@Maticuno - Tires

@Maticuno - I just discovered that your (excellent) review of the Authorities wasnt your first or only long term comprehensive tire review here on TW. I would be interested to read how you summarize what you have learned about AT and MT tires and how you compare and rank them.

 

Well, since this is asking for my opinion based on personal experience I will start with the disclaimer that I don't claim to know everything nor will my experiences mirror those of anyone else. In other words, YMMV.

I think the first and most important thing I've learned is that going with the "popular" choice might not always yield the best results. People will fanboy about product brands/types/styles, regardless of real world performance. I truly believe that a desire to fit in has skewed many an opinion about what could be viewed objectively as a sub-standard product, the BFG A/T KO as a prime example (more on this later).

Before getting into differences between ATs and MTs or brands, I want to talk about load rating. Somehow along the way, the notion that a higher load rating tire is always a better off-road tire got started. I think it followed a same pattern as to what gave rise to so many myths about treating snake bites: the person tried "X", they didn't die, so therefor "X" is the best method of stopping snake venom, when in actuality it was a dry bite to begin with and no venom was ever present. To relate this to tires, someone drove out in the boondocks with E load tires, ended up not getting a flat tire, ergo E load tires are the best! What I've learned in my experience is that if something sharp wants to poke a hole in your tire, it's going to do so regardless of how "thick" the sidewalls are. I've had paper thin highway tires take me through hell and back without a scratch, and I've had a single barbed wire point destroy an E load Duratrac. Of course I've also had the opposite happen. I've found no positive or negative of heavier load tires in the realm of puncture resistance. What I'm trying to get at is the only time the load rating of a tire should enter your decision making process is if you plan on hauling a LOT of weight with your 3/4 ton or above full size truck. The sacrifice in ride quality and fuel economy is just not worth the "peace of mind" that a higher load tire gives folks. If you really plan on trekking out there, carry a good spare tire or two, maybe a plug kit.

Between my personal vehicles and the fleet I manage, I've run all types of tires that could go on a normal vehicle. Performance tires, highway tires, all-terrains and mud-terrains, they each have their place and each performs best on the type of vehicle and terrain it was designed for. Trying to use one to fit the roll of another is not advised. You have to sit back and take an honest look at what you plan on doing with the vehicle before trying to choose a tire. Just immediately going out and getting an aggressive looking MT when all you do is commute back and forth to work and your idea of a trail is your buddy's gravel driveway is completely wasteful and, without going too far down the environmentalist road, bad for the planet. Big nasty MTs use more natural resources to make, generally don't last as long so you have to make more of them, and increase your fuel usage. Mall crawlers aside, form should always follow function. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing huge, meaty tires. They just have their place, and that place should be, more or less, a dedicated trail rig. The overwhelming majority of Tacoma owners out there would get along perfectly with a mild all-terrain that balances excellent highway characteristics and efficiency with adequate off-road abilities. For general off-roading not involving mud, I've seen a standard AT perform just as well as the most aggressive MT.

Now to get down to the actual tires I've used and what I think of them.

Before I promoted, my patrol vehicle saw at minimum 50/50 highway/off-road use, with the numbers probably leaning more toward 70-off/30-on road. That's when I ran MT tires because the vehicle was essentially a dedicated trail rig that occasionally had to bounce off the speed governor on the highway for emergency response. I've only ran three MTs as my duties shifted and required a shift to driving more highway miles. The three were the Firestone Destination M/T, the Dunlop Radial Mud Rover, and the Hercules Trail Digger M/T. The Firestones had slightly sub-par road manners, but did well off in the soft sand and ruts. They did not like sharp rocks, however, as they began chunking tread lugs out after only a short time. Noise became atrocious as they aged and off-road performance dropped quickly. The Mud Rovers were not that great. It was a long time ago so I can't remember specifics about performance, but I do recall they seemed average both on and off-road, but were terrible in snow and had weak sidewalls. The C loads I had were shredded by sharp gravel. The Trail Diggers are (in my limited MT experience) the best MT you can get, especially considering the price point. Highway driving felt adequate, as was the noise level. Where they really shine is once the tarmac ends. They would churn through the deepest soft sand, sharpest and slickest rocks, mud, rain and snow without skipping a beat. They remain the only set of tires I have used on a work vehicle with which I never had a single puncture (load range C). Even when worn down to near racing slicks, they held their own.

