5th gen - help picking AT tires

C

csnow

New member
Hi everyone

I'm brand new here, just picked up a white 2015 trail about a month ago.

I want to replace the stock dueler tires with something slightly more capable. I've been reading through this forum and google like crazy, maybe too much, and am still having trouble picking new tires.

I live in Alberta Canada and don't want two sets of wheels/tires so the new ones need to be capable in snow and ice. Most of my kms are freeway commuting to work so the tires have to be fairly comfortable and safe at freeway speeds. Also, I do a lot of fishing and hunting so need something that can get me down more remote forestry and gravel roads with a bit unpredictable conditions. Probably won't be doing really serious off-roading.

Finally, the most important is I have two kids so whatever the tires are I have to be totally confident that they are safe.

Sticking with stock size 265/70/17 so far my top contenders are:
- Goodyear Duratrac, awesome reviews I was pretty sold on these until I read a few stories or sidewalls failing, bit worried about safety
- BFG AT KO2, not great reviews on the old ones but the ko2 seems to address most of the issues, hard to find many winter reviews for these
- Nokian Rotiiva, I have always run Nokian winters on previous passenger cars and they were amazing so I'm confident in the winter side of things but are these aggressive enough for some mud and light off-road?

Need help choosing between these or with other suggestions. Also really need help with either C or E rating because people seem to be all over the place with what they use. I don't really tow at all just want whatever is the safest for what I'm doing.

Thanks!
 
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Just noticed the Nokian Rotiiva actually only comes in E or SL which I think is the same as P rating. The E only weighs about 43 lbs though so pretty light.

Also, the C rated duratracs are on sale for an awesome price. They would be my cheapest option from this group of tires.
 
I just recently put a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3 265/70/17s in the C Load range on and I am very happy with them. I don't have many miles on them yet, but I am impressed so far both on and off road. I don't notice them to be any louder on the highway, which is a plus for my wife. I went off-road a little bit with them and much of it was a snowy & muddy trail. The tires had no problem whatsoever. I was really impressed with how well they tracked. They also happen to look great. I went with the C load since I was concerned the E's would result in too harsh of a ride. They are a good in between for my uses.

For a great comparison between several popular tires, I found this to be very helpful in making my decision:
Expedition Portal
 
I have have a set of BFG All Terrain KO2's on my Tacoma and they are great. I had a set of the old KO tires and they were awesome too, was able to put over 90'000kms on them. The KO2's are supposed to have 15% more life to them than the old ones! I live in norther Ontario and we get some serious winters with plenty of snow and I've had great success with the BFGs. Great all terrain tire that's good on the highway too. BFG All Terrain KO(2), hands down.
 
If I had to fit my rig with 1 tire year round... it would probably be the BFG AT. Very capable off road with good road manners as well. Another similar tire is the General Grabber AT2. I've never had them but they are popular around here.
 
Thanks for all of the info so far. I think the BFG AT KO2 may have moved to the top of my list. I did some reading and it sounds like the old BFG AT had some issues with tread failure/separation. Any issues like that with the KO2? Seems like they really improved it so hopefully not.

I did some checking into the cooper as well. Seems like a great tire but no mountain snowflake symbol so may not be my best winter choice. Some other parts of the country have that as law in the winter so want to be set in case it shows up as law here too.

Will add the General Grabber to the list to look into as well.
 
Hello from Red Deer, Alberta! I have a perfect AT tire for you. I was just like you, couple month ago deciding on new shoes for my 4runner. Since I don't change to winter tires and we get plenty of snow and ice here in Alberta the most important factor for me was winter handling. Duratracs was my first pick originally, but I discovered brand new tire on the market which just got released in fall 2014. Its made by Cooper and in Canada they are unfortunately only available through Canadian Tire. For some reason other Cooper distributors are not selling these tires. The tires I'm talking about are Cooper Discoverer A/TW. Do some research on these and you will understand why I chose them.

I paid $150 per tire when they were on sale. My total bill was $740 mounted, balanced and warranty included. And they are on sale again as I can see at the moment. 265/70/17 will cost you $157 per tire, while LT265/70/17 (E) will cost $200 per tire. Its a smoking deal, where Duratracs are close to double of that. You get $70 rebate as well if you buy before May 31, 2015. I opted for P rated tires to save some money, and since I never tow or do hard core offroading, purchasing load range E tires make little sense. They are heavier, stiffer, take more pressure, so comfort will suffer, they will burn more gas and only have 2/16" larger thread compare to P rated ones, so it was no-brainer for me. I contacted Cooper and they will be releasing additional sizes by August 15, 2015 like LT285/70/17 if you willing to wait for a bigger tire.

Prior to these tires I had GY Wrangler Silent Armors which were OK in winter, but Cooper AT/W so far feels better in any situation. They are super quiet on highway, they feel not as stiff as Silent Armors, they better grip on pavement as I'm unable to make them slide or skid in fast turns when provoked. They also have a way better hydroplaning resistance due to unique thread design. They are also supposed to provide better fuel economy due to silica compound in rubber, I cannot comment on that since I only own them for 1 month. Cooper AT/W also sipped a lot more than Duratracs so I can imagine their winter handling and particularly handling on ice will be far more superior. These tires surpass severe weather rating by a large margin according to manufacturer, which is appears to be important for you. The thread pattern looks like a winter tire with serrated thread block edges on each side, they feel very soft to the touch, but due to silica compound supposed to have long thread life (50k miles warranty). I have tested them briefly on lake when ice was melting and I could not break these tires loose on mud and chunky ice, I pulled out my friend on Cherokee 3 times from the lake that evening. I recommend you take a serious look at these since I can hardly imagine better SUV tire for our climate and driving conditions.

