LEAST aggressive "off road" tires used ? Full size E rated Michelin M/S 2 ?

[Jwestpro]

I ought to post a few shots I guess:

BG AT KO2 , ORV park nearby, fully raised


Driveway slam "access height", highway cruising is about 2" higher in the front and 1" more rear.


These two are on the Michelin M/S 2 fall 2014 out exploring with mom in Eastern WA burned areas.
Nothing particularly difficult about the trails or materials although some rocks are very sharp from splitting.

 

[RoyJ]

I was wondering how your rig weighs so much! That's certainly very heavy armored. Is 7500 fully laden with passenger / cargo or curb?

I've never driven an LR3, curious if the engine can pull 6th gear with 33" tires at your weight and drag?

 

[Jwestpro]

Roy,
I've weighed in at 8200 on a SOLO trip once So, they actually start out at 5800 "curb wt". It's the full ladder frame plus unibody mish-mash that makes it so heavy but also very solid and stiff. No matter if it's on two wheels diagonally teetering, the doors just gently shut like it's in the driveway. Nothing moves on the body shell. Apparently a shop can take the body compartment off the chassis/engine/trans in a few hours during one day.

RTT and rack as you see, 2 awnings and their side walls, 2-3 bikes, 40L fridge full, recovery gear, those 2 green waffle boards on the roof, camping stuff, bike tools, car tools, photo gear, and when fueled up, 52 gallons underneath and 4 g water. 2 Odyssey batteries under the hood (1350 and 2150 so fairly heavy) On board air tank supplied by compressor under bonnet. That's all I can think of.

The BFG on that trip on those wheels weight roughly 100 lbs more than the Michelins.

Then there's all the heavy bits below the floor level. Both steel bumpers, winch, sliders (100 lbs each), aluminum engine/steering and transmission plating.

Since that trip I removed the 3rd row seats (80lbs) and left side outboard 2nd row seat (ARB fridge sits in the emptied 2nd row middle seat slot)


As for rolling 6th with 33's.... in the Micheling I think it would not even be noticed. In a 33" BFG, maybe but I take it slow to cruising speed. It almost seems like with the 32's, the gearing is in a better spot at 70-80 than when it was on smaller tires. The engine specs about 300 hp/325 lb-ft but I don't know what rpm the best torque range sits.

 

[Arclight]

The Goodyear Silent Armor is another tire that is very quiet and well-mannered on-road, but still has good AT-style characteristics and a snowflake rating.

I see them a lot on commercial and public safety vehicles that go on and off-road. I have them on my T100, and have been very happy. My typical trip involves 2+ hours of highway driving, followed by desert and mountain dirt roads.

https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/tires/wrangler-silentarmor

Arclight

 

[Mountainhound]

Worst tire I ever ran was the Michelin ltx absolutely horrible on anything but dry pavement. This was 20 years ago so..... I remember going down a hill I had been down 100's of times in other things I couldn't continue because got to tough for 87 GMC jimmy so turned around (again had been this way 100's of times in other trucks), but couldn't continue with this. Anyway getting back up that hill was a nightmare (6" snow). I had to go as far as I could back down hammer it again back down again so on and so forth till I made it up that hill I think it took 20+ tries. I was a farther of 2 very young kids so getting new tires again was out of the question. I hated that truck couldn't go anywhere I wanted with it, all because of tires.

 

[carbon60]

LEAST aggressive "off road" tires used ? Full size E rated Michelin M/S 2 ?

How about the cooper at/3? Been hearing they're a very well mannered street tire but good on ice and off road

Yes, I second that: look at the Cooper Discoverer AT3.

 

[sjxj]

Yes, I second that: look at the Cooper Discoverer AT3.

I have these on my 1994 Cherokee - much, much lighter vehicle than the OP's, but I've been impressed. Great traction in the snow and road-manners are decent.

 

[my1stcummins]

I just got the Coopers ATP's, discount tire's AT3, (285/70/17 E) installed on my truck two weeks ago. I've been very very happy with them on the road as they are quiet for an AT and handle well. These tires replaced the Nitto Terra Grappers (305/70/17 E) which still had a tiny bit of treadlife at about 40k miles but I was tempted by a sale price to get the Coopers before winter. The Nittos were great too BTW.

I've had them out on rough trails the last two weekends and they have performed quite well. I aired down to 30psi and I have yet to break traction in 2wd even in lose/dry trails that were around 1.5:1 slope. I'm excited for snow trials if we ever get out of this heat and drought in Norcal.

Discount tire has an ebay site where they sell tires and they matched this price in the store. The price for my tires was $175/tire plus the hazard warranty and there was a $70 discount. I priced the Toyos and couldn't justify the cost difference. Les Schwab wanted $1400 for a set of Toyo AT2 Extreme (285/75/17 E) :Wow1:

 

[aardvarcus]

I have had several sets of Michelin LTX M/S2, 235/85R16 on the Tacoma and 285/70R17 on the 2500HD. Love them, and will be getting more of the same to replace them. They do really well on road in adverse conditions thanks to all the sipes. They also did good in the occasional snow and ice over the past several winters, good enough I let my wife drive herself to work in the truck instead of me driving her. This was on roads where it had snowed, melted, and refroze on the roads. (That is saying something.)

