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Philpug

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I have the Dynapro ATM on the Sequoia right now. It's also snowflake rated, is an established solid winter performer, and is a really quiet road tire. It is a great tire for the price, although there are some interwebz rumblings that it doesn't perform as well in winter in the second half of its life and it seems to be slipping as a top pick.

We usually just keep a tire for the first 2/3rds of it's life, since that is the best part, then we sell them and put that $$ towards the next set. We have a pretty good market for used tires here and we can usually recoup $150 or so towards the new rubber. I don't not understand running tires to the end, especially winter tires.
 
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dirt heel pusher
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We usually just keep a tire for the first 2/3rds of it's life, since that is the best part, then we sell them and put that $$ towards the next set. We have a pretty good market for used tires here and we can usually recoup $150 or so towards the new rubber. I don't not understand running tires to the end, especially winter tires.

Totally agree. I lean more to the idea that a tire is about done at 50%, unless you are willing to take a heated knife to it and reintroduce replacement/new siping and/or grooving to extend performance down to around 1/3, at which point most tires lack enough tread depth to be viable for winter use.

I'm hoping that ongoing advances in 3D siping that are used for lug depth sipes vs. say 50% depth sipes will alleviate that need. That Duratrac I posted in the OP is so well regarded as a winter and rain tire both based on tread design and compound durometer, but the drawback is a ton of reports of uneven wear and noise after around 10K miles and then sketchy rain performance as the sipes wear through (and garbage sidewalls).

That makes the Duratrac more of a traditional offroad tire with a hybrid tread design, and the promise of the hybrids is consistent performance over a much longer tread life. Time well tell. The BFG ko2 I have on the Cruiser have 25K on them now and have lost maybe 3/32nds of tread depth and are still performing like new. That to me is just phenomonal because it defies so much conventional wisdom that your tires are either soft, have traction, and wear relatively quickly and badly or your tires are hard, wear like iron, and give up cold temp traction.

I do have a really nice set of 265/70R17 Hankook Dynapro ATM that will be sold at a good price if any Colorado pugskiers are in need of some rubber :).
 

Philpug

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I do have a really nice set of 265/70R17 Hankook Dynapro ATM that will be sold at a good price if any Colorado pugskiers are in need of some rubber :).
This time of year Craigslist is your friend especially in snow country. There are starving ski bums that are happy to replace thier summer bald tires for new old winter tires for less than $150.00. We usually have recouped $100-150 for our old snows.
 
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jmeb

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So, is anyone in this thread using a P-metric size?

I have / am using P-metric. Typically the smallest size they make in these sorts of tires: P235/75-r15. I don't have any tires in the thread but was very impressed with the precursor to the Cooper ATW, the AT3.

Eyeing some of those Falkens in 235/75 as I can amazon prime them to my house for $105 a pop. Probably <$600 all told for a set of 5 mounted and balanced.
 

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How are these in the summer at highway speeds? My Suburban needs new 20" tires. Torn between just getting another pair of Michelin LTX's or going with something like these. If my truck sees 20 days of snow a year it's a banner year around here. But I do try to chase storms as much as the family allows.

A little thread drift if that's okay - I'm kind of curious about why Michelin never seems to get any love in these threads. I'm running LTX at2s on my 4Runner year round, in snow shallow and deep, on forest roads and in the desert, and on the interstate and mountain roads and highways, and I'm super happy with them. I work at a ski area and usually go there before and after the plows work. But my question is still, why no love for Michelin, what am I missing?
 

graham418

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I have much love for the Michelins. I have had LTX - MS 's on my trucks for the past 20 years. Currently have the LTX MS2, in LT265-75-16. These are my only tires, summer or winter. I have 100k kms's on them, Still lots of life.
 
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I just took P-Metric version off the Sequoia.

With taller sidewalls on a truck, I don't like a lot of interaction between tire flex and suspension on road so I really prefer the LT versions, but that is 3 ton truck, on and off-road use, so load bearing and durability mean I like load range E tires.

