Tires for 90% highway use?

MS2 defender or AT2 Michelins either

 

I have 70,000 on my Toyo AT2's. Still a good amount of tread left.

The key is frequent tire rotation. I rotate them about every 3,000 miles. These are the 10 plys. I've really pushed this tire off road. The sharp rocks on the logging roads up here can wreak havoc on tires. When I first bought my truck it had 4 plys on it. After 2 flats in one month, I went with 10 plys. Never looked back.

 

+2

Never ran them on my Tacoma but did on other trucks and loved them.

 

General at2s currently, love em. 20k on them and they look brand new. Had falken wild peaks on my tundra, loved them as well.

 

Toyo Open Country AT II. I live on the WestCoast where it rains quite a bit in the winter and I wanted a tire that was good in the rain. A forum member who lives in Seattle recommended these tires and I couldn't be happier. The only other tire I would consider is the Hankook Dynapro ATM which are on my wife's Xterra, also a fantastic tire in the rain and snow.

I've had the Toyo in the snow as well and it performed flawlessly.

 

This right here. I have the old MS2's on my '98 T-100. A few years ago, we got a snow that was stranding people in the middle of the road. I was able to drive right around them. They are great all around tires and only give up some performance in mud. If it's not too deep of mud, they don't do horribly there either. I now have a week old set of the Defender MS's on my Taco. I just got them about a week ago. We had a bad ice storm Friday night and I was out in it. I stayed below 20 mph but they handled it about as well as I could have hoped for.

One thing to look for in my opinion, Goodyear has some Wranglers that look similar to the Michelins. If you look closely, you'll see that the siping (the thin cuts in the tread lug) don't go to the base of the tread. Once they are about half shot, you lose all of the siping and your snow traction gets worse. I believe Goodyear compensates somewhat for this by making a tire with a soft tread compound. Michelin has a little harder compound with silica in it and you still get good lug flexibility because of the many deep sipes. I would almost guarantee that you will get more miles out of the Michelins. The MS2's were on my T-100 when I bought it and I put over 65,000 miles on them. When I replaced them, they weren't yet down to the tread bars.

For minimal off-road, in my opinion, you are giving up too much for the 95% of your highway driving by buying an AT tire.
Again, this is just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

 

I've narrowed it down to the Cooper AT3, the Toyo AT II and Michelin LTX AT2. It is amazing that some guys are getting 90K miles out of the Michelin MS2's, wonder if their AT can get 70-80K?

 

Anyone have any experience with the Cooper ATW? It's an A/T winter tire. I live in KY where some winters we get quite a bit of snow and other winters we don't get much at all. Would this not be a good option?

 

Michelin Defender. You said 90% highway, so that's what i would go with. They re not real aggressive looking, but not too soft looking either. However, the road performance makes you forget about wanting an aggressive looking tire.

 

Michelin AT2 or MS2. Game over end of story. Head and shoulders better then any tire listed in this thread when it comes to pavement. Dont waste your time with AT tires just for looks.

 

Can't go wrong with Michelins but I am VERY impressed with the Cooper ATPs (Discount Tire branded AT3).

 

I've heard good things about Coopers. I have Michelins on all of my vehicles now. They are more expensive but for the mileage you get out of them, I think they are worth it.
On my T-100, I've had the MS2's, a set of Yokohama's, General Grabber ATS (great when new but didn't last long), then this last set of MS2's in the light truck multiple ply version. They ride a little stiff but are holding up great. I have 262,000 miles on that truck.
Now I have the Defenders MS on my Taco and they ride and handle great. I didn't opt for the heavy duty ones because I didn't want to sacrifice ride quality.
I thought about the AT2 but have had really good luck with the MS2 tread pattern. Again, for mostly highway driving with occasional off-road, you will love the Defender MS.

 

I've had my Cooper Discoverer AT3s for a little over 2 years, and figure I'll get at minimum another year out of them. I primarily drive on the highway, but drive on dirt roads often as well.
Gonna try General Grabbers next time around just to compare, but I really like the Coopers.

 

I really liked my General Grabbers but only got about 36,000 miles out of them on my '98 T-100. In all fairness, I won't run a tire down to the tread bars. It's just not worth risking my family's or my safety to squeeze that last few thousand miles out of a set of tires.

We have varied weather here in the winter so I like to be prepared.

 

+128746 for AT3's. Cooper's have become my favorite tire brand that I'll be getting the ST MAXX's when the time comes. Another set of AT3's would've been an easy choice f I didn't want to go with a more aggressive AT tire.

 

Michelin AT2 at 35lbs. You'll not be disappointed.

 

265/70/17 General Grabbers
Came with the rig, seem to be okay

 

MS2's (now Defender) are great in the snow and for light off road (they do surprisingly well- you would not be disappointed). Best tire I've ever run. Super quiet. Almost silent in town and awesome on the highway (quieter than my mom's Subaru Outback). There's a thread on here somewhere of a guy rock crawling with the MS2.

The new version (replacing the MS2) is the Defender LTX M/S. It's everything the MS2 was + slightly better wet/snow traction due to updated tread compound. They're great in the rain/snow. I'm running them now (after having run 3 sets of MS2).

My last set of MS2 in January had 8/32" tread left after 45k miles (sold them on CL for $350 and got bigger ones). That's about 60% of the usable tread depth remaining! Amazing, really. 100k miles isn't an impossibility. Can't imagine you'd get that with another tire. I'll probably do the same thing again when I hit 45k with my new defenders. So, value is an additional benefit.

I'm also about 80-90% city/highway. The Mich Defender is the perfect tire for me. I totally understand liking a more aggressive look. I like that aspect better, too. But I just won't go that way when the M/S have been so ideal for 90% of the conditions I drive in (and when I am off road, I've never once thought "this would be better with different tires"). If I off-roaded more, I might lean toward the AT tires. But I'm in the flat lands (pastures/grasslands/lakes/boat launching).

Hey, that reminds me... Michelin AT? Lots of fans here, as well. Just another option, but snow/ice performance won't be what you get from the Defenders/MS2. The Defenders kick ass in the winter time. Seriously, they're unmatched in that aspect IMO (unless you were to go with a dedicated snow Tire). Also, I believe the AT warranty is 50k and not 70k. The AT's aren't gonna last as long. It's Just the price you pay for more aggressive look (and different performance aspects). I've read that they're by no means a loud Tire, but I have a hunch the M/S is quieter.

I run my Miches around 34/35psi in summer and 31/32psi in winter.

I've had Cooper and BFG in the past. Didn't last as long and they were noisier than the Miches.

 

I just replaced the Michelin LTX AT2's I had on my 4Runner with Cooper At3's. Way better ride and handling now. The Michelin's only had 13K on them so they weren't worn much. They just felt to soft and bouncy I thought. The AT3's are more responsive and predicable I think and still ride super smooth on the HWY. This is a vehicle that primarily sees the street and 4WD is used for snow days and that's about it. The AT3's have done excellent for this use.

 

Just curious-- Did you ever try higher pressures in the AT2's? Are the Coopers a much heavier Tire?