Re: [Chrysler300] 300M Tires, Followup

["Ray Jones" <hurst300@xxxx>]

Hi Tom;
Yeah, they'll last that and more. Michelins seem
to be made of a progressively harder compond.
Great "stickiness" when new to 1/2 worn, but
starting wearing less and less as time goes on,
with less traction. I've used them for many years,
and mounted hundreds of them in the dealerships
I've worked in. From years of maintinance
servicing, I've found that the more milage on them
the less wear. My wife would make me get new ones
even tho they still had good tread. She is very
very much into cars and didn't feel safe after
awhile. She could tell the difference in the traction.
So, maybe kind of test them in a parking lot from
time to time in the rain.
Regards, Ray Jones

> Well gang, I did temp fate this afternoon and
rotated my 300M's Michelins. The car now shows
49,000 miles on the odometer (25,000 miles since I
got the Michelins, and 41,000 miles since the
front of the car was smashed, reapired and
realigned). I'm pleased to report that she still
goes straight down the road with absolutely NONE
of the dreaded shakes to be found anywhere between
0 and 85 MPH. I'd also say from the looks of
things, these tires might just have another 25,000
miles in 'em! Here's a link to them from
Michelin's web site:
> 
>
http://tires.michelin-us.com:80/catalog/tires/pilotxgtz4.html
> 
> and here's a link to them over at the Tire Rack
mail order place:
> 
>
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/michelin/mi_pilotxgtz4.jsp
> 
> 
> They're kinda pricey, but have been worth it. 
I'd probably buy them myself if I had to. 
> 
> Best Regards to all,
> 
> Thomas F. Miller
> 300M, 300C
> 
> tfm@xxxx 
> 
> 614.975.4164 voice/page
> 
> 
> 
> 
> >>> "Thomas Miller" <tfm@xxxx> 12/02/01
10:45AM >>>
> Ken,
> 
> I've had vibration problems with my '99 300M
also. Here's the story:
> 
> I purchased my 300M in November of 1998. It had
about 80 miles on it as the dealer I purchased it
from had done a swap for another new car to a
dealer in another town. The car was built in
August of 1998, had an aftermarket spoiler on the
back of it and was sitting right in the middle of
the showroom floor her in Columbus, Ohio at Bob
Caldwell Chrysler-Plymouth. Oh, the thrill. I
finally get my turn in life and am driving a brand
new Chrysler 300!, and am driving it right off of
the showroom floor no less! It was a big moment
for me. 
> 
> In May of 1999 with around 8,000 miles on the
clock, I had the misfortune of smashing the front
end of my car. Hard. About $12,000 worth. Not
hard enough though to bend wheels, pop tires and
the such. Hard enough though that it was off the
road for 6 weeks in the body shop. Frankly, I
wanted the car totaled, as I had leased it for 5
years and didn't want stuck with a car that was
beyond repair for the rest of the lease period. 
My trusty body shop cam through for me though as
the car looked straight and drove straight without
a lick of vibration or pull in the front end. I
was pleased. 
> 
> In the fall of 1999 at around 18,000 miles I
decided that it was time to rotate my tires (still
the original Goodyear Eagles). So, I put the car
up on four jack stands and and rotated my tires by
swapping front for back on the passenger side, and
front for back on the driver's side. Here's where
my vibration problems began. things were really
OK at highway speeds of 65 - 80 MPH. But, around
town, at 30 MPH, a rather annoying shake would
cause the steering wheel to move back and forth
about an inch! Puzzled, I took the car to my
local Goodyear dealer and dropped $40.00 on
"lifetime" balance for all four wheels. Now, my
shake was gone at 30 MPH, but I had it at 60 MPH.
I took it back and talked to the tire dealer
about it. They balanced the wheels again, but
this time broke the tires of the bead and re
positioned them 180 degrees around from where they
were originally mounted. Still no difference. I
had the shakes at around 60 MPH. I was pretty
disappointed to say the least. Now what do I do?
I'm certain that the Chrysler dealer is going to
notice that the car has been hit and tell me to
get lost, the Goodyear dealer hasn't a clue, so
I'm feeling pretty screwed at this point. 
> 
> A few months later at around 24,000 miles, I
stop by to see my dealer friend to see what's new
a generally shoot the BS. He asks me how my 300M
is doing (knowing that the car had been smashed
pretty hard) and I told him how pleased I was with
the car except for this annoying shake problem. 
He looked at me and said, "yeah, we've had some
problems with the Goodyear tires. I'll have our
service manager order you a new set of Michelins.
" To which I replied, "Oh, OK. Pro-rated on
tread, right?" To which he replied, "Nope, no
charge to you, under warranty!" 
> 
> Three days later, my 300M had 4 brand new
Michelin Z rated Pilot Z4s mounted and balanced
and my shakes were gone! Boy oh boy was I a happy
camper. Free tires at 24,000 miles! The
dealership's service manager told me that they had
had numerous problems with the Goodyear tires. He
said he had one customer that he had put 3 sets of
Goodyears on trying to solve the "shakes" and
couldn't make them go away until he switched that
customer to Michelin. 
> 
> I'm now at almost 50,000 miles on my M, and the
shakes haven't been back. I'm going to tempt fate
today and go rotate my tires! 
> 
> As much as I like to "Buy American" I'm about
done with Goodyear. We now have Michelin tires on
our 300M, 98 Dodge RAM pickup (40,000 miles with
no problems), and on our Maserati TC (Michelin
MXV3 V-rated) with no problems either. On the
Goodyear side of things, my '95 LHS came from the
factory with Goodyears and they were noisy and I
barely got 45,000 highway miles out of them. My
experiences with Goodyears on my '87 Shelby Lancer
and '86 Turbo Daytona (both purchased brand new)
were also marginal at best. 
> 
> For the life of me though, I can't come to grips
with the science behind what the heck threw my
tires permanently out of balance just by rotating
the entire assembly front to back? Anybody have a
hypothesis on this one??!!
> 
> Best Regards to all,
> 
> Thomas F. Miller
> 300M, 300C
> 
> tfm@xxxx 
> 
> 614.975.4164 voice/page
> 
> >>> Ken Krull <kdkblk@xxxx> 11/30/01 11:03PM >>>
> 
> This summer I bought a 99 300M with less than
18,000 miles. Because of
> a shake in the steering wheel they replaced one
tire then, because of a
> bad belt. Just had tires rotated and the shake
is back. Haven't called
> the dealer yet. Have others had similar
problems? Makes me wonder if
> Goodyear hired Firrestone's Quality control
department. The tires are
> Eagle LS 225/55R17.
> Ken Krull
> New Paris, In.
> 
> 
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Ray & Jo Ann Jones
Jones Ridge
113 Thunder Lane
Mena, Arkansas 71953-7714
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