Perfect off-highway tire = LTX? What?

[Regcabguy]

FYI - Consumer reports has these as their #1 rated All-Terrain Truck tire. They get top ratings for winter snow and ice, as well as rolling resistance.

Based on that I'd steer clear of them.

 

[aardvarcus]

Tires have a decent amount to do with traction, however there are many other variables that also rule the equation. Simple things like tire pressures, front to rear weight distribution, the route chosen, and most importantly driver skill can drastically change the outcome of trying to accomplish a specific task with a vehicle.

When it snows, my wife who is in the medial field must get to work. No option to stay home. I used to take her myself to ensure her safety. Back roads, no plow/salt. I have seen way to many trucks and jeeps wearing cool looking all terrains in the ditch on those days. I never had significant issues. Fast forward, she now has her own 4x4 vehicle with Michelin LTX and she drives herself in those weather conditions. They grip ice well. Can you drive it in a less than sane manner on icy roads and expect to stay between the lines? No.

I know someone who after watching what I was able to do offroad in a truck with Michelin LTX replaced almost new BFG all terrains that he was getting stuck with with Michelin LTX. Did his off-road capabilities improve? No. He will probably get stuck in the same places for the same reasons.

Perusing this website, unlike years back where there were many stockish vehicles being used for offroad travel, there are now a very large number of appearance only modifications being made to show vehicles. Michelin LTX don’t have the “look.” They will not be accepted here.

I keep waiting for Michelin to release a light truck version of the XDN2 tire. As long as they put some aggressive looking sidewalls with faux tread shapes molded in they would have a winner. Do you hear me Michelin? Take the Defender LTX molds and compound, tweak them to resemble the XDN2 especially on the outer tread block, get your marketing department to tell you what to make them look like on the sidewall, and sell me a set. Make that four sets. 255/85R16 and 255/80R17 please.

 

[sargeek]

Wouldn't the Micheline LTX A-T2 be the next step between the LTX and the BFGKO? Seems to have a bit more agressive look, but similar tire compound to the LTX? They would probably do better in the dirt, but have a bit less perforance in the ice/snow due to the lack of siping. I have run both the BFTAT and the LTX, and liked them both. No experience with the AT2.

 

[aardvarcus]

You can't really judge traction by looks. I attribute the vast amounts of zig zag siping to why the MS2/ Defender are so surprisingly good offroad, because they can grip wet rocks/sticks/hard soil using the same physics of how they grip asphalt. (Mud doesn't react in the same way obviously.) I have not had personal experience with the AT2, but people I know (in real life not internet) have been dissatisfied with them, both onroad and "light duty" offroad. I steer clear due to the lack of excessive siping. YMMV. I await Michelin redesigning the AT2, I surmise (hope) they will add additional siping to the inner tread blocks.

 

[Owyhee H]

The AT2 is quite poor in the snow due to the lack of siping. The AT2 is a decent tire as long as you are out of the snow. It wears well and has reasonable on and off road manners.

I agree that the MS2/Defender is a highly under rated tire. All my experience with them has been great other than MUD....

Today I am putting Michelin's new Crossclimate LT's on my Tundra and will report back. For me, they could be the perfect tire. Hopefully good in the snow. Hopefully still quite. Some sidewall protection. Long life and no huge hit to MPG.

I have had great experiences with Michelin and will continue to use them unless I need an aggressive (MT) tire.

 

[Buliwyf]

My LTX AT's are pretty bad in snow. Completely useless in mud. Need siped bad for real winter use. The only reason I haven't ripped them off yet, is that I just don't want to waste them. At least get 30k out of them first.

They only exist to please egg shell newbs that freak out about any tire noise or vibration. Those people might be better off going back to a Honda Ridgeline.

 

[Pskhaat]

Perusing this website, unlike years back where there were many stockish vehicles being used for offroad travel, there are now a very large number of appearance only modifications being made to show vehicles. Michelin LTX don’t have the “look.” They will not be accepted here

It has been a few years since I've been around, but I really hope that ain't the case nowadays. At the same time the reason I posted the tire info ?

I still feel lesser an overlander, but they just keep working.

 

[WyoCherokee]

They chucked off on the sidewall? I've run these on igneous rock and have not seen this.

Michelin doesn't really care at all about our overlanding or off-road ways. They make great heavy truck and car tires. I believe that their focus in those areas has unbeknownst-to-them created a fantastic sub-MT tire they never intended. Sorry about your experiences. I feel I've run the gamut on these stupid things.

Yep. Cuts and Chunking. If these things cant survive a concrete curb, they surely wont survive in the mountains. Having put another 15k miles on them since my last post, i can say that the siping on the outer lugs is completely gone, leaving only the siping on the inner tread blocks. anytime it rains now, i have to be carefull not to spin them and set off the stupid dodge TPMS/trac control light. counting the days till the snow flies so i can get decent At's Looking hard at the Mazama open range or the Dean back country.

 

[Regcabguy]

Michelin would own the road if they came out with an additional ply protection.
Yesterday I saw a full size Dodge diesel with the aforementioned Michelins. The sidewalls don't look like they'd afford much protection.
I use Michelin's on my wife's Honda Pilot but Michelin needs to beef up their tires in order to earn my biz.

 

[Pskhaat]

Michelin would own the road if they came out with an additional ply protection.
...The sidewalls don't look like they'd afford much protection.
... needs to beef up their tires in order to earn my biz.

But have you tried these tires? I thought the same thing; I hope you could read that sentiment from my post? For everything that most of us do here for "overlanding" these things work brilliantly. Minus a select couple of folks (and I once too was a hater) everyone says the very same thing ("they don't look...") yet actually never have run these off-road/highway and in extended punishing conditions. I simply am telling you I have. Embarrassed I am about my findings, because they look mundane and poseresque. These are my own personal results and don't constitute statistical sufficiency for most.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I dunno Scott, seems like sort of the opposite to poseur to transcend and succeed running otherwise plain looking tires in real conditions verse running KM3s in mall terrain duty.

 

[Pskhaat]

.. verse running KM3s in mall terrain duty.

Ha! Funny story I picked up a 1999 uzj as a "commuter" car for me sometime back which has morphed (by plan) into being the car my son uses. He drives pizza delivery. It came with and still has really nice new BFG ATs on it, I'm not sure that one has actually seen dirt under it. #irony

 

[rkj__]

On my most recent tire purchase, the Michelin Defender LTX M/S was the runner up. I knew they would be the best tire for 99% of my driving, but I just could not bare to put such a boring looking tire on my metalic orange, Skyjacker lifted pickup truck.

I ended up going for the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015. I'll be honest, I did not regret my decision for a second. Looking at them made me happier than if I had gone with the Michelins. They were still a pretty tight tread, with lots of siping, but the spacing opened up just a bit on the outside of the tread, and they had just a touch of a pattern on the sidewall.

 

[mires]

I like how vanity is almost always the reason people opt away from this tire.

Guilty. I am in need of new tires and I know that the Michelins will do everything I want them to and I have almost pulled the trigger more than once. I just can't get over how boring they look. They literally look like something a Camry would come with from the factory. I don't need anything super aggressive looking at all. I am on my 2nd set of Cooper A/T3 which are pretty mild looking but I want to change it up. What really draws me to the Michelins are how quite everyone says they are. 99% of my driving is on the interstate and tire drone really starts to wear on me.

 

[Pskhaat]

I can't even see my tires from the drivers' seat

I can't see my face either, but that does not prevent me from being self-conscious