BEWARE MICHELIN 2CTs!

[Ben_H]

A 1% failure rate is NOT ACCEPTABLE IMHO.
Not for bikes anyway.

I know but that's life

 

[Randomchaos]

A thing to note here, there have been many people running the PR3s on different kinds of bikes. A guy with a ZX10r had them on, did multiple track days on them, as well as regular street riding, and they didn't fail on him.

I do wonder though, how many of these tires have failed, and the story hasn't made it to the internet, or the rider chalked it up to road debris.

 

[mave2911]

I do wonder though, how many of these tires have failed, and the story hasn't made it to the internet, or the rider chalked it up to road debris.

And that's the kicker - we just don't know.

How many accidents might have put down to excessive speed or other unrelated causes because a firey crash destroyed the tyres before they could be identified as a likely culprit? (In Oz, it's always excessive speed, from the view of the Police - doesn't matter if you're doing 5kph, they'll still try to slow you down....)

Cheers,
Rick

 

[Speed_Racer]

OK.. I'm thinking it's time to really spread the word (since this is the 2nd set of PR3s I see this happen to and Michelin reps are being total a-holes about it..). I propose we all post up pictures and short explanation on Facebook and ask others to re-post. BEFORE we do this though, I want to make sure Speed_Racer is OK with this idea and anyone please chime in if you think it's not a good idea.

I am okay with any action taken that might save someone from crashing and/or dying due to a faulty tyre!

 

[Speed_Racer]

Did that guy from last year with the PR3s ever post an update? His story always seemed a bit fishy to me.

OP, what was the date number on your tires? The sidewall should have a 4 digit number where the first two digits make up the week of manufacture and the last two are the year.

Sorry it's taken me awhile to get back on here I have been super busy moving to a new home across town... A few ppl were talking about tyre origins- My tyres say made in Thailand... of course. And assuming you're talking about the four digits next to the DOT code mine says 1311 so that's March 2011. Hope this helps!!

 

[Erci]

I am okay with any action taken that might save someone from crashing and/or dying due to a faulty tyre!

I'm posting the pics on Facebook and I'll ask friends to repost.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Love to see whether the two failure from this forum is from the same batch?

There is usually a four digit manufacturer date stamped on the side of tire, if it hasn't already been shredded to pieces.

 

[CowtownBiomed]

+1..too many unknowns at this point.
-Potential road debris.
-Inproper inflation, or loss of inflation due to leak (or road debris)
-Conditions where failure occoured (Temp, speed, pressures ect)
-Mfgr location
-Mrgr Date.

I'm surprised that there are not more issues, if in fact this was a tire (tyre) issue.
At this point, I would suspect one of the top two unknowns.

If this was a real issue (not saying it wasnt for this original poster) I am sure that Michelin would have had a full blown (ha!) recall on the whole lot.

 

[Speed_Racer]

+1..too many unknowns at this point.
-Potential road debris.
-Inproper inflation, or loss of inflation due to leak (or road debris)
-Conditions where failure occoured (Temp, speed, pressures ect)
-Mfgr location
-Mrgr Date.

I'm surprised that there are not more issues, if in fact this was a tire (tyre) issue.
At this point, I would suspect one of the top two unknowns.

If this was a real issue (not saying it wasnt for this original poster) I am sure that Michelin would have had a full blown (ha!) recall on the whole lot.

First off, the road I was on was I75 in between Chattanooga and Knoxville. This portion of that interstate has been repaved and is an extremely nice road to drive on- Perfectly flat, smooth blacktop. Also, I was in moderately heavy traffic so chances of me picking something up with 50 cars right in front of me driving over same road and missing this mystery debris seems highly unlikely. Because of these two factors and the lack of any signs of damage from external forces, chalking it up to road debris simply will not work for me. That makes little to no sense from my experience.

Secondly, I use a digital tyre pressure gauge religiously- I checked it right before I left and it was spot on. I wish I got the contact info of the person that stopped to check on me he said my tyre literally started melting to shreds that peppered his car as I narrowly swerved off the road to safety.

As for the conditions for failure you mention (temp, speed, pressure) I don't see how any of these could have been the problem in this scenario. I already explained my pressure was dead on. It was a Sunday afternoon in Fall in Tennessee- the temp might have been 70 degrees. And I was going about 80mph- these tyres are rated for about twice that speed! So please explain to me how this could have been mine or the road's fault and not a tyre problem. If you look closely at my pics in the original post you can see all the rips and tears are along the sipes and tread lines and run along where soft and hard rubber compounds meet. Coincidence? doubt it!

As for being "sure that Michelin would have had a full blown (ha!) recall on the whole lot" that's highly unreasonable to assume. Do you know how much a recall would cost them? Not to mention all the bad publicity- It would be the Firestone debacle all over again, maybe worse for them! A recall is the last thing they would want to do ever! They would rather fight any small cases that pop up, pay a few people off, and hope it disappears or is a small enough issue they can get out of it by settling. The only way they would do a recall is if tons of people had the same problem and they couldn't avoid it.

