Michellin Tyres

[Deleted member 12051]

Hi All

Our Hymer B694 broke down in the Pyreneese last month. Needless to say we had behind us mile long queues. Some very irate drivers tooting when eventually passing us. Anyway police arrived and halted all the traffic until we reversed onto waste ground (breakdown called). The policeman was very angry that the tyre that had blown was not a Michellin (previous owner had replaced to pass it's MOT). We were unaware this was the law which he kept emphasising to us repeatedly. The spare was a Michellin - thank god. The police had said if it had not been one we would have to get breakdown to come to us with one. Because we now didn't have a spare the police escorted us to a tyre supplier. This cost us €240 just for one tyre!!!!!! Just thought I would share this as an example - make sure you have Michellins.
Patricia

 

[Teutone]

Hi All

Our Hymer B694 broke down in the Pyreneese last month. Needless to say we had behind us mile long queues. Some very irate drivers tooting when eventually passing us. Anyway police arrived and halted all the traffic until we reversed onto waste ground (breakdown called). The policeman was very angry that the tyre that had blown was not a Michellin (previous owner had replaced to pass it's MOT). We were unaware this was the law which he kept emphasising to us repeatedly. The spare was a Michellin - thank god. The police had said if it had not been one we would have to get breakdown to come to us with one. Because we now didn't have a spare the police escorted us to a tyre supplier. This cost us €240 just for one tyre!!!!!! Just thought I would share this as an example - make sure you have Michellins.
Patricia

very dubious. As long as the tyre has the correct load index, it doesn't matter what make they are IMO. There can't be a law to buy a specific brand???

 

[Smaug]

very dubious. As long as the tyre has the correct load index, it doesn't matter what make they are IMO. There can't be a law to buy a specific brand???

You are, of course quite correct, but remember that the incident was in FRANCE & normal laws do not apply for French Police! And Michelin is a French company.

It's an interesting issue, in many boat related laws, when you are visiting overseas, you do not need to comply with local laws, provided you comply with those of your home Nation. To some extent with cars this is also true in that your tax, MoT & Insurance must be legal in your home country rather than in the toured country (plus green card to extend insurance cover), but you still need to carry bulbs, triangles, breathalysers etc as required by the visited country. Spare tyres are NOT a legal requirement in the UK & many Continental countries also allow "get you home" spacesaver wheels & tyres that often significantly differ from the other wheels & tyres on the car.

But at the end of the day, the policeman at the scene has enormous power (& discretion) to do as he likes. It is hard to challenge their interpretation or implimentation of any law (even if just made up on the spur of the moment). You don't know the law, the langage or even the status of the uniformed person telling you what to do.

 

[Deleted member 12051]

Hi Teutone

Just quoting what the police told us. When we bought another the garage said that the police are enforcing this type of tyre in France. Don't know whether this was true just to get our custom or making the French have them. I agree with what you have said.
Patricia

 

[Deleted member 12051]

Hi Smaug

Very true. Must admit - got visions of a fine. He wasn't one of your nicer policemen very officious to say the least.
Patricia

 

[Teutone]

Hi Teutone

Just quoting what the police told us. When we bought another the garage said that the police are enforcing this type of tyre in France. Don't know whether this was true just to get our custom or making the French have them. I agree with what you have said.
Patricia

Michelin makes good tyres, no doubt. But they are not better when to comes to a simple puncture. A nail can't read what's on the side wall.

Sure the local cop is in charge of the situation and you have not much chance to escape the ripoff. And if you don't speak the local language you're stuffed.
Real shame that the cops can take advantange of this and "guide" you to the tyre/repair shop of their (supported??) choice.

