I'm surprised at the many Michelin recommendations. But i guess they would be one of the best highway only tires. They make such a great preforming tire, but such crappy quality. lol
Side walls are always so thin, every set i have had have gotten side bubbles and blow outs i just cant do them anymore.

I'm personally leaning towards the Goodyear Duratrac's since i need/want off road and better snow performance.

Every set of Michelins you've owned has been bad? And you kept buying Michelins? Why? Were they cheap recaps or used tires with plugs for $20 each.

I have never had Nokian tires but if I lived in NYC or Chicago I would definitely try the P-metric version of the Nokian Rotiiva AT.

It should be the best AT for rain and snow as well as perfectly capable for the forest roads in those areas. It is even lighter than the stock tire.

What can I say I'm a glutton for punishment. LOL

I had them on my old expedition with all these problems and recently gave them a try again on my Mazda 3. The high speed performance of the super sports is really unmatched, as well as their wet road handling. But after my fourth set of blown Michelins at $250 a tire this year I bought the 4Runner.

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I had their snow tire versions and they were actually pretty darn good. Though I prefer Vredestein, I wish they had a good truck tire.

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They have LTD and LTE versions with great weight as well.

"The high speed performance of the super sports is really unmatched"

After reading about the combination of new technology/materials incorporated into the super sport tires, I googled Michelin Super Sport sidewall bubble. Yes, there appears to be a problem. Then I looked at the Michelin FAQ on bubbles. Okay, sure, don't hit curbs and potholes. That was helpful.

I did find a Michelin recall from 2013 when they were trying to find 2500 defective tires with bad sidewalls.

"GREENVILLE, S.C., JULY 22, 2013 - Michelin is voluntarily recalling certain sizes of its MICHELIN® LTX® M/S 2, MICHELIN® X® Radial LT2 and MICHELIN® Latitude® Tour tires. These tires are typically found on light trucks and SUVs.

The tires were produced between September 2012 and early June 2013.
Sizes are as follows:
MICHELIN LTX M/S 2: P275/55R20 111T RBL, P265/65R18 112T and P265/60R18 109T ORWL
MICHELIN X Radial LT2: P265/65R18 112T and P275/55R20 111T
MICHELIN Latitude Tour: P255/60R19 108S and P255/70R18 112T
Michelin is recalling approximately 100,000 tires in order to retrieve an estimated 2,500 tires (about 2.5% of the recalled population).
Affected tires could have partial or full sidewall perforations that could cause them to experience loss of air pressure."


All I know is that tires are vastly better than they were in the '50s, '60s, '70s, and probably most of the '80s. Watch, I'll have 2 flats next week and a blowout.

This. I don't run them on the 4Runner, but we run them on the wife's QX56 and they rock. She does not offroad any more than the occasional dirt road or parking in a field for a farm party. We do see a lot of wet snow though and they shoot rooster tails real nice since they clean well.

Other than that, they are supple and grip fantastic on both wet and dry roads. The ride is perfect, and she is an aggressive driver so that's saying a lot.

So far it's been a year and they are still holding up well which also says a lot. With that heavy vehicle and the way she drives, she eats tires and brakes like candy.

How were these to balance? Any vibration or shimmy in the steering before or after install?

I noticed in the steering vibration/shimmy thread that various people had issues after installing different Michelin LTX tires. Just curious regarding these Continental tires as I've been interested in them for some time.

The Rotiiva AT Plus also comes in an LT-C Load in 275/70/17 that fits just fine too.

Don't know about the 4R size, but I had a set on my Outback for 4,000 miles and the Conti AT were a great street tire in terms of performance as well as noise. They were not quite as comfy as expected but there may have been other reasons for that.

They also handled great in dirt. They were my light duty set and I got a puncture in the neighborhood in less than 100 miles. I think the issue is that they have large water channels where a sharp object can access the casing bypassing the tread blocks. The areas where I would fear for them are the desert in AZ and rougher mountain trails with lots of sticks.

Just got to your post- I had Discount Tire use their Hunter Road Force Balance . Houston city roads range from OK to awful - so I get some vibration feedback of some of the roadways , but this is not a balancing issue. As far as I can tell, the ride is smooth . In fact, just put in a bit of highway driving back ( 100 miles a day) and the ride was great.

My other option at the time were the Michelin Defender LTXs- they are also an excellent option if you run primarily city and highway.

But the Conti's received outstanding review and in particular wet traction and braking - which is a priority over snow and ice in this hellhole.

Plus , since the Continentals are A/T rated, they will be OK for occasional off road driving at Big Bend Natl Park.

Houston, the cheap hellhole city.
Defender LTX ran fatter on my SR5 wheels when I had them compared to the nitto grapplers. They actually look good with the bubbly wall and had great mpg and wet road grip. I considered the Conti's as well but Costco had a great deal in the Mich's