Help Choosing New Tires - Falken vs Toyo + Wildcards

Hi all! Long post ahead, cuz that's how I roll.

TL/DR: Help choosing between Falken Wildpeak A/T3W and Toyo Open Country A/T III with other potential contenders.

I have a 2016 TRD Off-Road and I need new tires. Going to go ahead and get 5. I bought a super small camper with an off-road package last year. We're doing a combination of mostly around town, next is highway, and a bit of off-road. Here are my wants and needs roughly in order of importance.

1) Performance on various road conditions. I have kids, so safety is super important, especially while towing.
1a) Most of the time is spent on pavement. Larger percentage is in town. Smaller percentage is highway.
1b) I want excellent wet weather performance. This is a big thing for my wife.
1c) We occasionally get snow and ice, so it would be nice to have decent performance there.
1d) While camping, we often see gravel, grass, and dirt. Sometimes it gets a little muddy.

2) Weight is important. Stock tires are 36.6lbs based on what I can find. I don't have a lot of wiggle room on payload while towing, so I'm super careful. I weigh the trailer tongue. I weigh us. I weigh our cargo. I stop by the CAT scales. I make damn sure I'm within all ratings for safety.

3) Noise and ride comfort is of some importance. Low noise and smooth ride please (for an A/T tire that is).

4) Tread life is kinda important. I'd like to get as much as possible for my money.

5) Fuel efficiency. A bit important. Not like this is a freakin' Prius, so meh.

6) Price. Don't really care. Quality is way more important to me than price.

Must be A/T. No M/T.
Must be 265/70 R16

The stock 265/70 R16 Goodyear Wrangler A/T Adventure with Kevlar have been fine. I have no complaints. Discount Tires rates them "Best." (Though not sure they're still available?)

I like the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W folks rave about. I really like the 3PMSF rating. They're a little heavier than stock, but I'd only lose 28.5 pounds of payload, so not terrible. Discount Tire rates them "Better."

I like the Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac. It also has the 3PMSF rating. 44 pounds each, so they're the heaviest out of my short list, taking a total of 37 pounds off payload.

I also like the Toyo Open Country A/T III I've seen mentioned quite a bit. They're rated high for wet and winter weather conditions and are 3PMSF rated. 40 pounds, so in between the Goodyears and the Falkens. Discount Tire rates them "Better."

All around the same price. All around the same warranty.

Others I've looked at but didn't make the short list... Michelin LTS A/T2. Goodyear Wrangler UltraTerrain AT. BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 (heavy). The other Goodyear Wranglers.

I'm leaning toward the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W. Top marks across the board at Tire Rack.

But I really like the Toyo Open Country A/T III as well. Very comparable reviews.

Watched lots of videos and read lots of posts as well.

Just looking for additional feedback before making my final decision. Thanks!

 

People on here and social media platforms seem to love the Falkens. The big rush on them happened when they were substantially less expensive than the competition, but they've since upped the pricing which makes them harder to justify in my mind. The Wildpeak A/T3W is still a good tire, but the value proposition just isn't there any more. That opens the door for other tires to make their case.

Of the tires you listed, the DuraTrac will be by far the worst on-road. It's an old design (introduced around 2010) that was the forbearer to many of the new "R/T" class tires. I had them on my Avalanche back in 2012 or so. The tread pattern causes a fair amount of noise and vibration around town, and they tend to only last about 25k miles before really getting loud on the highway. They also have fairly soft sidewalls, which would make them an "avoid" for off-road trailer towing circumstances in my book. Still look great, though.

Of the others mentioned (Michelin LTS A/T2. Goodyear Wrangler UltraTerrain AT. BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 (heavy). The other Goodyear Wranglers.) I'd do more research or skip them. The Michelin is a great highway/towing tire but not impressive on the dirt. Can't vouch for the UltraTerrain but there's a lengthy thread on here about them. People do also love the KO2s but I've never been impressed by their rain or snow performance. Plus, the KO3 is reportedly coming out soon, so might want to wait to see what that's like before buying the KO2 which has been around since 2014.

I'm running Toyo Open Country A/T IIIs on my GX460 and absolutely love them. Not as popular as the Wildpeaks, but a better tire in my mind. Truly can't find fault with them for my intended purposes. Ride great, super quiet, do well off-road, and have amazing treadlife. For reference, between my dad / my brother / myself we put >500,000 miles on the A/T IIs with zero punctures, treadwear, or balance issues. You mentioned safety being a major factor, and a lot of our mileage with these tires was towing long-distance, so that's high marks for the Toyos in my mind. I also have a young daughter and wouldn't run a tire I wasn't confident in, wet/snowy weather included. Big vote for the Toyos from me if you don't mind the weight/price penalty. Happy to answer any questions about the Toyos should you want.

