Tread Comparison Question

Needing to replace tires soon. Currently have the Cooper AT3 4S and I like them. Intrigued by the Falken Rubitrek however as they look good, slightly less aggressive than the Wildpeaks, and are cheaper than coopers. The outer bands of tread on the rubitrek look a good deal wider than those on the coopers. Would that translate to more/less road noise? Not sure what having the outer band of tread being wider adds or subtracts, if that makes sense? I do a lot of road driving so lower road noise is important to me. Also do some dirt/fs roads and drive in snow so want an AT tire. What do the tire gurus say?

cooper tread:


Rubitrek tread

 

Typically, lugs that are spaced farther apart do make more road noise. That’s why mud tires are so much louder than all terrains.

I haven’t personally run either tire that you mentioned but I know from my research that the Rubitrek is supposed to have even better on-road manners than the Wildpeak AT3W (which people rave about).

I would bet that they have very similar road noise, and I would assume it wouldn’t be noticeable for either tire as far as an all terrain goes. I do similar driving to you and I’ve considered both because both have great reviews. I think either one would be a great choice.

You would really only get a lot of road noise when you get into the more aggressive all terrain tires like the Baja boss or the General Grabber ATx (which I have).

 

Rubitrek mega thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/falken-rubitrek-a-t-tire.507377/

Cooper AT mega thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cooper-discoverer-a-t3-megathread.546259/

 

Thanks @Road_Warrior, I’m thinking I might give the Rubitreks a try. They’re ranging from $25-45 cheaper per tire than the coopers.

What are you running for tires?

 

I have the General Grabber ATXs. They’re an aggressive all terrain tire and I think General actually markets them as a hybrid tire in some of their advertising.

I’ve had them for about 35K miles now and I wouldn’t recommend them. They preform very well in all conditions but they’re louder now than the Yokohama g003 mud tires I used to run. I won’t be getting them again after this set is done.

 

I haven't tried either but i'll speculate that the coopers will be quieter based experiences with other cooper tires but again I haven't personally ran either

 

I've owned a lot of AT tires and the cooper at3 4s is by far the quietest.

They don't last as long as I'd like but for road manors they are amazing.

The Rubitrek will not be loud, but will be louder than the at3 4s for sure.

 

The AT3 4S definitely start pretty quiet but get pretty noisy as they wear. I'm currently at 80k on mine. That being said, I've had about 5 sets of these (including the pre-4S model) and have been very happy with them overall.

 

They start to scalop a lot at the half way point, so diagonal rotations help, but I see loads of all terrains go to hell at 6-7/32nd

Nokians are the worst, easily.

 

If you are looking for a good tire that isn’t too aggressive and is quite.
I’d give the Hankook DynaPro AT2 a look.
Great traction in wet grass, good traction is snow, and “ok” traction is wet sticky mud.
But what AT tire is actually “good” in mud? None, I’ve ever run.

I’ve run over some pretty gnarly stuff with mine, and some how they just keep going.

 

I try not to go below 6/32nds...at least going into winter. Scalloping has occurred, but it would probably be less so had the dealership done diagonal rotations.

 

I never do, I usually sell around 7-8/32nd and buy a new set.

 

The Coopers will generate less road noise than the Falkens but both will be on the quieter side of All Terrians. Rule of thumb is the more void in the pattern the louder they will be. So the deeper the tread and the wider the grooves the louder a new tire will be. This isn't the only factor that goes into tread pattern noise but is the largest contributing factor.

 

I'm considering rubitreks on my taco as well. I pull a bass tracker a lot and they say the rubitreks are a little better on road manors and pulling than the at3w's are. But if you look at the farmers around me, (farmers do it all with their trucks), at3w's are the main ones around me that you see on farm rigs.

 

If you pull a trailer a fair amount you should look at getting LT size tires. P-rated sizes are ok to tow once in a while but are not really meant for that type of repeated forces.

The Cooper AT3 LT or XLT is the Cooper LT size equivalent of AT3 4S.