20-inch Michelins feathering and premature wear
 

At 5K miles on a 2012 SD CC Lariat with 20 inch Michelin ATX A/T's, I encountered pronounced premature feathering on the front tires only. Feathering was on both the inner and outer edges. At 5K it looked like about a quarter of the tread block depth was already gone.

The dealership did a front end align and confirmed everything had been to spec. They felt that the Michelins were too narrow in the actual tread and scuffed badly when steering. I contacted Ford directly and the dealership called within 48 hours, saying that Ford had authorized replacing the front tires. Ford, they said, felt that the problem was a bad run of these tires, since the tires had been tested and used in other time periods on the same truck without problems. Obviously, the rear tires are likely to have the same problem since they are presumably on the same production run. I'm rotating tires as soon as the dealer installs the two new tires, so I'll see what happens to the rear pair. I then have to rotate tires again once any feathering shows or not, just to be sure that the replacement tires work. If there are problems, Ford only covers the tires directly for 12K miles or 1 year. After that, it's a discussion with Michelin and there's rife opportunity for fingerpointing. If you've had any feathering problems on the front with 20" Michelins, I'd speak with Ford immediately and keep this thread updated with your experiences. So far Ford has been responsible, but they didn't replace all four tires immediately as I'd requested, so I definitely face a multi-step process. At least I caught it early.

Well at least you got 2 new tires out of the deal, but those Michelins do feather rather quickly. If you haven't rotated them after 5,000 miles, it is getting to be too late. Mine exhibited aggressive wear in the first 15,000 miles and I swore I would never get 25,000 miles out of them. At 35,000 miles they are still going strong and have at least 10-15,000 miles left in them. The wear, especially on the edges, begins to stabilize by about 25,000 miles.

The outside tread on these tires is a very poor design. They have tall blocks built into the tread actually creating a lack of tread depth. By the time the tire is half worn out, there appears to be a disturbing lack of tread left on the outer rows. There is still plenty of tire there, but the majority of shallow sipes and grooves that have when new has disappeared. I have noticed no ill effects in the rain from this apparent lack of tread. The tire still performs just as well (or poorly) as it did when brand new. I guess the real test will be when we see some snow this Winter. They didn't perform very well in the snow or mud when they were new so I don't know if it could get much worse.

You will find those tires wearing on the corners and the tread depth quickly at first, then they settle down. Most folks get over 45,000 miles from them.

Need to rotate at each oil change though.

Mine look OK at 6k. I'm rotating this weekend. I usually do it myself. I like to visully check the tires when I have them off. So many times I've found a partially embedded tack or piece of glass that would have worked it's way into the tire. I don't trust the dealers to look for things like that. Plus I like to actually torque the lug nuts. Important on aluminum wheels.

The Michelins have a 60,000 mile tread wear warranty and they didn't give me any hassle when I came in at 28,000 with mine wore out. They dealer called michelin and they prorated tires based on 28,000/60,000 and I was out the door with a new set way cheaper than buying new tires.

But Michelin won't do the warranty until your tires are worn out, 3/32 or worn down to the tread bars.

Thanks for all the replies. My treadwear has been more excessive than what you describe. Feathering was quite extreme and neither Ford nor Michelin felt it was remotely normal. They are still maintaining that it was a bad run of tires, which I'm happy to accept as long as I end up with tires that work.

I had the same problem with mine. at 16,000 miles they were feathering in front and tread chunking in back with all of them having cracks around the rim. They were worn down to 9/32 to 10/32. I took them to the Ford dealer first which my service writer told me it wasn't even worth his time to call Michelin they won't do anything about it. So then I came home and emailed Michelin HQ. They told me to take it to any NTB and get them looked at. So I did and they checked the tires out and called Michelin. they gave me 55% towards any set I wanted. I went with BFG All Terrain TKOs. I had a little over $700 in a new set of tires. I was satisfied with this and I'm glad Michelin stepped up. It's hard to find a company these days that stands behind their product. Most try to wiggle out of any responsibility.

I am having these feathering/chunking issues with my tires. I had them checked out and I was told that there was still plenty of good tread and siping which will allow the tires to continue to perform well for some time. Michelin will honor their warranty if a reputable tire shop suggests that this chunking was not due to operator abuse and their was indeed a safety issue as a result of the tread wear.

I'm buying Nitto Trails in a few months and park these stock tires in my garage.

Good to know. @ 18k, the outside/inside of my tires look like they have 4/32 left until those tall treadblocks. Inside looks to have plenty of life left. I just thought I was overdriving the tire since my track car has been broken since June.

$1500 on a yearly set of tires is not something I was looking forward to.

I would try to get them prorated if I were you. The stock Michelins are definitely not living up to their hype. In my post above I shared how I was able to get money back to put towards any tire I wanted. It's worth a shot to ease the blow of buying any set of 20" Tires these days. They are pretty spendy.