In my research, some manufacturers seem to use a greater silica based compound in their P-Metric versions (size being apples to apples), but I think we can't do much more than infer why other than load range E tires are usually expected to take a lot more abuse so compounds are being varied.

The net there is P-Metric is where I would start unless I have a use-case for LT. They are quite a bit cheaper and you can use the savings to buy replacement certs if wanted.

The Sequoia is ready....

IMG_2354.JPG
 
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I have / am using P-metric. Typically the smallest size they make in these sorts of tires: P235/75-r15. I don't have any tires in the thread but was very impressed with the precursor to the Cooper ATW, the AT3.

Eyeing some of those Falkens in 235/75 as I can amazon prime them to my house for $105 a pop. Probably <$600 all told for a set of 5 mounted and balanced.

Take a look at Discount Tire Direct. They will ship free, no tax in CO, and you can have them mounted at a Discount Tire store for $16/ea and that gives you the lifetime mount and balance. I couldn't find anything close to that and at the time Falken was offering a $75 rebate VISA card for a set of 4.
 
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A little thread drift if that's okay - I'm kind of curious about why Michelin never seems to get any love in these threads. I'm running LTX at2s on my 4Runner year round, in snow shallow and deep, on forest roads and in the desert, and on the interstate and mountain roads and highways, and I'm super happy with them. I work at a ski area and usually go there before and after the plows work. But my question is still, why no love for Michelin, what am I missing?

The LTX AT2 is a well rated tire. I would argue that it's more of a hybrid of a highway tread design and an all terrain with the greater nod to highway. Not a bad design purpose, although arguably its a bit of a marketing no-man's land (like mid-80's waist skis) and that makes the LTX more of a premium OEM tire than something people gravitate to aftermarket, even if that logic isn't supported by tire performance.

It's premium priced though. Using Discount Tire Direct to compare, the LTX is $265/tire vs. $193/tire for the Falkens I just bought (in 285/70/17), and is in the highest priced group. If you search on that size and scan through, the LTX is an oddball as the upper priced tires are almost entirely heavier duty and more aggressive offroad tires. Which means most people are buying those types of tires at those prices, because people want an aggressive look.

I'm always making sure I have blizzard snow depth capability, so I want the more aggressive hybrid type tire.

IMG_2378.JPG
 
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jmeb

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Take a look at Discount Tire Direct. They will ship free, no tax in CO, and you can have them mounted at a Discount Tire store for $16/ea and that gives you the lifetime mount and balance. I couldn't find anything close to that and at the time Falken was offering a $75 rebate VISA card for a set of 4.

Good beta. Even better price than Amazon. May not be able to resist.....
 
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Any of those come in a 225-50-18?

I'd be surprised if the aspect ratio was below 60 on this type of tire size they are oriented to CUV/SUV (and some minivans will have somewhat higher aspect ratio tires - mine uses a 225/60/17. But 50 is getting more into speed performance and my guess is that's car tire range.

What vehicle out of curiosity?
 

Don in Morrison

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Chebby Malibubble. I was off by an inch - 225-50-17. Not a performance car by any stretch, but those are the tires on it. I was wondering because all of the images shown in the thread looked real truckish and I couldn't find those particular tires online in my size.
 
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Good beta. Even better price than Amazon. May not be able to resist.....

Yea, I think DTD with store install is generally hard to beat if you are in a zero tax state like CO (not sure what states they may have to tax in). Keep in mind there is no beta at all on winter use on these tires yet. All signs point in the right direction, and I took a bet on them based on two things:

- The Falken Wildpeak AT is a really innocuous looking tire, and it has had surprisingly good reception in the offroad crowd. Being a Japanese brand that is making a big push into the light truck/offroad market based on the Wildpeak AT, with the AT3W having positive internet reviews on offroad sites, and being about as modern as a tire can get since it was just released, this had value proposition written all over it;

- The tread design should give both lug bite as well as siping bite, and that makes for a very good all round Colorado winter tire, but proof is in the pudding (and 3 ton 4x4's deliver traction differently than other vehicles).

