10 year age limit on bus & truck tyres

richard5933 · July 27, 2020, 08:36:00 PM

Michelin is the only company I've seen that posts a chart w/photos detailing how much cracking is considered 'normal' on their tires. They must get lots of customer comments about it to publish such a chart. Maybe they could just design their tires not to crack to much instead??

Iceni John · July 27, 2020, 09:03:59 PM

It's not just Michelin's big truck and bus tires that crack: their car tires do (my newish Pilot Sport A/S 3+ are cracked, but I don't care because they're a high-performance tire that isn't intended to last long anyway), a friend of mine with several nice motorbikes says the same of his Michelin tires, and even Michelin bicycle tires crack almost as you watch them. Let's hope Michelin doesn't make aircraft tires! It's too bad, because they're a fairly decent tire otherwise.

John

dtcerrato · July 27, 2020, 09:15:11 PM

Firestone & Goodyear post the same kind of acceptable "cracking" information about their air springs (bellows, air bags).
FWIW - we're running three of the original air bellows on our 4104 since purchase of the bus in 1979 and I venture to say they'll probably outlast all the replacement air bags changed since then and yes they are very cracked...

luvrbus · July 28, 2020, 07:15:30 AM

Quote from: richard5933 on July 27, 2020, 08:36:00 PM
Michelin is the only company I've seen that posts a chart w/photos detailing how much cracking is considered 'normal' on their tires. They must get lots of customer comments about it to publish such a chart. Maybe they could just design their tires not to crack to much instead??

Tiny cracks I could live with but the cracks growing in size after a 1000 miles I decided to change brands

richard5933 · July 28, 2020, 07:59:15 AM

Right now I wish there were a hard rule on pulling tires after X number of years, at least as a driver of a CMV.

Sitting right now in a Pomp's waiting for the trailer tires to be looked at. Hooked to a trailer with 8+ year old Michelins, and they are looking pretty bad. The immediate problem is a leaking valve stem, but I bet they end up pulling all 8 tires and putting on new.

Another half a day shot in the @$#.

luvrbus · July 28, 2020, 08:24:01 AM

Another thing bad a Michelin bus tires is when they age they are like a Flintstone tire they are like a rock and the tire shop told me that was a common complaint, my new Toyo's are a noticeable softer ride

richard5933 · July 28, 2020, 06:13:50 PM

Quote from: richard5933 on July 28, 2020, 07:59:15 AM
...The immediate problem is a leaking valve stem, but I bet they end up pulling all 8 tires and putting on new.

Another half a day shot in the @$#.

Boy was I wrong there...

They installed a new valve stem core and declared the tires all good to go. Nothing wrong, everything legal.

I'd never let those tires near my bus, even on the rear axle. Now I understand why there are so many tire gators on the road.

belfert · July 29, 2020, 05:52:58 PM

Quote from: richard5933 on July 28, 2020, 06:13:50 PM
They installed a new valve stem core and declared the tires all good to go. Nothing wrong, everything legal.

I'd never let those tires near my bus, even on the rear axle. Now I understand why there are so many tire gators on the road.

A friend of mine used to haul trailers out of a railroad yard. The railroad owned all the trailers and was responsible for the trailer tires. He said the railroad had tires on their trailers that barely met DOT requirements much of the time. Many times he lost a trailer tire on the road and had to wait for the railroad to send out a tire truck. The railroad had a tire dealer right at the yard due to all tire work the trailers needed.