Michelin to replace OEM Firestone tires

Need to order tires tomorrow. 18 k miles and these Firestone Transforce AT's aren't gonna get me through winter.

Looks like Michelin has two models, the LTX AT2 and the Defender LTX.

Which one to go with?

I thought they had a LTX MS/2 or something like that? Or is that a discontinued model?

 

Looks like the first two you mentioned is all that's available. I'd go with the AT's if I wanted Michelin's.

 

It is Defender LTX M&S. If you do mostly highway driving it will do a good job and last a long time. That is what I will put on when my FS TF AT's are gone. Snoking

 

Michelin discontinued the M/S 2. I had a set and only got about 1/2 life before they started to come apart. The tread was lifting from the carcass. There were no Defenders available so I went with the new Yokohama. So far they are good.

 

If it were my truck I would be putting B.F. Goodrich Tires All-Terrain T/A KO2 on it.

 

I'm partial to coopers and will be replacing my stockers with them when the time comes. Still haven't decided on either at3's or st maxx' tho...

 

That's unfortunate to hear. I've had flawless performance running Michelins exclusively on my tow rigs for 14 years now. I've never even picked up a nail.

 

First set of Michelins LTX M/S got 150K, but rotated every 5k and stayed on top of the air pressure. This rears have 90k on the now. LTX M/S2 was the only one available. Just put 2 new on front and those had 85K, the only reason they got replaced was one got cut beyond repair and didn't want a used one and a new one. I expect top get another 25-30K out of the rears. Most of my driving is highway at 24-25K in weight

 

My 2001 came for LTX A&S tires, they went 50k+. I put LTX M&S on next and they aged out before wearing out! I think Michelin's are worth the few dollars more!

Here is what Michelin says about the name change to Defender:

"Our Best Just Got Better. The Michelin® Defender® LTX® M/S combines the proven tread design of the LTX® M/S2 with Evertread™ compound to provide durable tread life, no matter the season."

 

I had a complete sidewall failure on my last set of MS2's (tire separated near the bead without warning at highway speed). And, I was not at all happy with the response I received from Michelin when I contacted them about it. Interesting enough to note, at the time I had the failure on a 265/17, they had recalls on for the same issue in the 245/17 and other size versions of the MS2. But, they were unwilling to even speak to me seriously with the issue I had with the tires on my truck.

Michelin will not be receiving any more of my money, at least for quite a while.

 

My buddy's truck picked up a vibration that turned out to be a ply separation on an LTX. Michelin told him to pound sand.

 

Just replaced my Firestones with Toyo Open Country AT. Needed a decent winter tire but not a true winter tire. These are advertised as a 65,000 mile tire. Just got back from trip up to our cabin pulling a four place trailer on snow packed roads with a couple steep hills and never spun a tire. I think these will work.

 

Surprised to hear about the Michelin problems. The set the came with my 04.5, gave almost 80k miles before I needed to replace them. I didn't buy another set because the moment I left the pavement, 4x4 was needed to traverse across wet grass. They certainly don't make aggressive tread patterns.

 

Last month I needed to replace my Toyo's which were worn out at 50k and decided to go with the Michelin LTX M/S II's which have a 70k mile limited warranty. I would have preferred to wait until the Defenders were available in a 235-80R17E but both the dealer and a call to the Michelin factory confirmed that they wouldn't be available for another six months. I couldn't safely consider waiting. The new tires are both quiet and have improved handling although I haven't pulled the fifth-wheel with them yet. I am impressed with 'Michelin's Promise Plan' which includes a tire changing assistance provision which I don't really need with my roadside assist insurance but it is a nice offering. I've owned Michelins before on other vehicles and they are a superior tire in my opinion.

