My wife and I purchased a used 2010 Limited about 7 months ago and knew that we'd be replacing the stock tires within about 10k miles. We got another 12k miles out of them including a trip to Mammoth in December when it snowed 2-3 feet in a couple of days- even w/ the bald tires the 4runner handled extremely well and had minimal slippage. But I digress...
I looked at a wide variety of tires and knew I was somewhat limited on sizes because of the narrow wheel. Any tire models or sizes that are listed in 5th gen 4runner limited forums, I've looked them up, looked at user reviews, read their of reviews on tirerack.com, cross-researched them, asked friends, dealers, etc. Needless to say, I like to know that I'm getting a good tire that's fun and capable w/o sacrificing safety for my family.
I'll cut to the point- we went w/ the Toyo Open Country AT 2's. I also strongly considered Nitto Terra Grapplers, Bridgestone Dueller AT 2's and Firestone Destination AT's. The Nitto's were the first tire I seriously considered but read mixed reviews on them. Bridgestone's looked great, but the reviews were better on the Destination AT's. The Destination AT's looked fantastic and the reviews were outstanding, but they were on national backorder. Enter the Open Country AT 2's- it's a newer tire so there weren't as many reviews out there; there definitely weren't a lot of reviews from 5th gen limited owners. In fact, pyrat's post and pictures were the only ones I found from someone who had put these on a 5th gen limited. Thanks pyrat! I couldn't find many bad reviews about these and many said they were a great improvement to an already good tire. The 65k mile warranty intrigued me and was a pro over the Destination AT's- they've got a 50k mile warranty. Last, but not least, these came highly recommended from a good friend in the industry and the price was right.
Just got these installed yesterday and I've done about 20 miles of city driving and 50 miles on the highway. Some of these are a given considering the tread left on my stock tires, but after very few miles, here are my thoughts:
*Changes the look of the truck and makes it look like more like a 4runner should- the new tires appear to raise the truck a hair and fill out the wheel wells as they should
*Grip is significantly greater
*Truck feels more solid- I felt, at times, like I was riding on stilts w/ the stock tires
*No rub at all. Like pyrat mentioned, it brushes the inner fender liner- it's not noticeable and does make any noise.
*Road noise is minimal- I notice it between 35-50 MPH and I can hear them on the highway, but it's just a hair louder than the stock tires.
*Ride seems a bit stiffer- this may be because they're brand new tires and inflated to proper PSI- the stock tires were probably a few PSI lower than they should have been.
*They feel a tiny bit heavier when braking and accelerating
I'll report more on these as I rack up the miles. We've got a trip planned to Mammoth soon- hopefully it snows a bit and we can test in different conditions. Based on initial impressions and drive, I love them. I'd highly recommend them. For everyone concerned that they won't fit on the wheel, they'll be too big, etc.- I've read all the concerns and I had all of the same concerns. The guy who installed my tires said they went on just fine.
Anyways- this is my first post- "long-time reader, first time poster." I figured it was time to give back a little since I used this forum to do extensive research on putting 275/55/20's on my 2010 Limited. Thanks a ton to everyone who's posted pictures and reviews on mounting this tire size on their rigs. I'll post my own soon!
