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Time for tires

Which to choose?


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I just had a set of the Defender LTX M/S put on yesterday at The Tire Rack in South Bend, IN. $842 out-the-door. I'm ready for winter. With only 34,000 miles on the 2016 OEM tires, I knew they would not get me through a Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois winter.

Your tires didn't last very long.:(

Paul

No kidding. :)

I have the factory Hankook tires on my '14 Sport with just over 50k miles and they are still going strong(use that term loosely).
I have no issue with them in the dry and rain. They're starting to get a little louder, but I've been lazy and haven't rotated them for the last 20k miles.
As for the snow, they are definitely underwhelming. I was spoiled with my MazdaSpeed6(AWD) with winter tires before the Ex. The Ex with the factory tires does struggle with traction more than I would think. Even my wife's CX9 with Toyo Versado tires, that are probably close to 60K on them, handles the snow much better than mine.

I keep hoping these Hankooks would just wear out, but I can't justify spending a bunch of money on new tires, especially if they aren't needed(besides those few wintery days a year). On the same topic of Hankooks, I have some on my Mustang and they have sidewalls made of jelly(almost to the point of dangerous).
 



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Your tires didn't last very long.:(

Paul

Hey Paul, I did not want to push the tires going into the winter driving season. I travel a lot in bad weather in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota. Not worth it. Had it been summer, I would have pushed the tires another 10,000 miles.

The new Michelin Defenders are great in the snow. Got over 6 inches this weekend in the Chicago area.
 






you know it's funny I did the same this weekend. I had the OEM hankooks or whatevers. they didn't wear very well I thought - course it's harder on the front and I let it go too long on rotates. I know. But I also never liked the tires - mostly on the noise aspect - always seemed loud ot me.

Anywho - Went with Michelin Primer LTX's on it ironically from the ford dealer - long story regarding a battery - but they were within 20 dollars of another store - had them on hand - and I got a 70 dollar rebate. which granted I probably could have gotten elsewhere but I was there and it was well worth my time.

Quieter than the stockers but a bit - easier on bump noises too - seems to grip every bit as well and I suspect more. we will see I guess.
 






I just had a set of the Defender LTX M/S put on yesterday at The Tire Rack in South Bend, IN. $842 out-the-door. I'm ready for winter. With only 34,000 miles on the 2016 OEM tires, I knew they would not get me through a Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois winter.


I was thinking about the Defender LTX M/S (I think some may be confusing the PREMIER LTX, which is the MXV4 replacement, I could be wrong obviously) What is your or any other's experience with road noise which seems to be the #1 complaint of the defender LTX M/S tire?
 






No kidding. :)

I have the factory Hankook tires on my '14 Sport with just over 50k miles and they are still going strong(use that term loosely).
I have no issue with them in the dry and rain. They're starting to get a little louder, but I've been lazy and haven't rotated them for the last 20k miles.
As for the snow, they are definitely underwhelming. I was spoiled with my MazdaSpeed6(AWD) with winter tires before the Ex. The Ex with the factory tires does struggle with traction more than I would think. Even my wife's CX9 with Toyo Versado tires, that are probably close to 60K on them, handles the snow much better than mine.

I keep hoping these Hankooks would just wear out, but I can't justify spending a bunch of money on new tires, especially if they aren't needed(besides those few wintery days a year). On the same topic of Hankooks, I have some on my Mustang and they have sidewalls made of jelly(almost to the point of dangerous).

Just to quote myself, I rode with my wife yesterday in her CX9 with the toyo tires and it definitely had better traction. There were many times we were slowing down and I was "applying the passenger brake" where i would have been going much slower in the Ex thinking we were weren't going to slow down fast enough. Never once did we fail to slow down in time. To top it off, I just looked at her tires today, and the front tires are almost to the wear bars. In the Ex with the Hankook tires, we would have been still rolling. I know part of it is the fact that the Ex weighs probably 500+lbs more, but the Hankooks are definitely lacking snow traction.
 






I was thinking about the Defender LTX M/S (I think some may be confusing the PREMIER LTX, which is the MXV4 replacement, I could be wrong obviously) What is your or any other's experience with road noise which seems to be the #1 complaint of the defender LTX M/S tire?

Keep in mind the Premier LTX also is a M+S rated tire too. Something I found surprising since I expected a touring car tire rating for a SUV. I can see why people might swap the 2 inadvertently. ALso surprised Goodyear doesn't make a tire for the explorer 20's. or they don't seem to yet.
 






The Wrangler SR-A in the 265/50R20 would work. Diameter difference is 1.3%.
 






The Wrangler SR-A in the 265/50R20 would work. Diameter difference is 1.3%.
it might but it's not the exact size - which is what surprises me for as popular the device is. And it has to be common with something else.
 






I was thinking about the Defender LTX M/S (I think some may be confusing the PREMIER LTX, which is the MXV4 replacement, I could be wrong obviously) What is your or any other's experience with road noise which seems to be the #1 complaint of the defender LTX M/S tire?

I am not noticing any additional road noise with the new Michelin Defender LTX M/S tires.
 






