Member
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Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Texas
Posts: 428
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Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Texas
Posts: 428
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Toyo Open Country AT3 Wet Traction Issues
Just wanted to post my concerning experience with the Toyo Open Country AT3s. I loved these tires for almost the entire time I had them. Bought them from Discount Tire in March of 2021. Found them to be great in all conditions including highway, wet, snow, etc. Did 5-tire rotations roughly every 5000 miles or so. In all I put about 45,000 miles on them. However in the last 10,000 miles I found the wet traction to be severely degraded. Had a few instances where they would cut loose immediately in the rain under very normal acceleration and one instance where I slid through an intersection at very low speed like I was on ice. These instances happened in Texas where wet roads are notoriously slick especially during a first rain after it's been dry for a while. The oils in the asphalt accumulate on the road surface and the rain makes things slick until the roads can be sufficiently "washed off". So I chalked it up to isolated incidents.
However, my wife was recently driving the rig on a drizzly morning on a windy road and in a mild bend the front tires completely let loose and she pushed through the bend and over a 50' embankment. Luckily she walked away with minor injuries, although our dog jumped out of the vehicle through a broken window and was lost in the wilderness for a week. But our beloved 3rd gen was totaled in the accident, which could have been much worse by several measures.
All that said, I've replayed the circumstances surrounding the accident over and over again, and based on my judgement, I feel like ultimately the tires were to blame here. Although the road conditions definitely played a part, my wife is a cautious driver and was traveling at a speed which, in my opinion, should have been sufficiently safe for the conditions and the road.
I'm putting this out there mainly as a warning for those running these tires to be aware of your wet weather traction, especially with age and miles. I can't say how much of my experience is specific to Texas and the road conditions specific to this area, But I found the wet weather traction problems I had with these tires to be very concerning.
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1997 SR5, 3.4L, Manual
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