I made this mistake myself on my 4x4 Suburban,, BF Goodrich All terain, lousy ride and noisy, Coopers AT, better ride maybe quieter, and with either, snow ice mud on road off road, nothing to stop it and better than any picup I ever owned in 4x4, and 66 years old, I've a plenty, and tested em to the limit.

Then the Michelin purchase, defender LTX, like driving my Town Car! mind you I have a lake property that is a mile from a plowed rd in Michigan on sand, then when I get to my drive It's a 1/2 mile back a rolling winding sand gravel lane, to the private lake, even in 2' to 4' drifts, I've always made it through, I will these days buy nothing but!


Who would have thought a Michelin tire could make a Harley Davidson, Softglide custom built bike ride like a touring bike!! Trust me, I've owned my share of bikes, but after 2 years with 64,000 miles on it and much added weight in accessories, yep, first set of Michelin's, and instantly question how a bike can handle that much better and ride that much smother just changing tires after everything else that had been done showed such little difference, but it positively did..


So the difference on the HHR was no surprise, after seeing the difference over 20 years ago on the first set I ever put on, on an 96 Lincoln Town car, last thing I ever expected was that car could ride any quieter or smother,, but even it brought that wow! So I knew the HHR would as well, it did!


If it isn't a Michelin, it wont roll under anything I own that rolls down the road, off the road, or in any weather,,, been there, done that! I don't waste my money any more.

 

Ready for the road!!

 

I've tried Michelin on vehicles back on the '80's and '90's and was less than impressed by lifespan (tread life.. but they were better than Goodyear). Maybe they've upped their game in the time since.. ever since the blow-out debacle I've tended to steer clear of Michelin :-)

 

You mean the blow-out, roll over debacle. That was Firestone, not Michelin.
Wife had a 96 Explorer with those "blow-out" Firestones. Yep, they gave her 5 new tires free, her choice of brand. We got a set of Michelin LTX's for her car.
Those were on the car when we sold it 5 years later.

As far as Michelin's lifespan. I've had 2 sets of the LTX's on my Dodge truck. 1st set went to 96k miles. 2nd set made it to 75k miles and still had some life left when I replaced them. Pretty good lifespan in my opinion.

 

Ya I'm with the fireman,,,, I never heard of a Michelin model tire that had a known frequent problem of blowouts,,, but I do remember them Explorer factory tires from Firestone!

I also know most of my friends don't own a tire gauge, think rotation is a waste, and have idea what tire maintenance is besides kick'n em once in a while, and I'm sure a lot more treat tire maintenance in this manner than there is that don't! If I put more than 8,000 to 10,000 a year on the HHR I woulda put a tire like firemangeorge described on it, but 10 to 12 years I would expect any tire to be questionable in any climate before that. I know these factory Fierstones had tread left at 62,000, but the sidewalls and cracks in the tread rows looked scary!

So I'm sure the 65,000 mile tread life of the Premier A/S will be ready for a change before they wear out, but if I drove it year round, I'd spend more to get more! I sure won't think I had worse results because mine didn't wear as long as firemangeorge’s top end LTX tires, I saved more and lasted as long, just not as far!

 

The Ford Exploder debacle was all the fault of Ford-not Firestone. Ford purposefully ran the tires underinflated, trying to make a truck tire ride like a car tire-on a truck chassis of all things! They ran hot enough, long enough until they delaminated then exploded. Why Firestone took the rap for Ford's idiocy is beyond me-unless Ford paid them handsomely to do it... That said, I'm on my third set of Firestone Destination ATs on my 2004 Z-71 and consider them to be the best available for the money. I figure Firestone wasn't about to let another Explorer disaster happen and they haven't. Best truck tire in the rain I've ever had. Yes, I know Michelins are rated higher but the only set I ever had didn't last as early as long as expected-especially for what they cost. As to HHRs I've had great luck with B.F. Goodrich g-force COMP-2's on the wife's car-another great tire in the rain. More sure-footed than Grandpa's best mule! Plus, you can take a hairpin curve rated 15 mph at 50 if ya want (yeah, I know exactly why I never get the rated mileage out of a set of tires but at 62, I'm finally beginning to slow down-at least a little bit)

 

I really like Michelin car and SUV tires. But do not like their motorcycle tires. The commander II are downright scary in the wet traction category, the new Commander III is said to be better but they are suffering from balancing issues. I tell people that Michelin makes the best car and truck tires, but stay away from their motorcycle tires.