A question for the tire guru's out there...(maybe Luke would know?)

Does anybody know what years the ORIGINAL Michelin MXV tires were in production? I know my '84 GTI and '87 300TDT came from the factory equipped with them, but I also know my '94 C280 came from the factory with MXV3's so I would think they were probably out of production sometime before then...

Thanks,

J.G.

they have been produced from the early 90's thru 2008 but, there are several different versions

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I mean the original "MXV", without additional suffix or designation.- NOT the later series- MXV2, MXV3, MXV4- Energy etc.

I know my 1984 GTI came factory equipped with them as did my '87 300 TDT. My '94 C280 came factory equipped with MXV3's so I know the original MXV's must have been discontinued sometime after 1987 but probably well before MXV3's on the 1994.

I'm trying to figure out the approximate year the "originals" were discontinued so I can approximate a year the tires were installed on a 450SL I just acquired.

Thanks.

J.G.

when they were installed will be hard to find out ... when they were manufactured on the other hand is quite easy ... read the link

link

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That should help...I'll check for the mfr date when I take delivery this weekend.

I'm trying to piece together and verify a few items of the history of this car. Since the car has only 48,000 miles on the odometer, and the tires (given the tire model) must be somewhere mid to late '80's vintage, they are also likely to be only the second set of tires this car has ever had. The age of the tires also gives me comfort that the "indicated" mileage is truly the actual mileage (since the 1975 era VIN is too old to verify a car's history via carfax)

You gotta be a bit of sleuth to accurately track the historical "provenance" of a car!!

Thanks for your help!

J.G.

I had the original MXVs on my 1989 Honda Accord and the owner's manual for my 1991 300CE listed Z-rated MXVs as factory equipment.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. That narrows things down more. I took delivery of the car and I found the tires are actually date coded "389" which if I have it right, means they were produced the 38th week of 1989. Given the vintage, I won't be putting any "high speed" miles on 20 year old tires!

J.G.

I purchased a set of original mxv tires 1990 issue...vr rated for my 300sel. They were stored in a shop at a MB dealership....dark and cool. perfect shape. So when I decided to have them mounted...the guy said they could not put on tires that were 6 yrs or older! But they did because they were like new...never been on the ground and no rot.

I love them! But beware of ages of tires before you buy
Warren

I found some early records for the original MXV in 1981 and the last time we received any from Michelin was in March of 1997 ...

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I just bought today a pair of used MXV year stamps 80 and 81 (two slightly different), size 205/60 R15. I suppose these were originally on W123 or smth.

Perfectly fitted my original MB w124 alloy wheels and superior rubber condition (despite their age, 33 years).

A note on date codes.

The last few digits of the DOT serial # are date codes.

Pre 2000 the date codes read WW Y ( WW= Week of year Y = last digit of year ) making it difficult to determine decade unless there are other manufacturer markings ( inspection stickers on the bead / inside tire.

Starting in 2000 the code included the decade WW YY

Elementary my good man in your using the tire age to establish the provenance of the car. Is the car in question the '75 450sl I see listed. Pics.