New Falken AT tire (A/T3W)

[ProfessorP]

I got my SL 285/70-17s mounted yesterday. I haven’t taken them off road yet. I won’t get a chance to do that for a day or two but I am honestly very underwhelmed at this point. The road noise is noticeably louder than the stock 265/70-17s I had a few years back. I would say they’re the same volume as the Ridge Grapplers, but the Wildpeaks are a higher pitch rather than a low hum. This makes them way more annoying. I’m really disappointed.

The road compliance is better than the Load Range C Grapplers but the Cs were never harsh or annoying. So while the ride is better it’s not that the ride was bad before. A load range C would be perfect for this tire and reaffirms my assessment that C is the perfect balance for the Runner.

They look okaaaaay. I got used to the aggressive look of the RGs so that’s just my issue at the moment as I adjust back. These better excel off road or they may be going back. The road noise is enough to make me doubt my purchase honestly. I take all things into consideration so that alone isn’t a reason to be discouraged but I can honestly tell a difference from my experience in stock size...and if they get louder? Huh. This was not expected out of a P series tire noted for its noise and ride compliance.

If these fail to impress me off road, my RGs are still in my garage and may find their way back on the truck as much as the snow performance was subpar. I don’t get a TON of snow is my rationale as I struggle with my decision.

This was not what I expected at all. To say I’m surprised is an understatement.

Lastly, the weight difference is noticeable. At 5 lbs per tire, I can feel that my Runner is working way less to get moving. Rolling resistance may also play a role but this is very noticeable.

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I honestly have to agree with you on most of this.

On a positive note, the installer rebalanced my A/T3Ws and they’re fine now. No odd noise or vibration. On the slightly annoying side is the road noise. The Decibel X app on my iPhone was averaging about 77dB with the factory tires. The Falken Wildpeak AT3W is averaging 84dB. Same stretch of smooth highway late at night with no traffic and the radio and AC off. That’s a pretty dramatic increase considering the online reviews that say they’re not really louder than stock.

I too find that the Falken road noise is more obnoxious than the Ridge Grapplers. The hum isn’t as loud as the Nittos but they make more of a higher pitched constant whistle.

The Falken A/T3W is a great looking tire and once balanced correctly it handles nicely. It does an excellent job on wet roads (better than Ridge Grapplers). I really think the widespread love for this tire is mostly based on value. They’re really quite noisy especially when compared to less aggressive all terrain tires like the Firestone Destination A/T. People will tolerate or ignore noise levels when they save $320 on a set of four tires.

I’ll probably try something else next time because I really don’t care for the high pitch noise they make.

 

[Decipher]

^Thanks for your thoughts and I’m glad the rebalance fixed your issues. I’ve also ran Destination ATs in the past on my wife’s truck. Those are literally highway tire level quite but they’re also not aggressive enough for most peoples off road needs, at least mine.

Noise is subjective and I think for a tire of this level of hybrid aggressiveness noise is expected and they are relatively quite. I just know for a fact that the 285 is louder than the 265 since I’ve ran both in SL. The pitch really is the issue. The higher pitch is what’s bothering me. I also use the Decibel X app and I should have taken measurements to support my observations. Again, noise alone isn’t a reason for me to ditch a tire but it plays a role for sure. The issue for me now is that I’m placing a heavy expectation on their off road capability. If they let me down there AND they’re annoying on the road...THEY GAAAAWN!


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[tacoyota]

Thanks for this!

My KO2s were LTD on a lighter vehicle. I put 16,000-16,500 miles on them (trip tire only) before selling the vehicle and the tires. They were wearing at about 4,000 miles per 1/32. So at roughly 50% , your tires are wearing at roughly 4,000 miles per 1/32 on average as well. Of course, much of the bottom 50% is not very useful offroad.

My KO2 wore super slowly at first, then wear got faster. Opposite with the Wildpeak.

