Tire Review - Michelin Defenders Go On Road and Off

Bluesky 07 · Aug 8, 2018

I bought Michelin Defenders a couple of years ago. As always with Michelins, they ride great and have performed very well in any weather conditions I've run across. But I hadn't had them in any challenging off-road situations and was quite impressed by their capability during the recent Kentucky Toyota Trail Ride (narrated highlights are here).

Started poking around online for more info on the Defender's design and how others had fared with it off the pavement and ran across this interesting 2015 review. Turns out my experience was typical in that this is a very capable tire both on the road and on the trail. Posting as it may be of interest to anyone who needs to replace their tires.

Redcamaro72 · Sep 10, 2018

Michelin Defenders are probably going to be my next tires for my limited 4 runner. I was hoping to find more info or reviews on them for winter driving since I live in the northeast Pa.

Thai · Feb 19, 2019

Thanks for the review. I was considering getting Continental but the review posted above swings me to Defender.

Bumbo · Feb 19, 2019

I would buy a Michelin Defender LTX M/S without hesitation after my experiences with the original Michelin LTX M/S2… they look like very similar tires.

Not only was it a stellar road tire, I had it on the truck when I did my Yellowstone road trip and found some light trails / fire roads, snow, rain and other all-weather situations and it preformed excellent in all of them.

They really held up to abuse well… I still had them when I started to get more into off-road and pushed them in environments they were not really designed for and even then they didn’t fail me. Obviously there are better choices to be had for off-road use, but they still managed to impress me with intentional abuse.

RPC · Feb 24, 2019

I had 265/70/17 Michelin Defenders put on my 2008 V8 April of last year during Toyota’s bi-annual buy 3, get the 4th for $1 sale (which was the best price I could possibly find on these tires). On average I only put a few miles a month on dirt roads, but I spend a lot of time on wet/snowy/hot/dusty/etc. roads and these tires perform phenomenally.

The only possible criticism I can come up with is that more than once they’ve broken contact with the road surface when it’s raining, but that could also be due to my speed.

I’d tell anyone who spends the majority of their time on paved roads to buy Michelin Defenders with confidence.

MAST4R · Feb 27, 2019

I have nothing against the Defender, but I watched that video on the link and did not see any challenging terrain.

There is nothing there to test the tires.

Thai · Feb 27, 2019

MAST4R said:
I have nothing against the Defender, but I watched that video on the link and did not see any challenging terrain.

There is nothing there to test the tires.

Plenty of pics here: Review: New Michelin Defender LTX M/S Tires

Pretty impressive for a highway tire. You can even air down it.

Bumbo · Feb 27, 2019

MAST4R said:
I have nothing against the Defender, but I watched that video on the link and did not see any challenging terrain.

There is nothing there to test the tires.

I think most people who are looking to buy this tire are looking for a highway / road tire. Probably with minimal or zero though of taking it off-road. The fact that it could hold its own from these various examples and my own personal experience was impressive to me.

Even for ourselves, this tire was purchased at a time when it was my wife’s commuter. She was looking at on road and highway mileage, wet performance, snow (CA winter snow boarding), road noise, and service life.

As I mentioned there are obviously better tires to consider, but in my road trips and early wheeling days, it did way more than I could have ever asked a highway tire to do. I didn’t really air down much at all, but if I did, it wasn’t below 20 PSI. I aired down because traction was hard to achieve over rocks hardpack, but I was doing thing a highway tire has no business doing.

This tire has 10 years on it, 60-70k highway miles, and then took out to to beat on. Chipped it up a bit on the rocks.

It was by no means a traction monster, but now I run mud terrains.

Took me to a lot of places before I got my act together.

Considering how aggressive of a tire most E load loving mall crawlers buy, I was having my cake and eating it too while not sacrificing a damn thing in a commuter.

Bumbo · Feb 27, 2019

I know we are talking a lot about off-road, but on road, this thing was quiet and smooth. It soaked up bumps/potholes and provided a lot of comfort. It really rode great. This was the tire that made me become a Michelin fan.

I have a passenger car as well, and the last set I went cheap cheap (Road Hugger – Discount Tires house brand), something I really regretted for the entire time I had them. Weak sidewalls, noisy, crap traction, terrible in the rain, handling was poor and feedback was “washed out”. I didn’t make the same mistake again, Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus makes thing feel better than it really is.

