If you drive a pickup, light truck or any sport-utility vehicle, and you’re looking for all-season tires that are quiet, durable and perform well in both dry and wet conditions, you need to check out the Michelin Premier LTX tires.
As you probably know, the French tire manufacturer Michelin is one of the most popular tire manufacturers in the world, and they certainly don’t disappoint here. Like all Michelin tires (you can read the review for the Premier A/S here), the LTX is ultra-safe, with superior traction and stopping power – even when worn.
So, if you’re looking to replace your tires and are considering Premier LTX, this review is for you. Here, you can check out how the Michelin Premier LTX preforms in dry conditions, on wet roads and snow and ice. You can also read about the tire’s noisiness levels (or rather, lack of), as well as its tread life and warranty. Don’t forget to check out the compatibility of the tire with your vehicle and finally, the section on whether or not these tires are the right tires for you.
Quick Overview
The Michelin Premier LTX tires are all-season tires, designed for light pickups, vans, crossovers, and SUVs. Like the Michelin Premier A/S tire, this tire too has a few unique features, including:
- EverGrip technology, the tire’s tread design that allows it to maintain its high level of traction even when worn;
- Extreme amounts of silica in the tire compound, which provides excellent wet grip;
- Sunflower oil in the tire compound, which allows the tire to be flexible at lower temperatures;
- Perfectly even-blended materials that help the tire keep its traction and grip as it wears out.
As usual, Michelin tries to combine safety, durability and fuel efficiency all in one, and they mostly succeed. The Premier LTX promises unbeatable wet traction, excellent stopping power, a comfortable and quiet ride, as well as a long tread life. Let’s see how the tires roll in reality.
Dry Performance
The Premier LTX tires perform amazingly well on both dry and wet roads. With them, you get a great driving control as they’re easy to handle and are highly responsive to steering and cornering. In fact, when it comes to day-to-day and highway driving for crossovers, pickups, light-duty vans and SUVs, the Premier LTX tires could be the ideal tires. Here is why.
The sidewall of the tire is tough, which helps prevent wear and prolong the tire life, but the tread is slightly softer than usual thanks to the sunflower oil compound, which ensures a firm grip even on rough surfaces. The result is a tire that practically glides on road and responds quickly to breaking – in other words, it’s super-comfortable, as well as safe.
But what’s really interesting about the Premier LTX is its EverGrip technology, which the Premier A/S tire also features. Basically, this technology allows the tire the widen the tread grooves as time goes by, and new grooves to emerge as the tread wears out. The result is excellent dry and wet traction even when the tire is worn. In fact, the manufacturer claims that even when worn, Premier LTX stops shorter on roads than leading competitor’s brand new tires.
So what does this mean in practical terms? These tires maintain their traction and performance throughout their whole life, thereby ensuring maximum safety.
Wet Performance
Like the Premier A/S, the LTX also shines in wet conditions. These tires drive smoothly and quietly in the rain, they stop quickly and efficiently and they’re easy to steer even in really wet conditions. This is thanks to the EverGrip tech we mentioned earlier.
- Expanding and Emerging Rain Grooves
The Michelin’s EverGrip technology has rain grooves that expand around the tire’s circumference as the tire wears, meaning the grooves widen as time goes by time to help maintain traction in wet conditions. But that’s not all – there are also hidden rain grooves present in the tread, which emerge across the tire’s shoulders as it wears out to help it retain even more traction in wet conditions. This feature helps the tire not only be super-safe during heavy rains but prolong its tread life.
These features – the expanding and emerging rain grooves – ensure the Michelin Premier LTX is able to funnel water efficiently throughout the tire’s entire lifetime. So, unlike most tires whose grooves lose depth over time and as a result the ability to evacuate water from the tire, the Premier LTX retains that ability even when worn. Hence, the company’s claim “Safe when new, safe when worn”.
- High-Traction Rubber Compound
The EverGrip compound contains extreme amounts of both silica and sunflower oil, which allow the tire to have hydroplaning resistance and excellent wet grip. The silica acts as a bonding agent that boosts tire strength, while the sunflower oil ensures a firm grip on wet roads and flexibility in lower temperatures.
These compounds are molded into a symmetric tread design that also features a center rib flanked by notched ribs and linked shoulder blocks. As for the internal structure of the tire, just like the Premier A/S, the LTX is made from two steel belts that are reinforced with spirally wrapped polyamide cord on top of a polyester casing ply. The whole design is such that the tire provides equally good traction in both dry and wet conditions – all throughout its lifetime.