BTW I had the local Yamaha/Michelin dealer in my area look at it too. He's been in business over 40 years and told me in his 40 years experience he has never seen a tire look like that from a nail or poor inflation and that its a miracle I'm even alive. He inspected it closely and found no signs of external damage either.
I apologize if any of this comes across rude or mean- this is not a joke and I would have no problem taking responsibility for my mistakes, negligence, stupidity, etc. but this was not my fault and it was not a fluke road condition. I am quite certain my tyre exploded from some manufacturer defect. I will gladly provide any further info or pictures if anyone is looking for such.

 

[Speed_Racer]

So I went to court and the judge wanted us to have a tire expert on hand. I offered to reschedule and get a specialist there, but the Michelin attorney goes into this sappy spill about how much resources Michelin had wasted sending him such a long way there for nothing and motioned for a dismissal. The judge bought it and dismissed the case... I am so frustrated she wouldn't even hear the case out or reschedule but I'm not sure what to do now. Any ideas? Should I just call it a loss and go on with life? I just hate to think this could affect others and I failed to do anything about it...

 

[Erci]

So I went to court and the judge wanted us to have a tire expert on hand. I offered to reschedule and get a specialist there, but the Michelin attorney goes into this sappy spill about how much resources Michelin had wasted sending him such a long way there for nothing and motioned for a dismissal. The judge bought it and dismissed the case... I am so frustrated she wouldn't even hear the case out or reschedule but I'm not sure what to do now. Any ideas? Should I just call it a loss and go on with life? I just hate to think this could affect others and I failed to do anything about it...

Oh man.. that's terrible.. very sorry to hear it. Did you have a lawyer representing you?

 

[nsaP]

Where was this?

 

[ohgood]

So I went to court and the judge wanted us to have a tire expert on hand. I offered to reschedule and get a specialist there, but the Michelin attorney goes into this sappy spill about how much resources Michelin had wasted sending him such a long way there for nothing and motioned for a dismissal. The judge bought it and dismissed the case... I am so frustrated she wouldn't even hear the case out or reschedule but I'm not sure what to do now. Any ideas? Should I just call it a loss and go on with life? I just hate to think this could affect others and I failed to do anything about it...

You're not an attorney, you couldn't have known two of them would walk over your case. Now you do. Make a webpage, post pictures, along with any / all responses you got from michilin, and keep it clean. Post a well edited, factual VIDEO on youtube and vimeo. Short, sweet, and to the point.

Eventually it will go semi viral, or at least to the top of the google index, and anyone else with issues will see more proof of the company's failure.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Guitar Man]

So I went to court and the judge wanted us to have a tire expert on hand. I offered to reschedule and get a specialist there, but the Michelin attorney goes into this sappy spill about how much resources Michelin had wasted sending him such a long way there for nothing and motioned for a dismissal. The judge bought it and dismissed the case... I am so frustrated she wouldn't even hear the case out or reschedule but I'm not sure what to do now. Any ideas? Should I just call it a loss and go on with life? I just hate to think this could affect others and I failed to do anything about it...

I know it's a bummer, but you did what you could. You did do something about it. It's unfortunate that big business could care less about a life. It's all about the money.

I was entertaining the 2CT's for my next set of tires too. I guess I will continue to stick with Bridgestones.

 

[keef]

I was going to go with the Michelin's for my next set of tires, not anymore after reading this.
Glad to hear that you came out of your incident in one piece...

 

[Norbert]

my car tire pretty much started to melt after i caught a nail on my hour-long commute. i suspect the loss of air and high speed, high temp build up caused the tire to deform.

i was able to pull off the hwy and put the spare on. i saw the hole where the nail was, too.

i suspect the same thing happened to you and a few other folks on THE ALMIGHTY INTERNET.

so go ahead and hate me for saying what i think :ban:

 

[Speed_Racer]

I did not have a lawyer because I could not afford one, I tried. That made it a lot harder for me to stand any chance, I'm sure, but I simply couldn't pay for legal assistance. This incident occurred in East Tennessee. They sent a corporate lawyer from North Carolina to represent them.

I appreciate the feedback Ohgood, when I have some spare time I will be sure to spread this in many more places. Anyone who wishes to link this thread to their other forums or post it on their Facebook or whatever else might spread this to the world, feel free to!

 

[Speed_Racer]

my car tire pretty much started to melt after i caught a nail on my hour-long commute. i suspect the loss of air and high speed, high temp build up caused the tire to deform.

i was able to pull off the hwy and put the spare on. i saw the hole where the nail was, too.

i suspect the same thing happened to you and a few other folks on THE ALMIGHTY INTERNET.

so go ahead and hate me for saying what i think :ban:

I do not hate you for anything but I would appreciate you reading the whole thread before you make a comment that has already been covered. I did not hit ANYTHING that left any mark or sign on my tire. I did not notice any loss of air it was just an explosion of rubber that sent my whole bike wobbling like I've never felt or seen before. I'm just lucky I didn't wreck and managed to pull over. And that tire looks nothing like mine. My tire separated along the tread lines where the soft and hard rubber compounds meet. You're comparing apples and watermelons. :spank:

 

[Randomchaos]

Not to mention the other person this happened to managed to stop before his rear tire desintagrated. He had no punctures.

I would be willing to help you get a website up. Give me a shout when you get the time and motivation to do it!

 

[mave2911]

Just because the case was dismissed, could you not try again?

It was not decided in anyones favour, so may work to be better prepared next time?

Cheers,
Rick