Honda Car Forum

I replaced my Michelins with the new Continental Contiextreme, this tire
is getting rave reviews on tirerack.com's survey review. I have bought
many high end all season tires and these are the best I've seen yet, and
at a great price too.

In article <PCJ9b.22$iT4.10791@news1.news.adelphia.net>,
"razingkane" <razingkane@adelphia.net> wrote:

> I'm glad you get good mileage out of your Michelins. Mine mileage was
> terrible. I follow Honda's severe maintenance schedule religiously and had
> my Honda mechanic rotate the Michelins using Michelins rotation schedule.
> The snow here in Colorado Springs during the Autumn and Winter is this
> powder that when compressed turns to a snow/ice mixture. In the late Spring
> we get the wet slushy stuff. I dreaded driving in the Autumn and Winter it
> was better in the Spring. The Toyo's grabbed the Autumn and Winter powder
> much better than the Michelins in Spring. The Spring snow was absolutely no
> problem with the Toyo's. Honda Accords are notorious for there light front
> ends resulting in the occasional tire spin. I'm sure that does not help
> matters in the Winter. Yes I've heard something to the affect that retail
> and OEM Michelins are different but I was not the mood to try a tire I
> already was very unhappy with so I went with the Toyo's. If you check out
> the Toyo web site they give a great shot of the Spectrum tread pattern. I
> may try the Toyo Proxes or 800 Ultras next time as I drive 2-3 trips to
> Southern California every year. I've heard good things about Yokahoma tires
> as well. In any case my Toyo Spectrums have been excellent in all weather
> conditions and have been quiet on the highway.
>
> Good Luck
>
> Rick
>
>
> "TL" <tlehman@visi.com> wrote in message
> news:bfbemvophh35ronuphjam053nn04rmorvc@4ax.com...
> > That's good information on the Toyo tires. I'll consider them next
> > time I'm in the market for tires. However, I disagree with your
> > assessment of the Michelin tire. I'm on my second set of MXV4+ Energy
> > on my Passat and have been extremely happy with them. They are quiet,
> > the handling is rock solid, and I've had no problems with snow here in
> > Minnesota. I also put these tires on my 95 Camry a few years ago, and
> > they have been great. They now have about 60,000 miles are in pretty
> > good shape. The Michelins on my Passat lasted about 40,000 which I
> > found a little disappointing. I'm not sure if the OEM version of this
> > tire is different from the retail version??. The Passat is a heavier
> > car than my Camry. Maybe that made a difference.
> >
> > I've got these on my 03 Accord. I think there's a lot of road noise,
> > but I'm inclined to believe that it says more about the insulation in
> > the car than the tires. I don't have road noise in either my Camry or
> > Passat.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 08:38:09 GMT, "razingkane"
> > <razingkane@adelphia.net> wrote:
> >
> > >I had OEM Michelin MXV4+Energy tires on my 99 Accord EX. They were
> terrible
> > >in the rain and light snow. I had them rotated at the recommended times
> and
> > >they lasted about 25,000 miles. I had the alignment checked as they wore
> > >uneven. I replaced them with Toyo Spectrums. I'm closing in on 60,000
> > >miles. I'll get 65,000/70,000 out of them before I have to have them
> > >replaced. They've been great on the highway, snow, rain, and they've
> been
> > >quiet. They ran about $55.00 a piece. I was looking at Michelin X-Ones
> but
> > >they were to expensive at the time. I'll probably investigate other
> tires
> > >but will compare them to my all to my Toyo's. Most Toyo tires have a 500
> > >mile or 45 day trail period in which you can return them for a full
> refund
> > >if you're not happy with them. No I don' work for Toyo I'm just really
> > >impressed with the tires.
> > >
> > >Rick
> > >
> >
>
>

I replaced my Michelins with the new Continental Contiextreme, this tire
is getting rave reviews on tirerack.com's survey review. I have bought
many high end all season tires and these are the best I've seen yet, and
at a great price too (and I've never liked continentals in the past).

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:11:55 -0400, "Paul Bielec" <me@no.spam> wrote:

>As far as I know, there is no warranty on the OEM tires. They are sold with
>the car without any wear warranty. That's one of the reasons for which the
>car makers get their OEM tires for cheaper, they buy them with no warranty.
>A friend of mine had his tires wear to wear out really quickly on his VW
>Golf and his dealer replaced them for him, but it was VW and/or the dealer
>that did it, not the tire manufacturer.

I'll have to look in my glove box, but my impression has been that the
tires are not covered under the manufacturer's warranty, but rather
through a warranty directly with the tire company. I remember a
Firestone problems a number of years ago (not the Ford SUV problem)
where Firestone had to replace tires on a whole boatload of 1-2 year
old cars. My Passat came with a Michelin warranty book in the packet
with the owners manual. As I said, I'll check my Honda, but I'll be
surprised if there isn't something similar.

