]

vit4 said:

Although FWIW, Costco do good deals on Michelin tyres.

Yeah, worth waitng for when they do the buy 3 get 1 free event twice a year.

[s m]

jamei303 said:

s m said:

Patrick Bateman said:

There's so many different tyres from the top manufactures that it's hard to really label one brand as the absolute best as well.

That and I doubt many people have actually tried and tested competitor's top tyres of the same generation.

^

This.

People generally can't afford to do what EVO/Autocar/Autoexpress do and test a complete set of the equivalent tyres from 10 different manufacturers on the same car in much the same conditions on the same test track/test route with measuring equipment/test facilities in a comparative tyre test. Even the big mags can't get hold of one of the particular brands/tyres they wanted for a test half the time.
What people generally do is compare some worn out 3 year old compound on the whole car with a brand new tyre from a different manufacturer ( which they've put on just one axle ) and give the impression 1000 miles into that 'comparison'

Agree. I never bother with people's tyre reviews: "I got Michelins on my Yaris and they're fine, but I borrowed my mate's Evo which has Conti's on and ended up in a ditch!!!!11"

Plus you'll get people saying the mags behind the big tyre tests wil pick one of the big names' tyre testing tracks so there must be a hidden agenda......