@z71bill - I am very similar in what I’d like from my tires these days. Michelin LTX M/S is a gold standard, but to me in some ways a rather
boring tire. The ride is a little soft, it’s near useless in the mud. It’s pretty good in the snow. The ones I’ve had have all gotten loud later in life.
The continental AT has been great for me, and it also looks decent. It’s 90% or more of what the Michelin does in snow.
Have you looked at the new Bridgestone, the one replacing the revo3? I think it’s called the AT Ascent. It has a traditional AT knob design but the spacing is more aggressive. This could be a very interesting offering, as the reviews so far are quite good. Bridgestone makes a good tire if you stay out of their entry level offerings.
Per tirerack, there’s a cooper all terrain that is also getting high marks. I’m seeing them on a lot of half tons here, so they may be earning a good reputation. It’s a good looking tire for certain.
I’ve got oem Michelin primacy LTX on my Tacoma in the same size right now - 265/65r18. They ride soft and I don’t particularly care for them on a truck, but I just can’t justify changing them out yet. But I’ve certainly thought enough and read enough about it to narrow what I would do down to those three. My other thoughts on them:
Bridgestone. Will likely wear like iron. Though they are 3PMSF rated, snow traction in real life is probably mediocre. I would expect them to have minimal wear issues, and youll probably lose rain traction before they are out of tread.
Continental - likely the best wet traction of the bunch - there is some kind of magic in continental rubber that has been consistently excellent in the rain. Downside - both sets of continental ATs I’ve had developed a slight, or very slight, steering pull as they aged. I don’t entirely trust their manufacturing precision.
Cooper - I really liked the cooper RTX, which is 98% similar to the new one. It felt like a soft rubber utility vehicle tire. The first 30k were quiet and grippy and that soft rubber was a good safe bet on wet streets. Wet traction started to fade at 30k and despite regular rotations, all of them were cupping. Seemed like older tech. Also, cooper seems to have a ton of tire recalls.
Honorable mention. Yokohama G015. The unmentioned gem in the bunch. I wouldn’t suggest them for an open bed pickup because they need some weight over them to grip, but they are well made, balance out very well, silent, and drive like glass on an open interstate, the smoothest highway going “AT” I’ve known. They fall behind the Michelin and continental in wet grip, but in my mind ace the quality markers for a well-made tire.
I said - nope tires are getting louder as the age. Some roads are way worse than others. One patch of a concrete street is the worst, it is old and has some grooves in it.
That's a ton of money for tires.
