Any Car Tire Enthusiasts Out There?

[thefoggycity]

Dear Bogleheads,

I'm looking to take advantage of the deals Costco has on tires now. I have a 2011 toyota highlander hybrid limited. Anyone have suggestions on the best tires you would recommend for regular city and highway driving, very moderate rain in the winter and occasional trips to the snow?

Here are the choices:

Thanks so much in advance for anything you can offer in terms of advice.

Michelin - Latitude Tour HP
Item # 782343

Michelin - CrossClimate2
Item # 1465945

Michelin - Defender LTX M/S
Item # 733348

Bridgestone - DUELER H/L 400
Item # 503939

Bridgestone - DUELER H/L 422 ECOPIA
Item # 1109114

Bridgestone - DUELER H/L ALENZA PLUS
Item # 849370

[Teague]

Go to tirerack.com and look for reviews by folks who own your type of car. The tires and car form a system, they work together. A great tire on one car may be less great on a different vehicle.

[Candor]

I have a 4Runner and it came with the Michelin - Defender LTX M/S tires. I researched tires on several 4Runner forums and it is a highly recommended tire for all around use. They are smooth and long lasting.

[galawdawg]

Another vote for Michelin Defenders.

[squirm]

Look for test reviews on tirerack and other sites like caranddriver. I don't trust personal reviews, such as someone says "the tires are quiet"...what does that mean? compared to what? what type of road surface, etc.

[BIGal]

We just replaced our Toyo tires on our 2017 Toyota Highlander with Michelin CrossClimate2 and love them. Smooth quiet ride and performed well in our first snow. If you have access to Consumer Reports you will find that the CrossClimate rates higher than the Defender 74 to 62 in the overall score.

[DoubleComma]

I currently Defender LTX M/S on my Suburban and previous Silverado. We spend a lot of time in mountains, so lots of “on snow” and “off road” miles every year. I have no complaints about wear life, traction or noise.

My current truck has OEM tires still. They are Bridgestone Dueler Alenza...no complaints, but only one trip on snow so far, and my only experience with a Bridgestone tire.

[Murgatroyd]

Replaced OE Bridgestone Dueler Alenzas on my 2015 Highlander with Goodyear Advantage T/As at Costco. The Bridgestones wore out at 34,000 miles and were noisy with a high pitch whine on the highway. I could not recommend them at all. I’ve had the Goodyear’s for a year and only 8,000 miles. So far so good, dramatically quieter, but it’s still too soon to recommend.

Edit: last year the Goodyear’s were the highest rated tire for my car on tire rack

Double Edit (shouldn’t do this while football is on): GoodRICH not Goodyear

[shamhouse]

I have used the LTX on many of my cars. Great tread life, safe and reliable. Costco has had a great price on them recently.

[bi0hazard]

I replaced Bridgestone Duelers (toast after 30k miles) on my 4wd Tahoe with Michelin Defender LTX . Quiet and great on the highway . Handles deep snow, deep sand and ice with relative ease. I’ve had the tires for about 35k miles. I think there’s about 10k usable tread left. If you can get a good price, Defenders are a great choice.

[Sandtrap]

Michelin Defenders on all our cars n trucks.
Good all around with some snow n ice. Long lasting.
Depends on your climate n road conditions.

j

[midareff]

Go to tirerack.com and look for reviews by folks who own your type of car. The tires and car form a system, they work together. A great tire on one car may be less great on a different vehicle.

+1 .. doubt I would consider the Bridgestones at all.

[suemarkp]

I second rhe Goodrich Advantage TA LT. First choice was the michelin cross climate SUV but there were none to be found in the western US in my size. The Advantage TA is another all season tire with the mountain and snowflake symbol. Handling is better than the factory Bridgestones they replaced. Has not snowed yet so i dont know how to rate that yet. They are quieter than the bridgestones, but i think the Bridgestones got noisier as they got older. So not a fair comparison.

[brajalle]

We just replaced our Toyo tires on our 2017 Toyota Highlander with Michelin CrossClimate2 and love them. Smooth quiet ride and performed well in our first snow. If you have access to Consumer Reports you will find that the CrossClimate rates higher than the Defender 74 to 62 in the overall score.

For the op, I would suggest going with the Nokian WR G4 SUV elsewhere, but I would echo BigAL, the CrossClimate2 are the next best option. They are a true all season tire and should be at the top of anyones list IMO.

[alexp]

I second recommendations for Michelin defenders. Pay attention to the weight ratings.

My local tire shop did a price match to Costco. They told me to go for higher weight rating for my SUV (similar to highlander) than the one Costco sells which is more suitable for a large sedan.

[illumination]

I have the Michelin Defenders on my Lexus GX, I got them through Costco and have been happy with them.

I've been really happy with my Michelin purchases over the years, I do think though they aren't as good as they once were, but still better than the other brands. Maybe I've been lucky, but the retailers seem way more easy about warranty replacement when it's a Michelin than the other brands. To me it's worth the extra cost on a car I plan to keep.

I had a bad experience with Bridgestone. Yokohama have been hit or miss. To me, the discount on the other brands is only like $15 a tire vs Michelin, just doesn't seem worth it. If you get one more year out of a good tire, it easily pays for itself.

[dru808]

The defender ltx.

[Carguy85]

The LTX tires that came factory on my 17 tundra had several chunks of tread missing at only about 10k mi...0 abuse and 100% on road driving......I must have got a bad batch...I’ve never had anything quite like that happen on any brand/type of tires. I believe the 15 highlander we had had the dueler alenzas stock and we seemed to get close to 50k mi from them.

[finite_difference]

If you’re driving in the snow, then I’d argue that you better use a winter tire if you want to call yourself a tire enthusiast!

So I’d recommend a set of Michelin Defenders for spring/summer/fall, and then during the winter swap it for Blizzaks/Hakkas.

[RastaToo]

Defenders from Costco have been great for me. I put E rated on my Tahoe for the extra tread depth and longer life but that may not be a choice for the Highlander size and it does have a little more "trucky" ride (which I oddly prefer). Costco has to special order those for you. Defender LTX "normal" on a Rogue and they have been great as well.

[dsmclone]

We just recently replaced my wifes tires on her SUV. Went to Tirerack to do the research and then found those tires at discount tire. Scheduled an appointment and they were like a Nascar crew. I got out of my car and within 30 minutes everything was complete.

We went with Continental CROSS CONTACT LX 25

It makes no sense to me to be loyal to one manufacture. They all make good and bad models of tire. Even among models, compounds change over time.

[keystone]

We just recently replaced my wifes tires on her SUV. Went to Tirerack to do the research and then found those tires at discount tire. Scheduled an appointment and they were like a Nascar crew. I got out of my car and within 30 minutes everything was complete.

We went with Continental CROSS CONTACT LX 25

It makes no sense to me to be loyal to one manufacture. They all make good and bad models of tire. Even among models, compounds change over time.

Similar story. We needed new tires on our 2017 Highlander and was set on getting Michelins from Costco. None of them were in stock and I decided to look elsewhere. I discovered the Continental TerrainContact H/T which were highly rated in Consumer Reports and Tire Rack. We were able to get them the same day. They ended up costing less than the Michelin's at Costco and we're very satisfied.