Help me select new tires - Which have you liked or disliked?

[marshal]

What situations have you seen AT tires become useless? Is the performance gap between a solid AT and a MT off road so much so that it justifies the poor highway performance of the MT?

where i live we have clay, and heavy shale silt. AT's just can't make the cut. beyond that, all of the rock these mountains are made of here are slate, shale, limestone and granite - its a perfect recipe for cut sidewalls. i would rather deal with the loudness of a MT and know i have the capability to traverse all possible conditions than be in question of a scenario

 

[dman93]

I have no experience with modern AT or MT tires, though I think the Michelin MS2's on my current T100 are in fact excellent, ddespite looking like passenger car tires. However when I bought my locked 80 series LC back in the '90's, it came with no-name undersized all-season tires. But they worked amazingly well off pavement. Nevertheless, I wanted "the best" so I bough slightly larger than stock BFG MT's. Offroad traction definitely increased. But so did noise, uneven tire wear, and sliding around in snow and wet pavement. And, interestingly, I had my only off-road sidewall cut with those BFG's. I went back to a mild AT tire and was much happier. I guess my conclusion is that unless you really need the mud traction, that a properly aired down AT or even AS tire will work fine offroad and be much better in daily driving. I do worry about the sidewall cut resistance with my Michelins ... that is one feature where a more dedicated offroad tire, or at least higher load rating/more plies, should be useful.

 

[ADVW/Liam]

Cooper ST MAXX

I was a die-hard BF Goodrich All Terrain fan for a few decades. I recently went to the dark side, and tried Cooper ST MAXX. I think I'm going to stick with them from now on. They seem to have better highway manners, and feel better on the road. Guess it's a personal preference. I watched an awesome video on you tube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kz8mmLkeks) called the Cooper Puncture Test by CooperTiresAus, and was sold. Just copy the html without the parenthesis and load it into Google search, it'll pull up the video.

 

[el_topu]

I have the BF ko2 and love them, I have put about 20,000 km on them, I have the E rated tires and they are heavy so you will see a lost in mpg


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[photo nomad]

The BFG KO2 was made to compete with the GY Duratracs. The Duratracs still outperform even the the new KO2's. Mine have been in dunes, Moab, rock crawling, forest roads, snow and ice and from Cali to the Arctic Ocean and back, can't recommend them enough - great tire. I run the E rated version 285/75/16.


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[cthonia]

I have nitto terra grapplers on my truck. not to loud on the highway (mild hum, nothing excessive). I haven't tested them much offroad, but ive read a lot of good things about them online. and there road manners are good.

 

[redthies]

I've run pretty much any and all of the tires previously mentioned here. For what you describe I'd recommend the Cooper St Maxx. The are super quiet on the road, and handle like an AT, but also have a very aggressive tread for offroad use. I also love the Toyo MT, but for your use, I'd go with the Coopers.

 

[Dalko43]

where i live we have clay, and heavy shale silt. AT's just can't make the cut. beyond that, all of the rock these mountains are made of here are slate, shale, limestone and granite - its a perfect recipe for cut sidewalls. i would rather deal with the loudness of a MT and know i have the capability to traverse all possible conditions than be in question of a scenario

Yeah, I'd agree. My own A/T's (Cooper) that came with my 4runner do okay offroad...but when you start throwing deep mud or slushy/icey conditions, you do see their limitations.

That said, I think for all but the most extreme of trail rigs (or just someone who regularly drives through difficult terrain), A/T's make the most sense since they still give you pretty decent performance without compromising too much mpg or handling, ect on the pavement.

I don't know if I am succumbing to group-think, but this thread definitely reinforces my interest in getting a set of BFG KO2's when my original tires go out.

 

[Benc]

I haven't seen anyone mention the Toyo open country rt, I just swapped from the at2 to these and so far am very pleased!
I don't have much offroad time yet but they are great on road! Better that the at2 I had. They are a AT/MT hybrid and also have a 45k warranty. Worth a look.


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[Clutch]

Sounds like you are doing mostly pavement miles...seems like a lot of guys are recommending aggressive AT and MT tires.

I'll go against the norm here and recommend something slightly less aggressive since it is sounding like you occasionally go offroad.


Copper AT/3 or the AT/W's

http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck.aspx

 

[mike2100]

I've been running Nitto Terra Grappler for about 10k miles now and they are just fine on the highway. They are also good in snow and fairly good on solid ice. There is definitely a hum, but much quieter than the BFG KM2 I had on before that. I ran the KM2 for quite a while and absolutely loved the offroad traction. I'm pretty sure I had zero slippage driving through soaking wet NC red clay. The KM2s also did very well in snow. I only replaced them with the Nittos because of the noise (majority of my driving is on pavement). The Nittos have also done well offroad, just haven't tried them in red clay yet.

5 years ago I drove a Honda Ridgeline with stock Michelin LTX MS2s in red clay and was very impressed it didn't get stuck. Maybe because the clay wasn't that thick. But those tires were absolutely amazing in the rain and very good in snow. Awesome choice for a rig that won't see aggressive off-road terrain (i.e. if you stay on mostly groomed forest service roads).

 

[AaronK]

I have MS2s on my wife's Rav4 and they are unbelievably loud on the freeway.

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[littleblue81]

I'm also going to recommend the Toyo Open Country R/T. I drive mostly in the city on pavement, my truck is my every day driver so I also wanted something that was quiet, good road manners, but looked aggressive and had good performance out on the dirt.

I had Duratrac's before and I like these a lot more. I feel they are quieter and offer better traction in most conditions minus maybe snow (but have had very limited driving time in snow). I also had two flats on the Duratracs and lost confidence in them - important to note though that I was running load range C Duratracs. The Toyo's only come in E.

I posted info / review on tacomaworld. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyo-open-country-r-t-mounted.370525/





I have some video too.

 

[MCObray]

I'm loving my Michelin LTX A/T2s. Great off the road performance and handles great on the pavement... smooth and quiet tire!
2002 Toyota Tacoma DC by Mason Obray, on Flickr

 

[Delloro]

Another vote for General Grabber AT2, I have about 30k miles on mine and they are great.

And they are a great value.