[hANNAbONE]

Sure the Michelin Defender to max out mileage/cost and if you do not care if you sub-optimize performance, especially in wet or snow. The defender is a hard tire that performs less well in wet and sucks in snow. Get Michelin CC2s if you value safety under wet and snow conditions.

Install a separate set of studded snow tires in the winter for really extreme conditions.

I cannot comment on Pirellis, etc. because I buy Michelins.

I have found the Defenders to be more than adequate in the harsh Iowa winters.

YMMV

 

[fixitfred]

I's a similar design to the Michelin Cross Climates. I wonder who stole it from who or did the computer modeling come up with the design.

Maybe the same program came up with the design. There can't be a whole lot of specialized tire design programs, or can there be?

 

[14v6]

I have found the Defenders to be more than adequate in the harsh Iowa winters.

YMMV

Iowa is flat, right?

 

[Farther]

Iowa is flat, right?

Your questions got me thinking:

 

[14v6]

Your questions got me thinking:
View attachment 471895

All I can tell you is that I had an Odyssey with Blizzaks but in the rare event that I had to be out on an unplowed road with a hill, it wasn't going anywhere. I'm going to see if TR has snow date on the Michelins.

 

[hANNAbONE]

Iowa is flat, right?

uh......nope - not even close to being flat unless you are north of Ames Iowa (*IA State Univ) heading towards the Minn. line.
Des Moines both East & West and South is very hilly.
Ask the people who do the Great Bike Ride Across Iowa every year for a week in late July -- from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River....they will tell you Iowa is most deff not flat.!! 8^)

 

[14v6]

uh......nope - not even close to being flat unless you are north of Ames Iowa (*IA State Univ) heading towards the Minn. line.
Des Moines both East & West and South is very hilly.
Ask the people who do the Great Bike Ride Across Iowa every year for a week in late July -- from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River....they will tell you Iowa is most deff not flat.!! 8^)

Tire Rack didn't have nice things to say about the Defender 2 for the snow, that's why I was asking if it's flat out there.

 

[mo-ski-luv]

Had to patch Michelin tire (at least once) on one car, Bridgestone tire on another car.

Pirelli on yet another car (or two) and two Michelin tires (!) on yet another car.

Not the tires. Not you. Just all the trash on the roads. I shudder driving on parking lots. Almost every time I do and on the walk to/from the store I spot tire hazard hardware. Seems to be worse now as many businesses have given up on having the parking lots swept.

Thanks... yeah, it's ugly out there, for real. Also, and maybe it's where I lived... When I was in the northeast, the roads SEEMED like they had less debris. But here in Texas and Louisiana, guys are always hauling shit with their janky trailers... Gotta make money, I know. But damn...

 

[Lions]

So this whole thread has left me very confused. I have Fierstone Destinations on my 2023 Ridgeline and I find them somewhat noisy and a bit "squishy" . We are seniors and our approach to snowy weather is to stay home and watch the fire. So, given that, little bad weather driving, seldom off the road, and a preference for a "quiet" tire (on a limited income), can anyone cut through the number of recommendations with a suggestion? My thanks.

We have snow no problem with the Firestone destination tires we took it up to Vermont snow covered roads no problems.

 

[joebeaster]

2021 ridgeline rtl 35,000 need advice on tires should i get a lesser tire knowing I don’t drive allot I have the oem stock tires they suited me fine but the cost between oem and Michelin, coopers are light years difference

I bought the Cross Climate Tires by Michelin. One of the few tires I read reviews on that had almost a perfect score. I have had just about every brand of tire and Michelins always last the longest and ride the best. The Cross Climate Tires do not disappoint. Not only is the traction excellent, but it is also good in rain and snow, and the handling is outstanding. The road noise is not bad, and I have close to 60k on these tires, with over 50% tread life remaining. I highly recommend spending the extra money on the Cross Climate Tires. Currently, there is an $80 rebate available with the purchase of four tires. You can order them through Walmart or any tire store, but the pricing was best at Costco. The only problem with Costco is that there is no local store near me, and I have not had to rebalance the tires or do anything but rotate them after 10k miles, which Pep Boys will do at no charge. 100% worth spending a little more for excellent control, and the tire tread and wear are also great.

