Bought 4 new Michelin Defenders 195 x 14 not long ago. Maybe 6 months ago. Few weeks ago car started some strange vibrations betwen 40mph - 60 mph. It got worse in time. Tried to pin it down.

Went back to Big-O where I bought the tires to have the balance checked. They said slightly off balance so they re-did all 4. Still vibration, but a bit less.. Went back once again to Big-O. They rotated the tires back to front. Vibration was still there but much less. The manager said they feel the vibration may be due to the "threads" or whatever it is, inside the tires may be "seperating".

Ive never heard of this esp with brand new Michelins. Anyone heard of this? Are the Defenders such a poor design that they would do this? Big-O said if it contiues they will replace the tires, no charge. This was about 3 days ago. Im going back in but just wanted to run this by the Bricksters.

Some comments?. To me, it's so odd that even one tire would do this-but all four??. Actually Big-O thinks its "only" 2 of them, but why take chance? Maybe it was a "bad lot"?? Oh btw I had the alignment checked. Spot on.

Thanks for any input.

'89 240 wagon, A/T, about 300K, looks and runs great!

not necessarily a crappy Model of tire. These things do happen though.

I've been using Kumho's on many of my cars. They are inexpensive and seem to do what I ask of them. I just bought a set tuesday, Went to my friends shop to mount them. They needed soo much weight to balance them I called Tire Rack and they are picking them up today. My reviews of tehse tires have been very good. In teh past, when balancing I was very impressed with the steady run of the tread design as well as the minimal amount of weight to balance.. I guess this 5th set of these was a bad batch.. maybe China is now pumping these out for Kumho... I don't know. But good tires do have lemons I guess.
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It's very unusual for Michelins to go bad, and the Defender is one of their better (although not high performance) tires as long as it wasn't a "Costco" or "WalMart" low-cost version.

But tread separation is usually visible on the tire -- rotate your tires slowly and look for any uneven surface on both the tread as well as both sidewalls -- it should be visible as a swelling.
Also, it's usually a bump feeling at all speeds, not just a narrow range (e.g., 40 - 60 mph).

However, a subtle tread separation is possible. Have you had a lot of potholes lately? This is the season for them (in most of the country), and that would do it!

I would recommend (if your tire dealer has it) a Hunter "Road Force" machine balance -- it not only balances the tire/wheel, but also matches the tire's position on the wheel to the wheel's possible slight out-of-round imperfections, taking into consideration the varying stiffness of the sidewall. You'll know a Road Force balance because during the test, another small wheel is pressed against the tire's tread as it's spinning, simulating driving on pavement with the weight of the car pressing on the tire/wheel combination. The results are astonishing, and it will easily diagnose any tire problem you might have.

Might be a good idea to check the batch numbers on the tyre. These likely to be impressed rather than embossed like the other information. Unlikely that they are all the same but the 2 that the shop thinks might be faulty could be from the same batch. If they are willing to replace, good for them, but they may charge you a bit for the 5k miles you have already done; perhaps the price of one tyre.

I have put 2 sets of these tires on my daughters cars and have had no issues in about 8 months.


If you jack the tire up and spin it you should be able to see a "bump" in the tread.
Dan

I purchased these tires last summer and have about 5000 miles on them. They are great. No issues and very smooth on my 245. If there is some kind of separation, maybe they can see it if they take the tire off the rim.

This sounds like the chord has separated from the steel belt internally and is a warranty issue. They owe you new tire(s).

Make sure it isn't a brake, steering or suspension issue. If not, go for the new tires!