My Review of the Michelin Latitude Tour HP Tires
 

READERS DIGEST VERSION: The Michelin Latitude Tour HPs are great all season W-rated tires.

WAR AND PEACE VERSION:
Last August, the stock Michelin Diamarises on my 02 4.6is were nearing the wear bars so it was time to shop for new tires. To my surprise, I found Michelin had just put a new all season W-rated tire on the market. Sure I had a set of dedicated 18" wheels with all-season Pirelli Scorpians, but I was getting tired of swapping tires twice a year. I went with the new Michelin Latitude Tour HPs. Up until now, Boston has only had two snow events of 1" each. Not much to really test the new Michelins.

Today, Boston was hit with a decent storm and put the Latitudes to a real test. I am happy to say it was money well spent. The commute to work was not just snow, but the really nasty and slippery sleet/freezing rain mix. The kind that feels like you are being sandblasted when standing outside. Inside the city, the roads had been plowed and salted with pavement showing through. No drama at all (as expected).

As I drove further out toward the suburbs (about 15 miles outside the city), the precipitation got heavier and the roads were not as plowed. The tires performed well and felt no different than the Pirelli Scorpians on 2 - 3" of hard packed snow and ice or 4 - 6" of virgin snow. Lane changes were very predictable when crossing the ridge of built of snow between lanes. Braking presented no drama and the ABS only kicked in when I intentially used a heavy foot to test the limits of traction. Starts from a standstill also presented no problems with the DSC kicking in only when I floored the accelerator for personal amusement. Left and right cleared corners with a predictable line with no sign of losing traction.

The real challenge cam around 2PM. By then the sleet sounded like thousands of BBs against the roof and windows of the building at work. The parking lots had not been plowed and there was a good 6 - 8" of heavy wet snow on the ground. Anyone with a rear wheel drive vehicle was going nowhere and front wheel drive cars are having a difficult time. I was concerned the wide 315mm rears would be a big snow dam and I would suffer the indignity of co-workers watching me get stuck. To my relief, I drove through it all with no problems. The DSC didn't complain once. Even stopped twice to help friends dig their cars out of spaces. The 2nd time I intentionally put myself into a large drift of virgin snow. Again I was able to drive out with no drama or wheelspin.

The highways into the city were worse than the morning but again, everything was just fine. I was driving at a steady pace near or slightly below the speed limit of 55MPH. Quick taps of the brakes didn't bring on the ABS as the old Diamaris' would have and lane changes over larger patches of slush and packed snow presented no problems or unusual handling.

By now the city had changed over to a slushy rain mix and the roads were a mess of slush and large ponds of water/snow slurry. With the sewers drains clogged, I had to plow through several deep puddles. Not once did the vehicle feel out of control.

For those that are considering new tires, I say look at the Latitudes over the Diamarises. For about the same cost, you get equal dry and wet performance with the added bonus of winter capability. If you are in a heavy snow area, they are not substitutes for true winter tires but for commuters like me, they are perfect. Other things I have noticed is they wear much slower than the Diamaris and are very quiet. One last note of caution, which I have been told is true with all large diameter tires, is check for air leaks in first few days of ownership. Both my rears had small leaks that lead to me losing 1 PSI per day. A water/soap solution sprayed on the bead indicated two small air leaks on both tires. They were remounted and the issue went away.

very nice review :thumbup:

Thanks for the review. I am going to need new tires pretty soon and I will not get another set of Toyos. They have gotten very noisy. The problem is that I live in SoCal and I have no need for tires capable of handling snow but nonetheless, the Latitudes might still be the way to go.

Good review :thumbup: Very helpful Thanks.

nice review..
everytime I read 4.6is, 4.8is or 4.4i, I just wish my car was a little more powerful than 3.0....lol

how long have you had them and how much do they run?

thank you for the review! very comprehensive! :)

I just go those put on my car like 4 weeks ago. Fricken AWESOME TIRES!!!!

What do ya mean? You never go to the SoCal mountains or Mammoth or Lake Tahoe?:confused:

Nope. I'm not a baller like you are. I am pretty much confined to my ZIP code. ;)

I put them on the CEO's ML500 a few months ago. They are great tires, no complaints.

can you get them at Costco and how much were they.

