Michelin defender LTX ms2

My dad used to have a siping tool. He did all the tires he ever had, which were usually second hand. He had an 81 VW rabbit diesel. Tires were about 6 inches wide, siped, the thing would plow snow with the bumper. Possibly the best vehicle I ever drove in the snow, 4x4 included

 

Would plug it in overnight, leave it at the very end of the driveway in case it would start in extreme cold, id help him push it out of driveway, and he'd roll down the road (we lived on the middle of a decent hill) and pop start it. Huge plume of smoke and off he went to work. The linkage was always broken so reverse rarely worked, he was a master of parking that car lol.

 

Oh and he "won" that car in a raffle. He worked maintenance at Pratt and Whitney and they were using the engine for some kinda testing I guess. When they were done they raffled it off. He was the only one who bought a ticket. It had 220k miles, who knows how many hours on the motor when he got it. Drove it past 400k

 

I think they ditch them because the Michelins are more HT than AT

 

Yup. I still kind of miss mine too. Fortunately Dad liked mine so much he bought one for himself and still has it as his farm truck.

 

Finally got some decent snow here and I'll say these did great today. It was heavy, wet snow, some areas packed down like ice, some areas slushy. Pretty slick conditions and they seem better than any AS or AT tire I've run in the past.
Haven't had any dry, fluffy, deep snow yet. But surely won't be long. Will continue to update.

 

Thanks for the helpful info. If I may ask, what oem tires did you have? I have a new platinum and thinking about getting the Michelins. Thanks!

 

My truck came with the Bridgestone dueler tires. They were out fast and weren't too great in the snow or rain.

 

Thanks. Same as mine.

 

Mine were pretty well worn at 25k likes. I wasn't comfortable running them this winter. They were quiet and got good MPG but that's about it. Get the defenders and don't look back. They are far superior and you should be able to get a decent amount for your stock tires.

 

Thanks for the advice. Yeah when I bought the truck I was a little underwhelmed by the tires. While this is not driving my decision, this weekend we had some snow in Atlanta and in my area we had about 9 inches. Driving the truck around in 4 wheel drive I did note a good bit of slipping but still made it ok. While snow is rare in Atlanta, I often go up to North Georgia where I am on dirt roads (nothing significant) and have thought about replacing the stock tires. I will try to sell them as you suggest. Thanks!

 

Same with me. OEM pretty well gone before 30K. I don't want to sound like I work for Michelin, but if the style of tread suits your needs, I've never found a better tire. Not much snow here either, but lots of winter rain. Great in the sand, decent on fire roads, trails and such. Can't say about mud or really "technical" terrain, but I would think, not so much.

 

Found a set of takeoff 18" TRD wheels on Craigslist that had Michelin AT2s on them. Discount Tire swapped them for my Platinum wheels with 20 Bridgestone Dueler tires on them and set up the TPM free. The AT2s were out of round for some reason, so the ride was very rough and extremely noisy. Went back to Discount and they prorated the AT2s toward a set of Defenders. Best tire I've had on a truck. I've always liked Michelins and usually had LTX M/S2, but they recommended Defenders. Glad I took their recommendation. And I sold the Platinum wheels / tires on Craigslist to a guy who usually ran 35's but needed to go on a road trip to Colorado and wanted something a little more tame for the trip. Glad someone got some use out of them.

 

I've been getting 12.5 mpg on these new tires. Again I went from 32 to 33 inch , but have factored in the rotations and all that to be as accurate as possible when calculating mpg. I was getting about 15mpg with my old stock tires, but that was in warmer weather and summer gas. It's cold here now and running winter blend gas. Last winter I got 12-13 mpg during the winter. So this far I have not lost any MPG's nor gained any.

Performance wise they are head and shoulders above the OEM tires and better than other tires I've run. Haven't driven in deep snow yet so we'll see how that goes.

 

Thanks for the update. That’s great! A couple of things. Discount Tire told me the MS2 tires were discontinued and have been replaced with the MS version. Anyone know if there’s a big difference between the two? Also I have a 2018 Platinum Tundra. While this may be a silly question, these tires set about an inch higher than my stock tires. Does anyone know if that messes up the active cruise radar function? I have heard that others are having problems with lifts on the 2018 because of the radar function for active cruise. Not sure this is enough difference to matter but appreciate any thoughts.

 

The MS2's have been replaced by the defender MS. Michelin claims they are better in every way. Longer life, quieter, better traction...i tend to believe them because they really had no reason to replace the ms2's because they were great. They look identical to me, just a different rubber compound.
As far as changing size messing with the active cruise radar I am not sure. You can get the defenders in the stock size, 275 55 20, and they are cheaper than the size I got, I just wanted 33's.

 

Thanks man!

 

You got it. I'll keep updating as new things come up. If you're on the fence in getting these. My vote is just go for it.

 

4 inches of unplowed snow today, heavy wet snow. Backed out of the garage, took a look out before I left, could see the siping marks in the snow in tire tracks. Drove up my road which is a slight uphill slope, from a stop, in 2WD, Trac didn't even kick in, until I punched the gas. Pretty impressed for an all season. Flipped on 4wd for the rest of the 15 mile drive and not one slip at all, roads were snow covered the whole drive.

 

My buddy has a 4runner with worn out dueler revo2's. He got those after I told him I WASN'T impressed with them on my taco, he does shit like that. He did get 55k out of them though.
Anyway after he saw my new tires a month or so ago and asked me a million questions about them, I told him to get them. Saw him last night and he said he went with a "slightly better tire" and they "were only a little more expensive than the defenders".
The tires he got.????.... Yup the Bridgestone dueler alenza HT..... the same junk I removed from my truck to put these defenders on. Dumbass asks questions thrn disregards everything I said.

 

some people you just can't reach
I got a buddy like that..

always seeking advise.. then does the opposite.
then bitches about the poor choice.

 

This guy does it all the time. Exactly as you described.

 

Your buddy is an ask-hole. I’ve met a few people like that, and don’t bother giving them advice anymore.

 

Interested as well. I was doing some research on these tires today and noticed that Michelin has a 70 dollar rebate right now. Might be time to pull the trigger on a set.

 

I sure am Steve. More and more every day. I have not found a reason not too. Have been out in several snow storms since my last update with no issues at all. As well as heavy rain, packed snow and ice. best tires I've ever had.
My girlfriend puts a lot of miles on her highlander and in the last few years went through 2 different sets of other tires. Goodyear eagle which came on it and were pretty decent, then some Bridgestones which were crap (20k miles) About 30k miles ago she needed new tires again and I pointed her towards these, she didn't want to spend the money. But she ended up doing it. They look brand new, already have lasted longer than each of her previous 2 sets and like I said they look almost new.