Dunlop AT20's replace before snow flies?

I've been sifting through threads seeing the overall opinion of the Dunlop AT20's general performance, and reading their winter performance ratings.
Obviously they "work", but living in Maine I am a bit concerned about the tires ability to handle the conditions.

Anyone have experience with these in pretty nasty winter conditions? They only have 1000 miles on them now, but I'm looking through A/T tires for a possible replacement. I could use them this winter and also next spring for getting back into the woods fishing.

 

I bought my 2006 4Wd DC w/ the Dunlop ATs at the tail end of a Vermont winter. That was enough for me.

I ran them through the summer but swapped out for snowflake rated All Terrains for one season. We drive a lot on dirt roads and tow. The snowflake rated tire was ok.

Last year I went with a dedicated studded tire (Firestone Winterforce) on the advice of folks here and will never go back. The best $400 bucks ever spent. I picked up a spare set of rims for a winter set.

 

Yeah, sounds as though I should seriously consider it. I suppose if I got a spare set of rims I could swap them back on in the summer and get the tread life out of them.

It is a shame that I did not figure this out before purchasing the truck.

 

The Dunflops are complete junk, I drove one winter on mine and they were useless in light snow.

 

If your on the coast any dont venture out much to the mtns, you can skate by, your TRAC/VSC might be busy. When you look at other Tacomas, many run them all year.

If you want to go w/ better tires, your call.

A better set of 'A' traction rated A/Ts or even H/Ts will work much better in all conditions year round. No rim/tire change over each season.

Or for ulimate winter driving, snow tires on cheap steel rims and use the OEM tires/stock rims in summer. Sure you got to do the changeover, but its easy, takes care of rotation, and both sets last longer. Agree w/ Simon's Mom... best $500 I spent on the truck, will be putting on for winter #6 before we know it.

 

+100

 

I had the AT20 and they sucked in Maine I went to the grabber at2 in 265/75/16 SOOOOO much better!

 

Yeah I was eyeballing the grabber at2s.

Still in the Bangor area? If so we are practically neighbors.

 

I bought my '06 used. It came with the Dunlop tires. I do much off roading and winters are bad here. I put on BFG Long Trail T/A. I have used these tires for years on other off road vehicles. They last long, trouble free and are quiet on the highway. My 2 centavos.

 

Im keeping my at20s for the dryer 8 months or so , they didnt fail me last winter, but i thought they were lacking, so i bought a winter set of tires. Look for ones with mountain/snowflake symbol if you go A.T., or go pure winter tires like a blizzak.

It's that 2% or so winter driving on ice ,on a hill that makes a winter set worth having, rest of the time on snow going skiing you know there is that extra margin of safety.

 

I just checked Tirerack.com to see if they had a winter package with steel wheels. They didn't list any steel wheels for winter packages on my truck.

There ARE steel wheels for 16" 6-lug Toyotas, right?

Oh, and I was thrilled to see the availability of TPMS...for only $300+ for a set of four. I do like having the TPMS installed, though I wish it displayed actual pressure and not just an idiot light. I need to see whether you can 'reprogram' the system yourself, or if a dealer actually has to do it. That would suck having to take it to the dealership twice a year to have the system reprogrammed to take the seasonal set of wheels and tires.

 

I'm putting a set of studded winter tires on mine this year (next month when I have some extra cash. The ice and hills can be really bad here on the East coast. 4x4 with studs should be able to get me anywhere this winter.

 

My 4x4 tacoma came stock with 16" steel rims and I have used them for my steel rim set. 00-06 Tundra steel rims will fit as well. I see them on craigslist or ebay cheap. You will need diff lug nuts though than what is used on the stock alloys.

Yes sir, that is what I went with last winter, Firestone Winterforce studded from tire rack shipped to my door. It was hard to find them last winter for awhile due to the law changes in Quebec. I finally got some online, everyone local was out by Nov!! These tires were awesome & the braking amazing.

 

I think I'm going to swap out my Dunlop's for Michelin LTX AT2's before the snow starts flying. It's either that or I'll grab a set of dedicated winters and live with the Dunlop's until they need replaced. Still not sure which way I'm going to go. It would be nice to just go with the AT's and forget about needing new tires for at least 3-4 years. The tread life on them is nuts, at least based on what I got out of the LTX AT's I had on my previous F-150.

I do know that I've read enough about the Dunlop's to figure that they aren't going to be all that great for our winters and if there's one thing I'm big on, it's having good tires. My old LTX AT's got through the winters just fine and that was the old tread design on a vehicle without traction control and whatnot. Truth be told, on most days I could keep it in 2WD and not worry. I suspect the new AT2's will do as good and likely better.

 

We just had out first rain storm in 4 months. On my way home last night I went through a shallow puddle and my rear end hydroplaned. Scared the crap out of me. I'm sure the truck would have done better with some weight in the back, but these Dunflops are crap. They have got to go. Now, if I can only find that money tree.

 

I bought my truck in Maine with Dunlops on them. I've pretty much run in 4WD each winter since I have had it, but have finally upgraded to some BFG AT's. I can already feel the difference, and hopefully will actually be able to leave my truck in 2WD for part of this winter. If you have the cash now, I say upgrade them, but you'll probably be okay if you don't drive like an Ahole, and you use your 4x4.

 

Yea, last winter we didn't get much snow here, but when we did I had no choice but to use 4x4. These tires are worse in the snow than in the rain. Toyota needs to come up with a better base tire. JMO.

 

Jeez everybody. I just bought my Tacoma but i've been driving a 03 4runner limited 4.0 for the last few years, and am amazed at the feedback of the Dunlops. They did absolutely fine for me. Replaced them at 43k..... they weren't even that bad.. coulda easily done 50k. I drove them 2 winters ago in the only real bad snowstorm we had from delaware to new hampshire and back with a motorcycle trailer and had no complaints. I've been in big fields doing hillclimbs in the snow. I lived in Pensacola for the last year and did a bunch of dune bugging in pretty soft sand there with no problems either. I drive rather "spirited" and never had any problems. They are super quiet and respinsive on the road, wet or dry, and perform rather well for a highway all season in snow and sand. I feel like everyone likes to bash any OEM stuff, no matter how good/bad it is and then a bandwagon starts. (these things never claimed to be mud terrains, people) For someone that does most of their driving on the road and wants quality ride there but wants to be able to get around in the snow or the occasional offroad situation the AT20's are perfectly fine. my 2 cents.

 

My AT20's have 11,000 miles on them and they look like they have 20,000 miles on them. There are different AT20s. There is one that has a treadwear rating of 500 and the junk ones on my Tacoma that have a rating of 300. Maybe the 500 rating ones are a much better tire. I know Dunlop makes some good tires, but I hate the ones Toyota put on my truck. JMO.

EDIT- Here's Tire Rack's page on the Dunlops. There's a big price difference between the two AT20s.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireS...true&minSpeedRating=S&minLoadRating=S&tab=All

 

I couldnt agree more, I have almost 58k on my stock dunlops. They arent the best in snow but thats why I bought a 4x4. I ran the at20's on my 01' 2wd 5 lugger and got 90k out of them. Its quite simple when the snow flies put it in 4wd and SLOW DOWN. A/T's or H/T's wont stop any faster on snow/ice. If you want the most out of your tires braking abilities take out the abs fuse and control it the truck manually. Been doing it in OTR trucks for over 2,000,000 miles so far and zero accidents.