 

[Deleted member 12051]

hi Teutone

mmmmmmmm never thought of their designated tyre depot. Still a lesson learnt in France

Patricia

 

[Techno100]

Being in the pyrenees he may have been inferring that they had to be M&S mud and snow which of course Michelin Agilis Camping tyres ARE

 

[Northerner]

Oh dear, here we go again! Scarborough Council, responding to protests from local businesses, tries to do something about a surfeit of motorhomes. But of course to some on here it's not true and it's all about councillors who must own camp sites and it's their way of 'bullying' us onto them. All of which has been proven to be utter tosh!

A policeman, finding a motorhomer illegally parked in a lay-by in a national park, doesn't just move them on, but helpfully shows them where the nearest site is. Of course the site just has to belong to one of his relatives!

A parking warden gives someone a ticket and it's because his auntie has a car park round the corner!

Do some of you spend your entire lives in these paranoid bubbles, where nothing is ever just as it actually is, and where every single person must have an ulterior motive, and where no one is just an honest individual going about his or her job?

This was France for God's sake, not Honduras or Afghanistan! France, which is a left-of-centre democracy, where the police are subject to the same strict codes of conduct as our own. Yes, they have guns and may appear in some instances to be strict but they are still obliged to obey the law. And I have to say that, in my two experiences with the French police, I found them to be just like ours, polite and professional.

The OP had caused confusion and a backup of traffic going on for miles apparently and wonders why the policeman may have been a bit miffed. He had to help her reverse into a parking spot, presumably by moving other vehicles and then hang around whilst they changed the wheel or wait for the breakdown service to do it.

Does the OP speak perfect French? If not, did the policeman speak perfect English? Could it just have been that he was suggesting that you should, in future, get good quality tyres such as proper Michelin camping tyres, as it appears from the post that the tyre had just blown, which suggests that it wasn't something as simple as a nail and may have been a dodgy side wall or cracking.

The notion that French tyre suppliers and French policemen are risking their jobs and freedom by entering into shady conspiracies to direct people who need replacement tyres to favoured suppliers is utter nonsense. What are the chances of the typical French police officer happening on a foreigner, who doesn't know the ropes, having a puncture on his patch and needing a spare tyre? How many policeman does this garage owner have on his books? All of them or just one?

Did the policeman take her to the nearest tyre supplier, which is what I am sure would have happened? Or did he drive past three other suppliers to get to his 'preferred seller'? Perhaps the OP can enlighten us?

Please people, before you launch these ludicrous conspiracy theories, just try thinking for five minutes about the complexity of setting up something like this (for an absolutely peanuts reward), the likelihood of policemen and tyre suppliers risking prison and their jobs for bribery, and for what? Ten percent of the cost of a tyre two or three times a year, that the bent garage owner is slipping the bobby!

There is no law in France forcing anyone to buy a particular brand of anything. There never has been, and whilst it's a democracy and particularly whilst it's in the EU, there never will be.

The mind just boggles!

 

[oldpolicehouse]

Hello
Back in the late 1960's when I was young and foolish I got myself arrested by the French police. They were very nice.
Now I'm just old and foolish.

Blue Skies

 

[Techno100]

Anyway forget the rest and fit the best! not really dearer than the others as they pay back in higher mileage

 

[Deleted member 12051]

Northerner.

Answers to to your question. Yes it was a blow out. I didn't take much notice whether I passed other garages or not. I was merely saying what the police/garage stated to me was "it had to be a Michellin". All my other tyres are Michellin's. Rather prefer to go with Techno's comment about M&S being in the Pyrenees. No I don't speak French but the policeman spoke very good English. I was only trying to pick someone's brains as to why this specific tyre. Being a woman, given the situation and being scared, some sensitivity about my comments from you would have been welcoming.

Patricia

 

[mark61]

Being in the pyrenees he may have been inferring that they had to be M&S mud and snow which of course Michelin Agilis Camping tyres ARE

Surely not a requirement to have M&S in July?, any more then it's law to have Michelin tyres in France. Not suggesting either are a bad idea though.

Can only assume language problems with the French policeman, and surely he took the OP the nearest tyre dealer.

