I mount and balance a fair number of tires a year. About 200 or so. I have to say I haven't noticed a particular problem with Michelin branded tires. Most of my customers can't afford Michelin tires so they are only about 10% or so of my sales. The only brand that sticks out as consistently lousy is Goodyear. I try to steer customers toward any other brand in a given price range. Goodyear tires are generally out of round and require excessive weight to balance. They also within category, do not wear well. They are often OE on many cars and have a nice look so many customers want to stay with them. They are the ONLY manufacturer who has EVER questioned my methods, the quality of Hunter Brand equipment and discount the entire process of road force type balancing and it's value. In other words, rather than produce a quality tire, they would rather make excuses and bash the equipment manufacturers for exposing their low quality tires. I sell basically every brand Tire Rack sells and have not seen a particular pattern of low quality across other brands. Every tire now must have a country of origin in the sidewall. They are made all over the world. Tire rack has been very good handling my defective tires. They take them back, look them over and issue a credit. I have to send about 5% of them back for one reason or another. Good luck. All auto parts are pretty much a crap shoot now.
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