Will I regret Michelin at2's in BC?

[yfarm]

I have 265 70 16 ltx tires on my Tacoma. Good snow and wet pavement performance. No visible wear after 35,000 miles. Only complaint is a tire howl between 40 and 60 mph. Goes away at 65. Limited off-road use, no deep mud, have done fine.

 

[cdthiker]

Thanks for the replies so far. The Michelin AT2's that I'm seeing around are 10ply LT tires so not exactly thin or car duty tires. As much as I'd like to run KO2's, ST Maxx or Duratrac's, they are significantly more expensive (2.5-3x the cost of the michelins in my case) and probably get old on the highway after a couple hours. The Cooper AT3's which I'd like to buy are $400-500 more than the pricing I'm seeing on the Michelins. I honestly think that most guys don't run the Michelins because they are boring and don't 'look' the part, not because they don't hold up but I was hoping there'd be a few out there who had tried them out. I guess I might have to be that guy.... I'm not too fussed about snow performance as I run dedicated snow's in the winter but I think your assessment of AT3's improved snow performance will be correct there cdthiker.

Being a student sure makes stuff like this difficult, regular paychecks and this decision would be easy!! AT3 would probably be about perfect for what I want to do over the next 2-3 years.

I hear you on the student thing. The reason I am driving so much back and forth in the mountains is because I am now back in school full time working on my second degree.
I hemmed and hawed about new tires for a few months. The Danapros were pretty roasted on my Tacoma but I know I could have made it till winter and could have swapped on a set of winter studded tires I run. Ultimately the push for me was the fact that being a student, a new set of tires was cheaper then wrecking my truck. I did not want to get caught in the shoulder season of fall here driving 120 miles/ 100 miles up a narrow canyon next to a river with no guard rails and about 3,000 feet of elevation gain tossed in for fun. I have left the valley before and headed for home in the mountains when it was raining and ended up driving through six inches of snow....

With all of that being said, buy what you can afford, but keep in mind that often times a few hundred dollars on the front end when it comes to tires makes a hugh difference and ends up being cheaper in the long run because the tire lasts longer.

Hankook recently started an off shoot brand that is supposed to be pretty good. A friend of mine runs the Laufreen X fit AT on his tundra and has good reports about it. Seems to do what you want it to. I looked at them for my tacoma a a few months back when I was pricing things out and could have gotten into a set for about 700 USD. Looking a them in person I would describe them somewhere between the aggressiveness of the LTX/AT2/ms you are looking and and something like the Hankook Danapro ATM/ AT3 from cooper. Might be a good option. http://www.laufenn.com/us/front/us_front/xfit_at.do

the AT3s ended up being about 900 with an alignment. Also of note, a lot of tire shops/ websites will run fall tire sales so if you can wait a bit longer you might be in luck. The set of snow tires I got last year for my wifes car in the fall were shipped to my house for free from amazon about 200 bucks cheaper then the two stores in town.

 

[happytraveler]

I was not impressed with the set of Michelin AT2's I had on my Tacoma.

They wore like iron due to the hard compound. But that compound made the winter performance suffer, big time. They did ok in the deep stuff (when new), but could not get decent bite on hardpack or ice. As they aged & lost tread it only got worse. I took them off before they were fully worn due to the poor snow/wet performance, winter was coming!

 

[Trikebubble]

My Tundra came with the Michelin AT2's. They are being replaced in 2 weeks, but I did manage to go do some minor off-roading with them (still in 4lo up rocky loose dry stuff) and aired down they did a lot better than their mild appearance shows. Great on road manners, that's for sure. They aren't aggressive enough for me, so they are being replaced with a set of Nitto Ridge Grapplers....but it depends on what floats your boat I guess.

 

[Hobiecat]

I have a set of the AT2s on my Tacoma. They seem to do ok on two track roadd and some light mud, but I've honestly not tried them in any winter conditions.

 

[bgordon45]

I put 85,000 miles on a set of Michelin A/T2 tires on a 93 Toyota pickup 4WD. They probably spent half their life around Austin, TX and half near Aspen, CO with some long trips around the west in between.

They are great tires that wear well, were super quiet, and handled pretty well off road. I found them a little lacking for winter driving and slid twice in them - both times in 2WD. Once towing a camper - both times were on an elevated highway in full winter conditions.

I have a set of BFG KO2s now. I think it's a better tire for winter driving and off-road. However it's given me a lot of problems to balance, uneven wear, and has become very noisy. This is after about 20k miles.

I think the LTX A/T2 would be great but I would probably want them siped or have something else for winter time in BC