Snow & Ice Performance
Since Michelin Premier LTX tires are all-season tires, they perform well in all conditions and all four seasons, however, these are not winter tires. This means they can handle light snow and moderately cold temperatures with no issues, but they are not designed for heavy snowfall, black ice, and extremely cold weather. Basically, all-season tires, including the Premier LTX, have a rubber thread that performs great during fall, spring and summer, but stiffens during extremely cold temperatures which affect how the tire drives, brakes, and corners. So, if you live in the area where winters get seriously cold and snowy, you definitely need winter tires for the entire winter.
Saying that the Premier LTX tire is decent on snowy and icy roads. Thanks to the large amounts of silica and sunflower oil in the EverGrip compound, the tire can handle low temperatures really well. The silica provides strength and durability which ensures the tire is stable on ice, while the sunflower oil makes the design flexible enough to handle light snow and cold weather.
It’s also good to know that the Premier LTX tire’s outer structure – its many blocks and sipes – help with snow performance. The design makes these tread blocks act as biting edges that cut through the snow, so you can drive confidently even on lightly packed snow.
Of course, bear in mind that these are not winter tires, so again, if you live in an area with super cold winters, it’s best to purchase specifically designed tires for such conditions, as they’re much safer. Read our helpful guide on the differences between all season and winter tires.
Noise & Comfort
When it comes to smooth and comfortable rides, the Michelin Premier LTX tires don’t disappoint. There are two reasons for this –the material of the rubber (silica and sunflower oil) and the internal structure of the tire.
- Silica and Sunflower Oil
As mentioned, the Premier LTX contains extreme amounts of silica and sunflower oil in the rubber compound. These help with multiple things, including allowing the tire to be super-strong and durable as well as flexible and slightly soft during lower temperatures. They also ensure the tire has a strong wet grip, as well as a good snow performance. But there’s also another thing these compounds help with – noise and comfort.
Silica, acting as a bonding agent that provides strength, and sunflower oil that provides needed flexibility, work in tandem when it comes to bumps on the road. A combination of these compounds allow the tire tread to have a great impact-absorbing ability, and as a result, offer a smooth, stable and comfortable ride.
- Internal Tire Structure
The internal structure of the tire also plays a huge role when it comes to comfort and noise level. The Premier LTX has twin steel belts that sit under polyester casing ply and that are strengthened with spirally wrapped polyamide cord. This ensures the tires are strong, durable and safe, as well as comfortable and steady on the road.
All in all, we found that the Premier LTX tires are pretty quiet, comfortable and easy to control. Minor bumps on the road cannot even be felt with these tires, as they provide a stable ride even on not-so-great asphalt. However, like most affordable tires, the Premier LTX tires do make a little bit of noise when you’re driving around 75mph or faster. Still, this is practically more of a hum than actual noise, and it’s not even noticeable most of the time.
It’s good to know that no matter which tires you use, it’s important to:
- Drive responsibly
- Keep them properly inflated
- Balance them regularly.
All of these things can affect how much noise a tire makes.
Tread Life & Warranty
The Premier LTX is backed by a 60,000 mile tread life warranty, while the tire uniformity is guaranteed for the first year (first 2/32″ of wear). The tire is durable thanks to its tread design which evolves as the tire wears to maintain traction and good grip (grooves widen as they wear out, and new ones emerge). And the tire’s internal structure also plays a role at keeping the tire strong and stable all throughout its lifetime.
This is a pretty good deal in theory, but in practice, the tires do seem to wear out quicker than they should. In fact, a good number of drivers complain about the Premier LTX wearing out much quicker than their guaranteed mileage, some saying the tires last about the half of their tread life warranty. On the other hand, you can find many reviews saying the Premier LTX tires not only last but exceed their tread life warranty, which only goes to show that when it comes to treading life and warranty, it’s mostly (but not completely) all about the drivers themselves.
Basically, how quickly your Premier LTX will wear out depends on a few factors:
- Which roads you are driving on: the smoother and cleaner the roads, the longer your tread life. The rougher the asphalt and the more bumps you encounter, the shorter your tread life.
- The way you drive: if you drive confidently and responsibly, these tires are guaranteed to last a very long time. However, if you often brake abruptly and aggressively, if you haul and tow different things, the tread life is likely to last a bit shorter.
- How well you maintain your tires: it’s no secret that many people simply do not maintain their tires. But if the tires of your vehicle are not properly inflated and you balance them once in a blue moon, you cannot expect to have a long tread life.
All in all, we found these tires to have a decent tread life if they’re well-maintained and you drive responsibly. If we’re talking about the numbers, you can expect to get anywhere between 30,000 to a little over 60,000 miles on the Premier LTX tires, depending on how, where and how often you drive, as well as how well you maintain the tires.
