Michelin Premier A/S tires?

I had a set of Michelin Energy Saver A/S on my 2008 Prius. My mpg went down a little and they got good traction but had to remove them when I found cracks between the tread at the sidewall on all of them.
I found the cracks on a tire rotation. Sometimes it's good to do things yourself, you take it to the shop and they move the tires around and don't necessarily look at the tires.
I have had really bad luck with people doing my tire work.

 

Unlike most Prius people, I don't mind losing a few MPGs with a new set of tires. I just want good safe handling in all weather, and hopefully a fairly quiet tire. Losing 3 MPGs is no big deal. The least of my worries.

 

I am on my third set of Premiers and each set has lasted approximately 40-45k Miles (before reaching 3/32”). While I recognize that the treadlife is short for a touring tire, the performance is excellent.


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Looking at the current rankings on TireRack, apparently the Vredestein Quatrac 5 flies, butters your toast, and cleans up hairballs. Has anybody tried it?

-Chap

 

Treadwell is never my problem, age is. I don't put enough miles on my cars anymore and they just get old.

My truck has 7,400 miles on it and is a 2006 Dakota, would you put new tires on it?

 

I sure wish we had some wet weather in SoCal... I may never know how they handle in the rain.

Yep. Everything I've read says to not go longer than 10 years? Or even sooner if you see any cracking.

Same thing with me. Time, rather than mileage.

 

The recommendations vary, but many tire industry sources (some motive here) and some OEMs (Mercedes and Nissan) recommend replacement after 6 years.


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I drive the truck about 400 miles a year and have 4 other cars with like new tires that are over 10 years old.

 

I've read your thorough reviews at BITOG .

Priceless prose.

Be careful what you wish for.

 

I have ended up replacing mine with General Altimax RT43s. The Consumer Reports tire issue came out and gave very good marks to those. I had been intrigued by the Vredestein Quatrac 5 but those didn't place as highly with CR.

We'll see how these do.

One thing I noticed right away, as I pulled out of the parking lot after the Generals were installed, was that it's much less effort to turn the steering at low speed or stationary in a parking lot. Apparently these have a much lower friction coefficient, at least for squidging around on the pavement under a stationary car, than the Premiers.

I don't know yet what that translates into for traction while steering and stopping the car. Haven't needed to test those limits yet. Given the good reviews, I guess I don't expect any problem. Curious though.

Maybe the installing shop washed them down with something soapy and that's what I was noticing, and it will wear off.

-Chap

 

Do you feel these are noisy? I just had some put on today and they are super noisy. Or at least they seem to be.

 

A little bit. I replaced mine with Pirelli P7 A/S Plus II this time.

The Michelin’s are a better tire in the wet and for overall steering feel.