Michelin LTX M/S 2 - Initial Thoughts (Now LTX Defender)

Do yourself a favor. Check at home first thing in the morning, BEFORE direct sun hits them (disregard if you have a garage). If you don't have air at home, write down what each tire reads and label ie (DF driver front, PF pass front, same thing on the rear). Lets say both your fronts were 29, and you want 32. When you get to an air supply. Measure each again. If fronts are now 31, add 3 pounds.

Second method (easier). Say you want 33 front and 31 rear.
Stop at air place on your way home for the night and raise all tires to 38.
Next morning (again before sun is on the tires), measure again and lower pressure down to 33 on the fronts, 31 on the rears.

Both ways insure you are correctly setting a "cold" tire.

If you have someone else rotate your tires, ask them to set them to 38. Tell them you will air them down in the morning when they are cold.

 

So I finally did a cold morning garage check on my tires. All are basically at 38psi (one showed 37.5). Tire shows max cold psi allowed is 41.

Truck handles and rides just fine. Any thoughts? Air them down maybe?

 

Try 34 and see if you notice any difference in ride or handling. Also use search feature at the top for "chalk test"

 

I had these put on my 15 TRD sport when I picked it up. Love um

 

Yeah I'm liking them a lot so far! Though I've noticed they pick up pebbles/rocks EVERY time I hit gravel, dirty roads, dirt roads, or construction zones. I pick rocks out of the siping all the time. Otherwise they fly out while driving and make music on the bottom of the wheel well.

 

Only tires I buy are Michelin...

 

I don't even have my Tacoma yet, but I felt like I could add to this thread. I've been reading TW for a few years waiting for the next generation to finally show up. (Thank you GM {Colorado & Canyon} for waking the "Toyoda" group up and bringing the new Taco to market) {Bitterly disappointed to see no "height adjustment" manual or power to the driver's seat " totally inexcusable at this price point ", but I digress as to that debate ( spend an extra $50.00 per unit Sweers and do the seats correctly).

Switch to the LTX m/s2 if your like 95% of the typical Tacoma users. Read the reviews on Tirerack or ask someone that has them. The are more expensive than comparable tires, but they are worth it. rotate them every 7500 miles or so and you'll probably get 90K+ out of them... GREAT in rain... Really good for snow.

Thanks, don't trash me to bad just a first post.

 

I have the factory steel wheels with the Duncraps and I found a guy selling a set of 4 michelin ltx ms2 on factory alloy wheels for $400. He says the tread is at 8/32. Is this a good deal? Does 8/32 of tread still have a lot of life left? Would be going from the stock duncraps 245/75/16 to 265/70/16. They only thing i would need to buy is tpms for the wheels.

 

Since I've got very little miles on my MS2's so far I can't speak to the 8/32 tread life. However, I think the general rule is no less than 4/32 (legally perhaps 2/32?). The lower the depth the less traction you get (especially on wet/snow). A total price of $400 for the factory wheels plus tires could be a fairly cheap deal either way (assuming the wheels aren't crap). Which wheels exactly are they?

BTW - Just looked at the Michelin specs. Depending on the exact tire size it's either going to be 12/32" or 13.5/32" of tread depth brand new. The size I have (265/70-R16) are like $213 each brand new and had 12/32" tread depth new.

 

I have about 3500 on my duncrap factory steels. https://offerupnow.com/item/detail/18548406/2007-tacoma-stock-wheelstires

 

Based on the info you provided and the info kyitty provided, it sounds like there might be nearly half the tread life of the tire left (or does the second half go faster than the first?). And from what I've seen on the forum, some guys are getting up to 90k miles out of these tires (warranteed to 70k I think). At $800 a set new, $400 for the tires plus rims doesn't sound too bad, even if they are slightly beyond half their life. I wouldn't say it's a steal (who knows, maybe just a third of their life left), but I don't think you're getting hosed either. But then there's the sensors- no idea what those run. That might tip the scale to getting hosed.

Also, considering the longevity of these tires, I would want to make sure you're not getting a 8 year old set of rubber. Get into the buy/sell forum and pin down what these rims are worth alone. You should be able to figure that out pretty easily. And then you can better judge what you're paying for the tires/sensors on top of that. Hope this helps. Anyone else- feel free to disagree with me. Let's help him out.

 

How much are the sensors?

 

Thats a good point. I didn't ask how old they are. I know he works at Discount Tire. I found a set of used TPMS on eBay for the alloy wheels that i purchased for $40

 

If they would last a year I would be happy. I like the look of the alloys over the factory steel wheels. I found someone to buy my wheels and tires for $350.

 

If the rubber looks healthy, my gut is telling me that might not be a bad deal. All kinda comes down to how much life is left in those tires. I don't know if this helps you at all, but I've got about 32k on my MS2's and I'm just comin up on the tiny rubber indicators- Which makes sense if these are warranted to 70k. I'm almost halfway there. Do you see any indication of the indicators on those tires? I'm guessing not with 40k on them. In any case- here's what mine look like at 32k.

 

Well that helps a lot. Thanks for your advice I appreciate it. Im waiting for him to tell me how old and how many miles he had on them. Im going to look at them tomorrow.

 

You should check to see how old the ltx m/s 2 are:

From the Michelin Tire site:

While most tires will need replacement before they achieve 10 years, it is recommended that any tires in service 10 years or more from the date of manufacture, including spare tires, be replaced with new tires as a simple precaution even if such tires appear serviceable and even if they have not reached the legal wear limit.

Each tire has a required Department of Transportation (DOT) number imprinted on at least one of its sidewalls. That number begins with the letters "DOT" and may contain up to 12 additional numbers and letters.

The first and last digits are the most important:

· The first two letters or numbers identify the tire’s manufacturer and plant code.

· Prior to the year 2000, the last 3 digits of a DOT number represented the week (2 digits) and the year (1 digit) of production. So if the last three digits are 439, the tire was produced in the 43rd week of 1999.

· Tires produced after January 1, 2000, have a 4-digit date code at the end of the DOT number. The first 2 digits represent the week of production and the last 2 digits represent the last 2 digits of the year of production. So, 3500 indicates the tire was produced in the 35th week of the year 2000.

 

I'm a die hard fan of any Michelin tire, especially the LTX M/S2. I have them on my 2013 Tacoma PreRunner and my wife's 2008 4 Runner. Hands down the most comfortable ride and longest lasting tire there is. Ours are mostly highway miles but since we do live on a dairy/beef cattle farm they do pretty well even in the pastures on muddy days.

 

I've got 30K on my Michelin M/S2's. Rotated every 5K miles, air pressures checked monthly. Wear is flat and tread still looks fantastic. Recommend these tires highly.

 

Update on my tires. Just had my 5k mile Toyota service done (though my truck is only at 4,750 miles. Anyhow they just advised me my tires have 12/32, 12/32, 12/32, and 11/32 on them. Have about 2k miles on them so far.

If I recall I correctly 12/32 is factory new spec for my tire size.