2018 CX-9 GT AWD, tires needed at 25K (replaced w/ Michelin Defender LTX M/S)

My 2018 CX9 AWD GT needs tires at just 25K. Disappointing. The factory Bridgestone Ecopia's are close to the wear bars and sound very much 'cupped' (no longer round). After a hydroplaning experience on the highway over the weekend, decided it was time to replace.

After some research, I decided to go with the Michelin Defender LTX M + S. The other tire I was considering was the Michelin Premier LTX.

While I wanted to stay with a V rated tire (the Premier), I decided to go with the Defender due to the superior winter traction and positive ratings associated with wear.

They're getting installed tomorrow. Will keep you posted.
 
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So, put 1K on the Michelin Defender LTX tires over the weekend (driving from FL to NY).

First impression is that the tires are a little bit more noisy than I was expecting. Not loud, just slightly noticeable. Given that these are M+S rated, not a huge surprise.

The ride is slightly softer. I'm good with this as the CX9 w/ V rated 255-50-20s was a little harsh for the category (in my opinion). Steering and responsiveness is great.

Overall, pleased with the purchase. Here's to hoping that these last far longer than 25K miles.
 
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So, put 1K on the Michelin Defender LTS tires over the weekend (driving from FL to NY).

First impression is that the tires are a little bit more noisy than I was expecting. Not loud, just slightly noticeable. Given that these are M+S rated, not a huge surprise.

The ride is slightly softer. I'm good with this as the CX9 w/ V rated 255-50-20s was a little harsh for the category (in my opinion). Steering and responsiveness is great.

Overall, pleased with the purchase. Here's to hoping that these last far longer than 25K miles.
You know, I noticed the same thing about the Premier LTX's I had installed on my Explorer a few years ago.

The OE Hankooks were quiet and smooth all the way to 70K miles, but they were terrible in the snow, so they had to be replaced before winter.

The Premier LTX's are lightyears ahead of the Hankooks for grip in snow and about equal for other weather, so it's an acceptable tradeoff with slightly more noise.
 
So, put 1K on the Michelin Defender LTS tires over the weekend (driving from FL to NY).

First impression is that the tires are a little bit more noisy than I was expecting. Not loud, just slightly noticeable. Given that these are M+S rated, not a huge surprise.

The ride is slightly softer. I'm good with this as the CX9 w/ V rated 255-50-20s was a little harsh for the category (in my opinion). Steering and responsiveness is great.

Overall, pleased with the purchase. Here's to hoping that these last far longer than 25K miles.
I got Michelin Premier LTX V rated for my 2016 GT. Have a road trip coming up in few weeks from J to FL as well. Can't wait to see how it feels on new Michelins.
 
We had our first snow storm in NY, about 6 inches or so in Westchester County.

While our friends in NJ declared a state of emergency, I packed the CX9 full of skis and headed north on route 684 during the peak of the storm. Only one of three lanes had been plowed and there was 2-3 inches on the road for most of the trip north. Max speed was 35-40 MPH. There was a 'truck ban' for most of Saturday which was nice.

The tires performed well. Despite the amount of snow on the road I never felt an issue with breaking or accelerating. Overall very impressed. Curious to see if these things perform as well as some claim they do at 40-50K+ miles.
 
I recently replaced my tires. The original tires, Falken Ziex CT50 handled great but wore too fast, 25k. I then put on some Michelin Premier LTX DT V from Discount Tire. They too were very good for the first 10k then became noisy. I swapped them to Michelin Defender LTX after only 15k on the Premier's, Discount Tire prorated me $800 towards new tires, not typically done. I found the Michelin Defender LTX to be very sloppy and unresponsive, H rated. I brought them back to Discount Tire and told them about my experience with the above tires and they suggested going with the Falken Ziex CT60. So far, the Falken Ziex CT60 handle just as good as the OE tires and they have a better wear rating, 680-A-A (Falken Ziex CT60) vs 300-A-A (Falken Ziex CT50). Theoretically they should last twice as long. The Falkens also come with 2 years road hazard from Falken.