I would not plan on getting more than 30,000 miles, maybe 35,000 miles from any tire with above average offroading in mostly AZ/UT. I think SoCal is just as harsh on the tires as much of AZ. I have a friend in Moab who uses LTE KO2s and wears them at the same rate as I do my Wildpeaks, pretty much, we both estimate replacing shortly after reaching 30,000 miles. EDIT: forgot, while we have another friend in Moab who also uses LTE KO2 and wears them much more slowly, with a lot fewer offroad miles.

If you look at John The Luck's adventure thread, his KO2s were wearing great in Canada, then he drove to SoCal, did a lot of desert miles, and had to replace the tires once back in Canada. He did complain of quickly accelerated wear with the desert driving.

All in all, I have come to terms with buying tires every 18 months or so, whether P or LT...hence price/value matters to me.

EDIT 2: with way less and much, much milder offroading I was on target to wear down a set of P255 55 18 Toyo AT IIs in 40,000-45,000 miles a while ago but I sold the vehicle when the tires had 20,000. Later, I had a set of Geolander ATS in 225 65 17 that were also going to last beyond 40,000 but they were actively used for offroad for only 1.5 years before the KO2 took that role and the Geolanders got relegated to town and dirt roads at which point their wear improved.

True, most folks don't take into account that we still need a decent amount of tread if we take it offroad which means only about 30-40k max on the KO2. I want to switch to P rated thinking the ride will be a bit more compliant. I only lost 1/2 an MPG on these tires but so far have been happy. Am looking to save some dough on the next set of tires.

 

[tacoyota]

I honestly have to agree with you on most of this.

On a positive note, the installer rebalanced my A/T3Ws and they’re fine now. No odd noise or vibration. On the slightly annoying side is the road noise. The Decibel X app on my iPhone was averaging about 77dB with the factory tires. The Falken Wildpeak AT3W is averaging 84dB. Same stretch of smooth highway late at night with no traffic and the radio and AC off. That’s a pretty dramatic increase considering the online reviews that say they’re not really louder than stock.

I too find that the Falken road noise is more obnoxious than the Ridge Grapplers. The hum isn’t as loud as the Nittos but they make more of a higher pitched constant whistle.

The Falken A/T3W is a great looking tire and once balanced correctly it handles nicely. It does an excellent job on wet roads (better than Ridge Grapplers). I really think the widespread love for this tire is mostly based on value. They’re really quite noisy especially when compared to less aggressive all terrain tires like the Firestone Destination A/T. People will tolerate or ignore noise levels when they save $320 on a set of four tires.

I’ll probably try something else next time because I really don’t care for the high pitch noise they make.

Thank you guys for mentioning the noise. Well I guess I need to look at the RG/TG or AT3s now.

 

[brtnstrns]

Maybe it's tire-size dependent. When I had 265s the noise wasn't at all more noticeable than the factory tires.

 

[Grug556]

I have a second set of tires which are P rated and a set of K02s C rated. I find the P rated squishy and actually make cross wind worse. They are softer ride and slightly better fuel economy, but I dont like the slop.

 

[MAST4R]

Noise is subjective and I think for a tire of this level of hybrid aggressiveness noise is expected and they are relatively quite. I just know for a fact that the 285 is louder than the 265 since I’ve ran both in SL.
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Thank you guys for mentioning the noise. Well I guess I need to look at the RG/TG or AT3s now.

Well, so we can now state:

P265 70 17: quiet

P285 70 17: noisy, how much depends on person/expectations

Best news here: I don't need to check my hearing, lol, since I run 265 and cannot hear any noise.

[MENTION=140439]Decipher[/MENTION], I am curious what you will say about mud. I don't think the Wildpeak will do well in the mud but we have not had to deal with any serious mud yet. I generally avoid mud, which is easy to do in the SW. I expected some in Montana last July but had dried already or was minimal.

 

[Decipher]

P285/70-17 update, Off-Road:

My experience can be summed up in one red neck word...haaaaaawtdaaaaaamn (not sure if they say it as one word or two, but they probably aren’t sure either).

