I'd like to be able to stick a new Michelin on the rear nearside, but two things stop me doing this. First, the price - the cheapest I've found them for is £90 each - and second, the fact that the Ami seems to wear that tyre out on the outer edge. £90 is a lot to spend to wear out like that.

It's a shame Michelin want to ream customers so badly. It can't cost them any more to make a 135 for a 2cv than it does the cheapo tyres for little shopping trollies. So far I've managed 3 sets without having to buy any. I'm back to 125s now but I can't afford them either. They do work out much cheaper in the long run though, lasting three or four times longer than the crap selection of 135 accidents-waiting-to-happen available today.

IF Michelins are really noticeably better - and better-looking - than the alternatives, then surely £90 ain't that extreme a price to pay? Ok, it isn't a 'reasonable' price for Michelin to charge, but the tyres tend to last longer on our cars than they do on modern equivalents, and most standard named-brand tyres for modern cars will cost you at least £50-60 in any case.

Do the tyres on 2CVs really cost much 'more' than that of any other car?




(I'll get my coat...)

It is strange to me that the focus is on money and not how long a tyre will last.
Michelin will last much longer than any other tyres unless problems with steering and/or suspension. Michelin is cheaper in the long run.

It probably does. There was an article on making them in 2CV Magazine a few issues ago. They are all made by hand so it is fairly labour intensive. They make a batch whenever they have enough orders to justify it.

John

They aren't made by hand any more than any other tyre is, Michelin have a state of the art factory set up that they bang on about when you work for them. It's basically the same process for anything from a £25 145/13 to a £300 295/35/21. None of their reps could give me a decent answer as to why, when they boasted of the one process for all manufacturing technique it didn't equate to the prices being equalled out across the range.

That old chestnut 'Supply and demand', there is a fairly limited amount of tyre size that fits most cars, so the machines are kept running and knocking out those common sizes, if they have to 'rejig' for an uncommon size then it'll cost them lost time so they add cost to each uncommon tyre(whether it's a 295 35 R21 or a 125 90 R15). That is my guess.

hmm
seems like ive opened a can of worms
let them be spread

it is mad if you think how much smaller a 2cv wheels 135 or 125 is compared to some of those on bmw's and merc's..

Here's my guess, they slap the 'classic' tag onto it then double the price. You can get plenty of obscure size quality tyres for oddball cars for much less than mich want, but let's face it, they're worth every penny. I don't like having to drive my car at 7/10ths all the time because it doesn't handle properly because I can't afford tyres. Personally I'd rather be skint having paid for new tyres every 5 years (or more) than be skint because I'd written off another 2cv because of it's compromised handling.



Cab you tell how much I hate anything but michelins?

Ok, so are you suggesting the article I quoted is a complete fabrication, no pun intended. I've just fished it out and re-read it. They make them in a small workshop at Cataroux, Clermont-Ferrand which is where their heritage tyre manufacturing is based. The individual elements, layers of rubber, radial plies, steel rings etc are assembled by hand. Obviously they use machines to mould and press and cure the tyre but it is essentially a hand operation, from one machine to another. Just to quote some more facts; each tyre takes 20 minutes to make, they make approximately 8500 per year of the 125 X and they say it is structurally and dimensionally the same as the original tyre but uses a modern rubber compound to improve adhesion and wear characteristics.

John