02-28-2015, 05:34 AM
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#1
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,146
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,146
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Falken Rocky Mountain and Wild Peak Tires FTL
I'm not too active on the 4Runner forum anymore, but I thought it might be wise to share a bit of experience with Falken AT tires for the benefit of others that might be searching.
It is my personal opinion that these are the most poorly designed AT tires on the market by a significant margin. That is for one specific reason: the latteral sipes and grooves on the tire only run approximately half as deep as the directional grooves. What this means in practical terms is that a tire that looks like this brand new:
...ends up looking like this less than half the way through its tread life:
I'm no engineer, but I have no idea why they would find the latteral sipes and grooves so trivial that they would only need to go half way in terms of tread depth. But I can say in recent snow storms I have seen a fair number of jeeps in the ditch and at least a few had half-worn falken tires.
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1984 Toy Longbed 4x4: lifted, locked, incapable of highway speed
1985 FJ60: OME, 33's, Lockright, Rust
1997 4Runner SR5: Rolled , 1999 4runner SR5: V6, 5-speed, e-locker, 285's, SS 1.2
1988 FJ62: TBI 350, 700r4, FF rear, ARB locked F/R, almost no rust!
1996 Lexus LX450: Factory locked front & rear, OME lift, and a salvage title
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02-28-2015, 05:39 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,146
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,146
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here is a more literal illustration of the concept:
latteral grooves are worn away (still plenty of tread depth on the directional grooves) leaving only in-line grooves which do nothing in terms of poor-weather traction.
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1984 Toy Longbed 4x4: lifted, locked, incapable of highway speed
1985 FJ60: OME, 33's, Lockright, Rust
1997 4Runner SR5: Rolled , 1999 4runner SR5: V6, 5-speed, e-locker, 285's, SS 1.2
1988 FJ62: TBI 350, 700r4, FF rear, ARB locked F/R, almost no rust!
1996 Lexus LX450: Factory locked front & rear, OME lift, and a salvage title
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02-28-2015, 06:39 AM
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#3
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Dayton, OR
Posts: 3,042
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Dayton, OR
Posts: 3,042
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I've seen this first hand as well, what a terrible design flaw, I've heard many good things about the performance of the wild peak when it's new, but the actual usable tread life is abysmal.
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'97 3RZ 5 Speed "FrankenRunner" ( Build Thread) - Dormant
The "shitmobile" 500$ 3RZ Auto 4Runner - ( Saved from the Scrapyard: Resurrecting a 500$ 3rd Gen
02 Tacoma Double Cab, mid-travel, locked, armored, supercharged and riced. (Longbed and 5 speed in the works)
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02-28-2015, 10:03 AM
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#4
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Member
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Mesa Arizona
Posts: 709
Real Name: Neal
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Mesa Arizona
Posts: 709
Real Name: Neal
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I really like Falken tires but the the Wildpeaks suck big time. More like an agressive HT tire than an AT tire. They look cool but thats about it and are pricey. I hear they do really bad in mud, soft dirt or sand.
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03-01-2015, 04:24 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Stationed in Camp LeJeune, home is Conover, NC
Posts: 2,691
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Stationed in Camp LeJeune, home is Conover, NC
Posts: 2,691
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Falken Rocky Mountain and Wild Peak Tires FTL
I ran those for a couple years before input my 35s on, and loved them.
Never had a single problem out of them. Did great in mud, rocks, everything i put them through.
I'll probably put them back on when I get the Runner going, just in 35s.
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"We are experts in the application of violence."
-LtCol Christian Cabannis, Camp Letherneck, Afghanistan, 2009. The "Summer of Decision."
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03-01-2015, 11:44 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Indy, IN
Posts: 2,613
Real Name: Adam
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Indy, IN
Posts: 2,613
Real Name: Adam
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I've had mine for 20k miles or so, and not a single problem. It looks like the tire posted above had excess wear on the outside edge. Mine look nothing like that.
I've been offroad numerous times and the only time they struggled was thick clay...not sure what AT would breeze through that.
We got 8' of snow last night and I had no problems driving around with them.
YMMV.
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03-01-2015, 11:53 PM
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#7
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Parker CO
Age: 57
Posts: 1,080
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Parker CO
Age: 57
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Regardless of how the OPs have worn, that doesn't change the fact that EVERY set of these will turn into what amounts to a highway rib tire after a certain amount of wear.
Sure they may work great when they have tread, but they will perform poorly once the crossbars and siping is gone. Nobody can change that, regardless of how happy they are with them currently.
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