These tires far exceeded my off road expectations. I never set out to seek mud but, living in the Midwest, mud finds you on most every outing. I took these to a new neighborhood development where heavy construction machinery just cleared away a bunch of trees (sadly). My terrain was a heavy mix of mud, sand, gravel and rutted out trails they used to come back and forth. We’ve had an abundance of rain and still remain under a flood warning as I type this.

To say I’m totally impressed with the off road capability of this tire is an understatement. They did at least as good as the Ridge Grappler in tackling terrain that left my truck sinking. There was literally zero drama and I pushed the tires hard, putting myself into stuff I was sure I’d get stuck in or at least have to engage 4-low and Atrac. Nope. Not once was there even a hint of drama or a need to use anything but 4-high. These tires did infinitely better than the same size load C KO2s they replaced and honestly did just as good as the much more aggressive Ridge Grapplers LR C. The big difference is the RGs would clean out much better but, duh. They lean far more towards the MT side of the tire spectrum whereas the Wildpeaks lean AT. While the Wildpeaks did cake up with mud, they also cleaned out incredibly well and just kept digging through, better than they should have once I noticed how much mud they were actually holding. It’s impressive. I have no idea how they did it, but they did. I have a few pics below. Don’t judge the lame area where the pics were taken. It was about the only spot I could get out and take pics without myself getting sucked into the muck.

A quick note on road performance, since I took the family out for a hundred mile trip today. The road noise is as described with the higher pitch but I should note it’s not awful. It was just unexpected coming from the Ridge Grappler. My wife is prone to migraines and loud noises are one of the triggers. The tires never even came close to giving her a headache so that alone should be noteworthy. Also, she never noticed the pitch complaint I have until I pointed it out, at which point she cursed me for mentioning it since she now can notice what I mean. Had I not said anything, she would have had zero complaints. Noise is subjective. You know you’re driving on an AT tire with these but they’re NOT like the jacked-up-to-Jesus trucks with mudders you hear from miles away. They just shocked me that they were louder than the 265s.

Anyways, ride quality is much better with SL. The truck drives much better with better acceleration and less shifting to find the right gears. Fuel efficiency is back up to the 17 range in mixed driving (from the 13-15 with the RGs), and the SLs make the truck more planted on bumps in the road that left steering previously vague. Weight savings too make steering more precise and attribute to these improvements. I’ll chalk test mine soon but 35 is where they’re at and seems good so far.

I would buy these again in SL right now if I had to. The showing they put on off road has me convinced this was the right choice. I also used my screen grab from Discount Tire I posted earlier in the thread. I got the tires for $148 each or $724 OTD with tax and fees and balancing. Solid deal for a stellar performer. No regerts...

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[mteolus]

The P rated stock size has excelled and done everything I’ve asked of it with ease so I’m really tempted to stick with P series again.

Buddy of mine has 285/75/17 Toyo Open Country P rated on his 2015 Jeep Rubicon. He doesn't wheel anything major but has wheeled some fairly rough trails in Colorado like Como Lake road up to Jaws 1 and all the way to the top of Castle Peak trail. No issues. He's had them at least a couple of years if I remember right. Toyo also makes Nitto FWIW.

 

[MAST4R]

That's an awesome review, [MENTION=140439]Decipher[/MENTION] , thanks so much!

Good to know the tire can be trusted in mud!

[MENTION=171879]mteolus[/MENTION] , thanks for that update. I had AT IIs on a Subaru and they were fantastic on dirt. They clogged quickly in mud. I liked them on pavement though reviews generally don't like them in rain (probably the LT version).

There are two reasons I never considered the Toyo AT II for the 4Runner: first, they became VERY noisy after 20k, in a flapping, annoying way. Second, they cost far too much for a P metric tire, for my taste anyway.

 

[MrGainzz]

Ordered Falken AT3 P 265/70/17 and received them after two weeks. Now I’m waiting for Dustin to ship out his FN six shooters,so I can put them on my limited!


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[Decipher]

Someone’s about to get a whole new rig!


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[Decipher]

That's an awesome review, [MENTION=140439]Decipher[/MENTION] , thanks so much!

Good to know the tire can be trusted in mud!
.

