Are Michelin tires really French owned, and would you buy them?

[JyRO]

Howdy fellers!



I just rolled 50,000 miles on the clock. The original Michelin LTX A/S tires look like they'll go another 10,000 miles. But before I get to the drop dead date where I have to make a decision on what tires to buy I wanted to know more about the Michelin tires. Are they really French owned and would you buy them if they are?



I'd just go with a set of Goodyears, but I really have liked the Michelins. And doing a little research on the tirerack website, the Michelin tires *seem* to be a better tire than the Goodyears. The disclaimer here is that the 2 Michelin tires I'm looking at are highway all season tires, where the Goodyears are considered an off-road / all terrain tire. The tire of choice is the Michelin LTX M/S.



What do you guys think? Are these tires French? And would you buy the Michelins (neglecting cost in this question), or go with the Goodyears due to the fact that the Michelins may be French owned? Thanks in advance.



- JyRO

 

[Pit Bull]

I have Goodyears on my truck and will replace (some day), with the French owned company tires, Michelins. All large companies are international. Many, many Americans work for Michelin here in the USA. If you are going to boycott Michelin you better do your homework on the build content of every other item you buy, or you are wasting your protest.

 

[JyRO]

Pit Bull - I am aware that a large portion of today's market is international. I work for a very large international company. And I'm not protesting anything. I just want a feel from others on here of what they'd do. My dad gives me a bunch of cr@p anytime I mention that I like my Michelins and would probably buy the same brand again. He doesn't just have an opinion, he tries to ram his opinion down everyone else's throat. So I wanted other's opinions to get a less biased? opinion. And to find out from others running the Goodyears, if they liked their tires or would go with something else.



On the other hand, every little bit for or against something helps. Somewhere down the line it'll add up. I thank you (thanks! ) for your input --> you'd switch from your Goodyears to buy the Michelins.



- JyRO

 

[The patriot]

I feel it's the same as boycotting french fries.

I and 100 others at my work, work for a German company.

You'd most likley be doing the workers more harm than the french.

Eric



PS And yes, I will be replacing my Michelins with Michelins when they wear out.

 

[Pit Bull]

JyRO,

I do like the Goodyear tires I now have on my 02, good even wear. I had Michelin LTX/MS's on my 2000 3500QC CTD/4x4 and they did not wear as evenly as the Goodyears are wearing on my 02. But that could be the truck not the tires??? The Michelins I will get after I wear out the Goodyears are the Michelin XPS/Tractions, they are all steel commercial grade recappable "E" rated tires with one nice thread design. I would not buy the LTX/MS's for my 02. Hope this helps.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I try to buy American made or do without. I have changed my tactics a little in order to not have to live in a vacuum. For example, I recently bought a 2. 4mhz wireless phone system. The Panasonic was made in Mexico, the AT&T was made in China. Bear in mind that some of this mindset is personnal company wise. I bought the Panasonic, at least it was made in this hemisphere.



If it is made in China, I will buy the best regardless of name. I will not reward an American company building overseas and charging more then a foreign competitor.

 

[JBlock]

Buy American when i can

I was just thinging about tires too and th French. I really try to buy American made, but who left that make tires and the sizes too that we need.



Michelins are good no doubt about, my any change are they made in the USA and just owned by Michelin. Another French owner is Truck Trent. Stop buying that!.



I stay with Dodge though but if Chevy put a Duramax in a Suburban there be a lot of Dodge on the market.



I work oversea so, I understand the pressure on the US suppliers, we get a lot of things from Europe that could be purchase from the USA, but prices rule.

 

[RustyJC]

If you don't like Michelin because it's a French company, better not buy B. F. Goodrich tires, either!

In 1990, Michelin formed a subsidiary known as the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Co. Inc. , a Delaware Corporation, through which it acquired the assets and liabilities of the New York partnership. In 1995, Michelin merged the Delaware Corporation into Michelin North America (MNA). Tires continue to be manufactured under the B. F. Goodrich name, using the same plants and equipment BFG originally owned.

Rusty

 

[Okie-Go]

I put 4 of the Michelin XPS ribs on my 5er this morning.

 

[WadePatton]

The Michelins are a great tire, but I wouldn't buy them if they were made in China.



