I can't tell, are these 275/65R18? Or 275/70R18? Or something else?While I still think it's boring with the Michelin tires it isn't horrible. Glad I had it leveled 2.5 last week. Looks much better
Great choice if i do say so myself. I bought the same tires for my 21. I'll be buying them again when the 24 needs new shoes. I like the look and they perform well in the rain and snow, too.I personally like the look of my Conti Terrain Contact H/T's. I initially got the A/T's which admittedly looked a little better but was unsure of the mileage. My mpg's took an immediate hit by 2-3mpg. I had DT swap them for the H/T's because I felt confident they would not be as bad given their similar looks of the Michelin XTX's. Well, they were not as bad but still 1-2mpg less than the OEM Hankooks.
After coming to my senses, I realized i hit the trifecta of the start of colder winter weather, winter blend fuel, and fresh sticky rubber. All reduce milaege. After about 1500 miles my mpg's were right back to normal and that's even after installing a set of Eibach coilovers to level up the front. I detected no loss of mileage with the small lift.
The Conti's perform spectacularly. Supreme grip in the wet most of all. And overall a better wearing and feeling tire to the OEM Hankooks. Also quiet and smooth. Maybe a touch more difficult to get balanced right. But that could be the installer not taking their time. I always ask them to match up the balance dots with the valve stem. Seems to help.
Agreed! I really like them now. Especially withe the Eibach coilovers. They have a nice square look vs. the old Hankooks that had a softer rounder look to them. These look more 'tough'. The A/T's would look just that little bit 'tougher' but overall I think I'm on the right tire. They do almost anything the A/T's would have in my daily driving environment. If I someday get rich (not) and buy a farm or land, I'll go more aggressive.
Figured you had upped the size a bit. That's the perfect size for 18"s.
It is a good looking tire. I fight the urge sometimes to put something more aggressive looking on my trucks. I try to find a middle ground, but performance does come first for me.Do a lot of towing and interstating with the Powerboost Landyacht. And have been using the Michelins on my trucks since the mid 90's, when they raised the bar on what a premium truck tire should ride and handle like.
Admittedly today, there are more premium tires to compete against, but even with the recent compound change, the Defender just delivers on my expectations.
I personally think it's a great looking tire, but it's probably because I'm biased at this point.
I think some of mine might be balance being not quite perfect, too, but I haven't been motivated to have anyone try to rebalance them. I'm due to rotate them for the first time, so I'll probably do that this weekend and it'll be interesting to see if it changes at all.
I had mine roadforce balanced without much of a change.
Good show! I’ve always liked the KR wheels over the ‘Dark’ Sport style. But, I’ll see your Defenders and raise you a set of Terrain Contacts!Do a lot of towing and interstating with the Powerboost Landyacht. And have been using the Michelins on my trucks since the mid 90's, when they raised the bar on what a premium truck tire should ride and handle like.
Admittedly today, there are more premium tires to compete against, but even with the recent compound change, the Defender just delivers on my expectations.
I personally think it's a great looking tire, but it's probably because I'm biased at this point.
It's a mission thing.
Similar here - when I ran a single tire year round, I went with the General Grabber AT2 for better winter performance. For an A/T, they were surprisingly good in winter conditions - the performance wasn't as far off from a dedicated winter tire as I thought it would be. The new ATX version would probably still be my choice if I were looking for a "do it all" tire.It's a mission thing.
If my vehicle is going to need to manage tough off-road conditions, I'd choose the tire for the mission.
I've had KO2's on a truck when I was doing a fair amount of boondocking on beaches. I don't know that the Defenders wouldn't have handled the challenge, but I felt better with the improved sand/mud clearing tread blocks.
And honestly they weren't terrible, or even bad on pavement. But they were very noticeably less smooth and quiet.
What size Blizzaks do you use? Are they DM-V2 or LT? I just put a set of 20" Defenders on my truck, and will be getting a set of snow tires in October/November.
DM-V2. I ran Nokians previously, but the prices I got for them last time around were nuts. The Blizzaks are probably 95% as good as the Nokians were.
