The larger percent of the NG seems to favour the Michelins.... and those of
us are split about 50/50 on LTX M/S and Cross Terrains.

I've had LTX M/S on a few of my units... I don't think you're going to find
a better tire.

Hankook also makes a decent tire.... sold many of these in the oil patch...

I bought my last 6 or 7 sets of tires from America's Tires which is the same
company as Discount Tires.  For one thing they include everything except the
road hazard warranty in their price.  They always fix flats for me and
rotate my tires for free and with no hassles.  They even fixed a flat for
free on my wife's Nissan Frontier that had tires they don't even sell.
Guess what?  My wife went back and bought a set of Michelins from them
(after the second flat in two weeks on the stock tires that came on the
Nissan).  I think if I shopped around I might be able to get tires for a few
bucks less but it probably would not be worth the trouble.

The only time they ever "did me wrong" was during the Firestone Recall
Fiasco the only tires they had in stock were some knockoffs called Desert
Dogs which turned out to be somewhat crappy.  I think they were made by
Pirelli.

We (me and my wife) tried various tires including the BFG All Terrain/TA
tires and like the Michelin LTX M/S the best.  We drive on dirt roads a lot
and go on the mountain trails when it's snowing and icy.  They also hold the
road really well (on pavement).  They also last a long time.  I have not
tried the Cross Terrains.

I switched to the LTX during the recall on my 99 XLS, and love them.  The
'02 XLT came with cross terrain and the are nice and quite also.  I can't
tell much difference between the two for quietness and comfortable ride.  My
'01 Supercrew has Generals, and them suckers are about to be replaced with
LTX's

/Richard

Went from orginal Firestones ATX, to Michelin LTX M/S that finally
wore out. I just put on a set of Goodyear Fortera Silent Armor tires
70,000 tread.

 Another vote for Michelin LTX

my LTXs have about 50K miles and still good tread left.  However, they
started making road noise about 10000 miles ago,  Dealer said noise due to
tire cupping.

i'm not going to replace them right away, but Discount Tire quoted about
$125 per tire to replace.

Ford is now recommending replacing tires that are 4-5 years old, no matter
what the mileage.

A few years ago, in replacing the original Firestone Wilderness AT tires
the local Ford dealer installed Goodyear Wranglers.  For the first 10,000
miles they were fine.  But then I started hearing a noise that sounded like
the front wheel bearings were going out.  The dealer said "nope, it's the
tires".  We rotated the front to back, and the noise went away for a few
months and came back.  Then my brother-in-law put a nail through a rear
tire.  I bought a new matching tire, took the spare off, and put both unused
tires on the front and the used tire on as a spare.  The noise went away
for a few months and came back.  Frankly I wish I had kept the Firestones,
particularly since most of my driving is in cooler climates (west coast).

I'm fed up with these Goodyear Wranglers and I'm about to buy some new
ones at Discount Tires.  Why Discount Tires?  I travel a lot through out the
west and they seem to be located all over the west and I've had good
experiences with them on their road hazard warranties.  That makes me
a happy and loyal customer.

So...   What tires do you recommend for a 2000 Explorer XLT?  Any ones
to avoid?

Thanks in advance.  No e-mail please.