Don't support child/slave labor, Communism, or the Red Army--our biggest REAL threat.



Boycott China Now!

 

[Diesel Gunner]

If you like your Michelins, great. I am not going to buy another set to replace the originals because they absolutely stink off road. I get better traction running barefoot across a frozen pond than I do while driving off road with them. Yes, they perform well on pavement and most all of us probably put the greatest percentage of our miles on the trucks on pavement but, I tend to forget about all of that when I am slipping and sliding all over the road in the boonies. I am sure that the French make good products. I am also sure that I don't care to support them. And, it does not please me to admit that Daimler owns the company that builds (outside the US) our trucks. Yes, we are in a world economy.



Right now, I will probably replace the fifi tires with Nitto Terragrapplers. Yea, I know, they are made in Japan.

 

[lpearson]

Companies and Governments

A good percentage of our oil comes from Muslim countries.



There are good products made by good companies all over the world that don't necessarily agree with their government policies.

Take the US for example



Regards,

Lowell

 

[George O]

I just replaced my Michelin's with the same thing. My truck only runs on the highway and I changed them at 103,000 miles.

 

[Jetson]

My last Michelins didn't last too long, so I switched to Pirelli Scorpion S/T's. They're cheaper and have been good so far.

 

[Futures1]

A Great Tire;

Unfortunately, Michelins are a great tire... you do have to select the correct application however !! Here in NH their "all weather" will get you through both summer and winter. Except for the occasional nail hole, they have NEVER failed to perform mile after mile !! They also give exceptional mileage !!

As for Goodyear... I have had VERY poor luck with them, and poor dealer satisfaction as well.

 

[athompson]

I have never had a set of Michelins last more than 24,000 miles. When I dumped the stock Michelins on my truck at 4400 miles, it had already used about 1/4 of the tread. Believe me, this was not due to excessive burnouts or hard driving. So far, I have about 10,000 miles on my MT/Rs and am just starting to notice that they are wearing. They drive better on wet pavement, dry pavement, and much better on no pavement than the Michelins, too.



I realize that there are many here that have experienced just the opposite. Good for them. I don't care who owns or doesn't own Michelin. I don't plan on ever buying any.

 

[bballard]

Hi JyRO. I have had the same results as you with my Michelins, and will get about 60K out of them. As stated by others, Michelin also owns BF Goodrich and Uniroyal, but if you look on your tire sidewall it says 'made in USA'. Boycotting these brands only harms American workers. The only thing I don't like about the Michelins is the price, so I am also looking at the BFG and Uniroyal. Both are available for about $120 and claim to be 50/60K tires. Bob

 

[C.]

Michelin = BFGoodrich = Uniroyal



My Dad works for BFGoodrich. They manufacture all three brand names in the plant he works. They also have some generic brands.



He hates Michelin.



But if you buy one of these brand you support american union workers.



My Dad runs BFG's on all his vehicles. When I bought my truck he persuaded me to trade off my Michelins for a set of BFG all terrains.



I would buy Michelin tires. But, at the same time, I would recieve a rash of ***** from my Dad for doing so.

 

[DLausche]

I've also had good luck with my Michelins. 60,000 so far on them and will probably replace them soon. I've heard too that this is a French company but I'm not sure that would disuade me from buying them. I agree with others that it would probably hurt the American workers more than the French company.



I was doing some research on the net the other day about tires and found a posting about some "Liberator A/T LT" tires that are sold at WalMart. Supposedly they are made by Michelin. The cost is half of the what you pay for the Michelins. They also come in 285 75 16 if you want.



Not sure if being made by the same Co. means they are the same/similar tire or not. Probably not since others here indicate that Michelin=BFG=Uniroyal and there certainly seems to be differences in experiences with the different brands. Personnally, I'm going to try the Liberators. Half the cost has me sold. Not too woried about them being made by a French company. They're probably made in the US, so US workers benefit from my purchase (at least they do a little bit).



-Deon



http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...tire_width=265&tire_ratio=75&tire_diameter=16

 

[Pit Bull]

Deon, something to think about? Though four rubber patches are all there is between you and life and death. I want what I believe to be the very best. Say the best costs you $400 more. But you drive them for 60,000 miles. That works out to around 1/2 cent per mile. Not much to pay for my safety.