[GTO]

Nice to see this kind of attention-to-detail, thanks for sharing! Big fan of Michelins here, they remain my no.1 tyre brand. Be it the Pilot Sports range or the LTX I had on my Jeep. Totally worth the premium pricing. However, in my experience, they don't last as long as the Indian brands. That's a fair tradeoff for the kind of performance they offer.

[narayans80]

As much I like my Michelin (P3ST) experience in my Corolla. Its just become too expensive post import restrictions.

At the time of my facelifted S-Cross tire swap couple of months back, I got the Continental UC6 at 8000 apiece versus P4STs at 10400 apiece. That's almost ~10000 INR difference for a comparable experience.

Availability too is a huge concern, there are only a handful of dealers that get Michelin stocks. Unless Michelin plans on local production, I don't think the status quo is going to change.

[wildsdi5530]

I had stock Goodyear Assurance in my 2008 Honda City. Lasted about 30K. 2 tyre changes later, both to the then current Michelin XM series, and at 150k+ kms, Looking for a replacement. But Michelin is not available in Bengaluru and so am stuck.

Similar story in my 2015 Honda Mobilio RS, now at 148K kms. In my 2004 Alto, did change to MRF but not as happy as the previous JKs.

My observation with Michelin is that they last longer, lesser punctures and better air retention. Not a very good judge of the handling dynamics/ NVH levels, etc.

I would like to go for Michelin again, but they seem to be gone the Ford or Chevrolet way. So Guess we Have to go for Indian brands which wear out much faster.

BTW Hard/ med/ soft compound matters on the track where the wear is in mins and hours. Don't think it is so significant in a road tyre which is going to be used for a couple of years over varied terrains. Technically hard tyres should wear out faster as they would be brittle.

[JithinR]

Same here. Very few shops that have decent stock of Michelins and if they do then it's always at a premium. Continental UC6 were available for as low as Rs. 5,900 per tyre but Michelin's XM2+ were near to Rs. 6,400 per tyre (in the profile that I wanted).

I agree that they are good but are they really worth the premium over even UC6, not really sure of that. Besides, like others have mentioned I am confident that a lot of companies high level executives have the attention to detail to conduct spot inspections like these.

It's just that they don't meet someone who notices it and posts about it on forums/social media.

[IshaanIan]

I generally never make blanket statements about a brand being good or bad since each of their products compete in different categories and may or may not be the best in all of them. That said in my experience Michelin has provided a consistently good experience when it comes to their tyres sometimes they are the best and sometimes they are not but even when they aren't they are definitely better than most and certainly don't disappoint.

Kudos to the company for releasing such top level executives on the ground to inspect shops in our pokey little country of all the places but this does not surprise me too much since after all we are talking about the brand that decided to rate restaurants and create the Michelin guide just to get people to buy more cars and therefore, more tyres. Very respectable

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

I am not saying that Michelin’s are the best tyres out there simply because of the fact that their top most execs were visiting shops in India. I am saying that it is that and SO much more that makes them the best, IMO.

Have you had Michelin’s? I don’t think anyone who has had Michelin’s and cares about grip and ride quality will go back to MRFs or other brands. Unless of course someone’s had a bad experience like Saket.

I am sure Michelin’s are better in terms of road grip or even ride quality but my point was never about quality. You specifically mentioned about some ‘fact’ that Michelin’s outlasts MRF or Apollo tyres and which I found to be wrong. Just because someone is doing their job diligently doesn’t mean that others are not doing the same.

You have every right to be happy about using Michelin for reasons which are known to you but to diss other brands just because you saw some executives doing their job properly is not on. Michelin tyres command premium pricing in India and it’s for the customers to decide which brand to go according to their preferences.

As you said that folks who care for ride quality will go for Michelin’s but there will be a certain person who will sacrifice ride quality for longevity may be or even a person who perhaps puts more emphasis on unconditional warranty via a vis conditional warranty of a Michelin. There will always be that person whose priorities would be different to your’s in terms of buying a tyre. I agree with your preference but that doesn’t mean other tyre companies are bad, just my two cents.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

I am not saying that Michelin’s are the best tyres out there simply because of the fact that their top most execs were visiting shops in India. I am saying that it is that and SO much more that makes them the best, IMO.

Have you had Michelin’s? I don’t think anyone who has had Michelin’s and cares about grip and ride quality will go back to MRFs or other brands. Unless of course someone’s had a bad experience like Saket.

You're missing the point. Do you have any figures to prove these so called "facts" that Michelin tyres will easily outlast MRF or Apollo by 2x ? If you do, please share and enlighten us. If you don't have any proof, then its wrong to state that its a fact. Its only your belief.

Honestly, I don't think the Michelin top brass also has as much confidence in the longevity of their products as you do. Are you sure you're not related to the Michelin company in some manner?

