Airing down Michelin LTX's

Pskhaat

2005 Expedition Trophy Champion
I'm a mud tire guy. Tried and true. Studded and siped. Can't go wrong. Right?

Or maybe...just maybe I try (again) some LTXs. Can you share your experiences with traction and sidewall quality whence aired down to like 6-10psi for extended times?

t_20150717.mmiva0.xl.jpg
 

LR Max

Local Oaf
I air down my 31x10.50x15s on my 4runner down to like, 15ish. I mainly do it so it doesn't beat the crap out of me.

Traction off road typically sucks. They clog up super quickly with mud and anything else that'll fit in those tire grooves. Recently I did air down to 10 psi for loose sand driving. They were fairly crappy compared to a set of rugged terrains and super crappy compared to an AT. No information on sidewall as I haven't gotten that fresh on the trails with them.

All of that said, for light 4 wheeling, they haven't let me down yet. A few times they got close, but didn't. Also mine are pretty well worn. Overall I'm planning on replacing them with a set of BFG ATs sooner rather than later.

On highway they were fine as you know.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
I used 15 psi on my LX450 with LTX tires. Worked well in sand and gravel, no experience with mud or rockhopping.
 

Inyo_man

Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.
My brother ran them on his Toyota Tacoma for a bit.
One trip he blew two tires. Both of them due to sidewall puncture/gash.
I would not recommend them for anything but "high grade forest service roads" and the like.
 
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tarditi

Explorer
We had them on my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokees - excellent street tire, but they were not good for anything loosely surfaced.

They are strong for an all-season road tire, but not compared to a purpose-built all-terrain or mud terrain tire design.
 

ExplorerTom

Explorer
We had them on my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokees - excellent street tire, but they were not good for anything loosely surfaced.

They are strong for an all-season road tire, but not compared to a purpose-built all-terrain or mud terrain tire design.

Agreed. Great street tire. I would be worried about every rock if I was offroad with them. They just aren't built for offroad.
 

Stumpalump

Expedition Leader
How about the LTX AT2? Seems to be similar to the LTX M/S, but a bit more stout.
The M/S is the tire with the stellar reputation. AT2 are good but the wear down faster. Considering the cost people don't like that. That's the only reason they don't have the following that the LTX M/S does. I run the M/S on the van for road trips. They are a treat after pulling the BFG KM2's mud tires off. I'd recomend and buy them again over any tire for a heavy rig that sees mostly streets and dirt roads. Save the AT for the trail runners and those interested in how it looks at the mall.

I went with 265/75/16 to keep the final drive gearing in check with my 3.73 ring gears. Probably 12k miles on the tires.

image.jpg
 

aardvarcus

Adventurer
I have had these tires in 235/85R16 on a 2005 Tacoma, 265/70R16 on a 2000 4Runner, and in 285/70R17 on a 2001 Chevy 2500HD. In my experiences they do great on-road especially in inclement weather. Rain, snow, and ice were not an issue, mainly thanks to the tons of sipes. Bonus points for low road noise and a discernible MPG difference between all terrains in identical sizes. Offroad, they handled all the terrain that I asked them to, mainly driving around offroad around the family farm. They actually performed better than you would expect, especially when aired down (I was never brave enough to go as low as 6-10 PSI, I would drop to about 20 or so). The one issue with them would be mud, if you are going to go through a lot of mud on a regular basis I would select something else. I tend to avoid mud, and when I did go through mud with them I was focusing on keeping my momentum up to get past it. Most of my “technical driving” with them was through woods, driving over hard ground covered in rocks, leaves, sticks, downed trees, etcetera traversing terrain which would make all my passengers wince and grab their handholds. No traction issues in these conditions.

After experiencing these tires, sipes are now high on my priority list for any tire purchase that sees any reasonable street time. After the 235/85R16s wore out on the Tacoma (at rated mileage or a bit more) I replaced them with the same size in Cooper ATW. (Just wanted to try something different.) This tire has lots of sipes, but is more of an all terrain pattern. This tire seems to perform almost as well on the street and a little better off the street. They look like they would be better in mud, but once again I avoid mud so I don't have any first hand mud bogging comparisons. Only downside to these was a roughly 5% MPG penalty over the Michelins in the same size, due to higher rolling resistance and tire wind drag.

I never punctured the Michelins. I did puncture other tires doing the same sorts of driving but that could just be coincidence. I would rate their puncture resistance as being roughly equal to any other tire of approximately the same weight. Realize that most tires that offer higher puncture resistance also weigh more.

If I had to do it again, I probably would have just put the Michelins back on the Tacoma to save the MPG for the miles on the street. (MPG is very important to me.) If you don't care about MPG, I would pick another tire that still had sipes but a more aggressive tread pattern. Frankly I think Michelin did all they could do to add traction to this tire without hurting the MPG. If that is the compromise you are shooting for, these tires are a good choice.
 

gwittman

Adventurer
I have 31" LTX M/S tires for pavement. I have never air them down because they never see anything much worse than graded gravel roads occasionally. I have taken them off-road on my family's farm in Kansas a few times and they do well if it is dry but the couple times I got into mud with them I did not get stuck but I could tell they pretty much sucked.
I go to my 33" BFG MT (KM2) tires when I want to get serious off-road. That creates a bit of a problem in that I had to install 4.56 gears for the 33" tires to make the gearing better for off-road. This make the gearing not so good for the 31" tires and makes the fuel mileage a little worse. The nice thing is it accelerates very nice now with the 31" tires. That is always tempting me to get my foot in it which further degrades the MPG.
 

Regcabguy

Oil eater.
Thin sidewalls,great street tire. But off highway,marginal at best.
If Michelin would manufacture a 3ply sidewalled offroad tire in common size's they'd own the market.
 

sargeek

Adventurer
Off Road Tire

Michelin does make a great off road tire - it is the BF Goodrich Tire. Michelin=B.F. Goodrich; same company owns both brands of tires and markets them for different markets.

The LTX M/S2 is a decent tire, that see's a lot of use on vehicles used by farmers/ranchers. It can handle off road well enough and still be nice on the paved roads. Most ranchers do not bother airing up and down tires. Decent tire that provides wears well on heavy trucks.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Michelin does make a great off road tire - it is the BF Goodrich Tire. Michelin=B.F. Goodrich;

Close, but not 100% accurate

Uniroyal and BFGoodrich Tire formed a joint venture in 1986.

Then in 1989 Michelin purchased the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company.


So Michelin = BFGoodrich is not accurate.

Instead, BFGoodrich is a brand of Michelin.


Splitting hairs, but there is a difference.
 

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