The Michelin Defender 2, backed by the iconic legacy of Michelin, is poised to redefine standards in durability and road grip. In this review, let me unravel the features that make the Defender 2 a notable contender in the all season tire market.
Table of Contents
Sizes Facts
The Michelin Defender 2 comes in 16 to 20″ inches having following specs.
- Speed ratings: H (on all)
- Load ratings: SL and XL
- Tread depth range: 10.5/32″ (on all)
- Weight range: 25 to 32 lbs
- Winter ratings: Only M+S no 3PMSFR.
- Tread mileage rating: 85k miles.
Key Takeway
The Michelin Defender 2 performs better in:
- Dry Traction: It showcases excellent grip due to densely packed lugs and a continuous central rib, which ensures a strong road grip.
- Dry Handling: The tire excels in dry handling, presenting stability and a swift steering response,.
- Fuel Efficiency: The Defender 2 promises superior fuel economy owing to its lightweight structure and streamlined longitudinal ribs.
The tire needs improvement in:
- Road Vibrations: The Defender 2 could benefit from a softer material composition to better absorb road irregularities.
- Winter Performance: It falls short in winter conditions due to insufficient biters and non-adaptable rubber compounds.
- Wet Traction: The tire’s wet performance is hampered by its harder rubber compound and inadequate sipe flexibility.
Tread Design
The Michelin Defender 2 comes with a unique and full tread pattern that introduces a fresh take on tire design, (when compared to its predecessor, the T+H). You can compare them both here.
In the middle section, there are three ribs that have a strong base where the middle most rib is equipped with a ton of siping, and the surrounding ribs have lateral tread voids besides having similar siping pattern.
Together they form 4 longitudinal channels, where the outer two are narrower.
All these elements ensure commendable grip on both dry and wet surfaces.
Additionally, the tire incorporates next-generation rubber that is outfitted with notably enlarged shoulder lugs.
These lugs have rectilinear siping on them, which merges flawlessly in to the unique “J” shaped groove pattern.
These J-shaped notches are central in offering outstanding noise reduction capabilities.
Furthermore, these shoulder lugs have wide lateral tread voids joining up with the immediate circumferential grooves, allowing for impressive resistance to hydroplaning.
Find all the tires compared with Michelin Defender 2.
Road Vibrations
The comfort level of a tire’s ride highly depends on how well its able to soak up the road irregularities.
And this is a quality which is greatly determined by the tire’s internal and external structure.
So in essence, tires crafted from softer materials generally facilitate a less jittery driving experience.
This is why the Defender 2 seems to fall a bit short here.
The tire utilizes a more rigid tread rubber (relatively), which incorporates a smaller silica content, coupled with a harder inner cap ply.
Durability
When it comes to durability, the Michelin Defender 2 adopts a very out of the way approach.
Unlike most all-season tires that commonly use a dual-ply polyester structure internally, this particular tire is outfitted with only a single ply, hinting at somewhat limited durability.
However, it’s still reinforced with two steel belts crowned with a single nylon cap ply, providing it with at least a some degree of resilience.
But why there’s single polyester cover?
Well, this is basically for the tread life.
You see, this design choice allows for a lighter build, which notably contributes to impressive tread wear performance, as less pressure is placed on the (tread) lugs.
Winter Performance
In the context of winter handling, the Michelin Defender 2 somewhat falls short, mainly due to the insufficient presence of biters and the notably absent “swooping lugs”.
Additionally, the tire’s rubber compound also doesn’t adapt well to cold temperatures, causing the sipes and biters to harden up, losing traction.
Basically on snow, you need snow to snow contact, which generates more friction compared to rubber meeting snow.
And Defender 2 with its limited notches, in-groove biters, and symmetrical siping pattern, doesn’t quite excel in this regard.
Therefore, it isn’t surprising that this tire is not been awarded with the 3-peak mountain snowflake rating (meaning its not eligible to run on sever snowy conditions).
Dry Traction
Dry traction is two parts, grip and handling, where grip is usually determined through the analysis of braking distances, whereas handling is gauged by comparing lap times (and sometimes, average lap speeds).
