AT or AS tires for my needs?

Hey everyone! First, let me apologize in advance for creating another tire thread. I have read through the many already here, but still do not feel confident in my ability to choose best.

I have limited experience with offroading or even driving a pickup for a personal vehicle. With that said, I have driven plenty at work both as a landscaping foreman and now an employee of the National Park Service. However, in both cases, I rarely considered anything but the tire pressure. The tires themselves were not my call.

I live in the northeast so snow and ice are a definite issue and the park I work at is surrounded by water on 3 sides so the trails are mostly sand and the park does flood often enough. I do next to no highway driving and my commute is local, but I would say the majority of my driving will be on the road except for the occasional weekly venture into the sand.

I am pumped with my new Tacoma, but the first day in the snow I realized the stock tires weren't going to work well for me. I understand no tire can do everything but I would like some additional confidence in adverse conditions. I don't care much about mudding or rock crawling; sand, dirt, snow, water, ice, and pavement will be what I drive on. Considering this, is an AT or AS tire more appropriate for my use in the opinions of those who have used both and have had Tacomas longer than I have?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

Hey man so from my personal experience I absolutely love my nittos. I’ve had both the AT terragrapplers and the Ridge grapplers. They all around are fantastic in all areas you are describing. The ridge grapplers are definitely more aggressive and have a larger tread and more noise but fantastic grip in all snow, mud, sand etc. You’ll notice a little noise difference from stock when upgrading to Terragrapplers but it’s nothing crazy ridge grapplers are a little louder than terra grapplers if concerned about noise. If you are maintaining stock suspension height and rim terra grapplers will probably be much easier in finding an applicable size but it all just depends on what you feel you want/need. TONS of options out there so many good choices it’s hard to go wrong but I’ve just always preferred nitto.

 

It's up to 139 pages, so its a bit much to read it all...but the Falken Wildpeak AT3w seem to cover what you are looking for.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/packed-with-technology-falken-wildpeak-a-t3w.419869/

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld, new2Taco75!

It sounds like an all-terrain tire model is what you need. The question is, which one?

PM coming your way!

 

Can you share with the rest of us?
I too am looking for the same style tire as the OP. The Falken seems to be getting a lot of press, which is why I linked to it...but I'm always interested in learning more.

 

Hi, readyme-

I agree, the WildPeak A/T3W is a solid tire that works out well for many and this model is a popular choice here on the boards. No one tire will score 10 out of 10 in all performance areas, though, (longevity, comfort, handling, etc) so I PM'd the OP to gather some additional information and to see if he would like us to make a recommendation for his priorities.

If you would like us to do the same for you please let us know and we'll make a recommendation based on your driving priorities.

 

Some tires to consider based on your needs:

-General Grabber AT2
-Cooper Discoverer AT3 (or ATW - more siping for packed snow/ice)
-Falken Wildpeak

If you want something more aggressive, check out the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac as well.

I have experience with both the Grabbers and the Duratracs and both are great all-around tires. My next tire will likely be the Falkens.

 

How were the General Grabber AT2? I have heard it is another good option. One comment I remember was that the Grabber has full thickness sipes and the Falken does not...so the person said the Falken did not last as long as it should.

 

@readyme

My grabbers were great! They had pretty good traction on wet roads and were good in the snow too. I didn’t get to test them much in the ice because I have dedicated snow tires for the winter. They had great traction in the dirt and gravel and in light mud. One thing worth noting is that the tread really held onto small rocks and let them go at high speeds on the highway. It didn’t bother me, but if you hate rock chips then keep your mudflaps on. They looked nearly brand new after around 10k miles, but I didn’t get to test them for more than a year because my truck was totaled.

Mine were LT31/10.5/15 load range C and they rode on the stiffer side, but not bad at all. They had a slight hum above 45-50mph but not loud.

Overall, I’d say the tires were great for the price and I’d buy them again.

 

I opted for the Cooper AT3's in SL 265-75x16....

so far...nice quiet ride.....just NO snow/rain to test....

actually....no rain in over 90 days.....I would have bought either

BFG AT KO2's or Wildpeaks....if they made a C rated in the above size.....

Maybe DTD can talk to BFG or Falkin..tell Taco trucks need some C rated tires

 

Welcome to TW--I have had the General Grabber at2's -Good Tires - Bought Cooper Discoverers at3's in fall of 2015 from Discount Tire Direct & they have been a very good allround tire on pavement( Quiet) ,mud ,gravel, snow. Highly recommend
these for an AT tire .Post some pics of your truck.

 

If your truck is 4wd and snow/ice traction is important, don't ignore some all-season options or really mild AT choices like the Michelin LTX. I've had a fair amount of miles with all-season tires on two AWD vehicles plus my last pickup, and they are generally much better on pavement or slick conditions, plus give better MPG, than most AT's, and in tricky offroad conditions using 4wd plus correct air pressure will make most AS tires work just fine. Now, rock-cut resistance, and looks, may be good reasons to get an AT, but your usage sounds pretty mild.