- Ed

 

I have the Defender LTX's on mine and am very pleased with them. I took the original Gallstone Transforce A/T's off at 8k miles because I could not stand the vibration any longer, tried a set of Hankook DynaPro ATM's which weren't much better, then a set of Nitto Grappler A/T's. They were tolerable after a put a set of Balance Masters on the truck, but very noisy and didn't last too long (34k miles.) I only have about 6k miles on the Michelins so far, but they are quiet and soooo smooth compared with the others I've tried.

 

I vote for the Michelin's, over the yrs, buying a new set of tire's once or more a yr, they were always the longest lasting tires I owned
Firestone's, my last 5 sets have been 20-26k and done deals, was getting them at half price, so gave them a few try's
but will never buy again based on how fast they went bad

I have a few friends running Hankook DynaPro ATM's, and seem to be getting great life and good handling ,
I think when my new OEM's go, that's what I am going to try, due to there just a less costly tire than the Michelin's

 

Yeah I was bummed out too as I ran Michelins on everything.

 

I have the FS TF AT 285/60/R20's on my truck. They aren't worth a s--t on ice so I bought a set of OEM rims and put true winters on my truck. This is the tread pattern. They are an Artic Claw 275/65/R20. I can walk up my steep drive without using 4x4 now in any condition. I won't have to buy any tires for several years now with swapping them out seasonally.

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You guys certainly aren't making me feel good about my November 2015 tire purchase of Firestone Transforce At's........ Our company uses these on our fleet of 3/4 ton and 1 ton Ford and GM trucks and don't have issues. My trusted tire shop told me that these were the best bang for the dollar - they just don't have troubles with this tire......
So far I have been impressed with the new tires - they are smooth, quiet and took minimal weight for balancing. Maybe I got lucky or I am too easily impressed.... Probably the latter.
The dealership gave me what I thought was a great price which was $177 each including mounting/balance and road hazard. One thing I can say good about the Michelin LTX A/S that were taken off - I sold them on craigslist for $100. I am going to put this $$ toward a brand new spare tire.
Thought seriously about the pricier Michelin tires but they would age out/dry rot before wearing out. With what I am hearing about the Firestones the age out/wear out time frame may be closer together.

 

Lots of Michelin Kool*Aid drinkers around... My personal experiences with Michelin LT truck tires are poor, dating back to some crappppppppy LT245/75R16 Michelin LTX M/S OEM on my 1998 RAM 2500 Regular Cab CTD 4x4. All had some type of vibration since I took delivery of the truck. One tire was square as a brick.....road force balancing fixed 3 of the 4, and a Michelin dealer refused to do anything about the 4th tire, even with a road force printout. I ditched them after about 6k miles as the wet weather traction sucked and 4WD was needed to make the truck go on a level yard with a light dew on it.

My 2000 RAM 2500 Quad Cab CTD 4x4 had LT265/75R16 Michelin LTX A/S's on it......even worse wet weather traction and a vibration in one or more tires. I ditched them with under 1k miles and went with some LT285/75R16 Bridgestone Dueler A/T's. The Bridgestones rode like glass and only required one re-balancing over the useful life of the tires.

My 2007.5 RAM 3500 MegaCab Laramie SRW 4x4 had LT265/70R17 LTX A/S's on it.....ditched them at 400 miles :-laf (not even giving them a chance) and went with some LT285/70R17 Firestone Destination A/T's. I sold the Michelins, bought the Firestones at cost as I was a retail salesman at a large tire store in Lexington, KY, and put $150 extra money in my pocket after it was done ).The Destination A/T's were every bit as good, if not better, than the Dueler A/T's.

The Firestones are a good value for the dollar. For those reporting only 20k miles out of a set, all I can say is you must be "driving it like ya stole it." :-laf Lots of guys on another forum have been getting great service life from both the Firestone HT's and AT's. One guy received well over 80k on his HT's......and he pulls RV's for a living.

Heck......my OEM alleged "crapppppppy" LT235/80R17 General Ameri*Trac TR's went 79.5k miles. The General HTS's on now are at 51k miles and are doing well. No Michelin Kool*Aid for me........