[manim]

Today went to buy 2 no.s MXV8 196/65-15 91H for my Civic-AT. The shop had only stock of one year olds (4407 on the sidewall). Was arguing with the shop to get me at least within six months old.

Was I correct?

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by manim

Today went to buy 2 no.s MXV8 196/65-15 91H for my Civic-AT. The shop had only stock of one year olds (4407 on the sidewall). Was arguing with the shop to get me at least within six months old.

Was I correct?

As per Michelin website, any tyre bought within 3 years of manufacture has the same 3 year warranty period. If bought over 3 years old, has warranty for 6-years_old_when_bought

Since tyres are less than one year old, it should be quite fine (44th week) IMHO

[mikem]

I had my first experience with Ply Seperation (Tyre Bulge) around 7-8 years ago on my esteem. They were running MRF Zigma CC (Yes I know, CRAPPY Stuff).

One day On slow speed I suddenly find my rear left moving up & down, almost like me wheel is mounted off centre. A weired bouncing motion. So I took my car to PREMJIS @ mahim. Told sailesh that I wanted to change my tyres & what would I get for my old ones. Now the good stuff. My car was parked on the main road, a good 20-30 feet from his door. The moment his sales rep stepped out of the door he told me my Rear Left tyre had ply seperation, athis from around 20 feet away, standing at his door. Man was I surprised at his visual skills. Anyway got zip for that one tyre, and replaced them with a set of Pirelli P44

This experience showed me that these tyre guys know their tyres better then we can imagine.

So the problem you faced regarding replacement, was just them trying to stop their profit on those tyres going away.

[itzzme]

Anybody faced problem in MXV8 of chippping in tread area after around 60% wear.
2-3 friends of mine have faced such problem in MXV8.

[hchawla]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Since I give the company & it's products bouquets & compliments when they are doing good, I guess it's right on my part to also give them the brickbats when needed.

The story is, I fitted on a new set of PP1's in 185/60 R14 size on to my car a few months back. Since then the car is being driven sparingly & has covered about 7k kms. of additional mileage. In the meanwhile the tyres have one by one developed bulges & as a result all 4 new tyres on the car now have badly bulging sidewalls.

Yesterday, representatives of Michelin India inspected the tyres & after a lot of haggling have agreed to consider the case. Initially they had refused to even entertain a claim despite the fact that the complete set of new tyres has bulges. If it was 1 or 2 tyres I could understand but the whole set is slightly hard to digest. That too the car having done very little additional mileage since these tyres were fitted.

An interesting fact that I pointed out to them too is that out of the previous two sets of tyres, Michelin Energy XM1 in 185/65 R14 (fitted when the suspension was in a bad shape) & Pilot Preceda 1 in 195/60 R14 had only one tyre which developed a similar fault and too happened only towards the end of the life of the tyre. So why does this set develop a problem in all 4 tyres? To this they had no logical explanation.

Now the official line is that they are considering the case & I'll get to hear from them on Monday as to whether they will be honouring any warranty or not. Will post some pictures of the tyres later in the evening.

BOSS DO NOT WORRY I A HERE TO GET YOUR TYRES REPLACED I WILL GET THEM REPLACED ANY HOW

[Ricky_63]

Originally Posted by hchawla

BOSS DO NOT WORRY I A HERE TO GET YOUR TYRES REPLACED I WILL GET THEM REPLACED ANY HOW

@Iraghava

Seems like your hometown friend is serious. I really was looking to see you post on the progress on your claim. Or is this the silence before the storm ?

[filcord]

This is terrible. I am certainly watching this thread, and will seriously re-consider buying Michelin again for my cars in future.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

Dont worry that not going to happen,instead they will honor the warranty otherwise they will have zor ka zhatka.

One more thing,its kind of very surprising to see our in-house tyre god struck with 4 lemons.

Keep us posted.

Originally Posted by muneemmk

this is simply hilarious of all the 30,000+ people teambhp , our official tyre guru is stuck with lemon tyres. sad sad day in Bhaiyyalan.

Thanks for the support guys, the irony of this is not lost on me!

Originally Posted by manveet

Well, just a few days back I got one of my Yoko's on the Getz replaced as it had developed a bulge.

Yeah, I got to know about that, apprently your tyre did have a cut but it was not at the place where the bulge was & hence the replacement for you.

