Continental terrain contact a/t 275/60/20 vs Michelin defender ltx

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Fieldoc

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Very interesting comparison. Took off the Sra's with 5000 miles and put on Continentals. Did not want a total at tire as do not need but wanted in between all season all terrain leaning towards on road use much more than off road. I generally put on Michelin but wanted to try the continental. At first did not like them as road harsher than the goodyears which should be expected as these are 43 lb tires, Michelins are 42 lbs and goodyears are 40 lbs. Finally decided not worth it so took off and put on Michelins. To my surprise the Michelins feel the same or even a little stiffer than the continentals. Putting the continentals back on. MPG between all 3, the sra's the best with 17.5-18 avg, 21 highway easy. Michelins basically identical. The conti's at the most .5 mpg drop if that. The conti's are virtually silent, all you hear is the white road noise so to speak, no lug hum. The conti's are very planted on road, basically same feel as Michelins. Wanted a little more at look than the Michelin also but not over the top. 60 years old and want smooth and quiet nowadays. As far as off road am a retired farmer so spent a lot of time indirt, on gravel, mud, etc. Not so much anymore but still live rural and drive a lot of gravel and still occasional dirt. Michelins for that were fine but conti's are better. As far as hard core off road do not think these are for you. I call these tires tweener's, between all season and total all terrain. If your situation is similar these might work for you. Would not have written any of this but this comparison surprised me. The conti's are also ranked no 1 by tire rack. Will see on treadwear as time goes by. 2018 Southfork Longhorn Crewcab 4x4 hemi with Coils.
 

WhiteHotRam

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Thanks for your time in comparison. I've been searching for a new set of shoes to go with my lift, but everthing larger than 275/60's go full 10 ply with a 10 to 20# weight increase. Like you... I'm only looking for quiet ride. So I may have to bite the bullitt.
 

Pull Ya

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I'd be interested in how they do longer term. I've been a hard core Michelin guy forever so after some miles I'd be interested in your impression. I guarantee that anything you buy would be better than those Goodyears.
Jay
 

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In the past I've turned to Conti's for my Motorcycles, Vette's, X5, Z4 and Z4M BMW's (I mean play toys) - have always found them to wear well, but at the expense of traction, creating more understeer than I prefer. But they're quiet, feel and handle nicely overall.
 

atom13

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Very interesting comparison. Took off the Sra's with 5000 miles and put on Continentals. Did not want a total at tire as do not need but wanted in between all season all terrain leaning towards on road use much more than off road. I generally put on Michelin but wanted to try the continental. At first did not like them as road harsher than the goodyears which should be expected as these are 43 lb tires, Michelins are 42 lbs and goodyears are 40 lbs. Finally decided not worth it so took off and put on Michelins. To my surprise the Michelins feel the same or even a little stiffer than the continentals. Putting the continentals back on. MPG between all 3, the sra's the best with 17.5-18 avg, 21 highway easy. Michelins basically identical. The conti's at the most .5 mpg drop if that. The conti's are virtually silent, all you hear is the white road noise so to speak, no lug hum. The conti's are very planted on road, basically same feel as Michelins. Wanted a little more at look than the Michelin also but not over the top. 60 years old and want smooth and quiet nowadays. As far as off road am a retired farmer so spent a lot of time indirt, on gravel, mud, etc. Not so much anymore but still live rural and drive a lot of gravel and still occasional dirt. Michelins for that were fine but conti's are better. As far as hard core off road do not think these are for you. I call these tires tweener's, between all season and total all terrain. If your situation is similar these might work for you. Would not have written any of this but this comparison surprised me. The conti's are also ranked no 1 by tire rack. Will see on treadwear as time goes by. 2018 Southfork Longhorn Crewcab 4x4 hemi with Coils.

I just put defenders on and they are great. Did you look into the defender AT? I’ll probably be a Michelin fan for a while from how satisfied I’ve been with this new set. I never go off-road.
 

pacofortacos

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Conti's are quiet and work great on my son's Jeep.

I went with General HTS 60, they are also quiet, wear well, handle well and are rated a XL tire so they are very good for towing without going up to the weight of a E load but can carry within a couple of hundred pounds of an E load.
 

SyN

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Any of you have experience with the Michelin AT?

