Michelin LTX M/S or Falken Wildpeak AT3W

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Lucy Girl

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Live in NW ND. Hard pack snow and icy roads for 6 months a year...started last Thursday.

Need something that will feel planted and secure on 2016 ram laramie with 6-4 bed. Have it narrowed down to these 2...would really appreciate some real world feedback on them.

I have 30k on my factory OEM and have doubts about trying another winter with them.

Thanks in advance!
Love Michelin but not in ND.
 
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My daughter bought the Michelin Defenders LTX M/S tires for her Grand Cherokee Eco-Diesel last fall. We live due east of lake Ontario and 250 inches of snow is the normal. She absolutely loves those tires. She told me half the time she didn't need 4wd last winter. I just purchased a set for our AWD Durango. I bought them from Discount Tire Direct $202.00 each free shipping. Plus when I bought them they had a $75 rebate. These tires came highly recommended by my brother who has these on his Chevy Silverado. He has over 55k miles on these tires and they are good for at least another 25k.
 

chrisbh17

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FWIW, every set of Michelins I have had turned into rocks after about 25K miles.

Yes, they wore like iron, but the ride quality suffered, snow quality was horrendous (I literally slid through an intersection with very little pedal input). Rain quality was just OK, and hey yeah I could have gotten 30K more miles out of them if I felt like chancing my life.

Maybe their truck tires are different, but I still take the "Michelin tires will wear forever" claims with a grain of salt.
 

Donald Parker

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I got 96,000 miles out of my last set of Michelin LTX M/S tires on my 4Runner, they will last a long time, enhance fuel economy, but I live in Florida and don't deal with the snow. Good luck!
 

rotts4u

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FWIW, every set of Michelins I have had turned into rocks after about 25K miles.

Yes, they wore like iron, but the ride quality suffered, snow quality was horrendous (I literally slid through an intersection with very little pedal input). Rain quality was just OK, and hey yeah I could have gotten 30K more miles out of them if I felt like chancing my life.

Maybe their truck tires are different, but I still take the "Michelin tires will wear forever" claims with a grain of salt.


When I see these comments it makes me wonder how can experiences be so different? I’ve had three sets of LTx on different vehicles and they are just the opposite of this. I get 70-85k out of them and they have not ever got hard or slick etc. I have them on my grand Cherokee I drove today and with 44k on them they measure 8/32” or better and ride and drive great on wet and dry roads. I don’t get much snow here in Tennessee so I can’t comment on that aspect.
 

chrisbh17

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When I see these comments it makes me wonder how can experiences be so different? I’ve had three sets of LTx on different vehicles and they are just the opposite of this. I get 70-85k out of them and they have not ever got hard or slick etc. I have them on my grand Cherokee I drove today and with 44k on them they measure 8/32” or better and ride and drive great on wet and dry roads. I don’t get much snow here in Tennessee so I can’t comment on that aspect.

Im with you there....and its not just Michelin in my experience. Ive had great experiences where others have had meh or even bad (Hankook truck tires)

Ive had bad experiences where people have had great (Michelin on our Honda and Acura and crept up on our Lexus too)

I really believe there is such variation in batches for rubber, etc that an experience 6 months from now will not echo a review today. And "you get what you pay for" also does not apply, because Michelins are twice the cost of the Hankooks that I had a great experience with.

Again, maybe Michelin truck tires are better than the car tires but I wont know until (or if) I try them.
 

Regcabguy

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The Michelin’s will last forever, are quieter, and more expensive. Also have a very tame stock look. My Dad has them on his.

I’ve had the Falkens on a truck before. Easily will go 45-50k. Especially if you stay P metric. Has a much more aggressive look and is much cheaper.

Can’t go wrong with either really. Just depends on your pockets and desire for looks.


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Why would passenger tires last longer than LT rated ones?
 

bankshot

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My be old news, but I was advised that Michelin is discontinuing the Defender tire and replacing with a new tread pattern. Most sellers are now selling the Defender for 239.00 per tire, if you can find them. Just a heads up.
 

kurek

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When I see these comments it makes me wonder how can experiences be so different?

This reminds me of something a friend said years ago when the Lord of the Rings movie came out and not everyone liked it. He said that's a load off his shoulders, he's never going to do anything in his life that big and if people are going to dislike that someone's going to dislike anything. No sweat!

In the end buying tires are like buying anything. Best taco in town is anyone's opinion, best mountain bike is anyone's opinion. One thing I've learned about tires is to put some trust in the statements the manufacturer says about the tire, that's worth more than what your eyes tell you by looking at the tread. They're interested in selling you the product of course but they have no incentive to misrepresent what the engineering goals were.
 

kurek

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My be old news, but I was advised that Michelin is discontinuing the Defender tire and replacing with a new tread pattern. .

I bet the new one's going to be an improvement, opinions aside it's empirical that the old one's been a good selling product for a very long time. If they're messing with a successful formula they're surely not dumb enough to do so without a good reason!

On their website Michelin has the Defender LTX M+S and the X LTX M+S and it sure is difficult to tell them apart, but in LT265/70R17 (stock 4th gen Tradesman size) the Defender version has a 70k treadwear guarantee and the "X" has 55k. The photos or renderings look a little different too but they're rendered on different wheels so that might not mean anything and surely doesn't tell the viewer anything. It looks like the "X" ones might be something manufactured for a specific retailer for price control reasons.
 
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boblonben

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Live in NW ND. Hard pack snow and icy roads for 6 months a year...started last Thursday.

Need something that will feel planted and secure on 2016 ram laramie with 6-4 bed. Have it narrowed down to these 2...would really appreciate some real world feedback on them.

