New Tire Options/Opinions (Yes, I searched).

do the G2s not come in 16”? I have the G1s in 16 right now

 

Totally man. This is a great post because it's so true. Lots of strong opinions and that's good because it means people have experience and know what works -- and doesn't work -- for them.

I never had one single issue with the BFG KO2s. I thought they were great tires and if I didn't like the way the Falkens looked (they did a test tire for me), I was 100% ready to go back to the KO2s. Money wasn't the issue. I simply wanted to try something different and have heard great things about the Falkens. I just did 180 miles of pouring down rain freeway driving this morning and the Falkens still feel very balanced and smooth.

Like you said, lots of good options these days. I'd say, based on looks alone, the KO2, Wildpeak and Ridge Grappler are my favorites. The Duratrac looks pretty awesome too!

Anyway, that's my two cents.

@Thatbassguy, any pics of the AT3s on your truck? Would love to check them out. Glad you're liking them.

 

They don't. That's why I moved away from 16" wheels on my truck because a lot of tires either don't come in a 16 or you have to run 10ply and personally, I don't like the harsh ride of a 10 ply. Of course, ride is subjective and there are a lot of happy folks running E-rated tires on their Tacomas!

 

Bummer, I used E rated tires for years and switched to C rated a few years back, and I’ll never go back to E. C is much better. Sounds like I’ll need to pick up some 17s when I’m ready for a new set of tires

 

I know it's like comparing apples to oranges but my last truck was a duramax and I obviously ran E rated tires on it. It was a bouncy ride but I attribute that to both the HD suspension and the 10 ply tires. I enjoy the ride of my Tacoma much better but do deeply miss the power of the duramax... LOL

 

That's another reason I went with the Falkens. They are C rated at 275/70/17. They weigh almost as much as the E rated KO2 in the same size, but like I said when I started this post, I've done my fair share of E rated tires and prefer the C these days. My wheeling these days mainly consists of logging roads, snowy passes, soft sand and steep dirt/rocky inclines to get up to my property. I'm not out on trails pushing anything to the limit. That said, there is a peace of mind knowing you're running E rated tires. I've put them through the paces in Baja and never had a single flat. But I do prefer the C for everyday use.

 

I live in Oregon also and use to run KO2 tires. They were great in dry conditions but average at best in the wet and ice/snow. Currently running Kenda Klever R/T’s and they are noticeably better in mud/rain/snow/ice. Also have been all over rocky conditions and they haven’t let me down. Running them in a 33x10.5 which has worked well for me. Also like these tires better than the Duratrac’s (loud! especially as they wear) and the ST Maxx tires I’ve also ran in the last few years.

 

Here's a few.. I only have about 40 more!

 

Nice rig! Yeah, those do look way better than the AT2. I've always liked my Toyo tires. Maybe by the time I need new ones again, the AT4 will be out. Haha. Also, didn't somebody say there was an "extreme" version of the AT3? Wonder what those look like. Thanks for sharing. Looking good! And yeah, as a professional photographer, I know what it's like having a plethora of images laying around. I can't wait to get out and take some shots once my suspension is rebuilt today!

 

Alright folks, well, the saga continues. Haha. Not really, but it appears I'm not quite done.

So, as stated, I drove from Blue River, OR down to Grants Pass, OR (about 3 hours) yesterday to have Mike from Mike's Custom Toys rebuild my Icon Stage II suspension. When I got down there I told him that, in addition to the suspension rebuild, I was hoping to raise the front a bit to clear the new tires and alleviate any rubbing. Well, when we started looking at it, we realized that if we raised the front much more, I'd have the dreaded bro lean where the front is higher than the rear. Clearly not an option. So I upgraded to the Wheeler 805 leaf pack and I think the rear is just slightly too high. Mike said it should settle about 0.5" - 1" over the next 500-1000 miles. I'm gonna be up clearing some logging roads the next few days so will get it into the dirt pretty soon. Hopefully all that bumping around helps it settle. If it doesn't, I think I'll have to have a leaf removed. It's just too raked for my liking at the moment and I don't want to raise the front anymore in fear of making the tires look too small. In fact, when I got home last night I was kinda tripping thinking that the whole truck was too high and I was having the same problem I had with the 265s where the tires looked too small because of the lift. Now that I slept on it, I think the front is fine still and just hoping the rear drops a bit as the new leafs settle.

First and third pics are from before the suspension rebuild when I came home with the new 275 Falkens. Second and fourth pic is this morning after the rebuild, front raise and new leafs.

Regardless, the suspension rebuild was necessary and the truck is driving and handling like a dream. I'm glad I finally did the rebuild. Makes a huge difference.

What do you all think? Interested to hear your thoughts.

Lastly, I honestly can't say enough good things about Mike and his crew down there at Mike's Custom Toys. I'd do the drive without thinking twice just to have the peace of mind that they were working on my rig. If you live in Oregon or Northern California (the real Northern California, not SF), I'd highly suggest using Mike for any mods. Great people. Phenomenal mechanics.

 

I second that about Mike’s. Had him install my ARB front locker and 4.88 gears. Great guy to work with and did an excellent job!

And the truck doesn’t look too bad. It will settle a little. Don’t want to have it basically level or else when you load it or tow anything then you will be joining the bro club for sure.

 

Yeah. Great dude! Yeah. I agree. The thing is, in this pic, the truck bed already has a wood sleeper setup, 3 surfboards, 2 wetsuits, a 5gal can of gas, a gallon of chain and bar oil, a chainsaw, a shovel, and some light stuff like sleeping bags and miscellaneous camping gear. So, It sort of is "loaded". Granted when I do big camping missions or, my favorite, Baja missions, I probably put another 50lbs in it. But nothing crazy.

Thanks for the kind words though. Sure love Toyota trucks! Been fun getting back into the world of mods and sprucing up the truck.

 

its not making it any easier to narrow down a tire

 

Okay to wade through all the info on tires, and to stop myself from having to keep searching specs on TireRack, I put all the specs in a spread sheet, for tires i was interested in and generated a few simple graphs. Thread kinda fell into a black hole though.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/popular-tire-comparisons.654241/

The quantitative data showed me that:
KO2's are super heavy and expensive compared to other tires in their class
Duratracs (C load) are the lightest tire in relation to their tread depth
Falken wildpeaks were not for me


I ended up with duratracs and they have been great so far- yes they make some noise

 

I have a spreadsheet I built recently. I’ll see if I can post a list when I get back to a computer.

 

IMO wait for 1000-2000 miles to see if the rear settles. If its still too high for your liking then take out a leaf from the pack

Edit: Oh you said that in your post. haha whoops

 

Just go on discounttire.com and tirerack.com and put in the size you need. Look at the tires that look good to you, and read the reviews.

You'll hear horror stories about every tire ever made. Look at the overall reviews, and pick what you want.

 

Ha! All good! Still waiting. We’ll see how he looks in another 500 miles or so.

 

i love my toyo open country MTs

 

Finally got a set of Nitto Ridge Grapplers 265/75R16 put on the truck. Tires look great and there is a light drone at highway speeds which is no big deal.

Issue I'm having is the truck shakes above 60 mph and gets bad above 70. Is it a balance issue?