Dunlop AP20
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subzero
New member
I live in West Virginia, and we usually get tons of snow up here in the mountains. Ive had the truck for 2 years, and last years snowboarding season was the worst in a while. I still have the stock Dunlops at 37000 miles, and had them last season as well. On the way to Snowshoe, WV, I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up on a small back road that was covered in around 18 inches of snow. It was so bad that the only vehicle that we ever saw were 2 TJ Jeeps with atleast 8 inches of lift and around 34 inch tires. Even in this weather and even with the stock tires, we were cruising through the snow barely loosing traction. Although we ended up turning around because the road was going nowhere, I can tell you from personal experience that while the stock Dunlops are definitely not as good as some nice BFG AT's or some Goodyear Wranglers, they will definitely handle just about any amount of snow and ice that you can throw at them. 
qballjr13
New member
I just got rid of my Dunlops at 30,000K becasue they were not wearing correctly. I have not experienced my new Revo's in the snow yet but I can tell you that they are much better in the rain than the Dunlops. I dont know if this happens to everyonr but when I would drive through a large puddle the Dunlops always threw water up over my windshield. The Revo's do not do that at all...its a night and day difference. I cant wait for a good heavy snow to see the difference between all-season and all-terrains in the white stuff. Other than the puddle I never really had any complaints with the Dunlops, but up until last June it was my wife's truck so I didnt drive it everyday either.
There is nothing wrong with the stock Dunlops. My parents put over 40k miles on the stock Dunlops with no issues on their Sequoia. They then replaced their stock Dunlops with 265/75 Revo's and love them. My 4Runner had a brand new set of the Dunlops on it when I bought it this year, they have done great in the snow so far. When the time comes to replace, I will switch to probably BFG A/T's but that's a long time in the future.
Fro-Runner
New member
My DunFloppies squeal often whenever I'm at low speeds or just moving about a mall parking lot. Other than this.... I'm pretty satisfied with the wear of my tires. I only have 20k on the truck and the old DunFlops have about 2/3's thread life left on them. I've only rotated them twice since I've had the truck. I only rotate every 8,000 miles or every second oil change.
Drove through some pretty serious weather and blizzard in Mammoth area last year with only 8k on the dunlops. They were just fine and I never felt like I couldn't go somewhere because of them. I did slide to a stop braking on ice to try it out but this would probably be true of any tire in that condition. I'm going up again this year with a fresh set of NTG's and I'm interested in seeing the difference.
boston_kevin
New member
The first year, the Dunflops do pretty well. After that, the detriorate, but the traction control systems on the 4Runner compensate well for their loss of traction.
Lone Ranger
New member
I have used mine in quite a bit of snow(up to 12") and many different conditions from new snow to older snow, from back roads to highways when snowing, and I haven't had any problems with the Dunlops. You should be fine with them and so long as they have a reasonable amount of tread left I don't see any reason to get rid of them until they wear out.
JungleJim
New member
Whenever I get a chance to talk to a 4Runner owner, I ask them how they like it. I just talked to a guy last night with a 04 SE. He said he has over 60,000 miles on his Dunlops, but is ready for new tires soon. He did say that as he was researching tires recently, he noticed the Dunlops did not get high ratings. But he said they've been fine for him.
He now lives in Ohio, but purchased the 4Runner in Iowa. He said 4Runners are hard to find in Iowa. He had to purchase his right off the dealer's floor.
He now lives in Ohio, but purchased the 4Runner in Iowa. He said 4Runners are hard to find in Iowa. He had to purchase his right off the dealer's floor.
Kmvreter
New member
Finally got around to rotating the snow tires for the season (it just may snow around here yet.) Just want to make an observation about the Dunflops.
There have been many threads on these tires but I want to use this post to highlight what I'm talking about.
The Flops are OK to start at full tread depth (~11/32") because there is a defined tread pattern. However, as they wear the design of the tread block changes (see pic.) There are "ribs" (red boxes) between the blocks that aren't the same depth as the circumferential grooves (long blue boxes.) With 67K km (~42K mi.) on these tires, they have worn to 7/32" in the deep groove but the ribs are now almost flush causing the pattern to close. The inner tread blocks are joined and the sipes in the blocks are all but gone. Another 2/32" of wear and there won't even be a defined inner block pattern. The outer blocks also have ribs (green boxes) but they still have 3/32" to go before they join. This wear pattern changes the tire's traction behaviour because it gets more difficult to evacuate water out of the contact patch. There are wear bars at the legal minimum of 2/32" but I wouldn't even want to go down to 4/32".
These are now Doneflops with less than half the rubber worn off. Other, better, tire designs don't rely on ribs to strengthen the tread. They have full depth tread blocks so you can get almost full use of the tire's life without a change in pattern and the resulting change in traction. Look deeper into the tread, not just at the pattern, when you shop for tires and you can get your money's worth.
boston_kevin said:
There have been many threads on these tires but I want to use this post to highlight what I'm talking about.
The Flops are OK to start at full tread depth (~11/32") because there is a defined tread pattern. However, as they wear the design of the tread block changes (see pic.) There are "ribs" (red boxes) between the blocks that aren't the same depth as the circumferential grooves (long blue boxes.) With 67K km (~42K mi.) on these tires, they have worn to 7/32" in the deep groove but the ribs are now almost flush causing the pattern to close. The inner tread blocks are joined and the sipes in the blocks are all but gone. Another 2/32" of wear and there won't even be a defined inner block pattern. The outer blocks also have ribs (green boxes) but they still have 3/32" to go before they join. This wear pattern changes the tire's traction behaviour because it gets more difficult to evacuate water out of the contact patch. There are wear bars at the legal minimum of 2/32" but I wouldn't even want to go down to 4/32".
These are now Doneflops with less than half the rubber worn off. Other, better, tire designs don't rely on ribs to strengthen the tread. They have full depth tread blocks so you can get almost full use of the tire's life without a change in pattern and the resulting change in traction. Look deeper into the tread, not just at the pattern, when you shop for tires and you can get your money's worth.
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gizmopt2002
New member
Very good observation there kmvreter. I just noticed that before I changed to the Revo's. The front passenger side was newer because it was the spare and the tire that got the nail couldn't be repaired. The front driver side was the original tire with 46k on it. Man, was I happy to get new tires, beside the improved traction, we now have a spare, because the tire that couldn't get repaired was of no use. Anyways they were an ok tire UNTIL you put some miles because as kmverter said the characteristics of the tire changed.
cknsls@adelphia
New member
Nice post and picture.
Yes, and when all these patterns close, they will hydroplane in the rain. There isn't any where for the water to go when the tread pattern starts to "close". I have had tires like these!
Yes, and when all these patterns close, they will hydroplane in the rain. There isn't any where for the water to go when the tread pattern starts to "close". I have had tires like these!