DiscovererATW_LgTread.png


DiscovererATW.png
 
Last edited:
Paraordnance- do you have any idea what the difference between the xt4 and atw is? They look just about identical. Is the are just the Canadian tire version but they are the same? Reviews if the atw are awesome. I see why you went that way.
 
csnow said:
Paraordnance- do you have any idea what the difference between the xt4 and atw is? They look just about identical. Is the are just the Canadian tire version but they are the same? Reviews if the atw are awesome. I see why you went that way.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, you question puzzled me for a minute since I never heard about XT4 tire from Cooper, but after a quick search they appear to be exactly same tire as AT/W. May be AT/W is specific to Canadian Tire only and sold as XT4 elsewhere. They are 100% identical according to description. Snowgroove 2.0, silica compound, thread pattern etc.
 
paraordnance said:
Hello from Red Deer, Alberta! I have a perfect AT tire for you. I was just like you, couple month ago deciding on new shoes for my 4runner. Since I don't change to winter tires and we get plenty of snow and ice here in Alberta the most important factor for me was winter handling. Duratracs was my first pick originally, but I discovered brand new tire on the market which just got released in fall 2014. Its made by Cooper and in Canada they are unfortunately only available through Canadian Tire. For some reason other Cooper distributors are not selling these tires. The tires I'm talking about are Cooper Discoverer A/TW. Do some research on these and you will understand why I chose them.

I paid $150 per tire when they were on sale. My total bill was $740 mounted, balanced and warranty included. And they are on sale again as I can see at the moment. 265/70/17 will cost you $157 per tire, while LT265/70/17 (E) will cost $200 per tire. Its a smoking deal, where Duratracs are close to double of that. You get $70 rebate as well if you buy before May 31, 2015. I opted for P rated tires to save some money, and since I never tow or do hard core offroading, purchasing load range E tires make little sense. They are heavier, stiffer, take more pressure, so comfort will suffer, they will burn more gas and only have 2/16" larger thread compare to P rated ones, so it was no-brainer for me. I contacted Cooper and they will be releasing additional sizes by August 15, 2015 like LT285/70/17 if you willing to wait for a bigger tire.

Prior to these tires I had GY Wrangler Silent Armors which were OK in winter, but Cooper AT/W so far feels better in any situation. They are super quiet on highway, they feel not as stiff as Silent Armors, they better grip on pavement as I'm unable to make them slide or skid in fast turns when provoked. They also have a way better hydroplaning resistance due to unique thread design. They are also supposed to provide better fuel economy due to silica compound in rubber, I cannot comment on that since I only own them for 1 month. Cooper AT/W also sipped a lot more than Duratracs so I can imagine their winter handling and particularly handling on ice will be far more superior. These tires surpass severe weather rating by a large margin according to manufacturer, which is appears to be important for you. The thread pattern looks like a winter tire with serrated thread block edges on each side, they feel very soft to the touch, but due to silica compound supposed to have long thread life (50k miles warranty). I have tested them briefly on lake when ice was melting and I could not break these tires loose on mud and chunky ice, I pulled out my friend on Cherokee 3 times from the lake that evening. I recommend you take a serious look at these since I can hardly imagine better SUV tire for our climate and driving conditions.

DiscovererATW_LgTread.png


DiscovererATW.png
Click to expand...


After a few more weeks with these tires and presumably warmer temps, do you have any more feedback regarding on-road handling? I'm seriously considering these or the A/T3 for year-round use here in the Pacific Northwest - Lots of highway in the summer, lots of snow/slush/ice in the winter. I'd say I would value the added winter traction that these add, but I'm concerned that their summer performance could be sloppy. Since it seems like there are no real tests (aside from the graph on cooper's site) I'd surely appreciate any updates you can provide.

I've run Blizzak WS70s in the past and they've been incredible in snow/ice, but I noticed as soon as it hit 50+ F, they were spongy and squirmy through corners, particularly on the highway.... just as they are expected to be. Do the A/TWs perform a bit better?

(Not endorsing that you go out and rally around to see how they handle, but if you've done it, please share!)
 
Trails4 said:
After a few more weeks with these tires and presumably warmer temps, do you have any more feedback regarding on-road handling? I'm seriously considering these or the A/T3 for year-round use here in the Pacific Northwest - Lots of highway in the summer, lots of snow/slush/ice in the winter. I'd say I would value the added winter traction that these add, but I'm concerned that their summer performance could be sloppy. Since it seems like there are no real tests (aside from the graph on cooper's site) I'd surely appreciate any updates you can provide.

I've run Blizzak WS70s in the past and they've been incredible in snow/ice, but I noticed as soon as it hit 50+ F, they were spongy and squirmy through corners, particularly on the highway.... just as they are expected to be. Do the A/TWs perform a bit better?

(Not endorsing that you go out and rally around to see how they handle, but if you've done it, please share!)
Click to expand...

I absolutely love these tires so far. Surprisingly they handle great on highway and pavement for all weather tire. I can't wait to try them after massive snow dump. Apparently lots of new technologies incorporated into these and thats why they so great all around. I can't say they spongy at all despite their soft rubber compound. I just wish I went with 285s instead for better look but not a big deal. 285 will be available after august 15 according to coopers rep. I actually had been pushing these to limits on clover leafs just out of curiosity and they stick to pavement very well. Very quiet tire too at highway speeds. If you live in snow belt and don't like to change tires for winter I'm sure you going to like them
 
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