I had a set of new Michelin tires mounted on my HRE, then decided to swap the rims and get something else. My tires were sitting in the garage for about a month, then I finally decided to put them on my new wheels.

After all are installed, one of my rear had 4 very noticable bubbles on the side walls. The installer told me that it was resulted from impact or running low air. I have TMPS, and had no recollection of impact, so I do not think it's any of the above. Any ideas? I want to say that the damage was resulted from mounting, but do not have any evidence against them. Pls advice. This rear tire runs about $600! Not cheap at all.

 

Contact Michelin. They must have a service rep for this sort of thing. Defective tires should be replaced under warranty. Good luck.

 

Problem is Michelin do not warranty bubbles on anything with sidewall damage. I don't have my receipt any more. I bought these tires at a shop up North Cal, and now im in So Cal.

 

Regardless of receipts, it would be hard to convince Michelin that the defect was the result of their engineering and not the result of some road impact or faulty tire shop install. It is strange that you have not one, but four bubbles!?! Are they all in the same area or just all around?

I'm assuming you did not buy any sort of tire insurance from the shop you bought them from? If so, this would be covered under their warranty. Hate to say it, but your best bet may be to buy a new tire from a shop that offers that coverage in case it happens again.

 

Sidewall bubbles are bad news. They should not have been caused by sitting unless they were grossly under-inflated. In any case, it is a good idea to pump tires to 50PSI if a car will sit for a long time; just do not forget to readjust once you drive it.

 

I called Michelin and complaint yesterday. I told them that if it was an impact, then why would the bubble happens at all 4 places, each far apart from each other. Typically if an impact, only 1 bubble is shown. The bubbles (imagine a clock) at 2pm, 4pm, and 8pm and 10pm. Notice the pattern!

So they asked me to take it to another tires shop. I took it to Phillips Tires near by. AFter all said and done, they said my tires are still at 8/14 and gave me 50% credit on a new tire. I guess it's better than nothing. I only had about 2k mi on those tires. 8/14?!!! Oh well.

Thanks for all your help on this discussion.

 

What kind of measurement is 8/14 ? I have never seen anything measured in 14'ths. Is it 14 ths of an inch. And I don't think you can measure a 14th of mm.