I know there are plenty of good brands out there, but Michelin makes a very respectable road tire. I’m a fan.

MAST4R · Feb 28, 2019

Thai said:
Plenty of pics here: Review: New Michelin Defender LTX M/S Tires

Pretty impressive for a highway tire. You can even air down it.

Bumbo said:
I think most people who are looking to buy this tire are looking for a highway / road tire. Probably with minimal or zero though of taking it off-road. The fact that it could hold its own from these various examples and my own personal experience was impressive to me.

Even for ourselves, this tire was purchased at a time when it was my wife’s commuter. She was looking at on road and highway mileage, wet performance, snow (CA winter snow boarding), road noise, and service life.

As I mentioned there are obviously better tires to consider, but in my road trips and early wheeling days, it did way more than I could have ever asked a highway tire to do. I didn’t really air down much at all, but if I did, it wasn’t below 20 PSI. I aired down because traction was hard to achieve over rocks hardpack, but I was doing thing a highway tire has no business doing.

This tire has 10 years on it, 60-70k highway miles, and then took out to to beat on. Chipped it up a bit on the rocks.

It was by no means a traction monster, but now I run mud terrains.

Took me to a lot of places before I got my act together.

Considering how aggressive of a tire most E load loving mall crawlers buy, I was having my cake and eating it too while not sacrificing a damn thing in a commuter.

These are much better reviews, yes. So the Defender would be perfect for lots of people. Most?

The gravel retention when I used street tires offroad was very annoying.

Jimmyasheville · Mar 13, 2019

Dealer tires

Was thinking of getting some Michelins for a 2016 Limited, stock sizing. While getting my new airbag inflators today, the dealer mentioned a buy three get one free tire sale soon. Has anyone participated in this type of Toyota tire sale? I usually get my rubber at Costco. Wondering if the out the door price will be lower than the costco free mounting, $70 off deals that are frequent.

Bumbo · Mar 13, 2019

I always found the buy 3 get 1 free deals to be funny... who buys 3 tires? Plus no such thing as free, the cost of the 3 cover the 4th. It generally all works out to about the same as anywhere else.

I always get discount tire to match Costco when they have those $70 off deals... so for me it's more about convenience and service. I like discount tire... and my local Costco is generally packed so DT gets me in/out faster and with better service.

If the dealer will match, and do the tire rotations for free, along with all the other stuff the retail tire shops do... then I say go for it.

Thai · Mar 13, 2019

For me, i am between this tire and Goodyear AT Adventure with Kevlar. Tough decision.

MAST4R · Mar 14, 2019

Thai said:
For me, i am between this tire and Goodyear AT Adventure with Kevlar. Tough decision.

Well, I could not find much of a reason to be impressed with the Adventure.

Michelin is a known commodity on road and should handle your mild off pavement use just fine except for gravel retention. That always annoyed me with street tires even when I was rarely off pavement.

With the Adventure you risk getting a little of both worlds, much of neither.

Why are you opposed to P-metric Wildpeaks?

Bluesky 07 · Mar 14, 2019

Thai said:
For me, i am between this tire and Goodyear AT Adventure with Kevlar. Tough decision.

This video I made about last year’s Kentucky Toyota Trail Ride may be helpful. It wasn’t rock crawling in Moab but frankly, my expectation for the “easy” group was basically fire roads and it was a little more challenging than that. The Defenders didn’t even break a sweat.

I agree with the earlier post that said most people think of these as road tires b/c I did too, but have been very pleasantly surprised. They last a long time too.

Thai · Mar 14, 2019

MAST4R said:
Well, I could not find much of a reason to be impressed with the Adventure.

Michelin is a known commodity on road and should handle your mild off pavement use just fine except for gravel retention. That always annoyed me with street tires even when I was rarely off pavement.

With the Adventure you risk getting a little of both worlds, much of neither.

Why are you opposed to P-metric Wildpeaks?

Why are you not impress with GY? What exactly you find wrong with it? It comes from a big company. It has strong sidewall, second only to BFG AT KO. Its tread is fairly aggressive (for a highway-ish tire). It does not affect fuel economy much (unlike Conti's). And from the other threads, it is very much proven on-road AND off-road by off-road reviewers.

I like Michelin because it is more street friendly and also because it is proven and from a big company. And again, like above, it does pretty well off-road. But i probably go to GY only because they look better (more aggressive) and possibly stronger sidewall....but damn, the Michelin sidewall is not that shabby!