 

[Bajabear]

So this whole thread has left me very confused. I have Fierstone Destinations on my 2023 Ridgeline and I find them somewhat noisy and a bit "squishy" . We are seniors and our approach to snowy weather is to stay home and watch the fire. So, given that, little bad weather driving, seldom off the road, and a preference for a "quiet" tire (on a limited income), can anyone cut through the number of recommendations with a suggestion? My thanks.

I have a 2008 RTL and recently installed 4 Cooper tires at Walmart. The total bill was just over $600 mounted, balanced, inside tire sensors serviced and an unlimited road hazard warranty. I recently pulled a 5,000 lb trailer from Rosarito Beach, Baja Mexico to northern Arkansas....just over 2,000 miles. 70-75 mph the entire trip. The tires were terrific, handling, heat dissipation, quiet and smooth. Can't recommend them enough...and at a good price too!

 

[Oly]

I bought the Cross Climate Tires by Michelin. One of the few tires I read reviews on that had almost a perfect score. I have had just about every brand of tire and Michelins always last the longest and ride the best. The Cross Climate Tires do not disappoint. Not only is the traction excellent, but it is also good in rain and snow, and the handling is outstanding. The road noise is not bad, and I have close to 60k on these tires, with over 50% tread life remaining. I highly recommend spending the extra money on the Cross Climate Tires. Currently, there is an $80 rebate available with the purchase of four tires. You can order them through Walmart or any tire store, but the pricing was best at Costco. The only problem with Costco is that there is no local store near me, and I have not had to rebalance the tires or do anything but rotate them after 10k miles, which Pep Boys will do at no charge. 100% worth spending a little more for excellent control, and the tire tread and wear are also great.

That is my experience with Michelin tires as well. I buy them for all of my rigs now, good traction and they last me 70k miles. hard to beat. I was a fan of the Parelli tires for a long time but can't seem to find them locally.
That said, last year I bought a truck with Goodyears on it, a brand I never would have considered. They are doing a great job. There are some great tire brands out there, but cheap tires are the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[BoulderBuster]

I bought the Cross Climate Tires by Michelin. One of the few tires I read reviews on that had almost a perfect score. I have had just about every brand of tire and Michelins always last the longest and ride the best. The Cross Climate Tires do not disappoint. Not only is the traction excellent, but it is also good in rain and snow, and the handling is outstanding. The road noise is not bad, and I have close to 60k on these tires, with over 50% tread life remaining. I highly recommend spending the extra money on the Cross Climate Tires. Currently, there is an $80 rebate available with the purchase of four tires. You can order them through Walmart or any tire store, but the pricing was best at Costco. The only problem with Costco is that there is no local store near me, and I have not had to rebalance the tires or do anything but rotate them after 10k miles, which Pep Boys will do at no charge. 100% worth spending a little more for excellent control, and the tire tread and wear are also great.

My experience, too. I first became aware of Michelin tires way back when I bought tires at Sears. Sears carried tires made by Michelin.

The tires were quite good.

Later starting with my time with German cars I experienced Michelin tires on my VW Golf TDi, later with my Boxster (after a few sets of Pirelli tires which also proved to be quite good tires) and Cayman S.

There was a break when I switched to Dodge cars and Pirelli tires were fitted. The Pirelli all season tires -- on my Hellcat! -- left something to be desired but the high performance Pirellis on my Scat Pack were great. Just like the Pirelli high performance tires were on my Boxster.

My MINIs had Pirelli run flats which were ok. I was comfortable with the ok-ness but I really liked the run flat feature a time or two it came into play.

Then more recently with my BMW M2 it came with Michelin high performance tires. Wonderful car. Wonderful tires. The M8 has Pirelli PZERO high performance tires and like my experience with Pirelli high peformance tires before these are proving to be great tires.

When the time comes for tires for my Ridgeline I could stay with the tires that are on the vehicle now the Firestone tires which so far appear to be doing great but I could also be tempted with a suitable Ridgeline compatible set of Michelin tires or even Pirelli tires.