Now speaking of grip first, this attribute is significantly influenced by the central area of the tire, as it gets the most weight pressure/distribution (as the tire rolls in a straight line).
Now Michelin Defender 2 does pretty great here, thanks to its densely packed lugs and a rounded contact patch, which basically achieves a more solid road grip compared to other tires in the category.
I mean its central most area consist of a continuous central rib, so the rubber to road connection is never broken.
Dry Handling
The dry handling performance of a tire is dependent on 2 factors, where one is the amount of contact patch provided by the shoulder and the second is the rubber’s flexibility.
In light of these aspects, it’s understandable why the Defender 2 shines in handling too, presenting remarkable stability and agile steering response.
This is largely due to its lighter weight and the use of pretty compacted up shoulder blocks that offer a larger contact patch.
Basically shoulders provide a pretty decent rubber to road contact, while with lighter rubber composition, the tire offers a great equilibrium between understeering and oversteering. So you get pretty direct steering response, and with it handling.
Noise Generation
Noise is usually produced when air particles collide with the tread walls, and these air molecules are primarily entering through the shoulder voids.
Having said that, the Defender 2 incorporates connectors or ridges between the (shoulder) lugs that block a significant amount of air from penetrating the tread, nipping noise generation in the bud.
And a little air that still manages to come in is handled by the tire’s harder rubber, and its variable pitch technology.
With harder rubber, the tire limits the in-groove resonance (which is basically the echoing of the sound-waves). And with pitch tech, the lugs are made with varying geometry, and so air particles hitting them produce varied frequencies, which basically prevent the noise amplification.
Tread Life
Michelin’s evaluations highlight that the Defender 2 manages to surpass its predecessor, the Defender T+H, by covering almost 24k more miles, which I believe is a pretty notable achievement given their similar Uniform Tire Quality Grading (UTQG) ratings of 840.
But why is that the case?
Well, the answer can be found in two critical aspects:
- Tread depth.
- Compound composition.
- Overall construction weight.
The Defender 2 benefits from a harder compound that is less prone to quick wear and tear. Additionally, it gives you a slightly deeper tread, relatively speaking, which adds to its longevity.
This means that the tire takes a longer time to reach the 2/32″ of the legal wear limit, giving it a comparative edge over other tires in its category when it comes to lifespan.
Moreover, it features a lighter construction, thanks to its single ply polyester carcass, and so less pressure it put upon the lugs as the rub against the road.
Wet Traction
The Defender 2 although offers interlocking sipes throughout the tread, which are supposed to help with better control while driving, it still lacks mainly because of its harder rubber compound.
Going into more detail, sipes are very important because they help to soak up water that gets under the tire. And in order to do that, they need to easily contract/expand, basically flex, which creates suction.
And with stiffer rubber on Defender 2, these sipes aren’t allowed to effective breath.
Moreover, the tire also lacks a little when it comes to the another important component of wet traction, hydroplaning resistance (as seen by float speed tests).
Basically the tire comes with longitudinally arranged ribs, and they don’t have adequate spacing in between, so the water isn’t able to easily move out of the tread, mostly laterally.
Fuel Efficiency
Fuel efficiency is closely linked with tread life, So like the fuel, it also depends on various factors like weight, tread composition, and design.
Now the Defender 2, being lightweight and equipped with more streamlined longitudinal ribs, promises one of the best fuel economy, that you’d find in tires (coming in same category).
Basically lighter construction puts less pressure on the lugs, and so they don’t move around a lot, keeping ride firm. And so less energy is consumed in to the molding of the lugs, and more is utilized in to the rolling of the tire as a whole.
Take Home Points
In conclusion, the Michelin Defender 2 proves to be a reliable choice for those prioritizing dry handling, fuel efficiency, and extended tread life.
Although its rigid structure might compromise on comfort and winter performance, it manages to deliver a commendable performance in other key areas.
Its innovative design ensures respectable wet traction and noise control, offering a well-rounded, economical option for daily driving.
Despite some shortcomings, its long lifespan and adept handling in dry conditions make it a worthy consideration for the discerning driver.
