Bought a set of Michelin Defender tires for my stock 15 inch wheels on my 3.1L daily driver. Since it is a dd and I put on a lot of miles and we get lots of rain in Virginia, I wanted to find a set of tires that would grip well in wet and dry weather. I was also hoping to find a set that have a fairly long long life.

Defenders are advertised as being a good gripping tire in wet and dry and acceptable in winter. They are also supposed to last 80,000 miles. I don't see how chemistry and physics would allow all that. Usually there are trade offs such as good gripping performance, but short life or low rolling resistance, but poorer gripping ability.

After putting on several thousand miles in town, interstate, and mountain roads, I can report that they are much more quiet and smoother riding than the Kumhos I replaced with the Defenders. While they are not true performance tires, I can still really crank through curves and feel confident of the tire grip. They are also very stable in heavy rain and I have not experienced any hydroplaning yet. I was driving 70 mph on the interstate the other day in a heavy rain storm and felt very confident with the Defenders.

Whether they will get 80,000 miles or anything close to that, I won't know until I get 20 to 30 K miles on them. They are directional tires, so they need to be installed on the correct sides of the car.

Yesterday, I cranked through a wet 20 mph entrance ramp at about 45 mph. GF grabbed onto the door handle and screamed at me that the road was wet. I said, "yes, I know that's why I'm going so slow." When she finally started talking to me again, she told me I am a real smart ***. She's right, but really, I was not concerned because the tires do grip so well and I was not even close to being on the edge of control.

Just thought I would share my experience with the Michelin Defender tires. I've seen other reviews and they are similar to my experience. If I only get 50,000 miles out of these treads, I'll be very satisfied with this investment.

 

How much were they for all four?

 

Tire Rack has 4 for $456 plus shipping. Probably looking at about $500 including shipping. Then mounting and balancing for about $85 making a total of about $585.

 

In 2010, I bought a set of Cooper GLS's based on a recommendation from a friend who got 80,000 miles out of a set. I was pleased when I bought them, however I haven't had a chance to put very many miles on them because my camaro decided that it didn't want to be a DD anymore and life just hasn't given me a chance to get it back on the road. They MIGHT have 5K on them.


EDIT: Also, the tires I had on the car before were so dry rotted that the service techs were amazed that I had made it there without a tire failure...

 

I put a set of best Pep Boys tires on my Scion when they had a buy 3 get 1 free sale. They are made by Cooper and seem to be a very good tire and getting good tread wear. I don't push my Scion as hard as my Firebird, but like the feel of them on the Scion. If I was short on cash, I'd be comfortable putting a set on the bird.