Michelin Tyre Pricing Question

[johnsimcox]

I need to replace the front tyres (Michelin Primacy 3) on my A6 and was looking around. Normally I tend to use Event Tyres but found that CostCo were over £20 a tyre cheaper so have ordered from them. What puzzled me was the price difference of the tyre depending on if it is branded as AO or MO. Not that I am complaining as the Audi was cheaper but was wondering why the difference.

32636

[Splash]

Simple. Homologating a tyre with a slightly different compound or tread pattern spacing etc. for a subset of the market adds cost. The expectation is that this is recouped when blindly replacing like with like. I've done this with the original C5 allroad tyres as this was a new concept but alternatives quickly followed. I'm a tyre tart now.

In the same way as it's not uncommon for a dealer to suggest your brakes need changing when they still have life, it's easy to convince yourself (and be convinced) that you need the homolgated tyre. For a Veyron maybe, or indeed other non-standard cars, but not (in my opinion) for the bread and butter stuff. But you're at the wheel and know the risks, so it's your choice.

[cjmcb]

Some websites like camskill have OE stamped tyres in their own little by size sections and its amazing how much price varies from standard to OE stamped tyres.

Furthermore, looking at the ratings not all the same tyres are equal- as Splash said the compound differences can greatly effect the tyre's wet/dry/efficiency ratings