Michelin Defender LTX M/S Review: Michelin had already manufactured the near-perfect Michelin LTX M/S 2 that no one would have predicted needed boosting. But they engineered an improved generation of this exception tire by launching the Defender LTX M/S.
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Michelin Defender LTX M/S Review
Michelin built the Defender LTX M S by picking the best traits of its predecessor LTX M/S 2 and infusing them with their EverTread technology that improves the car’s durability. The Evertread technology, according to Michelin, made the Defender LTX M/S 10% more durable than the generation that it succeeded; the LTX M/S2. This was to better satisfy current trucks’ high-torque demands.
The EverTread compound is molded into an asymmetric tread design with stable independent tread blocks and high-density 3-D Active Sipes for all-season grip in dry and wet conditions.
Michelin’s Highway All-Season tire, the Defender LTX M/S, was designed to combine long tread life with all-season capability for vans, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles.
Michelin as well employs a technology that saves fuels by a big margin, making it an environmentally friendly tire. They claim that these tires, when used to their full lifetime, will save the owner up to 270 liters of fuel in comparison with Michelin’s tire manufacturing competitors.
The Defender LTX M/S achieves safety, durability, comfort, and is fuel economical at the same without the car’s tire wearing off easily, a phenomenon called Total Performance that is only synonymous with Michelin.
To improve wet traction and stopping performance, four large circumferential channels, many lateral grooves, and open shoulder slots encourage lateral water evacuation.
Michelin’s MaxTouch Construction is used in the Defender LTX MS to effectively disperse forces across the tire for longer tread life. Gravel road resilience to chipping and uneven wear has also been improved.
In the wet surfaces and ice, it provides superior snow and wet traction, as well as shorter stopping distances. The tread has a lot of siping, which gives it an advantage over practically every other all-season tire in terms of winter capabilities.
The Defender LTX M/S is available in a whopping 76 different sizes that are spread out into 8 different rim modules based on the rim’s diameter. The rim diameters are 15 inches, 16 inches, 17 inches, 18 inches, 19 inches, 20 inches, 21 inches, and 22 inches.
Michelin’s mileage warranty varies greatly depending on the speed rating of the Defender LTX M/S tires. R-rated tires, which are built for high-speed, high-performance vehicles, have a 50,000-mile warranty, while H and T-rated tires have a 70,000-mile warranty.
Read: Michelin Defender TH Review
Michelin Defender LTX M/S Deigned for?
The Michelin Defender LTX M/S has been designed for use on the majority of light trucks, vans, shuttles, chassis cab vehicles that use heavy-duty, and SUV models. It includes a number of enhancements to ensure that it provides a safe, efficient, and comfortable ride on all surfaces while remaining quiet enough not to disrupt the passenger cabin’s atmosphere.
Michelin Defender LTX M/S All-Season Features
Michelin’s Defender LTX M/S is an all-season light truck tire build to withstand any rigor of terrain all year long.
The EverTread technology is engineered to ensure that the tire resists wear and tear under any road condition. Traction on wet, dry, and snowy road surfaces is undoubtedly among the best in the market. The EverTread compound is built into symmetric treads designed to offer drives traction in all seasons, including improved handling on dry and wet surfaces as well as shortening the braking capabilities.
The tread has four large circumferential grooves, joined by a number of lateral grooves, open shoulder blocks, and full-depth sipes that help in the expulsion of water under the tire to aid maximize aquaplaning resistance.
The MaxTouch Construction was also used in the sidewall to enhance the contact patch and improve overall handling, stability, and braking on a variety of surfaces.
Find: Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 Plus Review
Michelin Defender LTX Reviews
How is the Defender’s LTX M/S’s performance on wet, slippery, or muddy surfaces?
This tire performs exceptionally well on wet surfaces. The rubber is near perfect for rainy roads. Traction is incredible, the cornering contact is perfect on wet and slippery surfaces and the braking distance is very short. The usual Michelin technology is employed to deliver a comfortable and untroubled drive on wet roads.
The four wide circumferential grooves and multiple lateral grooves help in the evacuation of water off the tread’s way and in return increasing the aquaplaning resistance.
Michelin’s MaxTouch Construction distributes the stresses of acceleration, braking, and cornering more evenly for improved rolling resistance on slippery surfaces.
How is the Defender LTX M/S’ performance on Snow and Icy surfaces?
All-Season tires are designed to perform amazing on light wintry surfaces. And the Defender LTX M/S is no different. However, as a precaution, all-season tires are not specialized to perform well in very extreme winter conditions or on thick snow surfaces. Having said that, here are the features that make the Defender LTX M/S one of the best all-season tires on the snow.
The handling is adequate, and the braking distances aren’t excessive. Michelin’s MaxTouch Construction is used in the tire’s profile to create a contact patch that uniformly distributes accelerating, braking, and cornering forces, resulting in reliable traction on ice and snowy surfaces. The Defender also has numerous sipes that sweets at bay snow particles.
How is the Defender LTX M/S’s performance on Dry surfaces?
The dry traction is excellent as expected. The Defender LTX is built with an advanced rubber-silica compound, which increases the dry gripping action.
The dry biting grip is provided by the micro sipes in the three center tread blocks and grooves. To provide all-season grip on dry roads, this compound is molded into a symmetric tread design of stable independent tread blocks with high-density 3-D Active Sipes.