I have 30k on my factory OEM and have doubts about trying another winter with them.

Thanks in advance!
You don't find a lot of people who dislike the LTX's.

I had them on an Escape, they were superb. Silent and the passage of time or miles seemed to have no effect on them, never short on grip. I didn't take the Escape through mud but every other kind of surface that one can drive on they left me with no complaints.
okay, I dislike the LTX. Had them on two different vehicles, could NOT pay me enough to put them on anything!!!!!!!
 

boblonben

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Live in NW ND. Hard pack snow and icy roads for 6 months a year...started last Thursday.

Need something that will feel planted and secure on 2016 ram laramie with 6-4 bed. Have it narrowed down to these 2...would really appreciate some real world feedback on them.

I have 30k on my factory OEM and have doubts about trying another winter with them.

Thanks in advance!
General Grabbers or BFG Rugged Terrain, I prefer the BFGs.
 

m25443

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I was blown away with how good the Michelin LTX LT tires were on my previous truck. Traction in wet was sooooo much better than the Firestones that were on it when I bought the truck. The ride quality was the best of any tires I've ever had. They were surprisingly good on hard pack snow on the roads. Roll resistance was improved (my Suburban would coast noticeably farther with the Michelins). Tread life was great. Just a great tire for any street driven truck.
 

gofishn

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When I see these comments it makes me wonder how can experiences be so different? I’ve had three sets of LTx on different vehicles and they are just the opposite of this. I get 70-85k out of them and they have not ever got hard or slick etc. I have them on my grand Cherokee I drove today and with 44k on them they measure 8/32” or better and ride and drive great on wet and dry roads. I don’t get much snow here in Tennessee so I can’t comment on that aspect.


I do not doubt any of the Nay Sayers.
Not a single one.
I do wonder just how old their MIchelin's were, when purchased.
I wonder how well those Michelin's had been stored and exactly what their condition was, when those tires were put on their vehicles.

Bottom Line, there are far too many reviews out. Just the Sheer numbers of positive reviews, no better tire than Michelin LTX Defender, any size, in my opinion.
You guys can form your own Opinions, thru research or Ownership.
 

chrisbh17

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I do not doubt any of the Nay Sayers.
Not a single one.
I do wonder just how old their MIchelin's were, when purchased.
I wonder how well those Michelin's had been stored and exactly what their condition was, when those tires were put on their vehicles.

Bottom Line, there are far too many reviews out. Just the Sheer numbers of positive reviews, no better tire than Michelin LTX Defender, any size, in my opinion.
You guys can form your own Opinions, thru research or Ownership.
The issue I see is that the tire can be changed at any moment in time and reviews don't ever really reflect what version they were using. Someone just mentioned they heard Michelin is changing and/or discontinuing the defender. So now when I go to buy them in a year or so, do I get the same thing everyone likes *right now* or do I end up with a different version that's not nearly as good?

There won't be enough reviews on the new version by then to outweigh the great reviews in the current version, so I'll be "that guy" saying that the tire sucks while everyone else will be saying I'm "that guy"...

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 

Lucy Girl

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FWIW, every set of Michelins I have had turned into rocks after about 25K miles.

Yes, they wore like iron, but the ride quality suffered, snow quality was horrendous (I literally slid through an intersection with very little pedal input). Rain quality was just OK, and hey yeah I could have gotten 30K more miles out of them if I felt like chancing my life.

Maybe their truck tires are different, but I still take the "Michelin tires will wear forever" claims with a grain of salt.
I’m with you on the grain of salt.
 

JoeCo

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Bottom Line, there are far too many reviews out. Just the Sheer numbers of positive reviews, no better tire than Michelin LTX Defender, any size, in my opinion.
You guys can form your own Opinions, thru research or Ownership.

True, there are endless reviews out there with the vast majority seemingly not very helpful (mostly people who just purchased the tire and are reviewing with only a few miles on them). I went with my falken wildpeaks last time (need a/t's) because I was having a hard time finding any bad reviews on them, and it didn't hurt that I got them for $75 cheaper per tire vs the usual bfg a/ts I used to go with. So far, only have about 7-8,000 miles on them but they generally remind me very much of the bfg's, and if they last anywhere near as long I would have to rate them very positively, especially given the price.

The issue I see is that the tire can be changed at any moment in time and reviews don't ever really reflect what version they were using. Someone just mentioned they heard Michelin is changing and/or discontinuing the defender. So now when I go to buy them in a year or so, do I get the same thing everyone likes *right now* or do I end up with a different version that's not nearly as good?

There won't be enough reviews on the new version by then to outweigh the great reviews in the current version, so I'll be "that guy" saying that the tire sucks while everyone else will be saying I'm "that guy"...

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

I agree there's usually a lack of information in terms of size and vehicle it goes onto, and the vehicle/drivers type of driving or climate they drive in. As I mentioned above there are so many reviews out there that state something like "Just got these tires yesterday, so far I'm loving them!! Will update in a year or two..." and of course never any followup. I would hope tires would still be treating you well a day or two, or week or two later. I don't really find those reviews to be very helpful, unless a tire is truly that awful where it does get bad reviews that quickly.

So even when those reviews on the new version for Michelin do start rolling in, how much good are they really? I feel like you don't know the real story until people start putting some real miles on them.
 

chrisbh17

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Exactly! I see some Tire Rack reviews with thousands of miles on them and thats OK, but then to cross reference them to where I drive, it doesnt specify if 90% of those miles were highway, etc. Impossible for apples to apples and at $200+ each, I dont do "blind faith".

Granted, in 20" diameter MOST tires are that expensive, but its still a crapshoot IMHO.
 

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