I have run them off-road on some mild trails, they do all right, better than you would think unless you load them up full of mud. Sipes work on slick rocks just as well as slick roads. I have a set of 255/85R16 Cooper Discoverer A/S mounted on spare wheels that I switch on the Tacoma for “serious” off-roading, but when I switch I drive around on them on the road as well. (I only did this because I already owned the tires.) The handling difference on-road between the two is very noticeable, especially on slick roads, since the Coopers don’t have any siping.

I have run many different tires of many different brands on my vehicles. I used to buy the cheapest thing that would fit, but have learned better through experience. A lot of it may also come down to driving style and expectations as well.

 

[mhiscox]

Which vehicles have you used them on, predominantly?

Two LX470s, two Sprinters, an Astro and a Grand Cherokee.

I'm not trying to claim these are four-wheeling tires, and I probably wouldn't have posted except to rebut the "dangerous" comment. At the same time, if you compare them to the stock tires they put on LRs, Cayennes, LCs and LXs and so on, they are more aggressive and more suitable. For running NFS and BLM roads and getting through pavement snow, LTX M/S2's are tough to beat.

FWIW, the more serious Duratracs I have put onto the XV-JP and my Sequoia have impressed me for having pavement manners better than you'd think given their off-road goodness. And while a pretty mild AT, the Goodyear AT Adventures (the successor to the Silent Armors) have been a very good purchase for my Cayenne.

 

[fike]

There is too much subjective opinion on the topic of tires. The hive mentality promotes tires like the AT KO and the Revo to legendary status, and the subjective ratings at Tire Rack validate these opinions. Most of those ratings are given immediately after people buy their new tires, and people want to validate their decision by rating their selection highly. By comparison to their old tires, almost any tire would be superior because the old tire was worn down to the hard rubber, and the treads weren't as deep, so they rode hard and slipped in the rain and snow and mud. Not many institutions really TEST tires. Consumer Reports does. They consider the LTX M/S2 to be one of the top truck highway tires, and when compared against the top AT tires, it kicks their butt. I know that we are concerned with OFF-ROAD performance here, and that is the problem. Offroad performance is very subjective. So maybe the MT tires are the best ones for you, but more than likely the fact that they looks so freaking awesome has a big impact on our buying choices.

I have excerpted a few of the Consumer Reports ratings and their comparisons are pretty interesting. One thing is clear, though....The LTX M/S2 is not a piece of junk. It is a pretty decent tire. It may not be what you want for rock crawling or mudding, but for most people, it will be excellent.




One other interesting note on the M/S series of tires. They are now calling them the Michelin Defender LTX M/S, and they have added sizes that are appropriate for crossover overlanders. They will finally fit on my Subaru and give me a durable and versatile choice where before all I could get were some crummy yokohamas.

 

[mhiscox]

There is too much subjective opinion on the topic of tires. The hive mentality promotes tires like the AT KO and the Revo to legendary status, and the subjective ratings at Tire Rack validate these opinions.

You raise a good point about the subjectivity of the Tire Rack survey ratings--though they do empirically test a small portion of their tires--and your theory about the good ratings being because of comparison with old worn tires may be a good explanation.

I would suggest, though, that the results still have a lot of validity. While the joy of having new tires may indeed skew the ratings positively, it would do so for all reviewers and thus the RELATIVE rankings of the tires would remain valid. I also question how much the reviews reflect the "hero" status of the tires. It's true that the new BFG KO2s have impressive first-place ratings in the AT classification, but second through fourth place go to the the Firestone Destination AT, Goodyear Wrangler Adventure, and the Adventure's predecessor, the Silent Armor, none of which has an outsized reputation. The previous BFG AT KO, cited as having "legendary status," is eighth.

All in all, I'm going to keep using the Tire Rack ratings of tires with substantial numbers of reviewers as a pretty useful and informative resource. (At least as valid as the anecdotal posts in something like, say, an Expedition Portal thread. )

 

[Jwestpro]

(At least as valid as the anecdotal posts in something like, say, an Expedition Portal thread. )

I have to disagree...EP opinion threads are the gospel. JK ("Just kidding" for you old folks)

 

[snowblind]

All in all, I'm going to keep using the Tire Rack ratings of tires with substantial numbers of reviewers as a pretty useful and informative resource. (At least as valid as the anecdotal posts in something like, say, an Expedition Portal thread. )

A very important thing in the Tire Rack reviews is the model of vehicle. MANY reviewers don't buy the correct tire for their vehicle and then complain about a rough ride or too soft of a sidewall, etc. I always try to picture the vehicle first in my head and then zoom in on the tire and as I read the review.



Matt

 

[hammerg26]

+1 for the Toyo Open Country AT II.
On a 99 Expedition. Did great in snow here in N. Ga, as well as mud.