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

@ iraghava

If Michellin is NOT entertaining warranty claims - it totally negates the purpose of buying more expensive tyres with B & W. Sad scene.

Unfortunately that does look like what the real situation is Ricky.

Originally Posted by manim

Today went to buy 2 no.s MXV8 196/65-15 91H for my Civic-AT. The shop had only stock of one year olds (4407 on the sidewall). Was arguing with the shop to get me at least within six months old.

Was I correct?

Well these tyres are imported so getting noe newer than that would be diificult since they're imported in bulk when there is demand or stocks are running out. 4407 IMO is fine though.

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

@Iraghava

Seems like your hometown friend is serious. I really was looking to see you post on the progress on your claim. Or is this the silence before the storm ?

No progress yet Ricky, still waiting for the official to get back to me. As of Thursday the answer was that they'll revert back to me asap. They're also currently on a trip to Goa so I guess that's another reason for the delay!

And yeah, the dealer here is trying to get the claim done to my satisfaction.

[Nikhilb2008]

Guys, my worthless two cents. This has been my experience of being the son of a mother AND father who run tyre shops.

Most of the claims are fraudulent. I'm not negating Ishan's experience in anyway. Just that the ratio of T-BHPians : Normal folk is miniscule. So, when someone says they have a tyre with a manufacturing defect, the immediate pre-programmed reaction of the tyre company is to be sceptic.

Please try to view the situation from the tyre company's point of view. Many people on this thread have made very strong posts. I can understand your feelings as a consumer. For the company however, Ishan is just another customer who's complaining of a defective tyre(ok, 4!!).

It is very unfair to the company and to the dealer for you people to pass comments without the result. Generally when the company realises they are dealing with someone who isnt an idiot and who knows more abt tyres them(I'm sure that's the case here!!), they will give a lot of credit to the customer and do their best.

Here, it's a case of people blaming Michelin and coming to conclusions without ANY proof!! The initial reaction of ANY tyre company is to be sceptic initially. Only new companies trying to establish themselves in the market are more customer-friendly. Falken is one example that comes to mind. Since it's a new brand, they dont cause too much trouble for the customer. I have no experience with Yoko as we havent yet got a customer coming back with a defective Yoko.

We all being T-BHPians know how to take care of our cars and Ishan is probably one level better(the D-BHP badge says it all!! ). The Michelin people dont know that. Give them a chance before pouncing on them.

Innocent until proven guilty.

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

Guys, my worthless two cents. This has been my experience of being the son of a mother AND father who run tyre shops.

Most of the claims are fraudulent. I'm not negating Ishan's experience in anyway. Just that the ratio of T-BHPians : Normal folk is miniscule. So, when someone says they have a tyre with a manufacturing defect, the immediate pre-programmed reaction of the tyre company is to be sceptic.

Please try to view the situation from the tyre company's point of view. Many people on this thread have made very strong posts. I can understand your feelings as a consumer. For the company however, Ishan is just another customer who's complaining of a defective tyre(ok, 4!!).

It is very unfair to the company and to the dealer for you people to pass comments without the result. Generally when the company realises they are dealing with someone who isnt an idiot and who knows more abt tyres them(I'm sure that's the case here!!), they will give a lot of credit to the customer and do their best.

Here, it's a case of people blaming Michelin and coming to conclusions without ANY proof!! The initial reaction of ANY tyre company is to be sceptic initially. Only new companies trying to establish themselves in the market are more customer-friendly. Falken is one example that comes to mind. Since it's a new brand, they dont cause too much trouble for the customer. I have no experience with Yoko as we havent yet got a customer coming back with a defective Yoko.

We all being T-BHPians know how to take care of our cars and Ishan is probably one level better(the D-BHP badge says it all!! ). The Michelin people dont know that. Give them a chance before pouncing on them.

Innocent until proven guilty.

Well, that is probably the perspective that the tyre company takes (and to a certain extent, it could be tolerable based on the scenario) - but what happens if the average joe really has defective tyres and has no 'expert' knowledge of folks like our Tyre Bhagwan to argue on the case and keep pressing. So, he gets no warranty because of what the majority of tyre defect claims turn out to be ?

Why isn't the tyre company having a precisely defined set of rules which would be the basis for evaluation of a warranty claim ? Otherwise, let's not talk of this warranty nonsense. Michelin specially makes a lot of noise about warranty etc on their Indian website - talking down a complaint on 4 tyres in a set without making an attempt to a fair evaluation is a response I cannot condone. I am sorry to say, I have to blame Michelin already !!
They are already guilty of bad customer service and trying to force an assessment on the consumer without really making one!

