Personal experience with Toyo Open Country AT3 vs BFG KO2

I recently switched out my BFG KO2 (265 70 r17 load range C) after 5k miles for the Toyo Open Country AT3 (load range E) and wanted to give my feedback on the differences I've noticed so far between the two in regards to balancing, noise, ride quality, PSI, handling, traction, MPG, cost and my overall opinion. I would love to hear from others who've had both to see what your experience matched up to mine.

Balancing:
To start, the Toyos actually balanced and there are no vibrations whatsoever. They took far less weight than the KO2's. With the KO2 I was getting some weird vibes (why I returned them to DT) despite being road forced multiple times. However, Discount Tire uses a (less accurate/more prone to inaccuracy) cone setup, which is less than optimal for a Toyota. I've heard they are hard to get right. This could explain why I was constantly getting vibes and had to return multiple times. DT used to use a plate that bolts into the rim (like toyota does) , which was more accurate, but no longer does so. As such, I will likely be bringing my rigs to Toyota for balancing/install but still may purchase tires from DT. All in all, DT has been great to deal with, so no lack of love for them. I'm just super sensitive to vibes and have had better accuracy going to a Toyota dealer for balancing/mounting. DT tire installed the new Toyos and there were still vibes.Toyota redid everything and there are NO VIBES. This whole experience actually makes me wonder if my KO2's were the problem, or if it is just the cone vs plate situation playing into it. Either way, I'm stoked there are no more vibes and am liking the Toyo's better.

Noise:
KO2's were quieter, but the added noise of the Toyo isn't crazy or anything. It's there though, so worth a mention.

Ride:
I've noticed no difference in stiffness going from C KO2's to E Toyo in my size. If there is a difference, it is so small that it isn't worth mentioning. The weight difference between the two is less than 2 lbs so the added durability of the E is worth the tradeoff IMO. I had the white lettered KO2's which are between 47 and 48 lbs. The Toyo is listed as 49.

PSI:
For reference, I was running the KO's at 38 front 36 rear hot, and am running the Toyo's at 40 front and 38 rear hot. After a call to Toyo, they recommended 35 cold for our trucks. I may try that and see how it goes. I'll report back but am curious what you all are running in your AT3 (load range e) and what the wear has been like.

Handling:
The truck seems to track better with the Toyo's, and it feels more stable.

Traction:
Toyo's seem to do better on road. I'll report back when I spend some more time off-road. Though, I mainly do forest service roads out west so likely won't notice much difference. I'm most curious about the snow so will report back when I get into some (we still have snow on the back roads and in the mountains). I've heard the Toyo's are better in snow.

MPG:
I've noticed better MPG with the Toyo's. This may be due to the warmer weather, less rolling resistance (Rumor I heard), or maybe they switched the gas blend in my area. Not sure. Either way, I notice about 1mpg better with the Toyo's so far. I will report back on highway MPG. I am driving 10 hours after I finish my coffee. Maybe I'll get some rain and snow over some passes, but probably not.

Cost:
DT matched an online price I found for the AT3 and they were $265. I couldn't find a comparable price for the KO's (was considering trying them again but in the back side wall which is 2 lbs lighter than the OWL). In the end, price, reputation for balancing well, better traction reports and the added durability won out so I went with the Toyo's.

Overall:
So far, I am happier with the Toyo's, but both are great tires. If I had to choose one I would go with Toyo simply for the added durability and the fact that they balance well, but I am miles out on Forest Service roads often. YMMV. The Toyo's also have slightly thicker tread, so that's cool. If I was mostly on road and wanted the coolest looking tire, I think the KO2's slightly edge out the Toyo's in the looks department. But the reports are pretty consistent that the Toyo's have better on road traction, perform better in the rain and snow, and track better. Also, all the people at the tire stores and at Toyota I talked to said that the Toyo is a better tire, so there's that. According to reviews the BFG may slightly edge out the Toyo in mud, but that's not super critical to me.

I'd love to hear other's long term experience with either on/offroad and what PSI you've been running. Does your Experience match up to mine?

Happy trails out there to everyone and stay safe. ✌

 

sometimes it’s not even about the balancing. sometimes it’s simply due to the way they mount your tires onto the wheels. a simple misaligned install will call for vibrations no matter how good the balance is.
i hope what i said makes sense..?