Compatibility
The Michelin Premier LTX tires are designed for SUVs, crossovers, light pickups and vans. There are various sizes available, so it’s really easy to find the right size for your vehicle. Of course, you also need to know your car’s make, model and year before you purchase the tires. We’ll list a few vehicles that fit the Premier LTX, as well as the tire sizes available, but if you don’t want to bother with these things, you can simply input your vehicle’s details on Amazon (or other websites if buying online) and choose the proper tire size.
Some vehicles that fit Michelin Premier LTX (this is NOT a complete list) are:
- Chevrolet: Tahoe, Silverado, Suburban, Avalanche, Colorado, Blazer, K2500
- Ford: Escape, Excursion, Expedition, Explorer, Ranger, Bronco, F-150
- Toyota: Tundra, Tacoma, Highlander, Land Cruiser, FJ Cruiser, Sequoia, 4Runner
- Jeep: Liberty, Grand Cherokee, Wrangler
- Dodge: Dakota, Ram, Durango
- GMC: Yukon, Canyon, Sierra
- Nissan: Frontier, Titan, Xterra
- Honda: CR-V, Element
- Hummer: H2, H3
- Mazda: B4000
- Lexus: GX470
- Isuzu: Trooper
- Mitsubishi: Montero
- Land Rover: Discovery
- Mercury: Mountaineer
If you’re interested in tire sizes, the Premier LTX tires range from 16 inches to 22 inches. These are the available size, as per TireSize.com.
- 16”
215/65R16 98H SL BSW
215/70R16 100H SL BSW
225/70R16 103H SL BSW
235/70R16 106H SL BSW
- 17”
225/60R17 99V SL BSW
225/65R17 102H SL BSW
235/60R17 102H SL BSW
235/65R17 104H SL BSW
245/65R17 107H SL BSW
255/60R17 106V SL BSW
265/65R17 112H SL BSW
275/55R17 109V SL BSW
- 18”
225/60R18 100H SL BSW
235/50R18 97V SL BSW
235/55R18 100H SL BSW
235/60R18 103H SL BSW
235/60R18 107V XL BSW
235/65R18 106H SL BSW
235/65R18 106V SL BSW
245/60R18 105V SL BSW
255/55R18 109V XL BSW
255/55R18 109H XL BSW
255/65R18 111H SL BSW
265/60R18 110T SL BSW
265/60R18 110V SL BSW
- 19”
225/55R19 99V SL BSW
235/45R19 95H SL BSW
235/50R19 99H SL BSW
235/55R19 101H SL BSW
235/55R19 101V SL BSW
245/55R19 103H SL BSW
255/50R19 107H XL BSW
255/55R19 111V XL BSW
255/60R19 109H SL BSW
275/55R19 111H SL BSW
- 20”
235/45R20 100H XL BSW
235/55R20 102V SL BSW
235/55R20 102H SL BSW
245/50R20 102V SL BSW
245/60R20 107H SL BSW
255/45R20 101H SL BSW
255/50R20 109V XL BSW
255/55R20 110H XL BSW
265/50R20 107V SL BSW
275/45R20 110V XL BSW
275/50R20 109H SL BSW
275/55R20 113H SL BSW
275/60R20 115H SL BSW
- 22”
265/40R22 106V XL BSW
275/45R22 112V XL BSW
285/45R22 114H XL BSW
Are Michelin Premier LTX the right Tires For Me?
Alright, we’ve covered the important information about the Michelin Premier LTX tires, and the only question that remains is, are these tires the right tires for you?
- If you need good-quality all-season tires for your SUV, crossover– yes, the Premier LTX may be the ideal tires for you. They’re easy to handle in dry, wet and even lightly snowy conditions, and they maintain their traction and firm grip all throughout their life.
- If you want super-comfy, quiet tires: yes, thanks to their internal structure and tread design, the Premier LTX tires practically glide over asphalt with little to no noise, even when driving fast. The EverGrip tech and special rubber compounds have excellent impact and vibration absorbing abilities, so they’re very quiet and stable.
- If you need ultra long tread life: perhaps yes, perhaps no, as this mostly depends on you, the driver. We mentioned that the way you drive, where you drive, how often you drive, as well as how well you maintain your tires affects your tires’ tread life immensely, so if you know you’re a good, responsible driver, the answer is easy – a definite yes to the premier LTX. If on the other hand, you’re still unsure on the road, you often brake abruptly and forget to check your tires to see if they’re properly inflated and balanced, then no, the Premier LTX are probably not the best tires for you, as the tread life will likely be much shorter than the guaranteed mileage.
Sources
- Michelin Premier LTX Tires, Tire Size