Tires, too many choices, not enough actual long term reviews. Discount Tire told me they always push Michelin tires as they have a larger monetary return and are the best tires. Most people don't know any better, including me.
 
I recently replaced my tires. The original tires, Falken Ziex CT50 handled great but wore too fast, 25k. I then put on some Michelin Premier LTX DT V from Discount Tire. They too were very good for the first 10k then became noisy. I swapped them to Michelin Defender LTX after only 15k on the Premier's, Discount Tire prorated me $800 towards new tires, not typically done. I found the Michelin Defender LTX to be very sloppy and unresponsive, H rated. I brought them back to Discount Tire and told them about my experience with the above tires and they suggested going with the Falken Ziex CT60. So far, the Falken Ziex CT60 handle just as good as the OE tires and they have a better wear rating, 680-A-A (Falken Ziex CT60) vs 300-A-A (Falken Ziex CT50). Theoretically they should last twice as long. The Falkens also come with 2 years road hazard from Falken.

Tires, too many choices, not enough actual long term reviews. Discount Tire told me they always push Michelin tires as they have a larger monetary return and are the best tires. Most people don't know any better, including me.

Yes, the Defender LTX is definitely softer. However, for the category (a 3 ROW suv), especially in NY where our roads are similar to what you'd see in a 3rd world country, I think they work pretty well. I'll give them a super positive rating if they continue to perform long term.
 
Top 4 tires for our vehicles are Goodyear Assurance Comfort drive, Pirelli Scorpion Verde 3, Michelin Defender LTX M+S, and Continental Terrain contact H/T.

Stick with any of those and you will be happy.
 
I recently replaced my tires. The original tires, Falken Ziex CT50 handled great but wore too fast, 25k.
The UTQG on stock Falken® Ziex CT50 A/S P255/50R20 104V is “300 A A”, so 25K tread life isn’t too far off.


I then put on some Michelin Premier LTX DT V from Discount Tire. They too were very good for the first 10k then became noisy. I swapped them to Michelin Defender LTX after only 15k on the Premier's, Discount Tire prorated me $800 towards new tires, not typically done.
Discount Tire often goes extra steps to make customers happy, especially the tire purchase nowadays is very expensive, easily go over $1,000 for a new set. Once the DT replaced my new purchase 3 times for my 2000 BMW 528i with different brands due to the road noise. Their mileage credit from old tires towards new tire purchase is very generous ($800 from your Michelin® Premier® LTX®), as you also have found out.


I found the Michelin Defender LTX to be very sloppy and unresponsive, H rated. I brought them back to Discount Tire and told them about my experience with the above tires and they suggested going with the Falken Ziex CT60. So far, the Falken Ziex CT60 handle just as good as the OE tires and they have a better wear rating, 680-A-A (Falken Ziex CT60) vs 300-A-A (Falken Ziex CT50). Theoretically they should last twice as long. The Falkens also come with 2 years road hazard from Falken.
I used to get only Michelin’s even thought they’re the most expensive tires. But after a couple of blow-out incidents, and the responses from Michelin were very unsatisfactory, I started to select tires based on the best reviews for the best price. TireRack offers the most extensive review data, and I use it most often.


Tires, too many choices, not enough actual long term reviews. Discount Tire told me they always push Michelin tires as they have a larger monetary return and are the best tires. Most people don't know any better, including me.
Yes, too many choices, but not enough long-term reviews. As I mentioned above, TireRack offers the most extensive review data, and I use it the most. And:

255/50R20 Tire Comparison Table for Gen-2 CX-9 - Many to Choose From
 
Top 4 tires for our vehicles are Goodyear Assurance Comfort drive, Pirelli Scorpion Verde 3, Michelin Defender LTX M+S, and Continental Terrain contact H/T.

