Old Michelin X tire date ?

[Al Zim]

NEW production Michelin tires are NOT made by Michelin. Manufactured ???? in eastern Europe al

[Greg Bryan]

I have a set of Michelin tires on my ‘65 VW beetle - they are made in Slovakia but in my opinion they are 100% Michelin and seem to have the typical high Michelin quality. They were bought through Coker. Michelin would not consent to having their name on a product that has the litigious potential of a tire if they were not 100% in control of production processes.
It’s not unusual for a European company to have plants in Eastern Europe.
I am completely satisfied with the tires and they have none of the issues I used to deal with when I was QA manager for a major OEM such as Radial force variation, plysteer, conicity, or radial runout.
These tires are 60’s style 165-15 and were not expensive.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

I have a set of Michelin tires on my ‘65 VW beetle - they are made in Slovakia but in my opinion they are 100% Michelin and seem to have the typical high Michelin quality. They were bought through Coker. Michelin would not consent to having their name on a product that has the litigious potential of a tire if they were not 100% in control of production processes.
It’s not unusual for a European company to have plants in Eastern Europe.
I am completely satisfied with the tires and they have none of the issues I used to deal with when I was QA manager for a major OEM such as Radial force variation, plysteer, conicity, or radial runout.
These tires are 60’s style 165-15 and were not expensive.

Greg,

Great tire for sure. Back in the day when a Michelin was twice the price of a Vredestein Sprint Classic, the Vredestein was a great option. Now that you can get these Michelins for roughly the same they are my first choice. They have proven to be of terrific quality with a great smooth ride, they balance well and look like a proper vintage tire should. I recommend them to all of my customers and they have been quite happy with them.

[Alexis Chatenet]

Yes, a lot of Michelin tires are now produced in eastern europe countries, but there still are production sites in France, in Germany, Spain, Ireland,... as well.

About the rubber strings, they had them too a long time ago. My grandfather used to work for Kléber-Colombes that was then bought by Michelin, and back then he used to explain me with brand new tires that these strings were made by the venting holes in the mold.

Alexis

[Alan Hall]

While sort of on the subject of old tires, this is a photo of an original tire on my fashion Gray '53 that my father bought in '55. Original 5.00-16 Continental tire, never been off the wheel. 70 years old this month. Was carried as a spare for years until it was just too old. I couldn't bring myself to pitch it so bought another wheel to use with new a new tire and saved this for posterity. Note the old style riveted balance weights.

[Alexis Chatenet]

This is awesome ! I would have done the same thing. Definitely something to keep in this condition.

[Ibrahim Kuzu]

Since we are digging into tires,
Here is another brand, I cannot locate date code.
These are still on 1967 912 ...Car was on the road last time 1981.

[Martin Benade]

Semperit M401 was the hot autocross tire around 1973. I had a set, they tolerated 3 degrees negative camber with no complaints

[Jon Schmid]

According to the COA, my dad's 1960 Roadster came with Metzeler tires. Back in my dirt biking days some 40 years ago, Metzelers were THE hot tires to have--I think my 1979 Husqvarna 390 has one on the front. I did not know until I saw the COA that they made car tires as well.

[David Campbell]

My Dad was a parts manager at a Porsche/VW dealer in the late 50’s through early 80’s and he was always scavenging tires for our family VWs. He had Kleber on his 61 Coupe for years and retailed Metzler while they were available.

Some customers would want new tires at 30% wear which meant I got updates to my 66 and my 65 Bugs.

[Chris Duerr]

New Veredesteins it will be.