I use to be the Michelin Man - I would buy a new vehicle and if it did not have Michelin tires I would go straight to Discount Tire and replace the OEM tires with Michelins. They will give you $50-$100 per tire trade in.
Always smooth ride, traction and good tread life.
That changed with my wife's RDX that came with Michelin Primacy MXM4P 235/60 R18. I got a nail in the sidewall on one at 6K so I bought one tire.
At 20K miles three tires worn out and the tire I replaced with only 14K miles on it was down to 5/32 (they start at 9/32)
These tires are rated for 55K miles -
Very disappointed. Strike one.
I decided to replace them all with my favorite tire, the Michelin Defender LTX M/S 70K warranty.
We traded the vehicle when it had 38K miles and the tires were down to 5/32 (start out 12/32) I had them rotated and the vehicle alignment was perfect. 7/32 in 18K miles.
I was disappointed again. Strike two.
In the meantime - The Michelin Defender LTX M/S I had on my Tahoe were 8 years old - they had 36K miles on them and the tread still looked great - I am sure they would have gone to 70K but they were all cracked - I didn't think it was safe to be driving on such old tires so I replaced them with the same tire. I was not unhappy - 8 years in the Texas sun is going to do some damage.
I now have 17K miles on them and they are down to 6/32 (started out at 12/32).
At the first rotation they had obviously worn faster than I expected - had a meeting with Discount Tire about it. They said there was nothing they could do -
Had my alignment checked - it was good.
I kept an eye on it and there is no doubt these tires are wearing much faster than the prior set. I will be lucky if I get to 25K - plus they are starting to crack - they are not that old. I may have to change them before I even get to 20K.
I was/am disappointed. Strike three!
Michelin is OUT.
My daughter needed tires on her Santa Fe - I went with Pirelli Scorpion All Season Plus 3 - she has about 7K on them and they still look new. The ride and handling on her SUV was also greatly improved over the Kumho Crugen KL33.
I still read good things about Michelin - I may give them another chance. But now I see the new Michelin Defender LTX M/S2 is only rated "B" in traction.
I am thinking they gave up some traction to increase the miles. While I understand this tradeoff I would rather not give up A rated traction. YMMV