>I'm an engineer and when I was at school, I did 2 workterms at a Goodyear
>plant. So I know that the OEM tires are different from the ones you can buy
>at the store. They don't seperate the tires into OEM and for individual sale
>once they are made, they are OEM since the beggining of the manufacturing
>process.

And different in what way?

>That means that, for example, a Michelin MXV4+ Energy sold at the store will
>be different from the OEM one on an Accord, and both tires will be different
>from the one sold OEM on another car.

So you saying that a MXV4+ Energy tire of the same size will be
different in the store than on a new car? That strikes me as urban
legend kind of material. As I recall with the Ford SUV fiasco, one
problem was that Ford wanted a softer ride and therefore recommended a
lower air pressure than the tire called for which according the tire
company led to blowouts. Now if they were getting a special tire, why
didn't they specify something different to produce a softer ride. And
why didn't this come out in the coverage of this problem.

My guess is that manufacturers get a hell of deal from tire
manufacturers simply because 1) they buy a boatload of tires, and 2)
it is likely to generate a large number of second set of tire sales as
many people will say, hey put the same tire on that came with the car.

In article <3gqgmvcl72rmmkjchqkc0obce22edi2os1@4ax.com>,
TL <tlehman@visi.com> wrote:
>So you saying that a MXV4+ Energy tire of the same size will be
>different in the store than on a new car?

It may be. Look up the specs for the Michelin Energy MXV4+ and
Continental CH95 on tirerack.com . In both cases, you may find
that the same size offers a few different varieties, some of which
are the versions made for specific OEM use. Sometimes the
difference is apparent in the speed, load, or pressure rating,
but not always.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 14:30:03 GMT, remove22@sonic.net (Timothy J. Lee)
wrote:

>In article <3gqgmvcl72rmmkjchqkc0obce22edi2os1@4ax.com>,
>TL <tlehman@visi.com> wrote:
>>So you saying that a MXV4+ Energy tire of the same size will be
>>different in the store than on a new car?
>
>It may be. Look up the specs for the Michelin Energy MXV4+ and
>Continental CH95 on tirerack.com . In both cases, you may find
>that the same size offers a few different varieties, some of which
>are the versions made for specific OEM use. Sometimes the
>difference is apparent in the speed, load, or pressure rating,
>but not always.

Good catch, but I was assuming the same speed ratings etc. I replaced
the Michelin tires on my Passat with what I believe are the same in
all rating respects. The previous poster suggested that even when the
ratings are the same, the tires may be different. Or at least that's
what I understood from his post. Now if he was saying, the retail
version might be a V rating versus the OEM which is H, that's a
different issue. Clearly there is a difference between those two
tires. But the difference is the speed rating, not the fact that it is
an OEM versus a retail version.

I suppose it is possible that the OEM tire has a set of ratings that
do not match any available retail tire, but again that's another
issue. In my limited experience I was able to find a retail tire that
appeared to be same in all respects.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:12:40 -0500, TL <tlehman@visi.com> wrote:

>
>Good catch, but I was assuming the same speed ratings etc. I replaced
>the Michelin tires on my Passat with what I believe are the same in
>all rating respects. The previous poster suggested that even when the
>ratings are the same, the tires may be different. Or at least that's
>what I understood from his post. Now if he was saying, the retail
>version might be a V rating versus the OEM which is H, that's a
>different issue. Clearly there is a difference between those two
>tires. But the difference is the speed rating, not the fact that it is
>an OEM versus a retail version.
>
>I suppose it is possible that the OEM tire has a set of ratings that
>do not match any available retail tire, but again that's another
>issue. In my limited experience I was able to find a retail tire that
>appeared to be same in all respects.

Well, to follow up on my own post, I checked the tirerack specs page.
There are some differences, but within a speed and weight range (ie,
94 VH) they are nearly identical. I did notice in the list of
Michelin MXV4+ Energy, there is a tire that actually includes "Honda"
in the name of the tire. Not true of others. Next to it is an
identical tire by name, but I notice the "Honda" tire has a 9/32 tread
while the other has 10/32.

Maybe there's more to this OEM variation than I thought.

On Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:11:55 -0400, "Paul Bielec" <me@no.spam> wrote:

>> Since I've had so little mileage,
>> does anyone have experience with
>> getting prorated on new Michelin
>> tires?
>
>As far as I know, there is no warranty on the OEM tires. They are sold with
>the car without any wear warranty. That's one of the reasons for which the
>car makers get their OEM tires for cheaper, they buy them with no warranty.
>A friend of mine had his tires wear to wear out really quickly on his VW
>Golf and his dealer replaced them for him, but it was VW and/or the dealer
>that did it, not the tire manufacturer.

