Michelin LTX M/S TIRES

[MountainManJoe]

Michelin LTX M/S TIRES
(recovered from archives)

This will be a review of the Michelin LTX M/S tire sized @ 215/75/15 ( 27.6" ) which are classed as a snow tire.

Having said that I must also mention that I have a Powertrax no slip Locker in the rear diff which definitely helps aid traction by getting the power to BOTH rear wheels when needed, however if the tires are not up to the task (like my old worn out ones) then no amount of Limited slip,Locker,4x4 is really going to help if all your tires do is spin,so we have to start with some decent tread to get things moving.

As mentioned I needed a new set of tires, and I was plain old tired of buying used and only getting 6 months worth of decent tread,so this time I decided to go new and did some research on which tires would give me the best bang for my buck. I did not start out thinking of buying Michelins,in fact I have never owned them before and was originally thinking of either the Firestone Destination A/T or the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo,however neither was
available at the place I was going to get my tires so I went with the Michelin LTX M/S which was available in my size, was siped which I figured would help alot with snow and wet roads although officially designated a passenger tire its condidered an LT tire, which I wanted to try because of towing my trailer in the summer.

The tires were not cheap ( at least to me ) and came in at $145 Can ea. which included the standard road
warranty hazard speil.

Now first off I drive 120km a day ( 75 miles) each day to work, the majority is along paved roads through alot of farm-land and small towns, the balance is along gravel / mud roads. With it being the winter season I've put the tires through they're paces,wet roads,snowy roads,hard-pack,ice,gravel and mud and heres what I've found...

First we'll start with paved roads. Dry road conditions, The tires run very quite and when run at the proper pressure there are no problems,gas mpg is no worse than my old bald tires. Wet... the tires handle very well in wet conditions,whether its a driving rain or just damp roads no problems with hydro-planing or with taking of from a standing start. Snow... So far,unstoppable! and its been a very snowy yr in Southern Ontario.Deepest snow I've had to go through has been about a foot of what I call sugar snow,the kind already chewed up and rutted by other vehicles. Hard-pack, here's where I really noticed a huge difference between these new tires and me o'le baldy's, the tires tread pattern which has alot of siping has been very helpful in driving along hard-packed snow roads,i can still sip the tires occasionally but overall when I hit the gas I get moving.

Ice... Well what can I say,I drive on ice for a living,the ONLY tires for ice are studded tires,these are not studded as we're not allowed to run studs in Ontario,having said that,these tires run pretty good on ice but I'm going to give the driver more credit (than the tires) in this department,LOL

O.k now on to the secondary roads I travel which are basically gravel/mud. There are often alot of drifts,and ruts as well as muddy sections along this type of road, most of these roads cut across farmers fields and woodlots.So far the tires have handled these roads very well the tread is fairly aggresive and cleans itself of mud and gravel pretty good,
providing for great traction, obviously with the tires only being 2 months old the tread depth is not a factor yet,but so far they are performing well.

Overall my experience so far has been very good,the tires have not let me down and because of they're long tread life expectancy I'm hoping to get a few yrs of hassle free driving from them,I'll update in a yr or so to see how they have performed over time.

~~ Keith~~