But ^^^^ is how I talk myself into things :)
 
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Bill Talbot

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We usually just keep a tire for the first 2/3rds of it's life, since that is the best part, then we sell them and put that $$ towards the next set. We have a pretty good market for used tires here and we can usually recoup $150 or so towards the new rubber. I don't not understand running tires to the end, especially winter tires.

Absolutely. I never even get to the 'snow bar' depth indicator when it's time for replacements. Why screw around :huh:
 
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Chebby Malibubble. I was off by an inch - 225-50-17. Not a performance car by any stretch, but those are the tires on it. I was wondering because all of the images shown in the thread looked real truckish and I couldn't find those particular tires online in my size.

For that size and a sedan, you are looking at car tire options (this thread is about truckish tires for sure than can go into more hybrid vehicles but not pure cars).
 

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The LTX AT2 is a well rated tire. I would argue that it's more of a hybrid of a highway tread design and an all terrain with the greater nod to highway. Not a bad design purpose, although arguably its a bit of a marketing no-man's land (like mid-80's waist skis) and that makes the LTX more of a premium OEM tire than something people gravitate to aftermarket, even if that logic isn't supported by tire performance.

It's premium priced though. Using Discount Tire Direct to compare, the LTX is $265/tire vs. $193/tire for the Falkens I just bought (in 285/70/17), and is in the highest priced group. If you search on that size and scan through, the LTX is an oddball as the upper priced tires are almost entirely heavier duty and more aggressive offroad tires. Which means most people are buying those types of tires at those prices, because people want an aggressive look.

I'm always making sure I have blizzard snow depth capability, so I want the more aggressive hybrid type tire.

View attachment 14672

Got my LTX AT2s for 200/tire for p265/70/r17 at Discount Tire - I think they weren't moving at my local and the manager cut me a deal. I know the tread doesn't look aggro at all, I was a little skeptical but by golly it works great in snow and dirt. Much better than you would think, I've been impressed. Great tread warranty too. FWIW, I guess.
 
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Got my LTX AT2s for 200/tire for p265/70/r17 at Discount Tire - I think they weren't moving at my local and the manager cut me a deal. I know the tread doesn't look aggro at all, I was a little skeptical but by golly it works great in snow and dirt. Much better than you would think, I've been impressed. Great tread warranty too. FWIW, I guess.

^^^^that's not bad pricing and a good tire to add to the list here, thanks for bringing it up.

We have good friends who also have a Sequoia and run the LTX and have put over 200K on that tire in every Colorado winter condition. They just got a new set of AT2. We ski with them quite a bit so I guess we'll get a good comparison if either tire works better than the other on some of the long passes and in the unplowed up to their place in the mountains :).
 

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The LTX AT2 is a well rated tire. I would argue that it's more of a hybrid of a highway tread design and an all terrain with the greater nod to highway. Not a bad design purpose, although arguably its a bit of a marketing no-man's land (like mid-80's waist skis) and that makes the LTX more of a premium OEM tire than something people gravitate to aftermarket, even if that logic isn't supported by tire performance.
View attachment 14672

Agreed. As a Michelin fanboy, I'd suggest folks without off-road aspirations also consider the MIchelin Premier LTX over the LTX AT2:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Premier+LTX

I put those on our MDX and they have been fantastic. Our experience matches the outstanding TireRack reviews. For Colorado winter roads I'd rather be rolling on the Premier LTX than any of the AT tires in the OP, assuming you never go off-road. A decent assumption, since so few vehicles are off-road capable these days anyway.

@Dryheat, I think that's a much better choice for your Forrester in Phoenix. No need to swap tires in the winter. I usually run winter tires, but am OK with the Premier LTX for occasional winter trips into the Colorado high country, at least for the first year or two of use.
 

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