How is the Defender LTX M/S’s Performance off-road?
The Defender LTX M/S is not specialized for off-road driving. It lacks the specialized features that can withstand the rough terrains and increase traction on such surfaces. However, one can drive off-road only to moderate levels because the Defender LTX M/S’ robust casing should be able to withstand cuts and chipping from small stones.
Eco-Friendly and Fuel Efficiency
Michelin, on its website, has claimed that the Defender LTX M/S 2 is built with eco-friendly features that in the long run reduces the car’s fuel consumption. They claim that these tires, when used to their full lifetime, will save the owner up to 270 liters of fuel in comparison with Michelin’s tire manufacturing competitors.
Defender LTX M/S Durability and warranty
As always, you can bet a Michelin product to be durable. It is one area that the company takes great pride in. Defender LTX M/S is built to be tougher and last longer. Not only does the tire last for long, but Michelin is also building tires that can live up to these durability standards by subjecting their tires through rigorous testing in some unforgiving terrains. To illustrate the quality of the new tire’s manufacturing, Michelin put it through endurance tests of over 3,000 kilometers of tough gravel roads in Spain. Even when exposed to lengthy durations of operation over sharp rocks and irregular surfaces, the Defender LTX was able to withstand cutting and chunking of its tread blocks.
The Defender LTX M/S is an improved generation of the LTX M/S2. The improvement was because of the incorporation of the EverTread technology, which was engineered to withstand wear and tear on the tires. The Michelin Company claims that these technological additions enable the Defender LTX M/S to outlive LTX M/S2 by up to ten percent. This EverTread technology is also built to handle the spontaneous increases in the demand for torque in modern vehicles.
Michelin also uses MaxTouch Construction in the sidewall as well as an interior construction with twin steel belts to increase tire endurance on the surfaces for a long period of time, hence increasing its durability. The MaxTouch Construction featured resin and silica instead of the traditional oil. Raisin gave Michelin a stronger and more durable compound.
Michelin offers the following warranty; they offer the T and H-speed rated sizes have a 6-year or 70,000-mile tread warranty, while LT sizes have a 6-year or 50,000-mile warranty. For the first year or the first 2/32 inches of wear, tire homogeneity is assured.
Is the Michelin Defender LTX M/S comfortable and refined?
The Defender LTX M/S does great in proving that Michelin is one of the quietest and most comfortable tire manufacturers in the world. This tire’s sidewall has a lot of variable shoulder tread blocks, which reduces noise by 86 percent in every turn.
This tire’s symmetrical tread patterns help to balance its handling, cornering, and steering responsiveness, thus, it improves its comfort and responsiveness when instructed by the driver. The center block, in particular, makes a significant contribution to more stable driving.
The Defender LTX M/S Sizes and Load
The Defender LTX M/S is available in a whopping 76 different sizes that are spread out into 8 different rim modules based on the rim’s diameter. The rim diameters are 15 inches, 16 inches, 17 inches, 18 inches, 19 inches, 20 inches, 21 inches, and 22 inches.
The following are the sizes available across the 8 rim diameters.
- 15-inch sizes: 235/75/R15, 215/75/R15, and 31/10.5/R15
- 16-inch sizes: 215/70/R16, 235/70/R16, 245/70/R16, 255/70/R16, 245/75/R16, 215/55/R16, 265/70/R16, 255/65/R16, 265/75/R16, 275/70/R16, 285/75/R16
- 17- inch sizes: 225/65/R17, 225/55/R17, 235/65/R17, 255/75/R17, 245/65/R17, 225/75/R17, 235/75/R17, 255/65/R17, 215/50/R17, 265/70/R17, 235/70/R17, 265/65/R17, 255/70/R17, 245/75/R17, 285/70/R17
- 18-inch sizes: 235/65/R18, 265/60/R18, 235/55/R18, 235/60/R18, 265/70/R18, 265/65/R18, 245/60/R18, 275/60/R18, 255/65/R18, 285/60/R18, 255/55/R18, 275/65/R18, 275/70/R18, 295/70/R18, 285/65/R18
- 19-inch sizes: 235/45/R19, 255/60/R19, 235/55/R19, 245/55/R19, 255/50/R19
- 20-inch sizes: 255/55/R20, 275/55/R20, 245/60/R20, 255/50/R20, 265/50/R20, 275/60/R20, 285/50/R20, 265/60/R20, 305/50/R20, 275/65/R20, 295/60/R20, 285/60/R20, 35/12.5/R20
- 22-inch sizes: 305/40/R22, 285/45/R22
Conclusion
If you are looking for a durable tire for your mini-truck, shuttle, SUV. The Defender LTX M/S is an excellent choice for the craftsman, farmer, or recreational user who requires a tire that can endure rugged trails, dangerous construction sites, and going off the main path. On both dry and wet surfaces, the Defender LTX M/S outperforms the competition. The comfort levels are also quite good, the tread life is excellent, and these tires can be relied on even while hauling very big workloads. Furthermore, the tire’s robust casing allows it to be used on abrasive hardpacked surfaces.
Edward George is a Content Writer at Mzuri Auto Reviews. He has over 15 years of experience working in the automotive sector. He loves reviewing the latest car products, accessories, and more. Follow Mzuri Auto