Friends don't let friends drive on Michelins in the rain.

[four.rings@mcione.com]

>I can't understand why so many listers trash Michelin!

The following should be regarded as a mere personal opinion of the tire brand in
question. Please don't take it personaly :-)

Of all the brands that I've had on my cars only Bridgestone Turanza was even
worse than Michelin.

In my personal experience Michelins were downright scary in the rain.
Mediocre at best in the dry.
I am on the 3rd set of SP8000 and on the 2nd set of Hakkas between my two
quattros and will continue to buy them as long as they remain in production.
These two brands are so good they should've  wiped out at least half of the
competition (Bad Year in the first place) and they would've done it if general
public dared to have their own opinion, not the one inspired by commercials on
TV. Those of Michelin show especially bad taste: a charming tot in a yellow
raincoat, his fragile body is reliably shielded by a rugged no-nonsence tire. He
makes bubbles: uti-cutie blah-blah-blah ... -"because so much is riding on your
tires". Cheap. That's exemplary kitsch if you ask me ... :-)

Precisely because so much is riding on my tires I make sure that they are not
Michelins and also that:
a) each of my cars has a set of summer and a set of winter rubber.
b) they are the best ones money can buy. Tires is one item where I don't care
how high the price is as long as I am convinced that they are absolutely the
best.

IMO Michelin, Sony, Bose, Jaguar etc. etc. are all overpriced overhiped mediocre
brands which American public has somehow conspired to like. Everybody wants
them, no one can conclusively explain why. 

BTW, every time I did a Quattro track event I could not help but notice not only
a total lack of Michelin presence (sans an occasional set of Pilots on
somebody's M3) but also that about 90% of the attendees had SP8000 on their
cars, with the remaining 10% comprised mostly of Yokos (my second favourite
brand). No surprise that the SP8000 are the favourite brand of this very List
too. I'd dare to suggest (based on this and many similar observations) that if
the majority of the listers have reached a consensus on an issue, then it
brobably is really so.

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Igor Kessel
'89 200TQ -- 18psi (TAP)
'98 A4TQ -- mostly stock
Philadelphia, PA
USA
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/8949/homepage.html
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