Stick with any of those and you will be happy.
Here're the short list of my top-3 choices on 255/50R20 based on the TireRack reviews:

Pirelli® Scorpion™ AS Plus 3
Bridgestone® Alenza Sport A/S
Goodyear® Assurance® WeatherReady®
 
Here're the short list of my top-3 choices on 255/50R20 based on the TireRack reviews:

Pirelli® Scorpion™ AS Plus 3
Bridgestone® Alenza Sport A/S
Goodyear® Assurance® WeatherReady®
I had looked at the WeatherReady as well as the others I posted before swapping the POS Bridgestone ecopias but the ComfortDrive tires had the perfect tread wear rating, perfect traction specs, sidewall rim guard built in, extra load AND great reviews from other sites and were out for around a year whereas the WeatherReady had mixed reviews and lesser specs. So, I went with the ComfortDrive at discount tire and let me tell you, NO COMPARISON to the Bridgestones. CX-9 handles and drives like it's on rails with a secure grip, quiet highway ride and stiffer feel in the wheel. The extra sidewall load rating is a bit stiffer in the way it soaks up some bumps but the tradeoff is the driving experience is that much more engaging. The rimguard is extremely protective as well. Had them on for 5k miles and tread looks new.
 
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I had looked at the WeatherReady as well as the others I posted before swapping the POS Bridgestone ecopias but the ComfortDrive tires had the perfect tread wear rating perfect traction specs, sidewall rim guard built in, extra load AND great reviews from other sites and were out for around a year whereas the WeatherReady had mixed reviews and lesser specs so went with the ComfortDrive at discount tire and let me tell you, NO COMPARISON to the Bridgestones. CX-9 handles and drives like it's on rails with a secure grip, quiet highway ride and stiffer feel in the wheel. The extra sidewall load rating is a bit stiffer in the way it soaks up some bumps but the tradeoff is the driving experience is that much more engaging. The rimguard is extremely protective as well. Had them on for 5k miles and tread looks new
One of the benefit on Goodyear® Assurance® WeatherReady® is the tire is Severe Snow Service rated which may be important for some.

Stock Bridgestone® Ecopia H/L 422 Plus 255/50R20 104V has UTQG “600 A A” based on the specs listed on TireRack, so how come it lasted only 25K miles for OP?
 
Wanted to comment that we have these Michelins on our Jeep Wrangler Sport with base suspension and drivetrain. They were OEM standard and we got about 40,000 miles out of them. We were very happy with their performance overall so we just replaced them with another set.

The Wrangler is not the quietest car so I can’t really comment on the tire noise as being worse than we expected. Some tire noise and wind noise definitely gets through. But the performance was always very good. Comfortable ride. For what they are, and what the vehicle is, handling was decent. We don’t do extreme off-roading but we do have dirt paths and some inclines on our land and have not had any issues even in RWD mode.
 
Quick update here:

My CX9's now at nearly ~46K miles. My Michelin Defender LTX have just over 20K miles. Despite being soft and supple over our crappy NY roads, they are wearing like iron -- more than 8/32 of tread left which is amazing considering the factory tires were shot at just over 20K miles. I had them balanced for the first time last week and the tech told me that the balancing was not necessary.

After 20K miles, tires are quiet, smooth, and wearing evenly. Highly recommend.
 
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I think the days of Defender LTX might be coming to an end. I have put these tires on two vehicles. 2003 Silverado 1500 2WD and a Ford Focus. Love these tires. Michelin web site shows similar tire with exact tread pattern so maybe they just renamed them. My 2022 Touring has 255/60-18 and zero choices in that size. I use tirerack and there isnt anything avail in that size. Online tire calculators actually say the 245 60 is the next best replacement and then the 265 60 in that order. We are talking about 1/4" difference in width and 1.6% diff on circumference/speedo. Costco had the defender 2s available which is a very new Michelin Tire so I don't know. But the tread pattern didn't look very aggressive. I need something that's good in the snow or else I'm not buying it. The stock Yokohama geolanders are absolutely scary winter tires and I've driven my whole life in the snow
 
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