Got Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia P255/50R20 tires installed at FORD yesterday and they seem simular to the Hankook tires for ride and noise, probably quieter. It will take a while to figure out gas mileage.:)

Paul
 






So, the 2017 Platinum came with Hancook Ventus S1 Noble 2 tires. Have to say, love the aggressive look. However, the rating and reviews are terrible in wet and snowy weather (we live in NY but travel to the poconos several times per year and won't make it up the hills to our home without good snow traction. Don't want to go to a dedicated winter tire either). Was looking at Bridgestones, Pirellis and Michelins on Tire Rack. Was thinking of taking off the Hancooks and storing them so that I can put them back on when the lease is up and swapping something better for now. The Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S got amazing reviews, but not available in my size 255/50 R20. I'm considering the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, but I'd also have to modify the size to a 255/45 R20. Don't think that will make a huge difference. It's only a drop of 13mm in sidewall height. What do people think? Has anyone tried this with a Sport or Platinum? It's such a sporty truck want a good combination of dry weather handling and wet/snow traction, along with great tread wear. Yes, I'm asking for it all....
 






So, the 2017 Platinum came with Hancook Ventus S1 Noble 2 tires. Have to say, love the aggressive look. However, the rating and reviews are terrible in wet and snowy weather (we live in NY but travel to the poconos several times per year and won't make it up the hills to our home without good snow traction. Don't want to go to a dedicated winter tire either). Was looking at Bridgestones, Pirellis and Michelins on Tire Rack. Was thinking of taking off the Hancooks and storing them so that I can put them back on when the lease is up and swapping something better for now. The Bridgestone Dueler HP Sport A/S got amazing reviews, but not available in my size 255/50 R20. I'm considering the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, but I'd also have to modify the size to a 255/45 R20. Don't think that will make a huge difference. It's only a drop of 13mm in sidewall height. What do people think? Has anyone tried this with a Sport or Platinum? It's such a sporty truck want a good combination of dry weather handling and wet/snow traction, along with great tread wear. Yes, I'm asking for it all....
The generally accepted maximum tire diameter variance is 3%. If you're going from a 255/50R20 to a 255/45R20 your variance would be -3.3%.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=255-50r20-255-45r20
If you go with that size there are modules that should be modified to account for the OEM difference. http://www.explorerforum.com/xenfor...ire-sizes-in-ids-warning.437052/#post-3483010

Peter
 






I was thinking about the Defender LTX M/S (I think some may be confusing the PREMIER LTX, which is the MXV4 replacement, I could be wrong obviously) What is your or any other's experience with road noise which seems to be the #1 complaint of the defender LTX M/S tire?
Thanks Bill
 






the Michelin LTX is a decent tire for wet weather and snow, about average in dry weather, the outer sidewall does have a slightly aggressive pattern as opposed to a sportier tire. For some reason Michelin tires tend to crack and dry rot before they wear out on some of their models:dunno:
 






I just put Defender LTX's on and noticed no different fuel economy, good to great traction on slush, ice and snow, but significantly greater tread noise than the (admittedly worn) Latitude HP's that came off. I may try to get them rebalanced if it annoys me any more but I think it's just the tread pattern.

Regarding the winter performance, we live outside Syracuse, NY on a steep hill that we back out of our driveway onto and drive uphill from a standstill. I've noticed no difference in wheel slip on icy mornings compared to the Winterforce snow tires that we previously ran, even on mornings when people with momentum going uphill slide to a stop. Impressive in my book.

Edit to add: the factory Latitudes were at about 3/32" after 35k miles including 2 seasons towing our 3500 lbs tent trailer (she's a big one).
 






I just wanted to post a pic of my factory Hankook tires after about 52k miles. Man, these things are wearing slow. Not sure how well it can be seen in the picture, but the wear bars are are about 1/2 the tread depth. This is the worst, just moved from the front to the rear. Rears had even more tread. If they are still decent, I might run them through next winter and following summer ( 2018). We'll see.

I should state that the first 40k miles were probably 90% highway. Probably more like 50/50 now, but also drive about 5k fewer miles per year(down to 15k/year) now that we move to a new house.
o6cwoj.jpg
 






the Michelin LTX is a decent tire for wet weather and snow, about average in dry weather, the outer sidewall does have a slightly aggressive pattern as opposed to a sportier tire. For some reason Michelin tires tend to crack and dry rot before they wear out on some of their models:dunno:


I'll agree there - my original 2011 Michelin Latitude Tour HP (245/60/R18) tires (w/40K miles on them) have been dry rotted and cracking on the edges for at least 3 years now - Every time I take my vehicle in for an oil change/tire rotation or annual inspection, they try and scare me or my wife into buying new tires due to the visible cracking.

IMG_1375.jpg

IMG_1367.jpg

IMG_1372.jpg
 






if you do a lot of of high speed driving on hot days it would be a problem in the near future if they get worse, but as far as I know only if the cracks line up trying to form a circle theres a big problem waiting to happen. I have a set on 2 vehicles cracking just like yours. I noticed the outside showed more damage so had the tires dismounted and had the cracks facing inside to get more life out of them because they still had good treado_O. It is related to UV light by the looks of it, would be a bad choice for sunny areas that's why I would only run them where theres more rain or snow.
 









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