It is nice that there are suitable alternatives.

 

[JVW]

I bought the Cross Climate Tires by Michelin. One of the few tires I read reviews on that had almost a perfect score. I have had just about every brand of tire and Michelins always last the longest and ride the best. The Cross Climate Tires do not disappoint. Not only is the traction excellent, but it is also good in rain and snow, and the handling is outstanding. The road noise is not bad, and I have close to 60k on these tires, with over 50% tread life remaining. I highly recommend spending the extra money on the Cross Climate Tires. Currently, there is an $80 rebate available with the purchase of four tires. You can order them through Walmart or any tire store, but the pricing was best at Costco. The only problem with Costco is that there is no local store near me, and I have not had to rebalance the tires or do anything but rotate them after 10k miles, which Pep Boys will do at no charge. 100% worth spending a little more for excellent control, and the tire tread and wear are also great.

The issue isn't driving in snow it is stopping on ice. Long lasting tires mean hard rubber compound which is usually not as good stopping on ice. I buy WINTER tires to be safe in winter and if the compromise is less life for added stopping capability I choose based on the latter...Blizzack on second rims is my setup.

 

[Bajabear]

The issue isn't driving in snow it is stopping on ice. Long lasting tires mean hard rubber compound which is usually not as good stopping on ice. I buy WINTER tires to be safe in winter and if the compromise is less life for added stopping capability I choose based on the latter...Blizzack on second rims is my setup.

NO tires will stop on ICE...packed snow maybe but not ice. I don't care how hard or soft the tires are, black ice, glare ice no rubber tire is getting any traction.

 

[wjfyfe]

NO tires will stop on ICE...packed snow maybe but not ice. I don't care how hard or soft the tires are, black ice, glare ice no rubber tire is getting any traction.

I will somewhat disagree where our Falken A/T Trail tires perform noticeably better than the OE tires on ice! I also have learned that on hard ice, pavement and concrete, studs become ice skates!
Bill

 

[Bajabear]

I will somewhat disagree where our Falken A/T Trail tires perform noticeably better than the OE tires on ice! I also have learned that on hard ice, pavement and concrete, studs become ice skates!
Bill

We're obviously using different definitions of ICE. I pulled doubles across the intermountain West for 22 years. The ice I'm referring to NOTHING can stop on it. Police, wreckers, cars, trucks etc....they all just slide into the ditches on the ice I'm familiar with.??

 

[rwokc]

I replaced tires on my 2020 RTL-E with 52K last spring. The Firestone OEMs had actually held up surprising well so I wasn't opposed to replace. After looking at various brands in a bang for the back mode, I actually went with the Michelin Defender tires, mostly because of their ratings and milage warranty. I plan on keeping this for a long time so the 75K milage was a bonus. The Michelins were predictably the most expensive, but they are noticeably a smoother ride than the Firestones (not that they were bad). If I was planning on only keeping the truck for a few years, I probably would have just got the Firestone LE2's again since they were cheaper. As I remember, I think I had it down to the Michelin Defender and a Yokohama tire (can't remember the model). I also live in Oklahoma, so snow is rarely a problem and wasn't really a factor in my decision. And, I'm retired, so when it does snow, I just stay home!!!

 

[wjfyfe]

We're obviously using different definitions of ICE. I pulled doubles across the intermountain West for 22 years. The ice I'm referring to NOTHING can stop on it. Police, wreckers, cars, trucks etc....they all just slide into the ditches on the ice I'm familiar with.??

An example of the type of situation that I am referring to is while returning home to Montana on the Interstate, loafing along fat, dumb and happy, suddenly vehicles around us, including semi-trucks, started careening into the ditches where we had yet become aware there even was black ice. Oops! Maybe we had better slow down also? 😬
Bill

 

[Steve Z]

2021 ridgeline rtl 35,000 need advice on tires should i get a lesser tire knowing I don’t drive allot I have the oem stock tires they suited me fine but the cost between oem and Michelin, coopers are light years difference

My son recently replaced his Firestone oe with the same Firestone at 72000. Dealer had buy three get one free. 2022 Ridgeline Sport.