Stone retention? That's with every tire not called mud-terrains! I had nasty stone retention with BFG KO too...and by nasty because they retained some big ass stones!

I felt bad all the drivers going behind my G-wagen!

As for Falkens, i just don't have the trust that you have in them. Maybe it is not, but i see them as 2nd tier player. And your own experience confirms that its sidewall may not be the strongest. Or just look at Discount Tire website...your AT tires are rated 2nd tier ("Better", not "Best").

What's the deal with you pushing Falkens so much?? Do you sell them?

Thai · Mar 14, 2019

Bluesky 07 said:
This video I made about last year’s Kentucky Toyota Trail Ride may be helpful. It wasn’t rock crawling in Moab but frankly, my expectation for the “easy” group was basically fire roads and it was a little more challenging than that. The Defenders didn’t even break a sweat.

I agree with the earlier post that said most people think of these as road tires b/c I did too, but have been very pleasantly surprised. They last a long time too.

Yeah, your video is probably about as rough as i will ever take my GX. My days of rock crawling and tougher terrain are over.

MAST4R · Mar 14, 2019

LOL! Maybe I should!

What I like in the Falkens you can probably also get from the new tires from General and Goodyear (they have two new designs).

That's very good street manners+ great offroad traction in dirt and in rock + sizable shoulder protectors to partly compensate for the inherently weaker sidewall construction of P-metric tires. It is the shoulder protector that limits the number of interesting to me P metric tires greatly.

DT ratings are puzzling. They rate the Goodyear Ultraterrain (B traction rating) best but the Wildpeaks (A traction rating) better. And so on and so forth.

Sumitomo is a big tire maker. I think #4 or 5. They are bigger than Toyo/Nitto and Cooper combined.

I understand the Defender temptation though. It may indeed be best for your use. And it is a Michelin. I am not sure there is another tire brand I would consider inherently more reputable than Falken/Toyo/Nitto/Kumho. But Michelin, ok, for street tires.

I was curious about the Kevlar one when you brought it up but did not find much on the internet to collaborate the enthusiasm of the article you linked.

Thai · Mar 14, 2019

MAST4R said:
LOL! Maybe I should!

What I like in the Falkens you can probably also get from the new tires from General and Goodyear (they have two new designs).

That's very good street manners+ great offroad traction in dirt and in rock + sizable shoulder protectors to partly compensate for the inherently weaker sidewall construction of P-metric tires. It is the shoulder protector that limits the number of interesting to me P metric tires greatly.

DT ratings are puzzling. They rate the Goodyear Ultraterrain (B traction rating) best but the Wildpeaks (A traction rating) better. And so on and so forth.

Sumitomo is a big tire maker. I think #4 or 5. They are bigger than Toyo/Nitto and Cooper combined.

I understand the Defender temptation though. It may indeed be best for your use. And it is a Michelin. I am not sure there is another tire brand I would consider inherently more reputable than Falken/Toyo/Nitto/Kumho. But Michelin, ok, for street tires.

I was curious about the Kevlar one when you brought it up but did not find much on the internet to collaborate the enthusiasm of the article you linked.

GY Ultra-terrain is Discount Tire exclusive. It does not have Kevlar. I do not think that it is a "new" design.

GY AT Adventure with Kevlar has A traction rating BTW. And it is in "BEST" category.

You did not find much to collaborate? Dude, there are MULTIPLE reviews from internet blogs to tire experts to hardcore off-roaders backing up Goodyear Adventure prowess. There is even a puncture test done on the GY! But wait, you trust TireRack's CONSUMER surveys instead!

BTW, TireRack site themselves like the GY tires too..."While we didn't get a chance to truly challenge the off-road capabilities of the Kevlar-reinforced treads or Durawall Technology sidewall rubber, past experience confirms both contribute to the tire's toughness and strength."

Btw, further debate of GY should be done in that thread. I don’t want to hijack this thread.

MSRP. · Mar 14, 2019

If you spend more time on pavement and aren't going to access remote areas, I wouldn't put anything else on a nice, plush, luxurious GX than the defenders.

Quiet, long service life, and tread that doesn't disappear when low on tread.
Unbeatable and painless treadlife warranty too.

Tire Review - Michelin Defenders Go On Road and Off

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