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General Category >> Technical >> Michelin Tire Cracking
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Message started by jayg on May 10^th, 2010, 4:53pm

Title: Michelin Tire Cracking
Post by jayg on May 10^th, 2010, 4:53pm

When I was getting my Carbent ready for the "Head for the Hills" ride, noticed ozone cracking in the tread and sidewalls of my Michelin Pro 3 Race tires. Some of the sidewall cracks went all the way to the reinforcing threads. These tires are only 7 months old. I've never experienced this problem with Conti, Vredistein, or Schwalbe tires. Has anyone had a similar experience with Michelin tires that are less than a year old? Probably not a big deal for riding at WRL, but I don't want to be stranded on a country road after a weak sidewall hits a rock, causing a blowout. Went ahead and replaced them with Conti 4000's.

Title: Re: Michelin Tire Cracking
Post by Bud_Bent on May 10^th, 2010, 5:38pm

I have barely used the Pro 3's, but have more miles on the Pro 2's than all other tires combined, and they consistently performed very well. I never had any cracks.

Title: Re: Michelin Tire Cracking
Post by jayg on May 10^th, 2010, 7:19pm

Bud_Bent wrote:

I have barely used the Pro 3's, but have more miles on the Pro 2's than all other tires combined, and they consistently performed very well. I never had any cracks.

Maybe mine came from a defective batch. I have another bike with a pair of 3-month old Pro 3's. I'll see what happens to them.

Title: Re: Michelin Tire Cracking
Post by Brad Bedell on May 19^th, 2010, 11:42pm

I have a pro3 on a rim that was installed before Texas time trials in 2008. Other than a lap or two out there, it wasn't used. It's been hung in a garage for the entire time. No cracking. That being said, the pro3 is exceptionally thin everywhere it's not critical to save weight. It usually only takes a mis-seating of a tire (where tube blows it off) to ruin one with my carbon rims. The rubber on the sidewall really doesn't provide any structure to the tire, I'm not sure I'd fret too much.

That being said, I really preferred the pro2 tires for commuting/beating around. For a 'fast' tire, the pro3 is hard to beat. I still have some 25mm pro2's on my Fuji and they are going strong. Usually got about 4k miles out of them on the DF in racing type conditions. I'm lucky to get 2k miles out of the pro3's in similar conditions. Not because I wear them out, but they pick up enough nicks that I won't go into a race with them not being minty.

If you need 700c pro3 tires, drop me a note. I have red/orange/back in stock currently. I buy around 100-150 units at a time for my ebay biz.

Title: Re: Michelin Tire Cracking
Post by MrOverdressed on May 20^th, 2010, 12:40pm

Brad is this you:
http://myworld.ebay.com/overboostvr4&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID

Title: Re: Michelin Tire Cracking
Post by Brad Bedell on May 20^th, 2010, 12:56pm

Yup. But I can do better locally/cash on tires. :)