96stroke

First time post, long time follower.
2018 with 265/60/18 tires and time for a new set. Truck came with the Hancook Dynapro HT 110T RH12s and when rotating them every oil change, got 78k with 3/32 remaining. 99.5% highway (@70+ MPH) use and pull a 1,200 lb trailer about 200 miles a week and a 4,000 lb trailer about 100 miles a month around the Houston, TX area.
Torn between the same tire, Michelin Defender LTX M/S, or Continental Terrain Contact HTs (all 110T also). What are you seeing real world mileage out of these tires?
I like the A-A rating of the Michelin much better than the B-A rating of the Hancook and much better than the A-B on the Continental.
Can I expect 95k out of the Michelin to make up the price difference? Do the Michelin's offer better MPG? Hard to justify the cost difference without knowing what you guys are really seeing.
Reading the many have noticed a 0.75-1 mpg drop with the Continentals. Is this true?

autoworker

I too, am looking for tires for a set of summer wheels. Michelin tires compound seems to harden as the tires age, making them ride rough. I’ve been looking at Pirelli Scorpions AS + 3 . They have a 70,000 mile warranty and have good reviews. If you are a Sams Club member, you can get $80 dollars off plus free mounting/ balance this weekend. That also applies to certain Goodyear and BF Goodrich tires. They say Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a good time to buy tires.

kalalp

My 2016 2WD has the same tire and is getting close to replacement. The research I did last week concluded with my recommendation to myself to install the new premium Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra in 265/65R18. This is a slightly taller tire but is cheaper than the 60 series for some reason when purchased from Costco right now with a $150 discount. I calculated that the slight difference in RPM(revolutions per mile) would put my speedometer right on target as it runs 2 mph too fast as do most vehicles in order to cut warranty costs down. The Michelin Defender of course is the standard by which tires are judged for these PU's, IMO. But they are expensive.

$773 + tax out the door installed. Read the reviews.

MotoMike

I only run Michelin on my vehicles. When I bought my '18 new, Defenders M/S in place of the installed Hankook's were part of the deal.

Sanf150

You are referring to my post about the Continentals. Its a nice and quiet smooth running tire and wearing good, havent put too many miles on it yet. Mileage hit is still the same. I have no idea about the Michelins. No one usually posts about mileage changes with new tires. It seems if the tires are softer, smoother running then rolling resistance goes up.

1fifty

I have gotten to the point where I just buy Michelins if they have the size and type I need for my vehicles. Putting a new set of Defender LTX M&S tires on next week actually.

tvsjr

It's hard to go wrong with Michelins. The Defender and LTX M/S tires are hugely popular for good reason.

GMC to Ford

I recently installed Michelins (LT285/70R17) and previously had Yoko Geolandar G015 (LT285/R20). The Michelin is slightly larger than the Yoko. My highway mileage improved about 0.7 MPG (16.5 MPG), but in town mileage is the same at 13.5. The best mileage on my vehicle with OEM tires was 16.7 MPG highway (275/55R20 Hankook DynaPro). My truck is rated for 15/21.

Ride quality is night & day difference (i.e. better).

My first choice was the Firestone Destination LE, but it is not offered in my size. It rates higher than the Michelin. I spent a lot of time reviewing the Michelin Aglis CrossClimate. The UPS driver's in my area use the Crossclimate 2, which is bidirectional tread without a mileage warranty. The UPS trucks are getting 40-50K on the tires and the driver's love them. The standard Crossclimate is a one-way tread which does not work well for uniform tire wear on a truck.

One complaint about Michelin Defender. The tread blocks are in a row with large spacing between treads. The straight line pattern results in tire wallowing on sections of pavement with seams in the direction of travel or on steel bridges.

BadAV

You should also consider the Michelin Agilis Crossclimate. It's rated ever so slightly higher than the Defender.

bajaman

Did you have any issues with the Hankook that would exclude them from your considerations? 78K is really good mileage...if mileage is one of the factors. Really anymore tires from all manufacturers are so good that I literally go with the tread pattern/how the tire LOOKS as the final decider.