Bob Hamiltton wrote,
> Just a comment with my own experiences with Michelins and newer
tires. All
>manufacturers make tires with different speed ratings and there is a trade
>off here. If you want a tire with long mileage guarantee, it will not be
>rated for high speed driving and by high speed driving I mean 165 km/hr or
>about 100 mph. If you buy a new Mercedes as my father did about 7 years
>ago, it came with high speed rated Michelins and we only got 25,000 km out
>of them as they are a very soft rubber (sticky) and made for high speed
>cornering. If you want a tire that will give you long mileage, then you
>will get a harder rubber and less cornering ability and not rated for high
>speed driving. By high speed driving I am referring to Autobahn type speeds
>not the lower speeds you normally see in North America.
This is very true.
Going a step beyond, the "treadwear" rating that is marked on the
side of the tires, is an excelent indication as to the hardness, and
thus life of the tire.
Treadwears of 350+ will go a great distance, but have substancially reduced
traction for cornering, breaking ect.
Treadwears of 280 to 350 are typical for most OEM cars.
Treadwears of less than 250 fall into the performance realm.
Treadwears of less than 180 fall into the ultra HP realm.
My Yoko A008RSII "DOT approved" road race tires have a
treadwear spec of 35, and I recieved a waiver to sign that
stated that there is NO milage warantee for those tires.
Michelin sells high milage tires, as well as performance tires, with
a wide variation in treadwear specs. This says that michelins itself
will not yeild ultra-long milage, but rather selecting the right tire
could.
Jarrid Gross
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