Need to change tyres on my van, don't like the ones the original owner fitted. Have looked closely at the Michelin Agilis Camping, and barring the speed rating being way lower then the van's, they tick a lot of boxes. Will be sticking to BF Goodrich's though, not a better tyre, just suits my requirements better.

Edit, re language. Had started this post before OP post above.

 

[mark61]

Perhaps he was suggesting that your tyres should all be the same.

 

[Techno100]

Does it not rain in the pyrenees all year round? water makes mud.
I agree it makes more sense that a misunderstanding took place and that the gendarme was saying that they should all be the same at least.
I wonder how many get towed off the side of the road in the TDF lol

 

[vwalan]

just because he is a policeman doesnt make him know all the rules of every thing .
it was his interpretation .
perhaps he just thought if your other tyres are mitchy why not stick with them.
all tyre makes blow out sometimes . might have hit a kerb sometime in its life or ran over a stone . case damage can take awhile to show its ugly head.
lets not just blame tyres of any make . i worked for a large tyre company for awhile and saw all sorts of messed up tyres .most were caused by the driver. might not be you might have been a previous driver.
i also remember some tyres like bridgestone being taken off new m,bikes because the owner thought they were not a good tyre . the m,cycle press condemed them at one time .i ran just about all my bikes on them, they were very cheap secondhand .
now i like chinese tyres good quality, grip and wear well.

 

[Northerner]

Northerner.

Answers to to your question. Yes it was a blow out. I didn't take much notice whether I passed other garages or not. I was merely saying what the police/garage stated to me was "it had to be a Michellin". All my other tyres are Michellin's. Rather prefer to go with Techno's comment about M&S being in the Pyrenees. No I don't speak French but the policeman spoke very good English. I was only trying to pick someone's brains as to why this specific tyre. Being a woman, given the situation and being scared, some sensitivity about my comments from you would have been welcoming.

Patricia

I'm sorry if you felt I was being insensitive but my irritation, and I'm afraid that's what it was, wasn't with your interpretation of the policeman's instructions, but with this all-pervading cynicism and conspiracy theories that seems to pollute so many threads on this forum. I would add that this latest conspiracy theory wasn't started by you of course. In this case, because the police officer was kind enough to take all the trouble of leading to to what I'm sure was the nearest supplier, that he is somehow on the take and involved in some dubious scam to get some back-hander from the local tyre dealer. I wasn't aware that you were a lone female traveller either and assumed (obviously wrongly) that you were just one half of the 'van's occupants. My apologies if you thought I was insensitive.

 

[mark61]

Does it not rain in the pyrenees all year round? water makes mud.
I agree it makes more sense that a misunderstanding took place and that the gendarme was saying that they should all be the same at least.
I wonder how many get towed off the side of the road in the TDF lol

Agree 100%. I run M&S tyres, to me it seems the sensible thing to do. Even if it's not a legal requirement.

 

[Smaug]

Northerner.

Answers to to your question. Yes it was a blow out. I didn't take much notice whether I passed other garages or not. I was merely saying what the police/garage stated to me was "it had to be a Michellin". All my other tyres are Michellin's. Rather prefer to go with Techno's comment about M&S being in the Pyrenees. No I don't speak French but the policeman spoke very good English. I was only trying to pick someone's brains as to why this specific tyre. Being a woman, given the situation and being scared, some sensitivity about my comments from you would have been welcoming.

Patricia

Nicely answered, & don't worry about Northerner, he is on a mission.:idea-007: I wondered how long it would be before he took the bait. Sorry you caught the brunt of his response, but he tells us he doesn't intend to be aggressive & rude.

 

[Teutone]

It's a legal requirement in Germany to have SAME tyres on one axle. You will fail MOT with different makes on left and right, even different models of same manufacturer are not permitted. But the german cops will let you drive off with different tyres if that clears the road! Of course this doesn't applies to foreign cars.