Originally Posted By: TWG1572
That I get - I didn't explain well. Many of the forum responses here seem to indicate that if a particular tire is used for an OEM tire, the quality is different in that size vs. the rest of the line.
I wouldn't say that the
quality is different, but the
behavior certainly often is! OEM tires, as specified by the vehicle manufacturer, often sacrifice wet/snow traction and long life for low rolling resistance and a quiet/comfortable ride. This obviously isn't always the case, but it often is, especially with passenger car and light truck tires.
Originally Posted By: TWG1572
This is a bit of an academic question because the Latitudes look to have an iffy snow rating on TireRack so I'm not sure they are the best choice. I really wish I could get a Michelin M/S for this car...
If you go to Michelinman.com, and click on the "Specs" page for this tire, you can see that Michelin kindly provides the OE codes if the tire is an OE tire. Here is a link for your convenience:
http://www.michelinman.com/tire-selector/name/latitude-tour-tires#techspecs
You can see that there is no OE code listed for this tire in your size, so Michelin is not indicating that it's an OEM size. So that's a plus.
This question might REALLY be academic, however, because this tire is not available with the required speed rating, which is H. In fact, would you believe that Michelin doesn't make a single tire in that size and speed rating? Toyota used a very uncommon size, made even more uncommon with the requirement for an H-rated tire. Your full tire specification is 215/70R16 99H. You should shop for a tire that meets all of those criteria. In fact, many tire stores will not install tires with a lower load index or a lower speed rating than what the manufacturer originally installed.
Tires I would recommend include the BFGoodrich Long Trail T/A Tour, the Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia, and the Firestone Destination LE 2.
Also: by "M/S" tire, I assume you meant the Michelin LTX M/S or LTX M/S2 in particular, but all of these tires we're talking about are M&S tires (also called M/S, M-S, etc). M/S means Mud/Snow and it's a very simple mathematical calcuation on a tire's tread pattern. All a tire needs to have to be labeled "M/S" or "M&S" or "M-S" is a certain void-to-tread ratio. In other words, are there enough void areas in the tread as compared to solid tread blocks. It's a rather meaningless rating, and most tires available for sale are rated M&S, including passenger car all season tires.
Toyota did offer an optional tire size on upper-level trims, and it's a much more common size: 225/65R17. Here still, however, they specified an H-rated tire. I personally think this is significant because Toyota did not ship ANY RAV4, regardess of tire size or trim, with an S- or T-rated tire. I personally default to the OEM in this case and assume that there's likely a good reason for that, and I'd stick to it.
