Goodyear vs. Michelin

[Vip]

So I got delivery of my car 9/15/13. I put the order in after the price increase which meant the upgraded Michelin Primacy tires.
Well my car came with Goodyear tires instead. Informed the service center about the mistake and they said they would look into it. I just received a call from California stating that if I keep the Goodyear tires they will cover my first annual service. Obviously this is a worth $600.

I know that some people were mistakenly given the Goodyear tires and Tesla exchanged them out with no hassle. Of those people did you happen to drive with the Goodyear tires and noticed any difference when they exchanged it with the Michelins?

I feel the Goodyears have great grip but I feel every bump in the road. I am wondering if the Michelins would change that feeling.

At first I was leaning to taking Tesla's offer but after looking up more information it seems like the Michelin tires are better quality.
A quick search it appears the Goodyears go for $150 and the Michelin for $250. So Tesla's offer is not unreasonable but wondering if I will be missing out on a nicer ride for the next 20-30,000 miles.

What do you guys think?

 

[Cinematechs]

19 or 21?

 

[yobigd20]

woah - that's a rip off man. Get the Michelins or ask them for an $1200 check. The price difference between the two is huge. Michelins are waaayyy better tire. I would never accept the 'free $600 service visit'. The service visit is not even worth it. I came out with more problems than I went in with. Been meaning to take mine to a different service center to straighten a few things out...

 

[Vip]

19 inches

 

[JohnQ]

woah - that's a rip off man. Get the Michelins or ask them for an $1200 check. The price difference between the two is huge. Michelins are waaayyy better tire. I would never accept the 'free $600 service visit'. The service visit is not even worth it. I came out with more problems than I went in with. Been meaning to take mine to a different service center to straighten a few things out...

There's a $500 difference between the sets. Hardly a $1,200 error. Tesla offered reasonable compensation, the OP certainly can choose to have them put the Michelins on instead if those are the tires he wants. I don't have first hand experience with the Michelins so can't offer an opinion on the difference.

 

[Dreamin]

No personal experience with the Michelins. But according to Tirerack survey results, it's a more comfortable, quieter, better wet handling tire.

Get the Michelins.

 

[jerry33]

Get the Michelin tires. 'nuff said.

 

[ElSupreme]

I'd get the Michelins. Honestly the Goodyears are not really that good. I've debated switching them out early, but my old tires don't come in 245/45 R19 size. So I am not sure what I would replace them with. Plus I don't want to drop a grand when the tires I have look like they will last another 30,000 miles at least.

 

[imherkimer]

I have had the Goodyear tires. 8200 miles with no complaints. Traction and ride have been very satisfactory in virtually all conditions. Has performed well in strong rain and wet pavement. Only slippage was on a very muddy dirt road going uphill. Michelins may be superior, but the Goodyears have not disappointed.

 

[mknox]

I have had the Goodyear tires. 8200 miles with no complaints. Traction and ride have been very satisfactory in virtually all conditions. Has performed well in strong rain and wet pavement. Only slippage was on a very muddy dirt road going uphill. Michelins may be superior, but the Goodyears have not disappointed.

Ditto with my Goodyears at about 13,000 miles. I personally don't believe Michelins are better, and have had horrible experiences with that brand in the past. I prefer the Goodyears.

 

[Hybris]

Both are allyear... Give us real summertires on the 19"

 

[PaceyWhitter]

Both are allyear... Give us real summertires on the 19"

There are many summer tires available for the 19" wheels, depends on how much you want to spend, but I have heard good things about the Michelin PS3's.

 

[Hybris]

Yes but please give us an option to get real summer tires with the 19" delivered with the car... Like all premiumbrands do in Europe. My take is that Tesla need to understand the markets they move into. Throwing away the allyear to pay for new summer tires at delivery dont feel very environmentfriendly... ;-) for me this became a non-issue as I fooled myself intomthe P85+ that do have real performance summertires. PS2. But see and hear many Europeans going for the 19" complaining...

