New Tires to replace Cooper Zeon

[chrisp]

Howdy. I've had Cooper Zeon LTX 285/50/20's on my 2012 LR4 for years and love them.
They unfortunately stopped making them, so I'm going to likely replace them in the next few months.
I've been eyeballing the Nitto G3, but they don't come in 285/50.
They have 285/55 and 275/55.
285/50 fits perfectly with a tiny bit of rubbing only with full turns.
I'm leaning towards the 275/55, but wondering if anyone's run these on a LR4 with 20inch rims.

Back when I grabbed the Coopers, it was one of the go to tires (other than the G2).

 

[mm3846]

Michelin Defenders

 

[txfromwi]

Michelin Cross Climate 2.
Simply the most amazing tire ever!

 

[Longtrail]

There's another threads somewhere about these tires; I hear the Michelin Cross Climate 2 is fantastic in the snow; this is likely my next tire as I'm not an off roader.

 

[mm3846]

can’t get cross climates in that size

 

[txfromwi]

I know status changes, but I have them on the 2016.

Because the 2016 was out of state I paid the price and had them done at the dealership in Rochester, NY.
It took them a while to get the tires, (and a new spare) - I think it took them a couple of weeks - but I gave them several months notice.

I just put a set on the 2011 Honda Pilot - different size of course, but those tires came from the Dallas warehouse and took about a week.

They are rare creatures, but they are available....

 

[itsaguything]

hmmm... I'm not too far from Rochester and I do cut through the Adirondacks on the way to VT in all the weather, in all the seasons.

We will have to agree to disagree; imho all season tires are not suitable for winters here. period.

As a result, Michelin X-Ice, Bridgestone Blizzaks, and MichelinPilot Alpins win... by miles.

There's nothing wrong with the Pirelli Scorpion ATs or the Toyo Open Countrys or any of the on road AT choices for that matter... but they are not for our winters.

 

[Longtrail]

It's a fair point but you're not comparing apples to apples. I would never put an all season tire up against a snow tire in the snow... It's a case of horses for courses and really depends on what the OP wants, where he lives and his own tolerance for risk. Some of those back roads in VT require studs!...

 

[txfromwi]

Yes, I understand your point!

I am from Wisconsin and, at least when I was younger, we had some serious snow.
By cracky do you remember the winter of '78 ? - I was at university. It was the last time I saw thunder snow.

When I was very young I remember my grandfather changing out the tires twice a year, and eventually being able to afford extra rims and then only having to change out the wheel twice a year.
That was a nice labor saver.
I clearly remember studded tires - outlawed many years ago due to damage to the roads and for throwing studs into windshields.

Granted there's lots of garbage out there, and lots of unsupported opinion, but there are several youTube videos that actually take real objective data regarding tire performance, show you the videos and the data, blah, blah... and the Cross Climate 2 tires ranked, as I recall, #2 or #3, when put up against "real" snow tires, and lost out only by a very slim margin.

Anyway, that's what we have on the 2016 and recently on the Honda, eventually will need new tires on the 2013 and the 2015, but there will be new tire models by that time.

I think actual performance might be more about vehicle mass vs tire surface area on the road.
My first car was a 1973 Austin Marina and the tires were those super skinny tires.
It did great in the snow - because the wheel base was closer to square, and because the tires being so thin did not float on the snow, they pushed through, then if it was really deep the snow was up on the sidewalls offering lateral stability.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it !


NOTE!!
My tire shop (Tires by Design) has a new policy and they tell me that the big national chains also have this policy.
If a vehicle comes in that is not "theirs" (i.e. they didn't sell the tire) , they will not touch it, i.e. they won't rotate, balance, fix etc. if that tire is more than 5 years old from the manufacture date.
If a vehicle comes in that is "theirs" they move that line a little bit to 5 years after they sold the tire.

Probably a good thing?
But certainly will drive business.

 

[Pagoda]

I'm also on 20s and have been looking at tyres to replace my Nitto Terra Graplers (which are a terrible tyre - hopeless in the wet on the highway (almost dangerous) and utterly hopeless in snow. In fairness I have not used them off road). I have done a lot of research and decided on Continental Terrain Contact. I've had Conti winter tyres in the past on the Disco 3 and they were utterly superb comparied to the ones I have now. This vidoe was helpful (plus it confirmed my view that the Nittos are crap).