Michelin XWX 14" Tires

There was a discussion some time back about how to tell how old a tire really is. I forget the exact details but basically there are some numbers on the side wall that indicate what week and year the tire was manufactured. The numbers are stamped vs the raised letters elsewhere on the sidewall.

I 'm close to needing tires myself so I'm looking to see what tire I really want. I'm thinking about going with a slightly larger tire with the rears being a little larger than the front. I like the wider more aggressive look.

 

Michelin has a Vintage Tire Division and manufactures a range of vintage tires such as the XWX and TRX. Coker is the US distributor. Longstone Tyres is the UK distributor.

 

Date codes follow the "DOT" codes and will either be three digits, or four digits. Don't buy if it has three digits as that represents tires made in the 1990's! Four digits will represent tires made after 2000 and that consists of week and year of manufacture. Example:

3408 = 34th week of 2008

As for brand, I can't justify paying a premium for the XWX's unless it's going to be a concours car. I have the Vredestein Sprint Classics on my GT4 and am very, very pleased with them. Same size, same speed rating ("V") and less than half the price.

 

peter: where did you buy the vredestein's? thanks, jon s

 

That's the 50th week of 1919. I'd probably change those out and they're likely to be getting a little hard and cracked at this point.

 

That looks more like the tire manufacturer-specific model code for that tire. That should have preceded, or be contained in the "DOT" codes on the sidewall, yes? Date code will be separate and at the end of the "DOT" code.

I got mine from a Canadian distributor as I live in Canada ("Sports Car Centre", Edmonton, Alberta), but I remember in my search online for a place to get them from, I found a couple of U.S. dealers.

WTF?!? That is definitely a mistake.

 

Coker Tire 55570
20570VR14 MICHELIN XWX BLACK

Item# 257-55570
Ships in 4 days
Only $126.99

Its real, Jegs stands by the advertised price , I buy from them all the time, If you belong to a santioning race series they will give you pro pricing too.

 

nevermind, cancelled my order.

 

I ordered twice & were majicly deleted twice, just got on the phone with them today & supposedly they will be shipped next week. BUT they dont show up online nore can they find my invoice number. We will see.

 

Are they the "real" deal?

Once upon a time I bought tires on sale that were old per the date code (before I knew). They were terrible! After a battle, I was sent a new set by the manufacturer.

I thought the XWX's were much more $$.

 

Coker gets, like $415 each or something....

Maybe the market has collapsed and they are responding.....

 

wow that is an awesome price on those. pics when you get them!

 

Yes please price seems to good......
good luck

 

Looked at Jegs website under Michelin XWX tires. The 2 other sizes they have are over $400. Either they have a blowout on the 308 size, or they typed a "1" in stead of a "4" on the website price.

 

This is an outrageous price! Where are they made? Do they have a country molded on there somewhere? Any way to store them for later (Unfortunately I think Iknow the answer is NO?) I've got some goofy Sumitomo 205 70 HR14's that were ~ $75 a piece. They handle not bad, but are miles off from "the look". Congratulations on your find! I'd love to drive a 308 with fresh bushings and fresh XWX's. To know what the engineers and test drivers really thought was optimum. Now if that could be accomplished on the Fiorano test track, dream-dream

 

I think you might be onto something there Doug. I just got 5 brand new tyres (or tires as you guys type it ) for $2100 Aussie, so just over $400 each. $126 does sound ridiculously cheap. I was told they do a run every 2 years on these.

Edit: I just tried visiting the website and its down for maintenance. Readjusteing pricing perhaps.

 

Maybe it is a relatively common size tire and they expect to sell more than 20 per year, thus can get some sort of volume pricing....Or, they underestimated the market, made too many and now they are dumping them cheap before they get old

At that price for tires, it would be worth having my chromadoras restored and new tires installed for car show type events.

Doug