Tires MICHELIN or NANKANG

Defenders are top of the line. Yokohama is good but usually slightly stiffer/harder tread compounds. Michelins are designed to be safe from the second you put them on till about 2/32 of tread or 4-5 years when the rubber dries out. If you drive a lot and value quality and safety Michelin is king.

Check out the Michelin Wild Enduro tires. Much cheaper than Maxxis, but, in my opinion, as good or even better

I have Nankang NS-25s on mine. Less than $100 each, and even with a Malone Stage 2 setup, it only spins the tires a little bit. Dry handling is surprisingly good as well. They put up with northern Illinois winters well enough, and are just fine in the rain. Not too much road noise either.

Im on my 2nd set of Michelin Premier A/S and I really like them on both my 14 Jetta TDI and my parents 15 Passat TDI. Its a decent budget Michelin that is good for about 50k miles.

I live in MN and switched out OEM ecopias on my '17 Mazda to some michelin cross climate+'s and absolutely love them! Drove thru a blizzard with them and thing handled beautifully on unplowed roads!

I put the car version of these on our Corolla last year before we sent it to our kid in CT last fall -- they said the car was great all winter, plus you can use them all year 'round. They just called us after someone blew a stop sign and pulled right out in front of them and said the car was able to stop so hard that everything flew into the dashboard which is the opposite of the Continental LRR tires that came on it where the ABS would just click uselessly on dry pavement. I didn't get to drive on them very much before we shipped the car up there, but they feel like a regular all-season tire, not a squirmy snow tire. I did pay $10 extra to get the V-rated version for a little extra stiffness.

I had Michelin X-Ice on my wife’s car this past season and they were by far the quietest snow tire I’ve ever had so I stay stick with Michelin.

I have a 2002 Explorer Eddie Bauer that I love. Fantastic vehicle, and we call her "Dora" (the Explorer.) I put Michelin Defender LTX M/S on mine. Works wonderfully, and since my family loves it too, the Michelins bring peace of mind since they are comfortable, tough, and have excellent traction wet and dry (I've not tried snow since it doesn't snow in SoCal.)

There were long sections of I-90 especially through Washington that were loud as f***. I don’t know if it’s damage due to chains or what, but I had to endure hours of this nonsense. Maybe it was my tires? They are Michelin Pilot Super Sports in 235/40R18 inflated up to 39 psi for the extra load. They’re silent on most other roads though.

one of the michelins on my car blew at about 14,000 mi. it had a slash/crack on the sidewall not covered by any warrenty......It could have been a slasher or road hazard but I had driven out of my driveway and down the road a couple of miles and then it blew.......if someone knifed it it seems it would have been flat before I left..........I don't recall any debris on the road that could've caused the cut........other than that they seemed ok....