Michelin Defender tires report

So that means you can only fill up with nitrogen?

 

Air is 70% nitrogen.....

 

Nitrogen is far superior to just getting air at gas station IMO.. way less visits to get air refills..

 

Air at a gas station? Get a $20 pump. They even have electric ones.
And you have to pay for the extra 30% of nitrogen..

 

78%.

But whose counting.

 

Defenders vs Defender T+H: any difference? The same tires, apart from the badging??

 

IMHO...you did everything right except the N2 conversion. Use in cars and light trucks serves no purpose or benefit except the pocket book of the installer. It's a marketing scam. Now we use dry nitrogen in aircraft tires, but you will never see that extreme duty cycle...and they won't do 90,000 miles either.

 

Back while ago when I was making phone calls, yes phone calls, to tire shops, they all said Defender T H have replaced the 820 wear version of Defender Green-X. Some even said you won't notice the difference, same ratings. If I can't find a tire shop to put on 185 width tires then I'll have to go with 195 Defender T Hs next month. 2mm left til wear bar hits the ground.

 

It was only a $12 conversion for all four tires. In my personal experience, I’ve had to refill at Costco very little with nitrogen as a opposed to air at the gas station. Plus there are the purported advantages of better gas mileage, better wear on tires, etc.

We will see about the 80000 miles.

Plus I even did my spare tire.

Oh and for those wondering , It’s not pure nitrogen but just more nitrogen that your typical air refill. You can’t put pure nitrogen into your tires.

 

Thanks, it was a typo, and I wasn't paying attention!

 

Don't believe this without test data to support the claims. Who is doing the purporting?

 

I guess it makes sense if you are not a DIY'er or don't check your air pressure very often.

As for myself, I check weekly on all of our cars and it is always a little bit off. Of course it has been said that I can be a bit obsessive about it so take that for what it's worth. I also use a manual bike pump to top them up..heck, it's exercise right? I also always shovel in the winter 'for exercise' and have never heard the end of it from neighbors, etc...but that is way off topic.

BTW - We have defenders on our Prius V and liftback and they are doing great. I'll admit...I don't rotate them as much as I should though.

 

With the way I drive my car and my upkeep on car (including timely rotations), I’m confident in the 80000 miles from the Defenders.

Getting my car back now after alignment .. Hopefully the tech did a good job..

 

Costco is running a sale on Michelins this month. Wondering if I should hold out for the Bridgestone sale and replace my EP422+ with the same set or go with the Defender. I still some tread left but the feeling of hydroplane every time I drive in the rain make me want to replace them ASAP.

 

I think the Defender is a better tire all around.

 

I too have Defenders on my 2010. Only had the car for a couple of weeks but getting 56 mpg stated and 55.2 actual. I have the tires pumped up to 39 psi and ride is smooth and stable.

 

You can't go wrong with the Defenders. They have been a popular choice around here for quite a while. Personally, we run them on our Prius liftback and Prius v (wagon).

However, there is another thread over on the Prime forum that is interesting regarding Yokohama Avid Ascend GT's :

Better Handling On A Budget ! | PriusChat

They look quite promising and if the TireRack survey charts are to be believed...they are right up there with the Defenders.

 

Nothing on that thread covered actual mpg improvements, just all specs comparison and speculation. And no I wasn’t just scanning for photos only and yes I red everything in that post.

 

Yeah..quite a bit of the tire discussion around here is for those of us that need a 'higher performance' tire for winter conditions, etc...Many of the 'energy saving' tires do not rate nearly as high in those areas ( as you well know..I'm sure ). I brought up the Michelin Defenders because quite a few of us have them...and love them. However, they do hit your MPG a little bit.

With that said, if MPG improvements are you primary goal..then by all means shop for the lowest rolling resistance you can find. However, they certainly do have tradeoffs. They just don't cut it up here in MN ( for us at least ). Especially since the teenage kid drives the liftback in the winter.

 

I have not yet found any technical documentation that quantifies rolling resistance on various tires. The claims of low rolling resistance (i.e. green, eco, energy) are marketing and I have not found them to be backed up with actual test data showing the specific rolling resistance of any of these tires under controlled and repeatable conditions.