New Tire Day! Off: Defender LTX M/S-2. On: Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015

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Jul 8, 2012
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Location
Dickson, TN.
They’re being mounted at Discount Tire right now!

After 2 sets of the Michelin LTX M/S-2 on the Tacoma, they stopped making it in the size I’m using (P265/75-16), so I went with the replacement - the Defender LTX.

At the time, I can remember speculation on this board that the Defender LTX wouldn’t live up to the proven long life of the LTX M/S-2, and that turned out to be correct - I checked my invoice from April 2018, and I only had these tires for ~ 43,000 miles.

I have to say, other than the mileage not living up to the 70,000-mile warranty, the Defender LTX M/S-2 is a good tire. Good in rain, and at cutting through standing water, good steering, dry traction, and I have never had to have a set the LTX M/S-2 or the Defender LTX re-balanced after getting worn. So they wear evenly on my truck…albeit quickly.

I asked Discount Tire to set the old tires aside for me to measure treadwear and get some photos when I go back.

I opened a case with Michelin, but they said they don’t do warranty adjustments when the replacement is outside of their family of brands (Michelin-General-BFG).

It’ll be an interesting comparison to drive the truck with the G015s. I’m expecting them to be slightly noisier. I think they’ll look good. And I think they will be pretty good at cutting through standing water (we get that a lot here), since they have the 4 channels down the middle with center rib, like the LTX has, also. It’s my personal (unverified) opinion that A/T tires that don’t have channels and a center rib (e.g. BFG K02, Toyo Open Country, General Grabber), won’t do as well in hydroplaning resistance.

I went ahead and bought 5, since my spare was 15 years old. I’d never had to use it. Picked up a few screws and nails over the years, but was always able to catch it before it fully deflated and plug it.

Paid $195/ea. from Tire Rack. Quite a bit cheaper than a Michelin Defender LTX M/S-2, but that’s not really why I switched. I just wanted to try something different and slightly more aggressive looking. And this is a return to the type of tire that my truck came with (mild all-terrain - it came with BFG Rugged Trails).

I had also remembered @02SE recommending these. I originally was going to get the Toyo Open Country AT3, but they’re back ordered in this size.
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I had these tires put on the '18 Titan I bought new because the Generals or whatever was on it were flat spotted. They were perfectly fine for the 18k miles I had the truck. Drove well, not noisy at all, good on really wet roads and okay but not great on snow covered back roads. I didn't think they looked as aggressive mounted as I thought they would but so what. You should like them.
 
I have these on the Ranger (the little one) and they are perfectly adequate tires, they are very good in rain for me and in a few light snows have performed well.

It is not like the Ranger is super demanding though...
 
Well, my initial impression is favorable!

I havent checked pressure yet, but I left the tire shop and immediately hopped on the expressway for a quick 10-mile drive to test them out.

Bump absorption and “crash” over sharp-edged bumps seems to be an improvement.

They track straight, and Discount Tire did a good job with balancing.

I expected them to be louder, but was pleasantly surprised to find that noise level didn’t increase at all over the LTX’s! We’ll see if that holds true for the life of the tires.

I brought the used LTX’s home to take some photos with the tread depth gauge. I’ll do that tomorrow and post up.
 
I'm surprised that DT didnt mileage warranty those for you. Same brand family or not.

They put my credit from the michelin defenders that wore out in 23k towards some continentals

Those yokohamas are my favorite mild AT tire.
I didn’t buy them there.
 
Nice tread pattern. Yokohama makes great tires! They are among my fav brands.

I agree, the Defender (replacement for LTX-m/s 2) is a great tire, but I also get only 40K miles from them and no more. I recently purchased a set in 275-55-20 and the rears have worn 2/32nds, at 4000 miles. That will probably slow down, but even so....
 
Curious how the steering response compares to the Michelin’s.
I’ve put about 200 miles on them so far, and I commented to my wife that steering effort has increased a bit (perhaps 15%) compared with the Michelins, which I actually like. Maybe the footprint is slightly larger.

We’ve had a lot of rain, and some standing water on the highways lately, and these cut through ponding water on the road very well. And if you look at the tread pattern, you can tell why - they have the 4 channels down the middle, and ample side channels for water to escape.

As I mentioned before, theyre also very quiet - no louder than the Michelins.

No problems with them so far.

Running 30 psi all the way around currently (door placard calls for 29F/32R, but that’s with the stock 265/70-16.
 
John your truck looks really, really good. As you know, I’m a fan of the g015 as well, and agree with your assessment. They don’t crash over bumps, it takes a lot to upset them, and they are quiet for the tread pattern. (We need to discuss headlight lenses soon, eh?)

steering - even when I let the psi get low, these tires hood and corner. Not a direct comparison, but they track with more authority than the crosscontact2 on my wife’s crv. The CC2 maintains an extremely sure-footed grip, but the vehicle can oscillate some above them - don’t worry, the tire will carry thru the turn. (Softer sidewalls?). The yoko simply just holds the road.

to compare more, I find that Bridgestones usually have a stiff, taught feeling. Yokos sit between the Bridgestones and the Michelin.
 
Nice looking rig John. I'm running the Michelin Defenders on my 05 GMC Sierra. I just purchased them about 10,000 miles and 8 months ago. My only issue is when going off highway little rocks get stuck between the treads. Yokohama is a brand name and I'm sure you will be happy with their performance.
 
. (We need to discuss headlight lenses soon, eh?)
Yeah, it’s definitely past time for me to do those again.

I polished them once already, in spring 2018 with excellent results:


My mistake was not doing anything to seal them afterwards, and this is the result. They’ve completely clouded over again - this time, even worse than before.

I also need to do the fog light lenses.

It‘s to the point that light output has been compromised quite a bit.
 
@john_pifer: 2 options. Get them 98% smooth and then spray them with u-pol clear coat from Amazon. It’s a $20 can of spray paint, but it has real UV inhibitors and works. Errr… someone on bitog figured it out 10 years ago and did a brilliant post on it. It’s the only finish I’ve seen hold up. Learned it on ALL of our older cars, and have probably done it to about 10 now that roll up at church for “please help me, anything you can do” oil change ministry days.

U-pol is a little different to work with… first coat is medium, second coat is *light*, and you have to let it level on its own. 2 mediums and it will run. Wouldn’t hurt to practice on a piece of plexiglass or other smooth vertical surface first.

while $20 is high, for headlights, 1 can fixes many, many cars.

2nd option may be the 3m laminix film. I’ve been fiddling with it lately. I like it; did my Lexus last week and my wife’s crv tonight. The taco headlights are great candidates for it since they have a reasonably flat face. I do not know if laminix inhibits UV. after the soap/water dries beneath it, it clears up nicely. PM me if you want to discuss.
 
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