It's time for tires for my dad's truck. He's got a 99 F-150 4x4, but he seldomly leaves the pavement. I've been tasked with choosing tires for it. We need something good for street and in wet weather, offroad ability is mininimally important. We were considering the following:

LTX M/S
Cross Terrain SUV (SR speed rated)
Cross terrain SUV (HR speed rated)
Pilot LTX

I'd like to hear any opinions on these, both good and bad. I think we'll keep the stock 265/70/17 size, mainly because the only tires available in a 275/70/17 are the goodyear AT/Suck, the GSA, and the MT/R, which dopn't suit this purpose.

Thanks,

Mitch

 

This is an easy one ... get the LTX M/S, I'ld recommend getting a LT tire, but your choices above only come in Passinger versions for a 17" wheel.

http://tires.michelin-us.com/assets/pdfs/doc_ltxms.pdf

With a F150 4x4 with 265/70R17 those other SUV street tires will be too soft and have too much side wall flex, and will wear out quickly. You will get your moneys worth from the LTX M/S, traction, and all round handling. Michelins cost a bit more up front, but you make up for it in the the long run.

Check out the prices at ..

http://www.1010tires.com/

 

i have about 15,000 miles on my michelin ltx M/S tires. they are good in the rain, and ride beautifully. i have rotated them every 5000 miles. they are holding up very well, and i would buy them again.

i have had them in some light snow and they performed well, but so did my firestone wilderness tires when they were new.

if you end up with the michelins and have a price club/costco near you give them some serious consideration.

i got mine there 20.00 cheaper per tire than i could find anywhere else. a friend of mine just picked up some low profile michelins there for his car for 42.00 less per tire than where he was going to go. they ordered my tires for me and had them in one week.

 

Michelin was offering two free Motorola FRS radios with purchase of 4 tires. Don't remember when the offer expires, but you should be able to find details on their website.

 

I've got the Michelin XCX/APT which is the exact same tire as the LTX All Terrain. It is a superb tire. Holds up very well in all conditions. I have 265/75/16 and they looks are pretty good too. I would stay with this tire, or the BFG AT.

 

In addition to Costco check out sams club. They seem to always have the best deal and you can take your truck to any Sams anywhere in the USA and get your flat rapaired and get a re-balance and rotate at no charge!

Check out the BFG long trails they ride well on pavement and they have a 50,000 mile warranty. The michelin's are very very nice tires but none of them have a tread wear warranty.

just my .02

peace-

 

I put Michelin LTX MS on about 6 months ago and they are great. I replaced the stock Firestone Wilderness tires and it was like driving a completely different truck. Much more sure footed, even on dry pavement. The wilderness tires would break traction all the time, rear wheels spinning front tires sliding in a turn, and if there was any mud at all I had to put it in 4 wheel drive. I just returned from a weekend camping trip and there was alot of mud - I didn't spin one tire and it was in 2 wheel drive the whole time.

Michelins are great and worth the extra money.

 

My only experience has been with LTX A/T. They were great tires on my old truck. A little rougher than M/S, but still very good on the highway and seemed to be lasting long at the time I sold the truck. They did well in the snow and rain. Good luck with your choice.

 

AFAIK, I think the biggest difference between the Michelin Cross-Terrain SUV and the LTX/MS is the load rating type. The Cross Terrain is a "P" passenger tire (eg P265/70-16), while the LTX-M/S is an "LT" light truck rated tire (eg LT265/70-16). LT rated tires often have more belts in their construction, which results in stiffer sidewalls, more load capacity, greater durability, and a slightly harsher ride.

I think Michelin 'sub-urbanized' the LTX-M/S to create the Cross-Terrain. They realize the vast majority of American SUV owners treat their vehicles as glorified station wagons and never use them as true off road vehicles or trucks. They value a soft car-like ride, predictable rain/light snow traction, and a quiet "talk on the cellphone" highway noise level. According to Michelin's own literature, it does all these better than the LTX.

I like the idea of the Cross-Terrain, as it fills an empty niche in the consumer market. It's a premium quality year-round tire for people taking their kids to soccer practice, picking up groceries, and commuting to work. If this fits your use profile (like most of us) I think it would be a more suitable tire. If you use your truck like a truck then the LTX-M/S might be a little better.

 

I bought a set of 265/70/17 Cross Terrains for my truck a little more than a year ago. 25K miles later, I'm less than 2mm tread depth away from the wear indicators on the tires. Considering how much I paid for the tires, I am not happy with their performance. I hope the LTX M/S series wear a little better than these because part of the decision to get the Cross Terrains was the 520 Treadwear rating (I highly question that). I don't really peel out very much and I have rotated my tires at every oil change. I will probably go back to BFG's or try the Goodyear GTII's. I can't justify the cost of Michelin's in my head after these tires. Just my $.02

Happy Truckin'
-Al

 

alvinsb,

Don't the Cross-Terrains have a 65,000 mile warranty? I would think you could use this to help on another set of tires.

 

The Cross Terrains have a treadwear rating of something like 520 with a very nice warranty as Laser pointed out. As soon as you go LTX, or LT series, you lose warranty if I'm not mistaken. I *think* the Cross Terrain is the only truck tire from Michelin with a warranty.
I have the CT SUV on my F-150 and love them. Course, I still need to install my swaybar to really enjoy the ride.

 

The Michelin's Cross Terrain is not listed as a truck/van tire, it is listed as an SUV/4x4 tire. It also does not come in a "Light Truck" (LT) version, only as a "P" Passinger tire. The Cross terrain only has 11-12/32nds of tread depth. They are marketed to SUV owners. If placed on a "full size" truck or large SUV they would wear fairly fast, especially under load or towing. They would be ok tires for a light street truck that never gets loaded down in northern/winter climantes. JMHO

Most MIchelin tire warranties are based on tread wear via ramaining tread depth.

 

So how does the tire know its mounted on a 7000lb Suburban or a 4000lb Highlander, and not mounted on a 4700lb F150? If I never get on it hard, does the tire know if its mounted on a 380hp Lightning and not on a regular 4.6L? These tires are the stock fitment to some F150 SuperCrews.

The difference between the two is the thickness and number of reinforcing plies in the sidewall. LT rated tires have thicker rubber and more plies to allow higher load ratings and longer life when taken off road (and give a stiffer ride). The VAST majority of SUV owners (and the majority of pickup owners) never take their vehicles off a gravel road. Also, the majority of owners don't take their vehicles to the GVWR. In these cases the "P" rated tires, with their quieter and softer ride, is more appropriate for their use.

If you do use your truck like, well, a truck, then an LT tire is more appropriate.

I can't explain why alvinsb got such poor wear out of his Cross Terrains. In my experience with Michelins, a tire with a relative rating of 520 should give at least 45K miles. Perhaps underinflation or extreme load/towing? Smokey burnouts?

 

The point was simply that, the heavier the truck, the faster the tire wears.

The greater the sidewall, the more sidewall flex, the softer the handling under load, expecially with passinger type tires.

On Michelin's web page, in their tire catalog, the Cross Terrain is listed under SUV/4WD. Which is discribed as ... "Includes tires designed for vehicles such as: Ford Explorer, Jeep Cherokee, Chevy Blazer, Acura MDX.

Under Truck/Van tires, discribed as .... "Includes tires designed for vehicles such as: Chevy Silverado, Dodge Ram Pickup, Ford F-Series, Ford Econoline" ... the Cross Terrain is not listed here.

Several Michelin tires are listed in both catagories, just not the Cross Terrains, according to their web page, but they could alway be wrong.

http://tires.michelin-us.com/mastapp...talog.MainPage