 

[ThosEM]

I got talked into Goodyear Eagle F1s a few years back, on my BMW 330ci. They were quiet and performed well, but one of them developed a slow leak within a few months, which continued throughout their lifetime. After about 20k miles, the others started to leak also and they got noisy. When I put new Michelins on, there was cracking along the sidewalls that was readily visible. I was lucky to have gotten that far with them. Goodyear would not offer any consideration on the tires unless I bought new Goodyears. Goodyear may have corrected this kind of issue by now, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[CantaMia Ron]

I will change out the Goodyear tires for the Michelin when I need new tires
they make a difference in ride much better and worth the extra cost.

 

[jerry33]

I will change out the Goodyear tires for the Michelin when I need new tires
they make a difference in ride much better and worth the extra cost.

The main difference I found (19") is that on some corners (sharp and off camber) the Goodyears want to skip across the pavement while the Michelins (Primacy MXM4)hold the road with no drama. The Goodyears are slightly better in energy usage.

 

[Larry Chanin]

The Goodyears are slightly better in energy usage.

Hi Jerry,

Not according to the Tesla Design Studio.

Larry

 

[youlikeadajuice]

The main difference I found (19") is that on some corners (sharp and off camber) the Goodyears want to skip across the pavement while the Michelins (Primacy MXM4)hold the road with no drama. The Goodyears are slightly better in energy usage.

I have had that skipping experience with the Goodyears as well, glad to hear the Michelins don't have that problem. I'll switch to the Michelins when the time comes.

 

[jerry33]

Hi Jerry,

Not according to the Tesla Design Studio.

Larry

I know that's what is on the site. However, those haven't been my results on my commute (GY varied between 190 and 220 Wh/m with 200 being normal, M between 220 and 240 normal being 230. Not including cold weather which is obviously higher and not relevant). Now admittedly, I only have 3,000 miles on the MXM4s and rolling resistance gets lower as the tread wears down. However, the Goodyears never got all that low. One tire was destroyed by a nail in the sidewall and two tires had wear on the inside shoulder--picture posted elsewhere--but the rest of the tread was still quite deep.

Possible explanations of the difference between the site and my results--pick one or all:

1. My driving may not match the EPA 5 cycle test.

2. Tesla still hasn't got the alignment right. Waiting for them to call me when the parts are in.

3. Different tire batches from the tires used in testing.

4. Different mix of stops, traffic, and terrain.

5. Weather factors.

6. Some unknown reason.

All that said, I'm still happier with the Michelins than I was with the Goodyears because of the better road holding.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I know that's what is on the site. However, those haven't been my results on my commute (GY varied between 190 and 220 Wh/m with 200 being normal, M between 220 and 240 normal being 230. Not including cold weather which is obviously higher and not relevant). Now admittedly, I only have 3,000 miles on the MXM4s and rolling resistance gets lower as the tread wears down. However, the Goodyears never got all that low. One tire was destroyed by a nail in the sidewall and two tires had wear on the inside shoulder--picture posted elsewhere--but the rest of the tread was still quite deep.

Possible explanations of the difference between the site and my results--pick one or all:

1. My driving may not match the EPA 5 cycle test.

2. Tesla still hasn't got the alignment right. Waiting for them to call me when the parts are in.

3. Different tire batches from the tires used in testing.

4. Different mix of stops, traffic, and terrain.

5. Weather factors.

6. Some unknown reason.

All that said, I'm still happier with the Michelins than I was with the Goodyears because of the better road holding.

It's too bad that we don't seem to run across published values of rolling resistance to get objective comparisons as we can on other tire characteristics.

Even though you are the most knowledgeable person I know regarding tires, nevertheless I doubt your single experience provides an objective measure for the reasons you list.

It's obvious that Tesla thinks that there is a measureable improvement in economy in upgrading to the Michelin Primacys from the standard Eagles such that they prominently advertise the "fact".

Larry