Michelin Premier tires: everything satisfactory minus tread wear

My experience -> everything satisfactory minus tread wear:

Vehicle: 2004 Passat Wagon TDI
Tires: Michelin Premier A/S
Size: 205/65 R15 94H
Specs: UTQG 640/A/A
Pressure (on the average): ~ 44 PSI rear, ~42 PSI front
Installed: 9/9/16
Removed: 12/11/18
Miles: 34,315
Warranty credit: $56/tire

Issue: went to rotate a third time and Discount Tire employee said the thread on the front tires is unacceptable to do so

New tires

Installed today (12/11/18):

Tires: Michelin Defender T+H
Size: 205/65 R15 94H
Specs: UTQG 820/A/B
Warranty: 80,000 miles/6 Years

The Premier is a better tire. Won't last as long, but the Defender essentially gives up everything else for longevity, which means it is a rock hard, loud, poor grip tire. Not a bad tire by any means, just know that you DO give something up for longer tread life.

I get a solid 50k miles from my Premiers on my B5s but they are the 15" so they'll last a bit longer anyway. In your neck of the woods (no snow), I'd have run them longer. Your photo does not look *that* bad to me. Still above the tread wear bars.

When i begin to feel a little bit of hydroplane in heavy rain, the tires gotta go, even if they are not down to the wear bars.

I agree, but I also tend to slow WAY down in the rain. ESP won't let the B5s do much of anything scary anyway, although I have rarely ever had it need to intervene in the rain. Snow I have, though.

Thanks for the feedback OK and truman. I agree with these statements. Tires are a delicate balance of various important factors. Rain/wet performance is on top of my list so time will tell. We have a long trip coming up so it will be a 'good workout' for the new Michelin Defenders

I suspect you will be more than happy with Defenders

I was wondering if a bigger tire lasts longer since it does not rotate as many times in a mile?
I have some 255/65-18 tires on a vehicle and they lasted 90,000miles. At the end of life they were hard and noisy though.

TDICube said:

I was wondering if a bigger tire lasts longer since it does not rotate as many times in a mile?
I have some 255/65-18 tires on a vehicle and they lasted 90,000miles. At the end of life they were hard and noisy though.

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Perhaps.

The question here is that the Michelin Premiers have a different approach to tread wear and they start new with less tread than other tires they sell. Is it working? I am not sure.

How's the performance of Defender T+H on wet roads? I'm thinking of getting these tires on my next tire change.

The defenders on my Mk 6 are getting close to the wear bars. Still do another season if I could put up with the noise. I probably have 30,000 miles on them, hard to tell with summer/winter changeovers.

I second Oilhammers comments about noise and hard ride. My Nokian R2’s are very noticeably quieter and softer. I have never noticed a problem with the Defenders in the wet, they seem to grip decently but probably not at the top of the class.

Technically I shouldn’t comment about hard ride with Billies and ‘sport’ strut mounts, but I find the combo with R2’s quite acceptable even when really cold. The Defenders are hard riding in comparison. When I had a stock suspension in the Mk 6 I always noticed my Mk 4 with Koni Reds and Conti’s absorbed low speed cracks much better.