Used Michelin: are these decent deal?

[luvrbus]

You don't really know if used tires are 50% or what with out knowing the original tread depth some of these tires start at 10/32 and some like the Toyo start at 19/32.You guys correct me if I am wrong here but isn't 2/32 tread the minimum legal limit for the DOT.    good luck

[jackhartjr]

Clifford, for a truck it is 2/32nds on all but the steers which are 4/32nds.  I am thinking but not sure that is the same for a bus.
I'll try to check that later.
Jack

[BG6]

I have gotten virgin take-offs from truckers for Cnd$100 each. (US$75). 11R22.5, 1 to 3 years old with 50 to 80% tread on them. Good name brands. That's how much they would get for a casing from the retreaders.

Why would anyone replace a tire of that age if it had a minimum of 50% tread remaining?

One reason would be a change to a different tread pattern.  Another would be having lost a tire to damage, and replacing all at once (on duals, putting a new tire next to a worn tire shortens the life of both).

[circusboy90210]

forgot to mention one big thing about these tires.... they are not american.

[Sean]

forgot to mention one big thing about these tires.... they are not american.

How do you know?

Most tire manufacturers have US plants, including Yokohama and Toyo.

The only major US brand is Goodyear.  All others are foreign-owned, including Michelin/Goodrich (France) and Bridgestone/Firestone (Japan).

To know where a tire was made (US or overseas) you need to look at the manufacturer's code stamped on the tire, which identifies the plant of origin.  Even Goodyear manufactures overseas.

Welcome to the global economy.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Sean]

...  Sean likes the off road knobbies for getting in and out of DISASTERS and just for the showy looks.  Can't have too much traction.

Well, I just replaced those tires with... four identical tires.  The open-shoulder tread lasted me about 85,000 miles, and when we pulled the tires off, they were almost exactly five years old, so I probably would have opted to change them soon even if I had not worn the tread off.

I'm guessing that I could have gotten another year/20,000 miles out of a high-mileage rib tire.  I would also guess that these tires cost me about 2%-3% in fuel mileage.  But they have gotten us out of a few dicey situations, and I figure if they saved me even one tow (our $100 per year emergency road service does not cover us off the pavement), they have more than made up for the fuel and wear penalty.

They do "sing" a bit on the highway, but heck, we don't sit in the back!

And they do look butch.   

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[gus]

Whether or not something is "American" doesn't have much to do with anything to me. What I want is quality and value. I've had to re-engineer too many "American" things to make them work properly to consider that any advantage any more.

Is my Dodge minivan with a Mitsubishi engine American? Nope, it's made in Canada!

[TomC]

With 21 years and 1.3 million miles of over the road driving, I don't say this lightly-and the comment of being elitist is the furthest from my mind.  I never had a front tire blow out-why?  Because I was vigilant on both watching my tire pressures (checked all 18 once a week), every time I stopped-which averaged 2-3 hour intervals-I felt the tires for hot runners that would indicate a low pressure situation (I now have Pressure Pros on my bus for continuous pressure sensing-not available when I was driving).  The most important position on the bus is the steer tires. These should always be new tires off the shelf that you know have not been injured in anyway.  Your drivers could be take offs, recaps, etc-since a blowout on the duals or even the tags is not going to be catastrophic, like a steering tire blow out could be.  So when one of us gets a bit strong in our language encouraging you to get the best new tires for the steering axle, maybe, just maybe there is some experience backing up these comments.  Good Luck, TomC

[jackhartjr]

Clifford...and everyone else;
I said I would check on the tire tread info, this is out of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration book;


Subpart G—Miscellaneous parts and accessories 
§393.75 Tires.
(a) No motor vehicle shall be operated on any tire that (1) has body ply or belt material exposed through the tread or sidewall, (2) has any tread or sidewall separation, (3) is flat or has an audible leak, or (4) has a cut to the extent that the ply or belt material is exposed.

(b) Any tire on the front wheels of a bus, truck, or truck tractor shall have a tread groove pattern depth of at least 4/32 of an inch when measured at any point on a major tread groove. The measurements shall not be made where tie bars, humps, or fillets are located.

(c) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, tires shall have a tread groove pattern depth of at least 2/32 of an inch when measured in a major tread groove. The measurement shall not be made where tie bars, humps or fillets are located.

(d) No bus shall be operated with regrooved, recapped or retreaded tires on the front wheels.

(e) A regrooved tire with a load-carrying capacity equal to or greater than 2,232 kg (4,920 pounds) shall not be used on the front wheels of any truck or truck tractor.

 
 Jack

[circusboy90210]

being assembled here does not make it an american product. ... where does  the profit go? who designs them? where does the raw material come from? who owns the company? ( I drove the pres of michelin and his enterage.. many times in las vegas. big clue here ... he's french.)