[Sebring]

I use only Michelins (For 15 years now) and think that these don't /wont last as long as other tyres do. (The Goodyear and MRF have lasted 80,000+ Kms. in our other cars. This will do 70,000+). Strictly, my opinion as a long time user. C'mon its a softer compound (By design) and that's their magic sauce to ensure a plush ride quality. I love it for its silence and phenomenal grip, of course. And, I also believe that once you 'go' Michelin, nothing else would do

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Honestly, I don't think the Michelin top brass also has as much confidence in the longevity of their products as you do. Are you sure you're not related to the Michelin company in some manner?

[WorkingGuru]

They may be good tyres, but IMHO they're overpriced for what they offer.

~2 years back when I bought tyres, the price difference was 2.3k per tyre, which was ~35%, that made me go for Continental MC5s. And I honestly haven't regretted it since the Conti's rubber too has soft compound and are fairly quiet. The tread on the Michelin tyre is different which makes them slightly more grippy - which only someone on a race track might consider as a major factor.

Also, IMO the only thing that the company needs to do at the retail level is to check the marketing & sales, at most the dealers attitude. Which is often done thru mystery shoppers & administrative depts, not by company QC heads. The QC heads would have little to no logical reason to do QC at the retail shop. My information is limited though.

We need to reconsider limiting our decisions based largely on merit of the product capability.

[Kosfactor]

40L vehicles are coming out with MRF, Apollo etc as OE fitment, my guess is that they weren't cutting costs there. Michelin can manufacture their products in India if they are serious about our market, else they are going to be a liability. You do not want to be stuck without a spare when needed, as is the case with Pirelli.

[DRIV3R]

Michelin makes very good tyres, no doubt but the tone set by this thread doesn't seem apt. There are other tyre manufacturers who are doing great as well. I have used various brands and am a huge fan of Michelin, having used both their Primacy and Pilot Sport product lines. Primacy is ok'ish in grip, damn silent and lasts really long. However I noticed too many cracks in 3-4 years of age all along the tread in our Ciaz. The same was observed by few other users of the same product line in my circles as well, so this is certainly not a one off issue. Pilot Sports are amazing with grip, performance, they don't last long though.


On the other hand we have brands like MRF who have taken a honest effort to do their bit. Perfinzas are 99% of what Michelin offers in my opinion, after using them in my Linea T Jet for over 25k kms. I do have back to back experience between Michelin and MRF as my other car has Michelins. So dissing out other brands blindly on basis of spotting some top officials in a Michelin store is taking things a bit too far IMO.

[am1m]

Will agree with some of the posts here about the general tone of the OP being too flattering to the brand. I'm sure the OP out of enthusiasm just meant to highlight the USP and yes, it's pretty cool that the head of such a large brand can be found inspecting/experiencing a local tyre shop. So full marks there. But if I might offer an observation, a 'fanboyish' approach will turn more readers off the brand.

As an end user who doesn't do any high performance driving and doesn't care about one tyre brand over the other (unless it's those cheap Chinese brands that I would definitely avoid!) I just want to know factually if switching to the Michelins will make any real difference? Maruti Swift with stock Apollo Alnac 4gs due for a tyre replacement. One tyre oddly enough seems to have lost a lot of tread after just 25k of running. Apart from that, have been very happy with the stock tyres, wouldn't mind going for them again. But have also heard recommendations about the Michelins, so if anyone who has tried them could give some factual (not just related to brand-aura) benefits, would be grateful and would be more than happy to try them out. Thanks in advance!

[ike]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

one of them was the Head of Michelin, Germany, and the other, an even bigger man in Michelin - Jacques Cambazar, the director of Quality, Michelin!

The people mentioned here may move to another company in the future, and if they do the same over there, would your loyalties change? I like to be able to trust the brand itself rather than a particular individual employed by it.

Michelin makes really nice tyres, (I have P4ST for about 40k KMS now in case you are wondering) but there are others too that make equally good tyres. I like to choose from among the top brands (like conti, Yokohama, Bridgestone, Pirelli to name a few). It doesn't help that Michelin supply is very limited and they are also priced higher than most.

[akshye]

While I too am a big fan of Michelin, and wanted to always go with the brand, the govenrment policy of local manufacturing has left me with no option but to look elsewhere. Michelin are no more available in size 13" and 14".

[Kumaran93R]

Originally Posted by am1m

I just want to know factually if switching to the Michelins will make any real difference? Maruti Swift with stock Apollo Alnac 4gs due for a tyre replacement. One tyre oddly enough seems to have lost a lot of tread after just 25k of running. Apart from that, have been very happy with the stock tyres, wouldn't mind going for them again. But have also heard recommendations about the Michelins, so if anyone who has tried them could give some factual (not just related to brand-aura) benefits, would be grateful and would be more than happy to try them out. Thanks in advance!

Yes you would find a difference. Michelins use a softer compound than Apollo alnacs. But you'd have a similar difference using Continental or MRF Perfinza too. They offer cushier ride and better road grip in comparison to the other harder compound tyres. Only downside being the softer sidewall and hence a bit more prone to sidewall cuts.