Did those Michelin folk address hardening of the materials with age?

Recently, while I was out of town, the Boss Lady complained of nearly sliding into someone stopped for a light, with her 89 sedan equipped with Yoko Avid Touring. This was her second notice to me, so I knew the tires had "nice" tread and date code 3309 with none of the obvious checking and cracking I've seen in sidewalls. And I had done some lockup stops on our wet street to test.

She didn't like my suggestion to be careful of oil floated by recent rain and had the tires dispatched the next day and of course loves the replacement set she bought. And on return to town, it was time for me to put the snows on.

Anyway, new tires always feel so much stickier, regardless of tread depth, and I thought 7 years was not too old, but the customer is always right. And those old tires are gone, so I can't even consider doing my fingernail durometer comparison.

Funny, though, when I asked her on the phone what brand she was sold, she said "Michelin" and I was happy with the $440 bill, but when I got home to find they were BF Goodrich, for some reason I wasn't quite as happy. I understand there's no basis for this, but our long-trusted tire guy left to take a job with Honda. :(
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me. -Sigmund Freud