Michelin LTX M/S

[jeff8407]

I've had both the Michelin LTX/ms and the Cross Terrain in the past two years.

The Cross Terrain is a nice tire, but beware it has a dual tread compound. after the first 55-60% of tread life the harder compound underneath give a firmer, harsh, and slick ride.

The MTX gives a very nice ride--decent wear too, but traction is compromised compared to other AT tires.

 

[Colt]

Bridgestone Dueler Alenza's are a real nice tires if you don't have any snow.

 

[Turk]

Go with the Firestone Destination A/T's - last 80-90k and not a bad word about them. See how much money you'll save also.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I finally had enough of my tire troubles so I stopped at a Tires Plus on my way home tonight and got a set of Firestone Destination LE's. $422.00 including tax, lifetime rotation and balance and road hazard/flat repair policies. My 30-40 mph vibration, harsh/bumpy ride and noisy ride problems are gone now. It didn't take any oddball amount of weights or crazy counter-balancing to get them balanced, either. It's still a little bit of a stiff quality to the ride but it IS a pickup truck and I'll get used to this new tire. It has a good solid feel to the ride quality now and they run pretty quietly for a truck tire. I like the agressive tread. I can definitely feel more and better traction now.

The tire guy said Michelin's will harden and cause exactly the problems I was having after they get 50 or 60K on them. Of course he would say that, he was trying to sell me a new set of tires. But I really do believe there is some truth to it. I think any brand tire is going to show its age after 50 or 60K. I also think my old Michelin's probably had belt separation or some other internal problem.

So far though I like these Firestones. My truck is much better now. I figure I'll get my money's worth from them by keeping them balanced and rotated on schedule. Or slightly ahead of schedule, being the BITOG'er that I am...

 

[Brett Miller]

Destination LE's are a great choice. I've had them on 2 vehicles so far.

 

[MNgopher]

The Destination LE's should serve you well. I've got them on my '97 Explorer and have been running them all summer. Very quiet, didn't take much to balance, treadwear seems good so far. My only complaint has been a lack of lateral traction (ie: seems to allow fishtailing easily) under sloppy snow conditions. Putting it in regular 4x4 mode instead of Full time mode that detects wheel slippage seems to dramatically reduce the issue. Probably not a problem for you in Florida!

I went with the LE's as my Explorer is not my real bad weather, go anywhere vehicle. That duty goes to my F150 shod in Bridgestone Dueler REVO's, which I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat. I chose not to put them on the Explorer to stay away from an all-terrain tread and the usual decline in gas mileage versus an all season tire. I've also got the Dueler D695's (which are a replacement for the old D693 tread pattern) on my Jeep, but have not formed an opinion on them - too soon!

 

[Jimmy9190]

Nope--no snow here. It has been sunny and 75 to 80 during the day the last few days. A litle cooler at night.

The ride in to work today was much better with these Firestones. I still feel some of the bumps in the road, we have some pretty bad roads around here. But my truck is much better behaved now and these tires have really good traction and run very quietly for such an agressive tread pattern.

I'll really get to see how they do next week when I drive up to Atlanta to see my daughter and family for Christmas. So far though the LE's are doing very well.

 

[NHHEMI]

You made a great choice and that $422 price is a KILLER deal! Congrat's! Keep them rotated properly( every 5-6K )and they will last a long time. If you ever do run into some snow on your travels they will handle that great as well( well, as great as a 2WD can ).

I can't wait until I can afford a set for my new truck so I can get these god awful Goodyear Wrangler HP's off. Man it is like driving on ski's even in 4WD and I feel like I am off roading even on the highway the ride is so poor. HATE them. Going to cost me a lot more than you though as I need 20's this time around.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Sorry to hear about the problem with your Goodyear's. I had Goodyear Eagle GT's on my old 2000 Dakota when it was new and I didn't care much for those tires either. So far these Firestone's are great. I had to drive the truck a couple hundred miles to get used to the somewhat stiffer ride quality but either they broke in a little or I am just used to them now. I still notice a bit of a bumpy ride on bumpy roads but I like thses tires very much, especially for the price. Michelin are good too but were just not in my price range this time.

 

[Turk]

Sooooo, which tires are you going with...?

 

[Trouble1]

Michilin LTX is a tough tire, use LR E on my 2500 4WD never picked up a nail/screw in over 90k.If you use it for heavy towing it won't last like a grocery getter truck.I get about 60k front 40k rear.Michilin QC is second to none and when towing a load you don't want to do the Firestone flip.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Sooooo, which tires are you going with...?


I'll tell you next week when I buy the tires.

 

[ARB1977]

Originally Posted By: Ben99GT
I've got ~120,000 miles on a set of these ('01 S'Crew) and there's still more to go.


Man that crazy...how often do you rotate them?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: tom slick
I'll tell you next week when I buy the tires.


My guess is you will not buy the Michelin LTX M/S.

 

[occupant]

LTX tires are what my 50-something y/o MIL runs on her 2000 Silverado ECSB. The original equipment tires (years before I knew her) lasted to 52K. She spent nearly $750 to buy LTX tires at that point. She just bought new ones, and NOT because the tread wore out. She and her tire store of choice didn't feel it was safe to put any more plugs in the darned things. She had six plugs in one tire, four in another, and the other two had three each. Construction sites and Houston/Dallas driving will do that. So she got that 17th staple around 175K, and is 20K into the new set of five. She rotates all five tires every other oil change. Drives like a mad black woman. Chain smokes Misty 120s. And we still don't know which will die first, her, or the truck.

If I didn't have a 3/4 ton Suburban I'd buy the LTX's. I gotta have those 10-ply highway summer rib tires for carrying capacity. Running Bridgestones now but prefer BFGoodrich Commercial T/A's. I think LTX's are 8-ply and only come in E load range in a handful of sizes. Michelin makes an XPS rib tire and they're $800+ per set not including mounting. Comm T/A's are around $130 per the each.

 

[OVERKILL]

I ran them on my Explorer for years. Snow, light off-roading, and a LOT of highway driving.

FANTASTIC tires. Quiet. Good in snow.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: tom slick
I'll tell you next week when I buy the tires.


My guess is you will not buy the Michelin LTX M/S.


I put in my order for the LTX M/S, I could get them for an outstanding price, the problem is they are on nationwide back order with no expected delivery date. I'm going to take a harder look at the Firestones now.

 

[qship1996]

Check costco and sams club.....usually in stock for a super low price on the LTX M/S and much, much better than firestones

 

[tom slick]

costco won't mount anything other than OEM size (i'm going larger) and have to special order them. the "super low price" at costco is $212 installed each. If I go through the hassle I can get them for 25% off of costco's price.