Old Michelin X tire date ?

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Ibrahim Kuzu
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Old Michelin X tire date ?

#1 Post by Ibrahim Kuzu »

Any one can date code these old Michelin X tires
Thank you
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Alan Hall
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#2 Post by Alan Hall »

If no DOT marking then pre 1971. If the one marking is a DOT marking then the "194" at the end might be 19th week of 1974. '84, or '94. Pretty darn old in any case! Those old X-stop tires wore a long, long time on light cars like a 356, I used to buy them used at wrecking yards off of Peugeots (sp?) as they were standard equipt on them. Because they were marked 165-380 and the wreckers had no idea what kind of size that was, and since the Peugeot used a solid center wheel they couldn't use their tire machine to dismount them, they were cheap. I would typically trade them for a peugeot wheel and $5 for a tire with 3/4 tread or more. Usually got another 40,000 miles plus on a 356 or a VW.

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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#3 Post by Greg Bryan »

Alan - that's much classier and better than scavenging tires from the mud flats by the Berkeley dump. People would go to dump their load and were told that there was a $2 surcharge to dump tires. They'd say forget it and then throw the tires into the bay off of the dump access road. I and a number of my penniless friends would go get the tires with some tread left on them at low tide. I guess they were suitable for my '55 Pontiac. I think it built character, but I'm not sure ...
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Ibrahim Kuzu
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#4 Post by Ibrahim Kuzu »

Alan,
There are no DOT marks on all 5 tires.
Thank you for the great story on 165-380 size...
Greg,
Thank you...learning every day..nice story also...

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Chris Duerr
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#5 Post by Chris Duerr »

I have a set of 5 which appear to be unused. What is the risk of running an old michelin radial tire that has been out of the sunlight for eons? Delamination or is there really no risk other than they are harder than a diamond?
Chris

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Sebastian Gaeta
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#6 Post by Sebastian Gaeta »

Chris Duerr wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:46 pm I have a set of 5 which appear to be unused. What is the risk of running an old michelin radial tire that has been out of the sunlight for eons? Delamination or is there really no risk other than they are harder than a diamond?
Chris
Chris,

It's pretty high relative to the cost of new tires vs the cost of expensive bodywork. I restored a '65 Beetle convertible for my cousin and his wife as a wedding gift about 25 years ago and I fitted it with Michelin XZXs. About ten years ago I looked at the car and was horrified that he had the same 15 year old tires on his car, he justified it by saying the car was only in the sun when driven and he only drove it a couple thousand miles a year (they live on Captiva and it rarely goes off island). I razzed hm non stop but he didn't buy new tires, that is until a year or so later when a tire shredded and ruined an original fender.

I know it was "only" a VW but man, I would hate to hear that an old tire ruined the bodywork on your Speedster!

Here it is with my C cab on a visit to the island.
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Mike Smith
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#7 Post by Mike Smith »

I took responsibility for a customers Speedster that had been built by one of the most Respected Restorers in the US

It was a stunning car, so a brake test was the first priority
It was a dry Bitumen road and I hit the brakes at approx. 50 Mph

It did made no attempt to stop - not even the slightest squeak from the rubber - It had absolutely no stopping power whatsoever - Wet Ice would be the best description

It was shod with New Michelin stop pattern tyres and they were the first things that we changed for the customer
Mike Smith (Essex - UK)

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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#8 Post by Mike Smith »

And now for another story

Here is the spare in my own `C` Coupe
I bought the car in Feb. 85 and this still sits in the Boot, It has done service a couple of times - but its an old friend
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Martin Benade
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#9 Post by Martin Benade »

What exactly is New Michelin stop pattern tire? And they were brand new with no traction, or very old?
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#10 Post by William Block »

Thirty years ago in a moment of enthusiasm I purchased NOS Michelin X stop treads for my PreA; whose restoration was just starting. Twenty five years later -- with zero miles -- with the car almost done -- on the lift --I heard a plopping sound. A tire had delaminated and the tread fell to the floor.

Way back when, I had my Porsche-VW shop put used Michelin X tires on my starter wife's VW. One day she called me and said "I need new tires." Impossible, they're Michelin-X; they wear forever. "Well the screen is showing."
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#11 Post by Mike Smith »

by Martin Benade » Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:02 pm

What exactly is New Michelin stop pattern tire? And they were brand new with no traction, or very old?
Martin,
I just put Michelin X Stop Pattern into Google
Up came a new Video of a Tyre shop introducing them as` Michelin X Stop` - Apparently they are being reproduced

The Ones on the Speedster that I took for a run, looked New but they sure did not stop the car
I just assumed that they had been kicking around for a Looooong time and I did not want any customer of ours running around on them
Mike Smith (Essex - UK)

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Al Zim
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#12 Post by Al Zim »

I am as sick as the rest of you guys who hunted Michelin ties in the junk yard. al zim
Last edited by Al Zim on Tue Mar 21, 2023 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Wes Bender
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#13 Post by Wes Bender »

Back in the '60s the Michelin X tire was favored by time-and-distance rallyists because the steel bands made the tire's rolling circumference remain consistent. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that a Porsche, measuring distance with a front wheel shod with a Michelin X to be in the winner's circle more often than other combinations. The sidewall flex also allowed the tire to give a little with the rear suspension. Did I use them back then? Yes. Not sure about today though. In the '70s we also ran Michelin truck tires on our explosives delivery trucks and got good service out of them. The last time I bought Michelin tires was for my wife's 280SL. They were Michelin's "Green" tire. Even though it was garaged, the sidewalls cracked in less than a year. Michelin said they would replace them (with like tires), but I changed to Bridgestones.
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Alan Hall
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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#14 Post by Alan Hall »

Back in the 60's I was talking to a draftsman who worked at Douglas aircraft. He was from Europe and had worked for Michelin. He said the security at Michelin was tighter than any place he had ever seen, because at that time Michelin had figured out a way to make a steel cord that could be used in a tire and apparently no one else at that time had been able figure out how to successfully do it. Michelin was intent on keeping this a trade secret as long as possible. At the time there were other radial tires using nylon belts but it was quite a few years before any other steel belted tire appeared.

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Re: Old Michelin X tire date ?

#15 Post by Brad Ripley »

My opinion -- Unless you are going to only seriously show your 356 in national concours, I suggest you purchase newly produced tires for your 356. Old, non-date coded tires are obviously dangerous for normal driving.

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