Shadetree fail: I recently noticed that the front end of my partner's daily, an '04 Saab 9-5, has trashed the tires, literally tearing - not smoothly wearing down - both the outer and inner edges, on both sides of the car (pics below).
The car:
-was aligned this spring
-drives straight
-has no vibration that I can feel
-corners well
-front end doesn't bounce on bumps, in other words, shocks seems to be fine
The tires were manufactured 4 years ago.
Seemed like one of the ball joints was bad so I swapped in a new one on one side, but that wasn't it. Not having any experience with strut cars, I said F it and took it to a shop, which was utterly and massively frustratingly useless: they simply told me that the tires were the wrong size (the rims/tires are from a higher trim level of the same berkeleying model).
Before I buy another set of tires, could it just be that this is what sometimes happens when some tires get old? Yes, I realize that they are nearly done.
Or, if not, what's going on here?
This is the same tire, inner and outer edges shown:
Top picture doesn't look like wear, something is eating it up? What is the size of the stock tire? Pull the tire, any paint missing from the innner or outer fender well?
I'd just call that a E36 M3 tire. What breed?
Looks like a old tire coming apart
That looks like the ancient bias-ply tires that came on my trailer when I bought it....basically just disintegrating.
What tire is that and what is the year rating on the DOT stamping?
Sonic
UltraDork
1/6/20 9:28 p.m.
Date stamp is just visible on the one, either 0410 or 0416, my bet is 0410 given the condition.
it looks like they are just done worn out, and spent a fair amount of life under inflated.
Would you believe some hi-po Michelin, 2016 manufacture date. Thanks for the responses.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
I mean.... I have had brand new tires do that.
Hey, my business partner had that happen, and in fact they were Michelins. His tire guy told him that this particular batch of Michelins just "do that." Michelin doesn't seem to feel it's a safety issue, so they are not recalling them.
His were not that extreme, but still very noticeable. It seems the edges crumble away. His Acura had no mechanical issues and had proper air inflation and rotation.
That is chipping or flaking. Most commonly seen on tires that see a lot of use on unpaved surfaces like gravel or dirt roads. It's a tread compound phenomenon, not usually caused by worn out parts.
Low pressure will do that.
they look pretty much worn out anyway.
NickD
PowerDork
1/7/20 3:26 p.m.
Shadeux said:
Hey, my business partner had that happen, and in fact they were Michelins. His tire guy told him that this particular batch of Michelins just "do that." Michelin doesn't seem to feel it's a safety issue, so they are not recalling them.
His were not that extreme, but still very noticeable. It seems the edges crumble away. His Acura had no mechanical issues and had proper air inflation and rotation.
Michelin tires are really just terrible. They came out with the new Premier LTX tires and they go down to 2/32" of tread at about 12-14k miles and they tried to release some BS video about how they are made with different oils and the tread siping gets wider as they wear, making them grip better in the rain the more worn out they are. Nobody fell for it and pointed out that they can grip as good as they want, they still fail state inspections. Now Michelin is paying customers for them to be replaced.
I have never heard a good thing about Michelin tyres, the few I had were just bricks compared to non-oem tyres
In reply to NickD :
Agree. Have these magically disappearing tires on my wife's sienna. We will get 2 years out of them and she has a 2 mile commute. Yay?
Are you sure it hasn't been run flat ?
In reply to iceracer :
They might've been run flat at some point, before I bought the car.
Basically unrelated, but this was one of my dumber automotive purchases: crappy tires is but one of many, many issues with the car, which I bought despite clues that maintaining it wasn't the PO's strongeset suit. The rock-bottom price was an undeniable draw. Oh, well -- it's only money (and time, and frustration, and an annoyed girlfriend who pretty much hates the car...) 
Sorry for this:
What is wrecking those tires?
Driving on them.
mad_machine said:
I have never heard a good thing about Michelin tyres, the few I had were just bricks compared to non-oem tyres
I'm not sure what alternate universe or yesteryear Michelin you're referring to. But Michelin today and of the past... decade(?) has been making fantastic tires for OEM's and their performance tires are fantastic. they do also make the eco tires too, for the Prius and other stuff.
So here's the first good thing you can hear about Michelin Tires. The Pilot Sport 4S is the best wet and dry combo performance street tire on the market right now.
