Preferred Tire Brands

[GR8Santini]

I'm on a similar quest. I currently have the upgraded 20" tire and wheel package, and want to change out the tires to something more aggressive looking, but still quiet, but keep the same wheels, and also not have to do a lift.

Thoughts??

275/60R20 will work fine. Thats 1 size larger, being little taller (33”) & wider. I love the ride & look of our Falken A/T4W Wildpeaks. Many others report the Toyo A/T III working great. Nitto’s are on my personal crap list as 3 out of 5 of my 35/12.5R20 tires on our ‘25 Tundra are having limited road force balancing success @ 15K miles. Might just be mine, as lots of folks love their Nittos.
Pick out what you like.

 

[ultane]

@Loanman & @Block10, welcome to the asylum.

 

[JustinFro]

Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT look compelling. I may go that route for my next set.​

Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT All Terrain SUV/Crossover Tires Online | SimpleTire

Buy new Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT tires from SimpleTire at the lowest cost and get them delivered directly to you, or one of our 20,000+ installation centers in days. Schedule an installation with your preferred mechanic to make tire buying a painless and simple process.

simpletire.com

 

[Altitude]

The nature of all-terrain tires is that they sacrifice surface area contact in favor of cleat-like grip on irregular surfaces. Imagine what a pair of turf cleats would do if you tried to use them to play basketball on a typical court and you’ll get the idea. Also why court shoes have very flat contact patches that maximize the amount of rubber on the court at any point.

AT Tires look great on vehicles like ours and they do work best for climbing up and down trails that are made of loose rock and dirt. But they’re not optimized for the conditions in which most of us use these vehicles the preponderance of the time.

The best tire on the market for a vehicle that does not have a specific off-road purpose is still the Michelin Defender M/S. These tires are pretty good at everything and they last forever. They are not sexy though - by appearance just a boring highway tire, they actually look a lot like the Grandtrek tires people rush to get off of these Land Cruisers as soon as they take delivery.

I like the line of mild trail tires that are becoming popular across brands. @ultane’s AT Ascents are an example. Continental TerrainContact AT. Goodrich Trail Terrain. These provide enough irregular surface grip to do OK on fire roads and the odd dirt hill, but are still quiet on the highway and do not sacrifice the contact patch enough to result in the poor wet behavior people talk about. If you’re the kind of person who really needs a full all-terrain tire, you probably know who you are. If not, consider one of these.

I want to like the Nokian Outpost nAT because I think Nokian is a cool company that goes out of its way to provide winter performance in every product, sort of like Volvo overbuilds for safety (or used to). I’m not sure whether the Outpost is more tire than I need.

This opinion is informed by a poor decision I made a few years back to put Wildpeaks with E sidewalls on my Tahoe. I’m sure those tires are great for someone but they were not a fit for how I used that vehicle.

 

[WeGo250]

Nokian Outpost nAT - great on wet roads, snow - comfortable ride. Worked good for me on rocky terrain and dirt.

I have these as well on one of my sets of wheels. Performance wise have no complaints at all, on or off road, and here in the PNW so I can confirm they're great on wet roads. Also for those that have modified a bit and are interest in weight savings down at the wheels/tires, in a 35" (mine are metric 35") they are basically the lightest out there and in fact quite a bit lighter that ATIII's, Falkens, BFG's etc.

 

[DubDub]

Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT look compelling. I may go that route for my next set.​

Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT All Terrain SUV/Crossover Tires Online | SimpleTire

Buy new Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT tires from SimpleTire at the lowest cost and get them delivered directly to you, or one of our 20,000+ installation centers in days. Schedule an installation with your preferred mechanic to make tire buying a painless and simple process.

simpletire.com

I have an appointment to swap out the wife's 275/60-20 Scorpions with 6k on them for a set of G3s in the same size XL load this Friday. I was waiting to post here until after the deed was done. I've had them in for three separate road force balancing sessions and even had one replaced under warranty due to requiring far too much weight to balance properly. They have been hopping in the wheel wells since we turned 3k on them during our trip to TN. I've also heard great things about them, but my experience has been anything but. Darn shame given how much they run.

 

[Roonie]

I tell everyone I can, the Toyo A/T III is the best all terrain out there at this time. It just does everything extremely well. The Nitto Terra Grappler G3 is my very close second choice.

The only thing I have found wrong with them and I am on my 3rd pair is first rain they get a little slippery. I slid sideways on I-90 in the tunnel due to rain and the tires not warmed up yet. Over all though I live in Seattle and plenty of rain so they work in it just initially they can be slick.

