I’m thinking about putting Michelin Defender LTX M/S2 on my 2018 OffRoad 4Runner. My 4Runner has a Gobi roof rack, sliders, and SSO hybrid bumper and winch. Most of it’s life is spent on the highway, except during hunting season. What would y’all recommend for the rating of these tires? They seem to only come in SL or E rated.

Thanks in advance.

standard load is probably fine. unless you're carrying hundreds of pounds of extra weight or towing frequently or concerned about rock punctures you're fine with standard load

I’ll be towing a 4-wheeler trailer out West about every 4 years and locally occasionally. Most of the time it’ll be a minimum load.

Thanks for the reply.

I used to run the MS2's on my GX470 and GX460. Great tires for highway, snow, and light-ish off road use. They don't do well in the mud, but they are much better in the snow than most of the AT tires I've used and just fine for towing.

I'd go for the SL as well. E rated tires are great for F250's. Not necessary for the 4R for most situations. I don't think you can really overload them. The weight rating is 2700lbs vs 3200 lbs. The E rated tire vs SL requires a 10% adjustment factor applied to the SL, so really it's more like 2400 vs 3200 lbs. Even then - I can't foresee a scenario where you'd have 4800lbs of weight the rear axle. Starting at around 2500lbs empty means you'd need to add another 2300lbs of cargo and tongue weight. Could it be done? - yeah probably, but it's pretty unlikely. I'd go with the SL unless you know that you're going to spend a lot of time going fast in the desert in places with sharp rocks that are really hard on tires.

Good luck!

Read this for some perspective regarding the LTX from someone who has some credentials off road. Makes me think about putting on my LC next.

Perfect off-highway tire = LTX? What? | Expedition Portal

I would never run E tires on my rigs unless I was really hauling some weight routinely. I prefer the lower PSI and let the rubber absorb the road and obstacles. That being said, I did have to raise my PSI when I went from stock P rated to LT rated KO2's to achieve the proper weight rating. I like the ride just fine, but definitely more vibrations from the road sent up to the suspension.

I put 60k on the LTX's on my T4R, they were perfectly fine, but I then went down the LT path.

I’ve been using the LTX load range E on my 2500HD diesel for years with great success. They’ve actually done really well on red mud roads and muddy woods roads for me. I’m currently using BFG KO2 load range C on my 4Runner. I’ve got over 50K miles on them right now. Probably get another 10K out of them. Seemed like the perfect time to start to ponder on my next set. Lol.

The SL load range of the LTXs would be alittle bit lighter per tire. Didn’t know if that would equate to better MPG?

I’m gonna give the SL rated tires a try. I hope they hold up well to the rocks out West on the forest service and two track roads I’ll be taking them on every year.

Get E if those are your only options. I had a set of these in a C range (30x9.50R15) on my Jeep.

11 years thus far, no cracks anywhere on the tire (not on bead, not between treads)

I really should replace them but man they’ve just held up so well! 50%+ tread remaining so I don’t want to part with them just yet.


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I’ve got BFG KO2s(load range c) on right now with nearly 60K miles. They’ve been a good tire. The e rated Michelin will be roughly the same weight as the BFG. Do you think I would notice a difference in between the two?

As many people talk poorly about the ride of E rated tires, I want to share something I do that I feel gives me an even softer ride than my C load tires.

Depending on the rating, E1 can be inflated to 80 PSI, E2 can take 65 PSI. I have always run my tires between 40-45 PSI. I feel it gives me the best ride, best control, and my tires wear very evenly.

I don’t change my PSI based on load rating, if my load doesn’t change (if I’m not pulling anything) so I ran 45 in my E rating as well.

I swear the ride got SOFTER after putting the E’s on there but there’s no drastic negative effects of using them. I’d be more worried about an SL rated tire being to thin or too soft to handle what I need it to do. 36 PSI max.

Hard pass! Gimme the E’s!


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I'm running load range E, 10 ply rated tires on my TRD ORP, solely for more durability on 4wd trails. If I were using the 4Runner as a daily driver, I'd be more likely to have P-rated tires like it came with.

The E-rated tires are heavier, a bit firmer riding, and probably hurt the MPG a bit.
For me the whole point of owning the 4Runner, is to explore those 4wd trails. I got tired of fixing flats in P-rated tires while on 4wd trails.

Everything is a trade-off. You just have to decide what your priorities are.

I agree with this. I have BFG KO2 E rated tires. I went with the E rated because I do off road in Colorado where there are sharp (granite) rocks. If you off road around Moab (UT) where it is mostly sandstone, the rocks are more rounded, thus you can get by without E rated.

I run the stock size and tire pressure in my KO2s; even wear and ride about the same as the original OEM tires.

I was thinking more along the lines of mpg than ride quality. However, I bet the difference ain’t enough to cuss a cat over.

Thanks for the reply.

SL is fine. It's still a higher rated load rating than what your OE tires were. These "SL", "C", and "E" ratings etc are outdated. There are numbers these days for load ratings. I think your OE tire probably had a load rating of 112. The SL Defender is rated at 115. E rated tires are 121. Get the SL (115) Defenders. It is a fantastic tire. You'll get better ride quality, less road noise, and much better MPG. And as I mentioned earlier, higher load rating than the OE tires anyway.

And these tires punch UP when it comes to snow performance. I've been using Michelins my whole life (their high performance tires for sports cars though).

Now that I think of it, I believe the SL Defenders have a higher load rating than either the popular Cooper or Falken SL-rated A/T tires (or both). Though I might be mistaken.