Looking for recommendation for my next set of AT tires

[Str8Shooter]

Toyo Open Country AT3 available in SL at your size. Nitro Recon Grapplers are available in SL at 295/65/18 if you are willing to step up to 34”s.

It's interesting that the Toyo Open Country AT3 is 43 pounds. That makes it tougher to decide comparing against the Goodyear with Kevlar since the Toyo is the same weight.

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[Str8Shooter]

On my wife's 4Runner I've had the Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws and they became extremely loud after some mileage. Ended up getting rid of them and putting on the Continental TerrainContacts. They've been fantastic and super quiet. They're just not very aggressive. I plan on replacing my stock Hankooks with the Cooper AT3 4S here soon. They've got good reviews everywhere.

Thanks for the feedback on the tires you owned. Also, thanks for the suggestion on the Cooper AT3's. So far the Cooper AT3, Goodyear Wrangler AT Kevlar, and Toyo Open Country seem to be in the sweet spot for my use case. I need to do more research on these tire options.

 

[Calson]

A good AT tire that can help with fuel economy is the Continental CrossContact LX20 EccoPlus. I put these on my AWD SUV and they performed very well and were quiet tire on the freeways.

In general the more aggressive the tread the more tire squirm which reduces tire life and fuel economy.

 

[wessermgm]

It's interesting that the Toyo Open Country AT3 is 43 pounds. That makes it tougher to decide comparing against the Goodyear with Kevlar since the Toyo is the same weight.

The Toyo is also 3 mountain snowflake rated, which is the best an AT tire can be for snow handling since that sounds like a major issue you deal with.

 

[wessermgm]

A good AT tire that can help with fuel economy is the Continental CrossContact LX20 EccoPlus. I put these on my AWD SUV and they performed very well and were quiet tire on the freeways.

In general the more aggressive the tread the more tire squirm which reduces tire life and fuel economy.

I disagree with this to a point. I agree that the more aggressive, generally the fuel economy declines. That is usually a function of the weight of the deeper lugs and heavy sidebiters. I disagree that aggressive AT tires have reduced life. KO2s are pretty aggressive and you can get 70,000 miles out of them if you rotate them regularly. Same for Falkens and Toyos. These AT tires are the centerpieces of these tire brands, they use their best materials. They aren’t as efficient in an LT load, but they are damn near bulletproof.

in an SL, like OP seeks, that Toyo OC AT3 will be pretty efficient and still look better than these HT tires that put “all terrain” on them.

 

[Str8Shooter]

I guess the only other area beyond better puncture resistance over what I have now that is desirable is better ejection of small stones. Probably 20% of the type of off-roading that I have been on required me to drive slowly for about a mile or two so the pavement would have time to eject the stones collected off-roading more safely. So, tires (non-AT) that eject small stones worse than what I have now is a probably a no-go.

 

[Calson]

Fleet operators with large trucks and heavily loaded trailers focus very carefully on tire longevity and tire squirm is a very big factor in tread wear and their tires have a far from aggressive tread for this reason. The greatest fuel economy is with tires with nearly no tread and so the fleet operators began to use tires with less tread depth but that were designed by the tire manufacturers to be recapped. Fleet operators have hundreds and often thousands of trucks on the road each day and have a lot more information as a result.

Tire compounds have improved but it is still a tradeoff between wet pavement traction and tire tread life.

Any tire will work off the road if the driver is smart about how they use the gears and the throttle. The one place where I do concern myself is on sand where one is going to be running at greatly reduced tire pressure and not want to break the bead for an instant flat tire.

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