I know that many of you are suffering this same dilemma.

After months of struggling to replace my prematurely bald PAX tires (worn on the sides at about 24K miles) I decided to scrap the plan and replace with after market wheels and tires.

Here's the longer story.

I lease a 206 SE with NAV so by default it comes with PAX tires. At around 24K miles the tires were worn out near the sides. Centers still okay but needed replacement. I spoke to Nissan service center and they said new tires would be about $1200. I almost Sh1t my pants. They told me that since they did not have the PAX equipment they would send the entire wheel/tire combo to Michelin and get all new back. I decided to do some investigation.

I went to dealer that leased me the van and he said he could not help. Tires are responsibility of the tire manufacturer not the dealer. I asked if I could replace the entire wheel and tire assembly with after market and the dealer general manager said it would likely be in violation of my lease. Lease calls for original equipment when returned.

I called Michelin and they gave me the name of authorized PAX repair facilities in my area and asked me to go get the tires inspected and give them the results so they could pro-rate the tire and send me new ones.

A Mr. Tire near me the inspection, called it in and Michelin said they would give me the tires at a 60% discount. The Mr Tire would charge me about $100 per tire for installation. The total cost with tires and mounting would be about $1260.00.

I read some blogs on these piece of sh1t tires and everyone was complaining that the replacements on the old rims were never properly balanced and caused violent shaking at speeds over 50 mph. Despite the fact that I had told Mr Tire to order the new tires I decided I was not going to continue down this path.

Sometime during this period (over about 4 months) I found a lawyer in California who was heading up a class action lawsuit against Michelin and Nissan for not informing customers of the actual costs of these tires. They had already filed suits against Michelin and Acura and Michelin and Honda. I found out about the suit the the lawyer asked me to represent them in my state which is now the state the suit will be filed anyway.

While reading some updates on the lawsuit web site I noticed that Michelin has decided to get out of the PAX business. This was music to my ears. This was my way out of using those tires any longer.

Just this past week my boss recommended a local tire shop that he trusts. I called and they recommended that I order tires and wheel from tirerack.com. I did exactly that. New 17" wheels, Kuhmo tires, tire pressure monitors and special valve sleeves (required for the TPMS). The total cost was $1100. They were shipped to the tire shop near me in 2 days.

I had the old wheels removed and the new ones installed (they were assembled and balanced at tire rack) for a grand total of (I swear this is true) $12.00.

I now have 4 wonderfully quiet running, smooth riding, long lasting tires on my quest. It rides quieter and better than ever.

The down side is that I don't have spare (I have roadside assistance with my insurance company) and my TPMS is not registering but I read that my dealer can reset the computer to detect the new sensors.

I kept the old wheels and tires so I can give them back to Nissan when I turn the van in at the end of the lease if they give me any crap about not having original equipment.

I now plan to join the class action lawsuit and make michelin and nissan pay for making really bad choices. I realize that I will probably get about $36.00 out of the settlement and the lawyers will make millions but I just want to see Michelin (a french company) get their asses dragged through court and pay because of the pain and suffering I went through over 4 months trying to resolve this issue.

I hope this saves some of you time and helps.