I have been told they are now available at Costco. When I first got them, they were custom order and many tire shops didn't even know they existed.

Excellent writeup! We ought to take these truly outstanding reviews and put in separate area for reference. Information like this isn't available in the car magazines or automotive websites.

Maybe i should add it to the e70 comprehensive review post. Hmmm. How can i include it without hi-jacking my own thread???

Great review. I just put these tires on my wifes x5. We live in the Fort Campbell KY area and get a mix of everything. It sounds like these are going to be the perfect fit for our wx conditions.
Thanks again for your detailed review.

Excellent review X5Boston.
Hope you get some commissions from Tirerack with all the orders going through for the Latitudes' at this time! ;)

In your opinion, how do you think the Latitudes will fair on an occasional ski trip? I live in Arizona and drive to Colorado a couple times - i would love to take the X5, but the tires holding up are a big concern (it is not really worth investing in a set of 18" for the occasional trip).

I agree with everything that BostonX5 said. I put Michelin Lattitudes on my 4.4i Sport last Fall. A few weeks ago we had 4" of snow in Nashville (a lot for this area) and I went out driving to test them out. They performed very well on unplowed roads where the Diamaris would have made me very nervous. I also find them to be very good in the rain. Very surefooted at 80 mph in a heavy downpour this morning. The only drawback to these is that you lose a bit of handling and steering feel compared to the Diamaris. They feel a bit heavier on the car. That was expected, going from a summer performance tire to an all-season. However, I think that the Lattitude is a better match for the X5 which is supposed to be an SAV and not a sports car. Also according to the treadwear rating, they should last twice as long.

I wouldn't put too much faith in those tire ratings. I got about 32k miles out of my last set of Bridgestone Turanza, which had a rating of 140. My current set of Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asym, which has a rating of 420 doesn't look like it will get me past 25k miles.

These are excellent tires. Costco was out of them when I was looking to purchase them two months ago. But got it off TireRack for $207 each for the 255/55HR18s. The treadwear on my old Energy MXV4+ were 400 and lasted 50k miles. With the 440 treadwear I'm hoping they actually do last longer.

Just wanted to say thanks, I read your review and if swayed me toward the Latitudes, are you getting commision from Michelin for this :D

I am getting ready to replace my Diamaris with Latitudes. I was wondering what things you guys have to say about the Latitudes now that you have been able to put miles on them. Is the driving/handling dramatically different than the diamaris or just what you would expect going from a performance tire to an all season?

Bump

Bump

I had my local discount tire order a set of michelin latitude tour hp's. Today I got a call saying that the fronts are on back order nation wide and they won't be making new ones until next year...

TireRack shows est avail 11/29/11. you going to wait it out or go with something else?

I've had the Tour HP's on for a little over a month now - haven't had any snow yet, but they're good in the wet, very smooth and exceptionally quiet. hope you have some good luck and they come in sooner than later

I talked with the guy at discount whom I placed the order with. After some calling around he was able to find some in a warehouse. I last talked to him on thursday so I expect they should arrive any day. So it appears that I have a full set!! Ill feel more secure when they are here and mounted :) I am happy to hear such good comments on the tires!! I feel like spending the extra money for michelin tires is always a good idea. It is a lot of money but I would be far more disappointed if my BMW didn't handle like I expect it to :)

Tires are mounted!!!!!!! Michelin tires are great and these ones in specific are awesome!! I am so happy I was able to locate a pair. They have only been on for one day. They handle almost as good as the diamaris but are buttery smooth and have very little road noise. I am excited to put some more miles on them and then I will have more to say.

I put these tires to the test crossing Nebraska in an all out ice storm. They kept me cruising with no traction issues.
All of my normal driving in MN/WI this winter has gone great.

I highly recommend these tires!

That is great to hear the tires perform great in winter weather. I have had the tires mounted for at least 3 months and at least 1,000 miles. I love them. They are comfortable and quiet. I am surprised that the performance is not that different compared to the diamaris.

Anybody cross shop these with the continentals DWS?

