A/T and M/T Tire Options - Let's hear your reviews

Are BFG KO's still available? Not the KO2's.

 

What sidewall rating did you go with?

 

I just .installed a set of Yokahoma Geolander M/T's.

I haven't been off-road yet, but as for my Street review. They are fantastic. They are not really any louder than my BFG t/a KO2's were when they were about half way through their life. I'll review them more as I take them through different terrains over the next week or so.

 

I’ve ran the BF’s KO2’s on my raptor as they were oem, beat the piss out of them. Very good tire for both off road and street use. Obviously not a deadicated off road tire but gets the job done.

I have the falken wildpeaks M/t on the 4runner. I only have 4K miles on them so can’t report much other than they’re a bit loud but my wife doesn’t mind the noise if that’s any indication. I’ve always had good luck with falkens. In the winter they can get a little loose on ice.

 

*Open Country AT2 - People love this tire - for good reason. It's also available in a P-rating if you're like many and do 95% of your driving on pavement

 

How do the RTs wear compared to the AT2s?

 

Already an excellent review of the Cooper ST MAXX tires, so I'll just add that they are a great tire.

Up where I live, getting stranded due to getting stuck or a tire failing can be deadly certain times of the year.

We really don't give a crap how aggressive your tires look at the mall...

The ST MAXX is a great tire that wore well and performed excellently in snow, mud, and rocks...

285/70/17s on a 2014 Ram 1500...



Only reason I don't run them anymore is because they are expensive. Some great tires out there for $150 or less, and paying over $250 per tire seems silly.

 

A very pleasant surprise in a tire is the Milestar Patagonia MT...



I stumbled across this tire on Amazon.com and thought they were way too aggressive for a daily commuter and a cheap Chinese tire; had to be for the price.

Not true. Milestar is California-based and has been around since 1972 (technically a foreign company, but I digress...).

Reviews for it said that it was actually very quiet for a mud tire and that it did great in snow. Wear was around average.

I bought a set in LT285/70/17 for around $155 each. When they arrived, I was still skeptical of the snow performance and since we were having a nasty winter, I had them siped before installing. Siping is something that is common up here, but unheard of in most areas of the country. Basically, tire shops have machines that put thousands of tiny cuts laterally across the tire tread about 1/4" deep and about 1/8" to 1/4" of an inch apart. These cuts aid in creating thousands of biting edges for better traction on packed snow and ice.

After the install, I noticed that they run a little small compared to other 285s but the tread is deep at 19/32". They were pretty darn quiet on the road and there was no noticeable low speed lug thumping on the pavement.

Off-road, they were amazing! I bought these in the middle of winter and took a trip to the family cabin in about a foot of unplowed snow. Tires gripped like I had chains on. They excelled in wet, slushy snow and gripped great on hard-packed snow.





In mud, they did as well as expected and I never got close to getting stuck with them...



The downside is that they do reduce gas mileage by about 1 mpg and they seemed to wear a little quicker than the ST MAXX. There are some great reviews of this tire on YouTube and they are very well received by the hardcore off-roading community.

 

Awesome! I'm hoping to get a set of these next summer for dedicated summer/trail tires. Thanks for the feedback!

 

I went with the Pirelli Scorpion AT Plus in 265/70r17s (P rated version weigh 41lbs). So far they're quiet and have good interstate manners. I'll update this post when I get a chance to drive them in the snow or offoad.

 

That's a unique tread pattern! It looks like there's a lot of sawtooth siping, so they should be good in the snow. Are those severe snow service rated?

 

They are severe snow rated. That's one of the reasons I wanted to try them. Very happy so far.

 

Cool! I have KO2's which are OK in the snow, but more of a compromise. Eventually, I plan on getting dedicated summer/mud tires and a set of less aggressive AT's that are better in snow.

Keep us posted on snow performance, etc.

 

Will a 33x12.50 17 fit ?

 

That's a wide tire. I'm almost certain it would require a cab mount chop. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Cool, im rushing for info as a guy on the facebook marketplace near me is selling 4 like new toyo mts for 600 and they are 33x 12.50 17s lol

Id use oem trail rims instead of offset rims

 

Falken wildpeaks at3 absolutely an excellent all around tire
J

 

I can't comment on other tires as I haven't used them. I am on my second set of Goodyear Wrangler AT Adventure with Kevlar. I have found them to be good on and off road, winter and summer and long life.

 

On the Pirelli Scorpion AT Plus tires, did you notice the tread pattern is a P for Pirelli and a S for Scorpion?

 

I have run Falken tires on my vehicles for the past 18 years, but have also run KO2s, X Terrains, and MTRs when I was introduced to 4 wheeling. I plan on running P285/70R17 Falken Rubitreks on my 2020 SR5 Premium 4x4 when I get it lifted in a few weeks. The LT315/70R17 Falken A/T3Ws were awesome on my 2017 Jeep Wrangler. I never got stuck and they still had 80% tread on them when I sold my Jeep with 20k miles on the tires.