Thanks. I knew they would do well in everything else so I figured their Achilles heel would be mud. The hybrid design worked incredibly well and to say they do as well as the Ridge Grappler is a huge measure of success. This is also where the KO2 falls short since it’s a dedicated AT design and therefore clogs easily and cleans poorly.


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[MAST4R]

Thanks. I knew they would do well in everything else so I figured their Achilles heel would be mud. The hybrid design worked incredibly well and to say they do as well as the Ridge Grappler is a huge measure of success. This is also where the KO2 falls short since it’s a dedicated AT design and therefore clogs easily and cleans poorly.


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That's great indeed, I am surprised they can hang with RG, I guess they can be called a hybrid tire, after all.

 

[MAST4R]

I saw the Gladiator for the first time today.

The Wildpeaks AT3W on the Rubicon are LTC 285 70 17 116Q with a 5-ply tread and 2-ply sidewall, both being the same as the P-metric.

I am a bit surprised they put a Q rated tire from the factory but then again I am totally unfamiliar with trucks.

 

[Anand]

The Wildpeaks AT3W on the Rubicon are LTC 285 70 17 116Q with a 5-ply tread and 2-ply sidewall, both being the same as the P-metric.

I am a bit surprised they put a Q rated tire from the factory but then again I am totally unfamiliar with trucks.

So according to Falken's website, the P-metric is 4 ply; and all the other load range C's are 6 ply.

It is interesting that the P metric has a higher load capacity than the LT C tires.

There are
LT285/70/17 (C) 116Q -- 2756lb capacity - 99mph - ??.?lb -- ??.?" diameter - 11.?" width - ??/32" tread depth
LT285/70/17 (E) 121S -- 3197lb capacity - 112mph - 58.9lb -- 33.0" diameter - 11.6" width - 18/32" tread depth
P285/70/17 117T -- 2833lb capacity - 118mph - 50.5lb -- 32.8" diameter - 11.3" width - 14/32" tread depth

 

[Donkey]

My AT3W’s were down to 5/32 at 50,000 miles and started to make a good bit of noise, otherwise no complaints. The noise was really bad over the past two months, they were fine until then. Probably could have gone another 5,000 but the noise got to me, almost sounded like a wheel bearing was out. They were just worn out. I replaced them with a set of Michelin ltx at 2’s which are so smooth and much quieter. Feels like a new vehicle, so much so that even my wife noticed. The roughly 22 pound reduction of unsprung weight is noticeable.

 

[MAST4R]

So according to Falken's website, the P-metric is 4 ply; and all the other load range C's are 6 ply.

It is interesting that the P metric has a higher load capacity than the LT C tires.

There are
LT285/70/17 (C) 116Q -- 2756lb capacity - 99mph - ??.?lb -- ??.?" diameter - 11.?" width - ??/32" tread depth
LT285/70/17 (E) 121S -- 3197lb capacity - 112mph - 58.9lb -- 33.0" diameter - 11.6" width - 18/32" tread depth
P285/70/17 117T -- 2833lb capacity - 118mph - 50.5lb -- 32.8" diameter - 11.3" width - 14/32" tread depth

You are confusing actual plies with ply ratings, which is the obsolete way of referring to load ratings. I am talking actual plies, you are talking P (equivalent to 4 ply old school rating) vs C (6 ply old school).

Both have 7 actual plies, 5 in the tread and 2 in the sidewall.

The P 285 70 17 is 2833 vs 2756 for the C, however P-metric tires in truck/SUV applications need to be derated by 9% so actually the C does have a higher load rating if not by much.

 

[Anand]

You are confusing actual plies with ply ratings, which is the obsolete way of referring to load ratings. I am talking actual plies, you are talking P (equivalent to 4 ply old school rating) vs C (6 ply old school).

Both have 7 actual plies, 5 in the tread and 2 in the sidewall

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Glad to hear you're liking them! I've been very pleased with my set of LT E AT3Ws. Was annoying though at the beginning as the tireshop found ALL 4 to be out of round but Falken replaced them pretty quickly.

Also, really liking the clean look of that roof rack. Is that a yakima?