In the U.S. there definitely is a warranty on tires - you get a separate
warranty statement, even going as far as a separate one for lightweight
spare where applicable. IIRC it explicitly excludes damage due to abuse,
misuse or road hazard but covers the carcass of the tire against abnormal
things such as bead or sidewall defects. Tread wear would be kinda
difficult to cover obviously and I believe it is usually pro-rated into the
coverage.

>I'm an engineer and when I was at school, I did 2 workterms at a Goodyear
>plant. So I know that the OEM tires are different from the ones you can buy
>at the store. They don't seperate the tires into OEM and for individual sale
>once they are made, they are OEM since the beggining of the manufacturing
>process.
>That means that, for example, a Michelin MXV4+ Energy sold at the store will
>be different from the OEM one on an Accord, and both tires will be different
>from the one sold OEM on another car.

Yes even tread pattern can be different between the two but at the same
time, many of the discount tire places (is there any other kind of tire
shop?) will pick up a batch of surplus OEM tires so some of them do end up
in retail.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

In article <395hmv0d2mudh02ll6r8efmsn1ufgsvj0q@4ax.com>,
TL <tlehman@visi.com> wrote:
>On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 14:30:03 GMT, remove22@sonic.net (Timothy J. Lee)
>wrote:
>>In article <3gqgmvcl72rmmkjchqkc0obce22edi2os1@4ax.com>,
>>TL <tlehman@visi.com> wrote:
>>>So you saying that a MXV4+ Energy tire of the same size will be
>>>different in the store than on a new car?
>>
>>It may be. Look up the specs for the Michelin Energy MXV4+ and
>>Continental CH95 on tirerack.com . In both cases, you may find
>>that the same size offers a few different varieties, some of which
>>are the versions made for specific OEM use. Sometimes the
>>difference is apparent in the speed, load, or pressure rating,
>>but not always.
>
>Good catch, but I was assuming the same speed ratings etc. I replaced
>the Michelin tires on my Passat with what I believe are the same in
>all rating respects. The previous poster suggested that even when the
>ratings are the same, the tires may be different.

On tirerack.com, the Continental CH95 has four varieties of
205/55R16 91H (44psi) and two varieties 205/55R16 91H (51psi).
Perhaps people who have that tire in that size as original
equipment on different brands of cars can compare the various
numbers and codes on the tires to see what difference there is.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

Thanks for all the responses.

I have a Michelin XSE Radial tires on
the 2002 Accord LX (18,0000)

I called up the dealer and they say
that they don't warrant these tires since
they are the originals.

I also called up a Michelin authorized
dealer, NTB, and they neither want to
provide any "proration" on it.

The tires only have 18,000 miles.

I am just out of luck or is there
anything else to try?

Thank you!!

In article <33d29236.0309181238.7c772f36@posting.google.com >,
corsica@ragingbull.com (curious) wrote:

> Thanks for all the responses.
>
> I have a Michelin XSE Radial tires on
> the 2002 Accord LX (18,0000)
>
> I called up the dealer and they say
> that they don't warrant these tires since
> they are the originals.
>
> I also called up a Michelin authorized
> dealer, NTB, and they neither want to
> provide any "proration" on it.
>
> The tires only have 18,000 miles.
>
> I am just out of luck or is there
> anything else to try?
>
> Thank you!!

Yes, go to tirerack.com and buy some quality tires, your car will
handle, brake, and drive better, and you'll have a better chance of
avoiding an accident in the next near miss you experience.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:31:43 -0400, DH <upyoursspam@cox.net> wrote:

>In article <33d29236.0309181238.7c772f36@posting.google.com >,
> corsica@ragingbull.com (curious) wrote:
>>
>> I am just out of luck or is there
>> anything else to try?
>>
>Yes, go to tirerack.com and buy some quality tires, your car will
>handle, brake, and drive better, and you'll have a better chance of
>avoiding an accident in the next near miss you experience.

When he asked for options, I assume he knows he could simply buy new
tires. My advice is 1) look in your glove box / original papers to see
if there's a Michelin guide and warranty book, and then 2) contact a
Michelin area / factory rep. If you have a warranty book, you may be
able to simply take that to the tire dealer.

Keep in mind, however, that even if you do get a prorated warranty,
you aren't going to get free tires and the prorated benefit will be
applied to a new set of Michelins. . If you like Michelins (though i
can't imagine you would want another set after this experience), it'll
give you a discount on a new set. However, Michelins are expensive.
You may find that purchasing a set of a competing tire that is less
expensive is not that different from a discount Michelin price. In
other words, unless you do want another set of Michelins, all the work
might not really provide much benefit to you.