Cheers,

[GTO]

Nikhil, lets not forget that Michelin sells amongst the most expensive tyres in India. Premium pricing should equate to premium service. They should be setting an example rather than following the pack in their handling of complaints.

[Ricky_63]

The only thing that we are discussing is that Michelin SHOULD entertain a claim on the basis of it's merits. Is that asking for too much ? Firstly the average taxiwala (average Joe) would not be using Michelins - would he ? How can a "genuine claim" be negated on the onset itself ?

Just because some idiots make it a habit of taking tyre companies for a ride, does not mean the genuine customer who has put in trust & faith in a so called "premium brand" be treated with a snooty attitude. They must understand that the word of mouth publicity that they get translate to sales & not half clad women in calenders !!

I am waiting to see the outcome of this claim or else it is bye bye from me to tyres with B&W crap !!

[WasavaTyres]

Originally Posted by GTO

Nikhil, lets not forget that Michelin sells amongst the most expensive tyres in India. Premium pricing should equate to premium service. They should be setting an example rather than following the pack in their handling of complaints.

I think the premium pricing in michelin's case has more to do with thier having limited range of tyres from which to recover thier costs and then make a decent profit vis a vis other tyre manufacturers. Add to it things like excise and tax holidays that local manufacturers can avail of.

[vikram18]

I was running PP1s on my Civic and had a scary tire burst. Later I was told (by a friend and fellow T-Bhpian) that PP1s have soft sidewalls and are prone to cuts (there was a huge gash on the burst tire), a problem that has been rectified in the PP2s.

I am now running PP2s, having changed all 4 tires. Resale for 17" is practically non-existent and I got nothing for the PP1s.

If you want to go in for higher-end tires, availability is a major issue. Yokohama Advans were not to be had; the ones in grey were offered to me at such a fantastic premium, I couldn't even consider them. That left PP2 and PS2. Finally, I settled for the PP2s.

After reading about Ishaan's experience, I would be sceptical about buying or recommending Michelins to anyone I know.

Like GTO said, premium products should automatically deserve premium service response. Even though most claims might be fraudulent, in case of premium products, it is almost a given that the customer either knows his stuff or at least is not one inclined to waste his time pinching pennies.

I'm sure Ishaan will get his replacement. He has too much knowledge coupled with even more venom and an inexhaustible vocabulary of expletives for Michelin to get away

[headers]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

Most of the claims are fraudulent. I'm not negating Ishan's experience in anyway. Just that the ratio of T-BHPians : Normal folk is miniscule. So, when someone says they have a tyre with a manufacturing defect, the immediate pre-programmed reaction of the tyre company is to be sceptic.

Please try to view the situation from the tyre company's point of view. Many people on this thread have made very strong posts. I can understand your feelings as a consumer. For the company however, Ishan is just another customer who's complaining of a defective tyre(ok, 4!!).

It is very unfair to the company and to the dealer for you people to pass comments without the result. Generally when the company realises they are dealing with someone who isnt an idiot and who knows more abt tyres them(I'm sure that's the case here!!), they will give a lot of credit to the customer and do their best.

Here, it's a case of people blaming Michelin and coming to conclusions without ANY proof!! The initial reaction of ANY tyre company is to be sceptic initially. Only new companies trying to establish themselves in the market are more customer-friendly. Falken is one example that comes to mind. Since it's a new brand, they dont cause too much trouble for the customer. I have no experience with Yoko as we havent yet got a customer coming back with a defective Yoko.

We all being T-BHPians know how to take care of our cars and Ishan is probably one level better(the D-BHP badge says it all!! ). The Michelin people dont know that. Give them a chance before pouncing on them.

Innocent until proven guilty.

Excellent POV! But have you ever had to spend more than half your earnings for a set of tyres and later on find that you get defective tyres!

There is no standard uniform marking followed by all manufacturers to identify the week and month of manufacture. This way the customer is mostly blinded and has to accept "old" stock. [Stock > 1 year]. Very very few dealers in India can give you stock < 6 months!

Originally Posted by vikram18

I'm sure Ishaan will get his replacement. He has too much knowledge coupled with even more venom and an inexhaustible vocabulary of expletives for Michelin to get away

Yeah I agree and wish him all the best for that!