 

Totally makes sense. The DT tire guy brought me back to the shop and showed me the tire on the machine. he was convinced that the wheel was bent. After he said 3 wheels were bent, I went to toyota. I have a great local dealer who I trust and who've always treated me well. They confirmed my suspicion that the wheels were fine. No vibes !

 

@SendtheFire first and foremost, I apologize that we where not able to balance your tires correctly the first time. That is critical information that we will share with the technical side of store operations. Thank you for the information.

 

Thank you for your response. DT has been great to work with in general, but without those plates that bolt to the rim itself, I think balancing is next to impossible. I had it done 4 times and it was still off…not by a lot, but for someone as sensitive as me, I could tell. Hopefully, those plates make their way back into the operation.

 

I've had Toyo's on my F150 for 2+ years and somewhere between 25,000 to 30,000 miles. That truck doesn't see as much off road use so I went with standard load tires. I've been very pleased with them. I had Cooper AT-3's and Pirelli Scorpion E rated tires before. The Toyo's were an upgrade.

IME tires tend to get louder as they wear, especially those with more aggressive tread. No matter how often you rotate they never wear perfectly.

 

Do not have any experience with the Toyo AT3 (used Toyo AT2's years ago on different truck) My current KO2's 285/75/17 "E" load rating on Method 701's 2 wheels needed 0 weight and the one that took the most only took .5oz. I don't know if the shop used finger plates but they were road force balanced.

 

I just swapped out my BFG KO2's in 265/75/R16 in E load for Toyo AT3s, same size, but SL load rating. I've only been driving on these for a day, but the Toyo's are substantially louder, which kind of surprised me. Otherwise the ride feels smoother and not as stiff, but dang they are loud.

 

It is very strange to me how different the opinions are on Toyo noise. Some say they are loud, some say quiet, most who say loud tend to have LTs. I have had SLs and LTs, and the LTs were louder. I have not found the SLs to be loud at all (nor any louder than anything else), and I have owned plenty of different all terrains including KO2s. I currently have the 265/75 SL like you and can't notice any added noise over anything else.

Not saying you or anyone else is wrong, just interesting how different everybody's noise experience is with these tires. The only tires noticeably louder than others were Duratracs. Even the LT Toyos I didn't find to be much different than SL, only a little bit.

 

I agree, was thinking the same thing. Everything is relative. I drive quite a bit and as I pulled away with the Toyos I could tell immediately, even at 30mph. On the highway the difference was really dramatic. I had probably 25k miles on the KO2s, so I don't know if they get quieter over time or something, or maybe brand new tires are louder at first, who knows.

 

I also wonder how different the tires are coming from different plants. Mine say Made in Serbia which was also surprising.

 

Yeah, mine are the Serbian too - they seemed to have switched the 265/75R16 and 265/70R17 SL to Serbian, at least on the blackwall. I don’t notice anything at 30 or greater. I do listen to the music sorts loud but lots of the time I drive in silence and still don’t notice much of anything. Maybe just expectations.

 

No doubt. Just out of curiosity, what psi are you running yours at? I just checked mine and they are 36 front and back.

 

27 cold. That is per using a conversion calculator that is based off of the stock OR tire at 30 psi. They feel great at that PSI.

 

Here's a short video where you can hear the noise, it's pretty extreme imo.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZfZCWR227_g

 

Wonder if lowering your pressure would make any difference. If they’re still at 36 psi, they are overinflated. 36 is proper on LTs in our size, but not SL.

 

I'm going to try that next, they are 36 psi when hot though. looked like 32 this morning, cold.

 

I’d go to 27 and see where they land. Mine are 27 cold and end up at 29 hot. We aren’t at the worst of summer yet, so far I haven’t seen them reach 30 from warmup. Weirdly enough I haven’t had to put any air in mine since I got them in February. Maybe because as it’s slowly warmed up outside, the heat is increasing pressure enough to keep me right at the same psi as I lose air.

 

I'll do that, thanks.

But from what you hear on that video, do yours sound like that? Not that its easy to tell from a video.

 

I dropped the pressure down to 28 cold and went up to 31 hot today, it reduced the road noise slightly. But I think that's just how they are, louder than the E load KO2s, but considerably better in terms of ride comfort, traction (dry and especially wet), and mileage due to being 10 lbs lighter per tire. I could spin the KO2's very easily on a dry road, and on a wet road, I would have to crawl around turns or else go sideways.