I can't remember all of the AT tires I've run over the years, but it's been quite a few and there are definitely some standouts. I'll go over the BF Goodrich AT KO (original, not 2), Hercules Terra Trac A/T (original, not 2), Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac, Goodyear Wrangler Authority, Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor, Hankook Dynapro ATM, and the Cooper Discoverer A/T3. This will likely not be a popular opinion, but the BFG AT KO is by far the worst all-terrain out there. Sure, there are ATs that perform worse, but for the ungodly amount of money they cost combined with the cult-like following they have, they sure could have been a lot better. First, I've never had tires fall apart and wear down as quickly as the BFGs. That is my experience spread across a number of different vehicles with different drivers. If they only see dry highway miles (where they perform a bit above par) then they seem to last. Once you take them out and onto the unbeaten path and really put some torque down, they disintegrate. I've seen sets become unserviceable in as few as 15,000 miles. In the soft sand they wandered like crazy and would let loose at completely unpredictable times. I'm not sure how well the new KO2s will perform, but I don't have high hopes and never plan on using another BFG tire. Terra Trac A/Ts are a great tire for the weekend warrior on a budget. Highway handling and noise were both well above acceptable. Off-road performance wasn't phenomenal, but they never got me stuck nor did I ever feel like they would lose control. The truck I was using them on grenaded before I could get a full long-term review, but as I recall they seemed to wear a little on the quick side. Another unpopular opinion, I also feel like the Duratracs are quite a let down. The load range E's I'm currently running on my work truck have not been able to keep a balance, they chip and chunk leaving cords showing, are extremely loud on the highway, and have the worst wet pavement traction I've ever experienced. I nearly got stuck in a drive-thru car wash because the rear tires couldn't hook up after a wash and get the front tires up and over the locating plate. Off-road traction has been pretty good, especially over big rocks and through mud. Longevity is also excellent, currently the longest lasting set of tires I've used on my work truck. However, the highway performance, balance issues, and road noise makes me wish they'd wear out faster. The Authorities are, without a doubt, the best all terrain tire I've ever used. The ubiquitous performance in all conditions combined with the moderate price tag puts them far ahead of the Duratracs and every other tire I've used. They are, however, a touch too aggressive to be used as a long distance commuter and since I hardly off-road at all anymore, I did not replace them in kind once they wore out after over 50,000 miles. Silent Armors were fairly average off-road, with a notable flaw in soft sand where they tended to dig in then let loose rapidly, causing a hard shudder during acceleration. Road manners were great and they were extremely quiet as the name suggests. I can't comment on long term performance as I traded that Tacoma in while they were still fairly new. While I have no first-hand experience with them, the Dynapros were used almost exclusively by a neighboring agency who did lots of off-road patrol. From what I saw and heard, they had great desert traction in the dirt, sand, and rocks, but they just couldn't hold up on the heavy patrol rigs and high-torque driving style of emergency and law enforcement response. For the Discoverers, I'm currently running my review of them. They are still very new so I can't get into too much detail yet, but so far I really like them. Getting back to a standard load tire after the C load Authorities was a huge benefit in long distance commuting comfort. They felt good on the little bit of off-roading I've done and performed very well on rain-slick roads.

What does it all mean? To be honest, nothing. You are welcome to take my experiences into consideration when purchasing your next tire, or you can TL;DR this whole post and buy whatever makes you happy.

 

Nice, thanks.