I mentioned I would do a follow up review of them in about a years time,well the time has come and here are my findings. The tires have had about 15,000 kms on them since last reviewed.
My tires are 215/75r/15 when new they had a tread depth of 13/32" the depth at which the tires are wornout is 3/32nds" remember those numbers because they will play an important role in the review of these tires.
Now back around about mid Nov we had our 1st good snow, I was travelling up a backroad hill on some hardpack,I got about 3/4 the way up the hill and lost traction, this despite having the powertrax locker and what I presumed as "almost new tires". I ended up very carefully and luckily sliding over and almost up against the opposite gardrail, I say luckily because this kept me from going over the edge and down into the river,when my rear drivers tire was able to grip in the gravel shoulder I finally was able to get up the hill. Needless to say I was a little ticked and drove straight to the local big box store and grabbed 5 60lb bags of gravel to toss in the back over the axle to give me a little more help with traction. Now since I had never had the tires rotated ( I know my fault ) I figured I would take them back to where I purchased them and have the guy take a look at the tread depth,here is what he found...remember all measurements in 32nds " Drivers front 11.5 Pass front 11.5, Drivers rear 10 and Pass rear 8.5 . Now the 1st thing he asked was had they ever been rotated, I told him no, then he said the reason you have such wear on this tire is because it is your drive wheel, I told him he was partially correct because I had a Powertrax locker in the rear, he then gave me a kinda strange look and said he would go speak with the Manager.
When he came back he said there was nothing they could do for me because I had not been in to get them rotated every 3 months, and Michelin would not issue a replacement unless it could be shown that reg tire rotations had been done, they would also have to have a look at the Powertrax to see that it was actually in there, I verified with the Manager what the tire mech said and he agreed that I was SOL, because I had not had the reg tire rotations done.
O.k so what does this say about the tire itself? well the tires are made out of a rubber that is a little bit softer than reg tires,the thought is that a more pliable tire will give you better grip ( traction ) in the colder weather, the problem with this is that the tire wears quicker in the warmer months.
Now, had I had them rotated as suggested then I would have had them on all 4 wheels during the coarse of the year, and the wear would have most likely been a little more even all the way around, fine BUT remember I have the locker in the back,lets assume a slippage of 50% before the drivers wheel grabs which the numbers justify, if I did not have the locker and no rotation then my pass rear tire would have worn down to 7/32nds, for 1 years worth of driving THATS INSANE ! in less than 2 yrears the pass back tire would have been a racing slick,lol. This underscores the importance of regular rotation ( especially for these softer tires )
In my opinion based on my experience a tire like this is best suited for...
1, Reg tire rotations
2, Used only in the colder winter months, they work great in deeper snow like 5-8" ( I realize thats not really deep but remember this is a RWD ) nothing really works great on hardpack ( except studs )
3, Reg tire rotations, yes I said this already but it really needs to be streesed with these tires because of the softer compound used to make them and the subsequent quicker wear.
Used above they would probably last 5 yrs easily and since the tires are great in the rain and quite, you would probably be happy with they're performance. Used the way I used them you will be quite un-happy with your purchase. I have included a couple pics to show you the wear from 2 months old to about 12 months old, the quality of the after pics is not the greatest but I think you will get the idea, Considering they're cost of approx $145 Can ea, they are not the best bang for your buck unless used as suggested above.
Passenger front tire 2 months old basically full tread depth 13/32"nds
Passenger front tire 12 months old at 11.5/32"nds
Passenger rear tire 2 months old basically full tread depth 13/32"nds
Passenger rear tire front view 12 months old at 8.5/32"nds
Passenger rear tire rear view 12 months old at 8.5/32"nds
98 Safari RWD. Stock.