1E73E898-9DA5-44D1-97E2-F970C2A08CAC.jpeg

When I comes time to replace the Transforce tires: I am leaning towards the Cooper AT or possibly these ——> 285/60R20.

Don’t need a really aggressive AT.
Just a mild AT that can handle a towing load & battle Snow/Ice with little effort when hooked up to a Ram HD2500.
This HD2500 never leaves the tarmac.
 
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Pull Ya

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I had a set of the AT2's. A little noise but not bad, excellent wet road traction and got almost 70k out of them. Rotated them every 5000 religiously. I leveled the truck at the same time I put them on and I lost about 1 1/2 mpg but not sure it was the tires, the level or a combination of both.
Jay
 

huntergreen

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Any of you have experience with the Michelin AT?

View attachment 145551

When I comes time to replace the Transforce tires: I am leaning towards the Cooper AT or possibly these ——> 285/60R20.

Don’t need a aggressive AT.
Just a mild AT that can handle a towing load & battle Snow/Ice with little effort when hooked up to a Ram HD2500.

Looking at those myself.
 

Bowzer

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Very interesting comparison. Took off the Sra's with 5000 miles and put on Continentals. Did not want a total at tire as do not need but wanted in between all season all terrain leaning towards on road use much more than off road. I generally put on Michelin but wanted to try the continental. At first did not like them as road harsher than the goodyears which should be expected as these are 43 lb tires, Michelins are 42 lbs and goodyears are 40 lbs. Finally decided not worth it so took off and put on Michelins. To my surprise the Michelins feel the same or even a little stiffer than the continentals. Putting the continentals back on. MPG between all 3, the sra's the best with 17.5-18 avg, 21 highway easy. Michelins basically identical. The conti's at the most .5 mpg drop if that. The conti's are virtually silent, all you hear is the white road noise so to speak, no lug hum. The conti's are very planted on road, basically same feel as Michelins. Wanted a little more at look than the Michelin also but not over the top. 60 years old and want smooth and quiet nowadays. As far as off road am a retired farmer so spent a lot of time indirt, on gravel, mud, etc. Not so much anymore but still live rural and drive a lot of gravel and still occasional dirt. Michelins for that were fine but conti's are better. As far as hard core off road do not think these are for you. I call these tires tweener's, between all season and total all terrain. If your situation is similar these might work for you. Would not have written any of this but this comparison surprised me. The conti's are also ranked no 1 by tire rack. Will see on treadwear as time goes by. 2018 Southfork Longhorn Crewcab 4x4 hemi with Coils.

Any chance for an update some 2 years later?

I'm about to pull the trigger on Continental A/Ts at 285/60-20 size on my 1500 4x4. Heavier yes, but I'd rather have the extra E rating for the occasional needs to be covered.
I'm traditionally hard core Michelin for decades now but the Continentals continue to catch my eye with the good ratings and provides a better AT option versus Michelin currently. Would love to hear any longer term experience...
 

pacofortacos

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My son used the Conti Surecontact (2 sets) (now only available at NTB and a couple of other places) and now has Michelin Defenders on his 03 Jeep Overland.
He still likes the Conti's better than the Defenders - I will admit the Defenders are showing almost no wear over a year later. The SureContacts were quieter and I think he says handled a bit better, but no real complaints with the Defenders.
 

kurek

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I ran the TerrainContact on my Montero about 35k miles and they still had quite a bit of tread left when I sold it, and have had them on my Ram about 11k miles so far.

Well I bought them twice if that tells you anything and if they made them in the size my little jeep uses I'd have gone for 3 times.

They're heavy but stable when managing a trailer and they seem to ignore sharp rocks and sticks entirely, wear slowly and feel consistent as they age. As for performance it really does exactly what it looks like, right between a commercial all season tire and a premium all terrain.

20200716_153621_HDR.jpg
 
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Neil E

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I've had Defenders and Continental's on my vehicles over the past 10 years. I have TrueContacts on my wife's Equinox and CrossContacts on my Ram. For the price, I think I will choose Conti's for now on. They have lasted long, I have 50k miles currently on my CrossContacts, ride well, and get good gas mileage. I'm looking at the Terrain Contacts when I need to replace these.

Though, the new Michelin Aegilis (sp) look interesting.
 
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