Erik. I'm a Costco Tire Center Supervisor. I can help you out. What kind of driving do you do a majority of the time? City, Highway? Do you use service roads a lot? I'll be honest, the LTX A/T2 is not a very popular tire. Michelin has really messed up with the make of this tire. However, it
IS designed to look give you that "rugged" look but also perform both on and off-road, while still giving you the quiet comfort ride on city streets and highways without the annoying road noise. They tried to compete with the BFG All-Terrain and have it's strong point against it by saying it's quiet, but ANY off-road enthusiast knows that the All-Terrain has stood up to it's name and in all reality, doesn't care about the little road noise that comes along with it because when it comes down to it, it's worth it. The A/T2 is more based on looks.
Getting to be a little more technical, the A/T2 is made of a different rubber compound than the LTX M/S. It is a little softer, more silica based to help lessen the road noise of the bigger tread blocks, giving it that "quiet ride"... which means LESS miles for the life of the tire. The LTX M/S is a little harder rubber, giving you more miles, with a tread pattern that will give you a quiet ride. So like i said, it all depends on the type of driving you and what your preferences are.
If you're worried about balancing problems, either one of these tires should be fine. However, if you WERE to run into any problems and un-even wear, the first would be is the A/T2 because of the tread blocks/pattern. With the LTX M/S, you'll have less of a problem with un-even wear.
My suspicion with your toyos is that they were balanced improperly from day one. They sucky thing with tires is that once you have set a bad wear pattern, there's no fixing it unless it's caught in the early stages. And with LT tires, it's not hard to set a bad wear pattern. Wherever you happen to purchase next set of tires, ask for a
DYNAMIC balance.
DO NOT ALLOW ANY TIRE SHOP TO STATIC BALANCE YOUR TIRES. You could possibly run into the same problem you did with your toyos. Dynamic means that there is weight on the outside and inside of your wheel, and is used to balance the up and down, as well as side to side movement of the tire. Static is a weight on the inside, used to balance only the up and down movement. If you're picky and you do not like seeing weights on the outside of your wheel, ask for a dynamic balance but ask them to hide the weights on the outside. They should use a hammer weight for the inside lip and sticky weights on the backside of the face of the wheel. Make sure you BALANCE and ROTATE
EVERY 5-7,000 miles. Also, it's recommended that you get a FOUR wheel alignment after you get your new tires put on. "Mechanical" (alignment) wear is one of the leading causes of premature and irregular tire wear and will void any manufacturer's warranty and sometimes costco's warranty.
PM me if you have anymore questions about tires or Costco's tire center. I'll be more than happy to help you out. If you wan't to upsize to the LT265/75/16 with Costco, i'll let you know how to get around that
.
Tiff
Michelin LTX A/T2 or LTX M/S
Re: Michelin LTX A/T2 or LTX M/S
Bridgestones are a HT and they are made to ride smooth! The LTXAT2's are a good AT Tire, never used LTX MS not too much Mud & Snow here in NM, but lotta people run them here! really depends on your application and where you will be doing most of your driving! Have not been on wet grass yet but the AT2 should be better than any MS on wet grass. 2 complete different applications!
Linear Mode