Purchased a new set of staggered 19" Latitude Tour HP's and have two summers on them, including a 2500 mile 7 day trip from Lincoln, Nebraska, thru New Mexico up to the four corners, Durango, Colorado then thru Estes Park, CO and back across Nebraska. This trip included a wide variety of road surfaces from smooth interstate to unevenly paved back roads to 100+ miles of gravel and deep sandy wash outs. Weather encountered was rainy for the first 350miles to hot desert in NM, to near freezing crossing mountain passes in Colorado on Trail Ridge Road. The tires performed perfectly in every situation, remained quiet, surefooted and delivered good mileage with little wear noticed. Speeds on the open roads of the desert in NM and up to Four Corners was often at 90-100mph and never felt anything other than confident. The compound is harder than the Diamaris 4x4's and tread pattern more siped so the inner tread wear "cupping" issue common with the Diamaris that is caused by the negative camber is greatly reduced. I do, however, still swap the tires side to side, reversing the direction, every 7500 miles which evens out the wear and extends the life.

I have driven these in the snow and ice when I got caught in a surprise early snowstorm. I would say for me, they were "acceptable". I am spoiled, and perhaps biased, because I run Nokian Hakkapillitta R2 SUV Studless snow tires on 18" wheels for the winter season. Once you have a set of quality snow tires, there really is no comparison, and even the best all season tire falls short by comparison. That said, these Lattitude tires are by far the BEST tire for the X5 I've experienced. I was able to find a matching set of staggered 19in sizes searching online. These are NOT an inexpensive tire, but I feel they are worth the investment and a better all around option than the Diamaris 4x4's.
Happy New Year and safe travels to you all !!!

Michelin discontinued the 285 45 19 size. No more rears for sport pkg 4.4s.

Wanted to provide an update to this posting as we are facing winter once again. I install the Michelin Latitude Tour HP on the 4.8is last December. Over the last 5,000 miles they have been GREAT.
Dry driving (braking, cornering, etc) handling is on par with the OE summer only tires until you hit 90% race mode. Had the chance to run a 2,700 mile summer vacation run up to New England as a summer test. Hwy speeds up to 90+ totally predicable handling with no noise. High speed braking was again predicable without drama.

Snow slush heavy rain driving: Performed great as an all season tire no challenges and on heavy acceleration puts out 6 foot rooster tails of snow from the rears. Handled 3" to 6" without any challenges using a S L O W take off process.
Noise level: LOW
Not effected by temp swings hot or cold. The OE summer tires turn into rocks when temps hit 40F.

In a non snow belt area I would recommend them highly, as they perform as designed and marketed. In the frozen wasteland up north, I would only recommend a dedicated snow tire for winter use, as your daily driving is snow covered streets. Here in the Wash DC area we have wet snow followed by salt melting slush and patches of morning ICE!

Note: Not all tire sizes are available so check first on the official Michelin tire site. Then check with all the normal suppliers like Tire Rack. I picked up mine from Tire Rack and found them on my front door two days later.

Option 2: Continental Extreme Contact DWS (Ultra High Performance All-Season) Lower price per tire.

Awesome review, didn't realize how old this was at first...

In regards to the Michelin Latitude Tour HP Tires, we have had them on both our 2011 X5 and now on our 2013 X5. Had about 25K miles on the 2011 and at about 12.5K miles on the 2013 now.

Being my wife's car and our daily driver, I was originally going to go with dedicated snow tires, and while I'll won't say they may provide some value (I've never owned a set, ever), the Michelin tires have been absolutely flawless in performance.

We live just North of Chicago, along the lake and have had some serious snow falls and Black ice conditions since we purchased our 2011 when they first came out in July of 2010.

These tires have performed exactly as the original post here. Traction on snow and ice has been outstanding for both braking, lane changes, acceleration etc... You have to push them to get them to actually lose traction.

These are outstanding tires (not cheep) but when you consider they are the only thing between you and the road and the quality, they are well worth the cost.

Tread wear has also been outstanding, When we traded in our 2011 with 25K miles on it, the tires were still at 7/32nd's.

These tires coupled with BMW's X-Drive are a complete win-win set up.