Today I had to jack up my truck to adjust the rear drum brakes that won't self adjust. While working, I noticed the tires I had bought in January 2014 were dry rotting in the treads and starting to separate. They are Michelins with a 6 year and 70,000 mile warranty. So they are almost on the truck for 2 1/2 years and have 25,000 miles on them. I drove to Costco and the tire guy came out and said that it was normal. I argued the point as in my research it was recommended not to drive on the tires and have them replaced immediately. For the 4 new tires the price came to $859.00, and I was charged $303 for them. While I know that I did get the use of them for 2 1/2 years, they were supposed to be good for 6 years. I'm okay with paying, but part of me thinks that I should have gotten the 6 years out of them.

Were these on a DeLorean? There seems to be one year that is not accounted for.

If the tires were mounted January 2014, as stated, and you noticed the problem in June 2017, also as stated, you got three and a half years, not two and a half.

I hate math, you are correct, I did get 3 1/2 years. That's close to 7K miles a year.

I get to see a lot of tires, and I see more early "dry-rot" on Michelins than average. Also, 7000 miles a year? Does it spend a lot of time sitting around? That seems to accelerate dry-rot faster than driving on them every day. You see this a lot with RV tires.

But when were they made? Tires do have a service life, even if not being used. Sounds like you got tires that had sat around for awhile.

I usually get very good life on tires, but I also have noticed Michelins dry-rotting more of late.
Having the cracking problem with my 4wd diesel truck-



This set of tires has 30k. About six years old. Generally I armor-all frequently. Didn't seem to make much difference in this case. Vehicle is usually garaged.








In the past I have reached 60k with Michelins on mostly Volvos, and that was down South in the sun by the beach. Did well with Coopers on Land Rovers as well. Not any more, it seems.

Cracking on these is severe. Been discussing with Michelin but so far best I have been offered is around $375.00 credit. (A set of these is around 1k).

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I get to see a lot of tires, and I see more early "dry-rot" on Michelins than average. Also, 7000 miles a year? Does it spend a lot of time sitting around? That seems to accelerate dry-rot faster than driving on them every day. You see this a lot with RV tires.

I retired about 2 1/2 years ago and substitute in a vocational school district and my towns school district. I don't drive more than 10 miles in a day during the school week. The most driving I do is on weekends and that can be my truck or the Yukon that we own. So, I don't let it sit, but don't take many long trips any more with it. My RV tires are older, sit more and still look better than the tires I just exchanged.
While looking at the tires online tonight I noticed Michelin no longer makes the LT2 tires that were on my truck. The new tires have the exact thread pattern but are made with a newer material that is supposed to last 10% longer.

quote:

Originally posted by Rinehart:
I usually get very good life on tires, but I also have noticed Michelins dry-rotting more of late.
Having the cracking problem with my 4wd diesel truck-



This set of tires has 30k. About six years old. Generally I armor-all frequently. Didn't seem to make much difference in this case. Vehicle is usually garaged.








In the past I have reached 60k with Michelins on mostly Volvos, and that was down South in the sun by the beach. Did well with Coopers on Land Rovers as well. Not any more, it seems.

Cracking on these is severe. Been discussing with Michelin but so far best I have been offered is around $375.00 credit. (A set of these is around 1k).

The cracks in your middle picture of the threads are exactly what mine looked like.

I was told by a tire guy I trust that Michelins and BFG's dry rot quicker than all the others. He said it's due to the type of rubber they use.

They use a harder rubber and are notorious for early dry rot. Your warranty should at least pro rate the cost of the new tires. If not i wouldn't buy michelins again, i also would find a new tire shop. Goodyears warranty would pro rate wear or dry rot, if you got half the time put of the warranty you should get half off the new tires.

I had this issue when I had a company truck I drove during the week and only drove my personal vehicle on the weekends. Dry rotted in 2.5-3 years with only about 15K miles on them. Got the tires prorated on the warranty.

Did you check the manufactured date on the sidewall of the tire? The reason I ask is that big box stores are notorious for selling several year old stock. In other words, your 3.5 years of usage may have been on 3.5 to 8.5 years old tires.


You should also check the date on your new tires. Here is a NTSB presentation on age related tire failure and recommended max tire age (from date of manufacture not date of purchse).

Yep, you are right about the tire date. One thing we found after seeing this across three vehicles (all Michelin) was that the tire dealer (in this case Sears Auto) was selling "old" tires.

Since then I always ask to see the actual tires to be installed before they start work-

I replaced a set of Bridgestones on my Tundra @ 2 years and 20K miles for the same reason. I didn't check the date code on the tires, but I was seriously pissed.

Has a set of Mastercraft on it now, be 2 years old in August. Reminds me, I should go look at them.

I am used to getting 15k miles or so out of the tires on my performance cars. I have never tried to claim anything under the mileage warranty. I should look into that.

I guess I have nothing to complain about. I had the tires for over 3 years and only paid $303 for a set of $859 tires.
My last truck I had saw 70,000 miles on Michelin LT2's and look like they had another 20K left on them. They had no dry rot when I traded the truck in. That set was load range E, I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

I too have seen more dry rot on Michelin's....they did that on my last set but were 6 years old......If you call Michelin, they are pretty darn good at taking care of the customer......However, both sets of michelins I've had on 2 different vehicles, by far were the best tires in every category than anything else.

Chinese MIM lubber.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
I am used to getting 15k miles or so out of the tires on my performance cars. I have never tried to claim anything under the mileage warranty. I should look into that.

If they're asymmetrical (wider rears and thus can't rotate front to back) the warranty may be void. Usually got around 25k no matter Conti, Nexen, or Michelin on my E class.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
I am used to getting 15k miles or so out of the tires on my performance cars. I have never tried to claim anything under the mileage warranty. I should look into that.

If they're asymmetrical (wider rears and thus can't rotate front to back) the warranty may be void. Usually got around 25k no matter Conti, Nexen, or Michelin on my E class.

You obviously weren't driving it hard enough!