 

Thank you both! Great information!

 

I noticed there is two different spec open Country A/T 111's on tire rack. Which one are you running? The lower rated load 116T (2756lbs) or the heavier rated 123/120R (3415lbs).

[QUOTE="eurowner,[/QUOTE]

I zoomed in but I believe you're on the 116T load rated tire?

 

https://www.mickeythompsontires.com/light-truck-tires/baja-boss-a-t

Go to 265/75R16 you won’t regret it. By the way TLDR. Cheers!

 

I've had both.....Toyos for sure. While a lof of people love the Falkens, a lot also don't because of issues. On the Toyos, I pretty much ONLY know of people liking them, other than a few randos saying they had bad traction after a while. The vast majority of Toyo owners have no issues and really like them. Many Falken owners have no issues but a significant number do have issues.

Have to keep in mind, Falkens hit the market as a very cheap budget tire. The quality stayed the same, but the price skyrocketed because everyone bought them. Toyo was priced middle of the road, and was meant to be middle of the road, but honestly it is the best performing AT I've ever had. I also really liked the General Grabber ATX.

For the record, I was always skeptical of Nitto/Toyo before I ever got mine. For whatever reason, I had it in my head that their products sucked....probably had something to do with the poor traction ratings of the older AT and ATII. I was very pleasantly surprised with this set and now I want to change sizes, but I'm going to run these down rather than sell at a huge loss.

My only complaint about the Toyos is the mild sidewall, but I don't really care about that. They are quiet, great traction, and extremely smooth. That trumps everything else in my eyes, and they do look good anyways besides being mild.

 

Agreed on all counts! I hope too many people don't buy the Toyos and raise their prices like what happened with Falkens. The difference being the Toyos are higher quality, but I don't want to pay more for them than is reasonable. Hope they stay moderately priced a long time, because I found a tire I don't want to deviate from.

 

I had the Wildpeaks and LOVED them. Personally, I'd just opt for whichever I could get a better deal on (Toyo vs Falken) or perhaps whichever is actually available. I just checked tirerack and they're showing both as out of stock. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

I went wildpeak as my first tire way back when strictly because I got 4 265/75s to my door for 500 bucks lol. While I was very happy with the A/T and eventually the M/Ts performance, they're a hard sell for me at their current prices. I haven't heard anything bad about Toyos so that would probably be my choice between the 2 currently

 

Thanks again for all the replies!

I can get a better deal on the Falkens than I can on the Toyos right now. Amazon has the Wildpeaks for $185 each and I think my local @Discount Tire will price match.

Just watched the Tire Rack videos and the Wildpeaks beat out the Toyos on both dry and wet tests.

https://youtu.be/4cj9WRIQiEk
https://youtu.be/RvC-2tpvNjA

I was kinda gunning for the Toyos but I keep coming back to the Wildpeaks for my needs.

 

They're pretty hard to beat in terms of being an affordable "does it all" kind of tire. I got a good deal on some skinny MT's so I got rid of my Wildpeak AT3W's but now I regret that. I just wish they made a 255/85/16.

 

I picked up a set of 4 Wildpeaks in 265/70R16 from Discount Tire for $724 shipped to my local installer. No issues and everything went smooth.

 

Same, if I could've got an at3w in 255/85 I would've absolutely ran that over the MTs

 

@pgfitzgerald absolutely we honor a Low Price Promise on all wheels and tires we sell. @hanlan75 thank you for your business we appreciate your support.

 

I think you should check out the Goodyear ultraterrain at discount tire.
I have 6k on mine now and so far they’ve been outstanding.

 

Just put a set of Toyos on my truck a few weeks ago... So far, I love them. I picked up a little noise over the stock Michelins and lost a little fuel mileage (went up in size), but love everything else. Wet traction has been great. Highway manners have been pretty good as well. No vibrations and very smooth riding tire. Got mine through @Discount Tire and couldn't be happier.

 

Awesome to hear, @Greenwing6 - we appreciate your support

 

Thanks all for the input. I decided on the Falkens. Thanks to @Discount Tire for the help as well!

I really like them so far. Haven't really put them through their paces, but they feel nice on the road, not any louder than the stock Goodyears, have been good in the rain, and look very nice!

I went with the stock size of 265/70R16