Stock 275/65/18 C Duratrac vs 275/60/20 Michelin Defender LTX M/S MTP

[Andystoy AT4]

275/60 R20 Michelin LTX M/S MTP tires (Canada) vs stock 275/65/R18 Goodyear Duratrac C (Mexico)

Michelins 33" vs Goodyear 32.3" so about 2.17% less rotation and a speedometer error of 61.3 mph vs 60 mph indicated.

The michelins are mounted on 20x9 GMC rims with TPS sensors vs the Goodyears on 18x8.5 factory rims.

I was expecting a slight weight savings with the 20" michelins but was surprised when both tires and rims weighed 80 lbs. No savings in rotating mass. They are the same width at 10.8" but the 20" have a 6.5" sidewall and the 18s have a 7".

Looking at the Michelins they are more a highway tire and hopefully much quieter than the Duratracs which are an offroad mud tire. Both have the M/S designation but neither has the snowflake so 3 season tires. The Michelins should have a lower rolling resistance but may be lost due to the truck sitting about 0.45" higher and more air drag? The michelins have a much longer projected tire life 70k/115k km vs 50k/80k km.

I will run the Michelins for about a month and switch back to the Duratracs for the winter season (4 months) and than back to the Michelins for the remaining 8 months. I will update the thread in a month or two after I have some driving experience with the Michelins in light snow and ice conditions. Hopefully the michelins will be much quieter.

Took a drive this morning and the road noise is gone and the truck doesn't wander like it used to with the Duratracs.

 

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[adeerchaser]

Awwwww Nawwww gonna kill the looks of a AT4 with street tires off a car. . I have never bought a 4 wheel drive truck with road noise or gas milage as a concern. LOL

 

[Andystoy AT4]

Well there you go different strokes for different folks. Since I am not a look at me guy I hope they will work well for me.

 

[flcmcya]

The Michelins are suprisingly decent in snow for what they are.

The Duratracs eat up the deep stuff!

 

[RugbyRef]

@Andystoy AT4 - do you have a pic with the Michelin's on the truck?

 

[Andystoy AT4]

Here is a pic of the passenger front tire.

 

[Andystoy AT4]

Back to the Duratracs for the winter and I can say the michelins have decent traction on the ice. We have had about 8"/20 cm. of snow so far. The side roads are icy so I was able to play a bit to check out the traction.

I had trouble taking off a couple of wheel studs the first time, they appeared to have a white thread lock on them that required more effort than usual to remove them and put them back on. When I tried to remove the rear wheel nuts I had one that required a lot of effort to remove resulting in a stripped thread and nut.
Part #12451948 is the new stud and is easily replaced by removing the 3 x 13mm bolts that hold the aluminum guard on from the back side and positioning the stud forward 8-11 o'clock position, a couple of blows with a 3 pound hammer popped the stud out the back and after positioning the new stud in place I used a new nut to pull the stud back into position, replaced the wheel and torqued to spec.

The original wheels and TPMS are back on but the truck would not relearn the sensors so tomorrow I will try again. The truck and ECM go into relearn but the TPMS tool is unable to trigger the sensor so that the ECM recognizes its position.

 

[Big Kahuna]

I like the off road looking tire but those good year on my new 2023 are darn loud they drive me crazy, loud at low speed medium high speed I cant believe gmc selected those tires for this truck must be something nicer out there, those good year are awful

 

[Andystoy AT4]

I tried my new VXDAS EL-50448 TPMS reset tool this morning and the relearn worked the first time with the original rims and tires.

Makes me wonder if the second set of rims that I tried to relearn unsuccessfully with the MAXITPMS TS508 tool was operator error or the tool not working?

 

[Rle312]

View attachment 2144 275/60 R20 Michelin LTX M/S MTP tires (Canada) vs stock 275/65/R18 Goodyear Duratrac C (Mexico)

Michelins 33" vs Goodyear 32.3" so about 2.17% less rotation and a speedometer error of 61.3 mph vs 60 mph indicated.

The michelins are mounted on 20x9 GMC rims with TPS sensors vs the Goodyears on 18x8.5 factory rims.

I was expecting a slight weight savings with the 20" michelins but was surprised when both tires and rims weighed 80 lbs. No savings in rotating mass. They are the same width at 10.8" but the 20" have a 6.5" sidewall and the 18s have a 7".

Looking at the Michelins they are more a highway tire and hopefully much quieter than the Duratracs which are an offroad mud tire. Both have the M/S designation but neither has the snowflake so 3 season tires. The Michelins should have a lower rolling resistance but may be lost due to the truck sitting about 0.45" higher and more air drag? The michelins have a much longer projected tire life 70k/115k km vs 50k/80k km.

I will run the Michelins for about a month and switch back to the Duratracs for the winter season (4 months) and than back to the Michelins for the remaining 8 months. I will update the thread in a month or two after I have some driving experience with the Michelins in light snow and ice conditions. Hopefully the michelins will be much quieter.

Took a drive this morning and the road noise is gone and the truck doesn't wander like it used to with the Duratracs.

I have these Michelin LTX's on a Explorer and have nothing bad to say about them. They lack the aggressive style, but they perform well on and off-road (mainly snow/ice). Also, they wear really well. Great tire.

 

[wvbkw]

Ditto - I run BFG ATKO2 or Michelin Defenders on everything. The Michelins are a heck of a tire.

I agree they don't look amazing, but I am not sure there is a better tire out there for 90% of folks. I love the goodyear look, but they are just too dang loud for me.

 

[Andystoy AT4]

I tried my new VXDAS EL-50448 TPMS reset tool this morning and the relearn worked the first time with the original rims and tires.

Makes me wonder if the second set of rims that I tried to relearn unsuccessfully with the MAXITPMS TS508 tool was operator error or the tool not working?

I bought a set of like new take off GMC takeoff rims with stock sensors (Shrader type made in the UK) and could not get them to work on this truck despite many attempts.

Solution: I bought 4 new sensors from the dealer (13542523 Shrader type made in Mexico) complete with stems and decided to replace the ones that didn't work. The valve stems look like new.

Broke the tire bead on the valve stem side, held the tire tire down to provide access to the sensor and used a Torx #10 bit and a small 1/4" drive ratchet to remove the old senors without removing the valve stem. The screw holding the sensor onto the brass extention on the valve stem squeaks when you remove it and you want to check that you tighten the screw enough with the new sensor in place so the sensor doesn't move. After install inflate the tire to seat the bead (mine all set at about 16 lbs.) and inflated the tire to 40 lbs.

After I installed the 4 new rims on the vehicle I left them on over night without attempting any relearn etc. The next day I got ready to do the relearn process but when I started the vehicle to get access to the relearn screen (unable to select it initially without starting) the tire screen showed the 4 tires all with pressures just as it had with the original tires? It turns out that the refreshed version of 1500 with the new protocol has a "self learning system" which found the new sensors and relearned them overnight.

After driving the truck a short distance all 4 senors displayed the pressure within 4 kpa (0.5 psi).