Michelin AT2 tire evaluation at precisely 6 years old:
Purchased 4 Michelin LTX AT2 (245/75/R16, E-LR) 6 years old in 2-weeks:
-very nice riding tire, with 1300 LB pop-up camper during spring/summer;
-required almost no weight supplements to balance all 4 (remarkable!);
-we stored truck outside for 1st time since 2005, and I tried these tires in winter conditions: absolutely horrific in snow, ice and slush (of course; they are not winter compounded rubber!);
-very quiet sound on bare pavement;
-hold the road well in rains (during hellacious flooding in/near Elizabeth City area of North Carolina);
-front passenger tire showing MARKED crazing of entire sidewall since March, after only 26,000 KMS (16,155 miles) of use.
There it is. Will replace all 4 (with unknown brand), and trash the AT2s in May, before camper gets loaded. Currently, only driving truck to village 3 KMS away for groceries, till new tires installed.
*these tires were bought to replace 3 year old BFG TA/Ko LR-E tires that were catastrophically cracked (all 4 of them) between tread blocks and side-walls after only ~23,000 KMS (14,290 miles). Truck parked in the shade 91% of its life-span (45% of that 91% in indoor storage; the 9% traveling) with these tires mounted (ie. no incoming shortwave (UV-A or UV-B radiation; very little ground ozone up in the mountains here).
-very nice riding tire, with 1300 LB pop-up camper during spring/summer;
-required almost no weight supplements to balance all 4 (remarkable!);
-we stored truck outside for 1st time since 2005, and I tried these tires in winter conditions: absolutely horrific in snow, ice and slush (of course; they are not winter compounded rubber!);
-very quiet sound on bare pavement;
-hold the road well in rains (during hellacious flooding in/near Elizabeth City area of North Carolina);
-front passenger tire showing MARKED crazing of entire sidewall since March, after only 26,000 KMS (16,155 miles) of use.
There it is. Will replace all 4 (with unknown brand), and trash the AT2s in May, before camper gets loaded. Currently, only driving truck to village 3 KMS away for groceries, till new tires installed.
*these tires were bought to replace 3 year old BFG TA/Ko LR-E tires that were catastrophically cracked (all 4 of them) between tread blocks and side-walls after only ~23,000 KMS (14,290 miles). Truck parked in the shade 91% of its life-span (45% of that 91% in indoor storage; the 9% traveling) with these tires mounted (ie. no incoming shortwave (UV-A or UV-B radiation; very little ground ozone up in the mountains here).
