Anyone have experience with either of these?
Im on a tight budget and i have the option of these two tires:
Falken Rocky Mountain ATS or Goodyear Wranger Radial

The factors im taking into account are as follows:
Mostly Highway and around town miles
Offroading on light trails every now and again
As of next month ill be up north where it rains a lot more than where i am now

Which of the two would be best for my needs?

Thanks
-J

Check out tirerack.com and look up each tire. Read the SURVEYs, not the personal reviews.

I've had the Falkens for almost two years, my dad has had them for almost 4. Can't say a bad thing about them. I drive 30 miles daily, half being highway and they are quiet. Been good in rain and great in snow last winter. Been offroad a few times, and gotten me anywhere I needed to go. They are D rated, so not as stiff as E but as good of protection as C.
They come with a 50k warranty, and with full replacement certs they were one of the cheaper options.
I called Discounttiredirect.com and told them I was ready to buy, made me a hell of a deal. Plus I got no tax and free shipping, and a local discount mounted and balanced them for free.
Tire rack doesn't have the Falkens, and they charge tax and shipping.

Ive read reviews that they are not so good with handling, have you had any problems? and
How do they do in heavy rain? Thanks in advance

I've never owned Falken's but I had the Goodyear Wrangler RTS's & they were the worst tires I ever owned. I would get stuck in sand & hydroplaned in puddles. I had Pirelli Scorpions A/T's that were awesome but are discontinued. I am using Bridgestone Dueler A/T's now & they are very good but expensive.
TireRack is the place to do the research.

With Miller. Been running the Falken Rocky Mountains for about a year now and love them. I've hard them on the highway, muddy clay roads in Southern Utah, the Jamboree in Gilmer Texas, and on you fire roads. They're great on trails, and pavement. I will admit that slushy snow and ice aren't the best, but not many everyday tires are. They were great in the mud in Utah, and same with the trails in Texas. I think I'm running the same size as Miller, 285/75/16's. I got mine from Discount Tire since they always have free shipping.

I've had Falken tires and they were crappy. Hydro planing, noisy, and very poor tread wear. I'll never buy them again. They started showing wear at 5K miles and were completely worn out with cords showing at 30K. Just my experience and opinion. I recommend Cooper AT3's. Excellent traction and longevity.

I got falken 33" all terrain. They good tires. Not noisy, but very very heavy. Mayne because they are e rated I think..... Overkill for the 4runner but I drive 50-70 miles everyday. I will say if driving in rain and going around a turn, need to be very very cautious and go slower. I had few times where the back end kicked out and I lost control for little.

The only handling problem I noticed was when I first had them. The tire pressure was too low, and they were a bit wobbly. Upped the PSI a few and never had a problem since.
As for heavy rain, never had a problem. I don't drive it like it's a sports car, so I've never felt any sliding or slipping. In fact, I drove through a downpour on the way home today, and cruises right on down the highway without a problem.

Falken. Ran them for 2 years on mine. Wheeling, mudding, everything.

Great tire.

I recommend the Cooper AT3s too. Overland Journal did an extensive scientific AT tire review in the Summer edition, and the AT3 beat the other 6 tires they tested. Especially impressive was the wet road test. They did a 90 degree wet turn and the AT3 did it at 55 MPH. Next closest was Goodyear Wranger AT Adventure Kevlar, at 46 MPH, Falken Wild Peak A/T did it at 43 MPH, and the BFG A/T did it at 32 MPH.

I have these and they are awesome on wet roads. I have never felt any hydroplaning, even at 70 MPH in heavy rain - they really perform on wet roads, and they last like crazy. I have about 44K on mine, hundreds of miles of forest service roads (sharp limestone), never a flat, and about 1/4" tread left. Overland Journal said 'The Cooper AT3 was the overwhelming winner and a genuine value.'

With everything it comes to personal opinion, I'm sure we all agree. I've always been a Goodyear fan, I got hooked on the original MTR's 31/10.50/15 on my
1gen and got close to 60,000 on them then sold them for 20/piece when I got a new set, they wore like iron and snow was great along with wet roads. That's my main concern is wet traction. I now run the duratracs and wet traction is amazing!!, my neighbor runs the Rocky Mountain falcons and loves them.
As for the previous post about GY RTS tire, well all I can say is you get what you pay for. Rts's are the bottom of the GY line and thus they come on just about every new vehicle out there, plain and simple they suck however they are meant to be shitty their purpose is to get the car off the lot and into a new pair of shoes within a year.

The ATS GY tire are pretty dam good as well, sure every once in a while you will hear of a bad set of GY tires but when your one of the top producers of tires there's bound to be some imperfections along the way.

If I was looking between those two options OP, I would consider my driving habits. If I was around town with an occasional trip off road then the falcons might work, now if I was a traveling fool always heading to some destination unknown then I'd stick with the top shelf manufactures, Goodyear, BFG, cooper and maybe nitto.

As far as my Duratracs go, I'm getting a new set in 255/80/17 when my 265/70/17 are gone, yes I like that tire and will stick with it as long as I live in Oregon.

take a look at the hankook dynapros atm's I was debating between duratracs and those for my big truck. So far i am very pleased with them. They are cheap-ish too.

Thanks to everyone for the replies.
Im leaning more toward the Falkens at this point.

Id love to be able to get coopers or even bfgs, but its just not in the cards right now, anything i spend on tires is money i don't have for college

The Falkens are even a bit of a stretch, but i think im going to pay that little extra for a better tire.

Thanks all
-J

Since you are on a budget I would look into cooper ATPs. I currently have them on my 99 and they have been great so far. I'm not a big fan of the falkens cause they start to look like slicks once they start wearing.

Cooper Discoverer ATP 265/75-16 Tires in the Woodlands Area - Discount Tire