 

[Sugarloafer80]

Finding the limits of traction in the dry on tires is out there in terms of extreme on road movements but what you almost always pay for is superior wet traction ...........I haven't bought a tire for dry limits except track in 30 yrs...it is all about traction when you really need it, in the wet, and the one time, even common movements get far closer to the limits of adhesion........a freshly wet road after a dry month with lots of oil floating to the surface is always a challenge

 

[Altitude]

The only thing I have found wrong with them and I am on my 3rd pair is first rain they get a little slippery. I slid sideways on I-90 in the tunnel due to rain and the tires not warmed up yet. Over all though I live in Seattle and plenty of rain so they work in it just initially they can be slick.

Goes with my turf cleats analogy above. The void in the tread pattern in AT tires isn’t there to improve road contact, it makes road contact worse but improves grip on loose/irregular surfaces like turf shoes.

I suppose it would get a little better once the tires soften up with heat.

 

[MSINAL]

I have an appointment to swap out the wife's 275/60-20 Scorpions with 6k on them for a set of G3s in the same size XL load this Friday. I was waiting to post here until after the deed was done. I've had them in for three separate road force balancing sessions and even had one replaced under warranty due to requiring far too much weight to balance properly. They have been hopping in the wheel wells since we turned 3k on them during our trip to TN. I've also heard great things about them, but my experience has been anything but. Darn shame given how much they run.

Ouch! Pirelli wont want to see this post. I was planning on getting same tire, but had already found a few reviews complaing about the pirellis. G3 also my choice now

 

[DubDub]

Ouch! Pirelli wont want to see this post. I was planning on getting same tire, but had already found a few reviews complaing about the pirellis. G3 also my choice now

I’m sure they won’t ever see my criticism, and I’m not stressing it. I’m just glad it happened early in their life and I was able to come out clean. I am also stoked to get the wife into some XLs.

 

[Sugarloafer80]

275/60R20 will work fine. Thats 1 size larger, being little taller (33”) & wider. I love the ride & look of our Falken A/T4W Wildpeaks. Many others report the Toyo A/T III working great. Nitto’s are on my personal crap list as 3 out of 5 of my 35/12.5R20 tires on our ‘25 Tundra are having limited road force balancing success @ 15K miles. Might just be mine, as lots of folks love their Nittos.
Pick out what you like.

View attachment 74548

When you have those kinds of issues, look for flatspotted wheels or a lateral wobble

 

[Sugarloafer80]

That size would be my future go to but few if any SL rated stuff in that size. I am 100% good with XL rated, but definitely not Load E's.

Ouch! Pirelli wont want to see this post. I was planning on getting same tire, but had already found a few reviews complaing about the pirellis. G3 also my choice now

Again, are the wheels true? Have them spin a wheel with nothing on it. Check not just circumference but lateral as well. You'd be surprised. I had a wheel on my 2004 Jag that was round true but had a lateral runout issue. Total PIA!!!

 

[Altitude]

275/60R20 will work fine. Thats 1 size larger, being little taller (33”) & wider. I love the ride & look of our Falken A/T4W Wildpeaks. Many others report the Toyo A/T III working great. Nitto’s are on my personal crap list as 3 out of 5 of my 35/12.5R20 tires on our ‘25 Tundra are having limited road force balancing success @ 15K miles. Might just be mine, as lots of folks love their Nittos.
Pick out what you like.

View attachment 74548

My snow tires are 275/60/20 and are mounted on the OEM 20” wheels. No issues at all and the size increase looks non-trivially better.

My summer wheels are 8.5x20” from a Tundra and have a slightly wider offset. I’m still driving through the Grandtreks on those wheels but am excited to size up on the next set.

 

[BMFS33]

I came from BFG KO2s and went with the Falken WP AT4s in a 250/80/17 and I couldn’t be happier with them. Highway driving has been terrific and on the rocky trails of Colorado they have been excellent. No issues with wet traction - the KO2s were laughable on wet roads. I do swap them out for Nokian Hakkapelitas in 275/70/18 in the winter for snow. I like a dedicated winter tire in Colorado - not that we’ve seen much snow recently.

The LC full time 4WD doesn’t hurt the performance that’s for sure. I’m sure it is helping keep those Falken planted. The KO2s were on my F-150 Platinum - not a light truck.

 

[Roonie]

31k miles on my Toyo ATIII. They still look brand new! And no rotation….

 

[LCOceans]

31k miles on my Toyo ATIII. They still look brand new! And no rotation….

View attachment 74567

Wow! That is darn good. And no rotation. What pressure do you keep them at?

 

[Kosmic Kitty]

Wow! That is darn good. And no rotation. What pressure do you keep them at?

Great question = what PSI - I want to know too.

 

[Roonie]

I have them at 35psi

 

[LCOceans]

I have them at 35psi

and what size tires are they? I think the pressure recommendation changes based on size...I think?