Michelin Defender LTX

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They really needed to upgrade the tread life on the defenders. There was a real problem getting them to come anywhere near their rated wear for a lot of vehicles.
 
Well, the tread design is far from being an update.

Maybe they're concentrating on their rubber formula, which provided low miles and a pitiful level of wet/snow traction for me.

Never again.
 
Originally Posted By: shrooms
Is the Defender the successor from the Michelin X?


The Defender seems to be the name they've chosen for their main market tires. Defender seems to be their "mid grade" tier of tires with the Premier being their "premium grade" tier of tires.

Our Ridgeline currently has LTX M/S tires on it. The OEM set lasted about 85k miles, and we'll see how long this set lasts (nearly 15k miles on them now, with minimal wear). I do hope they make the Defender LTX M/S in 235/65R17 for our MDX -- I'd love to have an LTX M/S tire on that vehicle, but they don't yet make one in that size.
 
Originally Posted By: 2civics
Originally Posted By: shrooms
Is the Defender the successor from the Michelin X?


Harmony


Ok. Reason I ask is that the X is or was a great tire. I'm assuming is discontinued.
 
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Originally Posted By: shrooms
Ok. Reason I ask is that the X is or was a great tire. I'm assuming is discontinued. So, what replaced the X?


Which X? Are you talking about the X One they had many years ago? Or the X Radial they had after that?
 
Looks like a good choice for the owners who want a slightly longer wearing tire than the Premier.

Jason, I would just go with the Premier LTX for your Ridgeline. I have the passenger car version (Premier A/S) on my Prius and they've been phenomenal. My set has about 14k on it and I have no concerns about them lasting 40-50k given their current wear pattern. The technology that Michelin has incorporated into the Premier line is truly cutting edge from a wet traction standpoint.
 
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Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: shrooms
Ok. Reason I ask is that the X is or was a great tire. I'm assuming is discontinued. So, what replaced the X?


Which X? Are you talking about the X One they had many years ago? Or the X Radial they had after that?


I'm assuming X radial. BJ's had them.
 
Originally Posted By: shrooms
I'm assuming X radial. BJ's had them.


Okay. The X One was a top-line long-wearing tire that Michelin had in the very early 2000s. It's still the name of a current large truck tire, but they had a passenger car tire called the X One. If I'm not mistaken, it had a 90k mile tread life warranty -- unheard of at that time.

In 2004 or 2005 or so, Michelin replaced the X One with the HydroEdge, their new long-wearing tire designed to appeal to buyers looking for a premium tire. The HydroEdge was supposed to excel in wet weather. I think most just found them loud and hard. At the same time, Michelin introduced the Harmony line, which was their "mid line" tire. The Harmony was sold at independent Michelin dealers, Tire Rack, etc. The X Radial was sold at warehouse clubs. The Agility was sold at Sears. And the Destiny was sold at Discount Tire. I don't know if this line replaced anything...possibly something like the MX4.

I believe the Premier line replaces the HydroEdge and the Defender line replaces the Harmony/X Radial/Agility/Destiny.
 
My understanding is:
- Premier A/S replaces the Primacy MXV4 for aftermarket fitments
- Premier LTX replaces Latitude Tour for most aftermarket fitments
- Defender (all flavored) replace Hydroedge and Harmony

Not sure about the rest.
 
That makes me nervous, I don't see my Honda Pilot tire size there. My LTX M/S2's are the best tires I've ever bought, if they ever wear out I sure hope I can buy them again.

I see Michelin's site has gone touch-friendly (PC un-friendly). Until recently, you could see a chart all tire sizes of that type with real data like tire weights, traction and tread depth. Now they offer half that data on one size alone (if you dig deep), or a PDF download, and the PDF has no real data in it.

Sad.
 
the Michelin defender LTX ms replaces the Michelin LTX ms 2. the tread design and tread depth of the defender ltx ms is the same as the michelin ltx ms 2. the defender LTX ms has a stronger Advanced compound to hold up in tougher conditions longer. only bad thing so far is LT sizes mileage warranty is only 50,000 miles now. they're also saying that this new tire meets high torque demands of modern trucks
 
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Here is a list of sizes for the Defender LTX M/S, as Tire Rack sees it:

Defender LTX M/S on Tire Rack.com

From the article in the post above, I like that Michelin is moving away from the P-metric sizing nomenclature. I see no benefit to to sticking with that, and it just alienates some customers whose cars require a load index associated with a Euro-metric size. One example is the CR-V, which takes a 225/65R17 102T. There are a lot of good tires available in P225/65R17 100T, but some customers or tire shops are not comfortable with the on-paper downgrade of the load index.

Good move by Michelin here in my opinion.
 
Originally Posted By: gonefishing
Here is some more information on the Defender LTX and the consolidation of Michelin models: http://www.rubbernews.com/article/201507...r-defender-name

I'll probably be looking for new tires by Oct/Nov for my Sierra. I have had my eye on the LTX M/S2 but will have to look at the new Defender LTX M/S if they have it in my size by then (P275/55/R20).


Thanks for the article. My takeaway is Michelin is responding to complaints about over-complicating their tire lineup by oversimplifying it.

I take hope in the pending introduction of more tire sizes:

"Michelin will begin introducing the first 45 sizes of the Defender LTX M/S Aug. 1, with the remaining 26 sizes becoming available in June 2016."

Hopefully my Pilot size will be along in the second batch, and enough people will try it out (and post here) before I need it.
 
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