<VV> Radial tyres

[David B. Neale]

I have been using radial tyres for many years here in Britain, and I 
always bought Michelins, because they always seemed to provide the best 
performance.  On one occasion, (many years ago), I took my Citroen CX 
Familiale for its annual compulsory vehicle test, and the examiner 
presented me with a failure certificate.  The car was fine, but the 
tyres had failed.  The tyre tread was fine - the tyres appeared to be 
only, at the most, half-worn.  However, the side walls had failed - they 
were infested with tiny cracks.  The examiner said that this was a 
common problem with Michelin radials, and had been for years ... that, 
quite simply, they wore so slowly that the side walls failed before the 
tread even approached the legal minimum of 3 millimetres.

He went on to say that Michelin had re-formulated the tyre material to 
ensure that the tread disappeared faster than the side wall.  My 
experience has been that this has achieved the desired result.

David