Review: Falken Rocky Mountain ATS 285/75/R16

Tires: Falken Rocky Mountain All Terrains in 285/75 r16 D load range 6ply.
These tires are made in Thailand
Purchase date: 2/26/11
Price: $162 Per tire with a $40 rebate
Mileage warranty: 50,000k
Mileage: 562 miles

Why i got them?

As of january i was in the market for new tires due to some unfortunate events that caused me to leave my BFG km2s in the trash.(Damn thugs putting nails in my tires)
I found these tires on a youtube video that showed jeeps using these tires in moab. From that video i was pretty much sold on them.

I got the Tires delivered to my casa for $690 with Refund/replacement warranties! a damn good price from the orginial $1300 discount wanted for BFG km2s in 285.

First impressions:
They looked really aggressive for an All terrain, They smell funny, I can't give a definite weight but they're definitely heavier than my km2's, and they took alot of weight to balance out.

First Street Impressions:
Super quiet on highway and city driving compared to my BFG AT that i had before my km2's. For a D load range tire they handle well, my truck feels much more stable in turns and can handle 900lbs of extra weight in the bed very well!( Helped a friend move his 20 of his 45lb weight plates)

Off Road Impressions:
4 People in my cab(600lbs), 6 guns(20lbs), 1 ammo bag(50lbs), 6 big logs(~30lb) 10 1gallon jugs(?) and 6 steel targets(120lbs) pushed the limits on what the weight limit i felt safe with but took the risk.

(in 4x4)On a soft dirt road tires handle well from 30-35mph,to test these tires out i pushed it to 40+ felt like very low traction, almost gliding around(Straight, packed dirty road), Kept speed at 30 and was very comfortable. Hill climbs with 35psi all around in tires no problems. On solid rocks, it has very good traction no slippage.

I have yet to try these in mud, snow, or even rain. This is just an initial review i will be updating every 5000k miles.

Summary:
So far so good,although i wouldn't recommend these to anyone until i get more street and off road experience with them, but from the good reviews i've read on discount tire direct, i would pull the trigger only if you feel comfortable with it.

 

Sorry for the crappy pictures..they look alitte green in here due to the tire shine i had on them before the sand got to it.

 

This was one of the tires i looked at but due to the fact that a.) they are a fairly new tire with not much first hand user experience b.) they are made in Thailand....i didnt want to be a genea pig...

 

That's why i'm being the guinea pig for you lol..

 

^Well thanks for taking one for the team lol.

Post back in a few thousand miles and let us know how they are holding up.

 

Will do

 

cant wait to hear more back from your experience, this is one tire im considering!

 

nice. thanks for the input. I know there is a few of us(me included) that are looking into this tire. keep us updated!

 

5K MILE UPDATE:

So its been 5k miles into these tires and i must say they are growing on me. Tread wear is perfect, road noise..i dont even notice it! i've gotten better gas mileage out of these tires compared to my BFG Km2.

We've had some small rain showers but nothing major..so still not results on the rain..
Snow is out of season..so waiting for mud and sugar sand test this weekend if the weather permits!

 

Glad to hear your liking them!

 

got 7k miles on these bad boys now and they are holding up well!

Rain traction is decent to me. I get wheel spin when making right turns but thats probably driver error...

got to hit some mud(nothing heavy but enough to cake up the wheels) and it handled well..I got stuck but that was my fault i let up on the gas..dropped into 4L and locked the rear and got out NO problem! They clean out very well.

Sugar sand:
No input on this yet


Complaint:
These suckers pick up large rocks VERY easily and they tend to chuck them around..got a small size chip by my wheel well but thats due to no mud flaps.

 

where did you get that price from? Discount tire wants 180 a piece and another local shop wants 173...

 

Go to discounttiredirect.com not discount tire.

Edit: Also i recall having a $100 off coupon from Discount Tire direct for promotion.

 

10k UPDATE

Tread wearing evenly enough that discount tire and toyota found no need to rotate them!

Also hit the lake twice last month and got myself into that sugar sand. At 35psi these tires sank my ass right when i hit the sand.
I dropped the psi down to 20psi and it was smooth sailing from there even with a fully loaded bed and towing a jetski..

Summary:
Highly recommend tire!

 

We have these tires on our '08 F250 that we use for hauling our trailers, and they're pretty damn good.

The tread is nice and aggressive, but the ride is smooth, little to no road noise and they have handled towing massive amounts of weight fairly well, but this is on a 10-ply tire. The wear is very even, and for the price, these are great tires! They're tough as-well, since we haven't had a problem with punctures or torn sidewalls and we're on construction sites and the local landfill all day for work.

Edit: I've also had them in some decent mud and soft sand before, and in the mud they did just fine, cruising through with momentum in 2WD, but on the soft sand I had to turn on my 4WD as the tires were just digging me in, but had no problem in 4WD. Then again, I started from the stop in the soft sand. Also, both times I had the same hydraulic dump trailer that was loaded to about 15,000lbs.

The only other tires I can think of that are comparable for the same price range are the Hankook ATM10's that we have on our Cummins that we use to tow aswell. Both great tires, but seeing as the Falken's are relatively new, I just wanted to chime in that they have performed extremely well.

 

i have 7000 miles on mine and are really good in deep mud and quiet on highway.very good in wet weather too.i get alot of compliments on them.285-65-18s

 

Good to hear these tires are kicking ass!

 

This could be an ignorant question, but I'm trying to do some research for my father-in-law. He recently put the Kumho KL78 on his truck. I read a lot of good reviews and told him that i thought they would suit his needs. Now, less than 20k mi later, they are almost completely bald. He has a 98 F-250 turbo diesel and uses it to haul construction equipment, including tractors and a several hundred gallon container in the bed. Under the same (or even tougher) conditions, he claims to have gotten 60k on the set of Firestone tires he had before. He told me that he needs an E load rated tire. Are there any significant differences between the E rated tire and the ones that you are reviewing? He also lives off the paved road in the mountains, and up a fairly steep grade winding road, so deep snow traction is definitely under consideration.

Thoughts?

 

^ 98' Ford F-250 is EXACTLY the kind of truck an E load range tire is designed for, especially for kind of truck use like you're father-in-law is doing, heavy hauling and loading. I think it's hilarious when guys who are driving Tacomas feel the need to justify buying an E load range tire that is designed to support thousands of pounds more than our little Tacomas can even handle.