 

I have been thinking about these for off-roading. Would love to know how they held up.

 

Cooper Discoverer AT3 (p) on OR 17s, good on roads wet and dry, no heavy wheeling, 45k on them now and they started to wear a little unevenly due to a long rotation but seem good for at least another 5k. Tread is still good and noise not bad but uneven wear will get them eventually (and I already have another set of tires to use so I won't be stretching the life). I've been happy with them but will consider Michelin Defenders and Falken Wildpeaks for my next set.

(picture from new, they don't look this clean any more)

 

Unfortunately, I traded the truck in with only a few thousand miles on them.

There is a YouTube channel of a guy in Utah that owns a much modified Jeep Cherokee that he uses to pull out stuck tourists. Highly entertaining videos. He started the videos running Goodyear Duratracs on the Jeep, then went to the Patagonia MTs. You can find hours of videos of him running those tires in all conditions and they seem to perform pretty awesome.

 

I ran a couple of sets of the original KO's and then started running KO2's when they came out. Can't see a reason not to run the 2's. My recollection is the compound is different, improved and the 2's are both stickier and tougher.
I run all E rated, and my biggest issue is having rubber that can survive running lava roads at speed, with ancient sharp lava walls on the sides. The C rated and lesser tires like the current OEMs and most imports get torn up round here.
For the 10 years before we finished pouring concrete strips on our driveway, and we had to churn our way up the steep mud to get home when it poured, I ran BFG RMT's or Dick Cepaks, which could throw the mud out of the treads and maintain traction IF you maintain plenty of speed for centrifugal force to keep them cleared. Ability to throw mud & self clean is the primary benefit of mud tires. It's a messy deal with gop flying everywhere (specially in a jeep with no doors), and they are lousy noisy and shake the steering wheel on good pavement and wear down too fast. Look cool, tho...

 

The Last 4Runner, before my recent purchase, I had the Cooper Discovery STT Pro’s installed on my bone stock 17 TRD Off Road. Tire size 265/70R17. I went with the “heavier” E rated tires for the longer mileage capabilities. My gas mileage stayed the exact same as stock tires from the factory. Literally no change. Didn’t notice the heavier tire either. It drove the exact same. I loved the tire for the first 12-15k miles. After that, well here’s how they went... tires were rotated at around 17k miles, and the front end had started to develop a consistent wobble/shake from 14k-20+k miles on the tires.

The long term of not rotating sooner caused a multitude of problems. I also was not aware of the wheel type and hub/lug centric wheels. SO... I’m thinking I got a bad balance job, as they continued to shake for another 3-5k miles. Eventually the rotation made the tires start to wear flat, and then I’d have to swap the fronts to the back because of cupping again in the front tires. At around 25k miles
I reduced the air pressure to just above the “tire low light”, and balanced correctly and then rotated again. They started the flatten out on the rear as for the cupping, so they were back to a better ride, and not as noisy.
FYI, These are loud tires, but they aren’t obnoxious unless you don’t like that sound. They perform incredibly in the dirt, mud, and rocks! They never gave me any issue off road. AND, Tons of traction on the road. They don’t easily slip or spin in the rain. I’m in Georgia, so we don’t get snow. Just Ice, and that’s not anything anyone can gain traction on. Sadly, my black 2017 TRD Off Road was totaled a couple weeks ago, so I didn’t get the full wear on the tires. Only about 3/4 wear of the tread, with 1/4 leftover of tread before the wreck.

I’d definitely buy the tires again, and may do the same tire on my new 19 TRD Off Road.

 

Mind giving a quick review of your MTs?

 

I love the look and overall reviews of these as well but the price is a killer. What tires do you see as just as good for lesser price?

 

My next set will likely be the Falken Wildpeak AT/3 due to the overwhelming amount of positive reviews, though I've never ran them before. If I did more off-road travel than on-road, then I would get the Patagonia MT. Performs very well and not too noisy or rough riding, but very heavy and wears a little quicker. The Kumho AT251 is also a nice budget tire with outstanding snow performance.

I'm likely getting a lift and going up to 285s this Fall, so finding good tires at under $200 each is tough. Especially since I'm planning on a couple of long road trips and need a highway friendly tire while still being able to go deep in the woods on occasion.

 

I’m in the same boat. I just installed the Eibach pro truck lift 1 on my 4R so next up is tires. Falken’s are my #1 choice but I’m looking up MTs as well due to their more aggressive looks and higher mud capabilities of course. Most likely staying stock size for now then upgrading to 275s later on.

 

It's tough to choose. I thought I found the perfect tire when I got my Goodyear Wrangler Authority tires for $155 each last year. They performed as well as the ST MAXX off-road, look amazing, are reasonably quiet, and wear like iron. However, they are awful in the snow due to the rock hard compound, ride rough, and sucked the gas mileage.