[Sean]

being assembled here does not make it an american product. ... where does  the profit go? who designs them? where does the raw material come from? who owns the company? ( I drove the pres of michelin and his enterage.. many times in las vegas. big clue here ... he's french.)

Well, these factors apply equally to all tire companies, including the sole major American label, Goodyear.  All of these companies use the same suppliers for raw material, all have engineering branches in the US, and all are owned by stockholders, whose makeup is as global as the financial markets.  Goodyear is not really any more or less "US-owned" than Michelin or Bridgestone.  Michelin is 57% non-French owned (though their bylaws confer extra voting privileges on EU residents.)  These are public companies.

About the only thing you can say that makes Goodyear more an American company than Michelin is where its headquarters is located.  Both companies pay similar amounts (based on manufacturing and sales) of US tax, both have to answer to US regulators, both have to answer to US stockholders.  And in both cases, the "profit" goes to the shareholders.  You can buy Michelin stock just as easily as Goodyear stock.

If you think a greater share of Michelin profit should come to the US, rather than to, for example, the UAE or Saudi Arabia, then, by all means, increase your stake in the company, or convince your friends to do so.  But please, ranting here about how we should all only buy Goodyears (an inferior brand to Michelin, IMO) so that we are "buying American" is specious at best.

If Michelin pulled out of the US market today, on the basis, for example, of you (and whomever you could persuade to join you) getting legislation passed to ban them, or tariff them, or whatever, what you would succeed in doing is putting thousands of American workers who work in Michelin/Goodrich plants in the US out of work.  That would also decimate the tax base of those communities, and, of course, reduce consumer choice in tire brands.  How, pray tell, would this make the world a better place?

Do you refuse to stay at Motel 6 because it is owned by the French?  Do you not own or watch a TV because all the brands are overseas companies?  How about the computer you are reading this on?  What if I told you that the vast majority of the equipment that makes up the Internet is made overseas, in many cases by "foreign" companies?  Would you stop using it?  Detroit Diesel is owned by a German company -- should we all swap our engines for Caterpillars?  Oh, wait, they pulled out of the highway market.

I am sure it's convenient for you to tell me how I should spend my tire budget based on your personal political convictions.  I note, however, that when you had the chance to make a bold statement at your own expense, you chose naked international capitalism:  you accepted the job of chauffeuring Michelin executives, presumably at corporate expense, rather than to assert your convictions by refusing the assignment.

Look, I am all for keeping manufacturing (and other kinds of) jobs right here in the US.  But denying the existence of a global economy and failing to be competitive in that economy is not the path to achieving that.  And so went Firestone, Goodrich, and a host of others.  Better to have been bought by international conglomerates and kept the US factories open, than to simply have gone out of business and shuttered them.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Paladin]

Can I ask what the origin of manufacture has to do with whether or not a particular tire is a good deal or a safe one? I think it's long been established that at least a handful of people in here have no troubles with the imports as far as safety or reliability.
As far as I'm concerned I buy American where I can but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend more for it or get an inferior product just so I can wave the flag. Let's not be too radical or stupid here, it is stupid to pay more and\or get less just because it's built in Kansas or something.

What I'm saying is that this is a whole other off topic conversation and another thread......the old buy American or you're a dirty rotten commie and the McCarthy panel is gonna get you routine.

[circusboy90210]

I would spend more for an American product because usually more times than not it's worth it. Also I support my fellow country' mans working wages by not purchasing foreign goods hence debasing our own wages by making them seem too expensive when it's the foreign worker who works for penauts. usually more times than not you get what you pay for in quality. Why do you think china has been equated with crap for eons. However I do ride a rice rocket as it's just a better product, I drive an American full size car (read normal.) If America would build a sport bike that could compete I would buy one. however in most other areas bang for the buck most American products are stil A#1.. I do'nt stay in anything other than crown plaza, homewood suites, hilton, and sometimes holiday inn. as far as major brand names. 

[Paladin]

Again, off topic and has nothing at all to do with the thread but hey, it's an opportunity to grandstand right?

[John316]

however in most other areas bang for the buck most American products are stil A#1..

Except for cars. Granted some American cars can last a while, but Japanese cars usually last much better. I used to work for a company that provided vehicle service contracts (vsc). The Japanese cars were the cheapest to get a vsc for because statistically they were MUCH more reliable. The American cars usually were much more expensive because they usually didn't have as good reliability. (I am not saying here that American cars are bad, I just bought a GMC truck because the price was right. I am just saying that American cars aren't as good as Japanese cars.)

I am just stating facts, not my opinion. What I said above was info from a national company, that a lot of dealers used for their vsc...

God bless,

John