Michelin Defender LTX M/S Reviews ?

What exactly is a road force balance this sounds like it may be exactly what I need. What sucks is 75mph seems to be my worst speed so I end up pushing it 80/85 just to get a smoother ride. I’m thinking a road forced balance would be where the tire is actually being pushed to a surface while being balanced??

 

Yes.
The machine finds the heavy spot on both the wheel and the tire. Then the tech lines those up as necessary, followed by any weights to complete the balance. During these evolutions, a roller is applying around 1000 lbs of pressure to the tire's contact patch.

 

Pretty sure these wranglers are fairly expensive too. Another thing I don’t like is these are the all terrain version which is what would be perfect for a 4x4 truck but not a van. These tires are now not even 3 years old, right at 10,000 miles on them and still perfect tread but starting to see the tiny cracks at the bottom edges of the tread where it looks like there starting to dry rot already. Doesn’t bother me being I want more of a road tire anyway. Wouldn’t mind a nice set of new wheels too. Lol

 

Pretty cool now to find someone who does this, but at 100 bucks or so that’s 1/4th of the way to a new set. It’s like these wranglers you can even see the seam where the tires are bonded together in the sidewall. Definitely seems like it would be the heavy spot that makes them ride terrible.

 

The Wranglers that came stock on my Grand Cherokee were shit. Poor road grip in wet or dry. They're not expensive and their best use, imo, is getting a new vehicle off the delivery truck and into the dealer's lot. Thereafter, they should be discarded.

How much do you spend putting good rubber on a track bike? Do you think good rubber on a vehicle operated in public is any less important? Do you really want to cheap out on the one component that can keep your truck safer for the long haul, pun intended?

Get Michs, road force balance and do an alignment. You won't have to think about tires for years...bang for the buck.

 

I have the AT2s and should've gotten something quieter. I wanted extra "in case something happens" ability, but really should've just gotten a more road biased tire. Other than that, I've been pleased, I'm close to 80k and it'll go for a bunch more.

Defender LTX M/S and LTX M/S2 look really close though, what's the difference? Looks like the M/S2 is only available in a handful of sizes.

 

M/S2 is the previous generation tire. For the latest tire, they dropped the “2”.

 

Well that's not confusing.

 

Oh I think they are shit too, that’s why I was saying rather than pay a hundred to balance them right go ahead and get good tires. I only drive this van in the summer pretty much vacations and weekends only. Most love there sports cars, I love my conversion vans.

 

Michs on our 'Vette and F350 dually.
The dually is 2wd...Defender LTX M/S up front, LTX AT2 on the rear - (can't hear 'em over the awesomeness of the 7.3 diesel. )
I road force balanced the fronts. Good, quiet tires all around.

GoodYear Duratracs on our Jeeps...the only GoodYears I would ever buy. Other GoodYear models came stock on both Jeeps and the 'Vette...all three versions sucked. Mich doesn't make an aggressive AT and, for my purposes, the Duratracs work better than BFG ATs.
Only other tires I would consider for the Jeeps are the Maxxis Trepador Radial and Mickey Thompson BajaClaw Radial...the Radial distinctions separate them from the undesignated bias ply versions.

 

I concur with the duratracs. Much better tire than ko2s, other than wear. Those heavy loud BFGs last longer but don't have the traction Duratracs have anywhere.

 

Get the Michelins and you won't need to roadforce anything, the BFG"S have and likley always will take a shit ton of weights (ESPECIALLY if using tape weights). Every single set I mount ends up at the very least with 4+ ounces on either side. I don't know what it is, but they suck in that aspect. They aren't that great in snow either, compared back to back with my cooper AT3 XLT's.. They are at best an ok all terrain that look good (I have them mainly due to the asthetic appeal), but no really anything else..

 

Parking lots at work are full of those things, because the tire shop across the street sells Cooper. I don’t care what they’re mounted on, every single set of AT3 had funky, stepped wear patterns down the three center rows.

 

I am a Michelin fanboy. Probably the best automotive tires you can buy. I recently installed sumitomo encounter ht tires on my ram 1500. The tread pattern looks like a ripoff of the Michelin. I have about 10,000 miles, they ride really well, very quiet, and balanced perfectly with minimal road force. Best part is they are about half the price of the Michelin. Worth considering.

 

I have 4 sumitomo encouter AT's (a little more off road than the HT) in my bed right now. this is my second set. First set went ~60K mi and still has some tread left, only replacing due to winter time and snow.

Picked up the set at Tire Rack for ~$550 OTD.

 

Sumitomo has made a great tire for a long time.

I got Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my Yukon. 6K miles in great wear so far, quiet and good ride.

 

Weird, we sell lots of them too due to price but never really seen that kind of wear on them. Have seen the outer blocks get funky due to people not rotating but nothing in the center.

 

Road force works okay with steel wheels, with most Alloy wheels it is a waste though. Doesn’t matter where the tire is on the wheel if the wheel is true...

Buy Michelin’s and you won’t need them road force balanced.

 

Same as my experience with the AT3’s.

Got maybe 50k out of a set on my van, never rotated them, sounded like a tank tread at about 35k and shook like a dog shitting razor blades for the last couple thousand before a blowout instigated their replacement.

 

I'm currently using the Nitto Grappler G2 on the Z71 Suburban. They are replacing the KO2'S that went about 60k. Not as noisy, ride is less harsh but I'm not sure if they are better in the snow. The KO2'S killed it in the snow!