Aggressive AT tire, good on road driving and snow/ice

Tire reviews are all over the place in just about every thread.

I pretty much exclusively run the ST Maxx or ATZ P3 now, as they are essentially the same tire. I've run both in snow and ice and both did just fine. The ST Maxx allows for studding as well which would actually put it a step up from 90% of the competition out there, in terms of ice handling at least.

I've also owned, Trail Grapplers, Ridge Grapplers, AT3Ws, KOs, KO2s and XLTs. The ST Maxx and ATZ P3 are far and ahead my favorite out of all those tires.

 

Also, FWIW Mickey Thompson will be releasing a new version of the ATZ P3 shortly.

 

Would you recommend one over the other and why?

 

Severe snow rating is an independent review rating. I don’t put a lot of faith in customer tire reviews.


All I’m saying is if those two tires had the same winter traction abilities as a Duratrac they’d have the severe snow rating designation.

 

YMMV here is my point. Everyone seems to have different opinions.

For me, I didnt like the KOs and KO2s, I even tried two sets of KO2s. Found them a bit stiff and slippery in the rain.

Nitto make great tires, but they tend to be stiffer. Theyre typically larger than other brands of the same size, so if you want the biggest tire in a particular size theyre a safe bet. Trail grapplers were not good in winter weather, but I did snow wheel them and they were ok there.

Ridge grapplers were great daily, but after about 30k they got loud, still bearably though. I cant really knock them other than they werent quite as soft and nice as any of the Coopers.

All the Coopers, XLT, ST Maxx, and even the ATZ P3 were very comfortable. I dont know if it material make up or what it is but they rode great. The ST Maxx and ATZ were awesome all season tires, only caveats were they love to hold rocks and stones and they have a higher pitch hum than any other tires I ran.

The XLTs were really nice on road, like stock smoothness, surprisingly more stiff than the ST Maxx though. Ran small, and werent so much better than the priors at anything that made me want them more.

The AT3Ws were very good in snow, but I had issues with them tramlining and hydroplaning in standing water, which we get a ton of in Washington.

 

In choosing tires there is great range from soccer mom tires to tires that look better suited for a dune buggy; the look of the tires really changes the look of the truck. But it's not jewelry, at least not to me. At least I try to remind myself of this. My truck is my daily driver. On vacations, it morphs into a light-overlanding, get out and see the world from off the beaten path truck that I camp out in. So it needs to work well on the road and not sound like a mix-master. It needs to hold up in lots of dry heat and not crack all to hell way too soon like my BFGs did. It needs to work well in sand, and on soft/rocks over hard pack. Throw in some snow on my winter vacations, both on highway and off-road. Occasional black ice. So for me 'more aggressive' or 'more aggressive looking' (one is not always the other) didn't make sense but I still want aggressive enough to cover as many bases as possible. Not much experience with different brands, had Goodyear (yea got a good year out of them before the sidewall blew), then used BFGs for about 20 years, they were the devil I knew. Fair (at best) in sand, fair in snow, ok dirt/pebble over hard pack, kinda noisy on the road but not too bad, fair in the rain. It seemed that 'everyone' was using them and they were the devil I knew. But this time, I went with Cooper XLTs. Felt really 'fish out of water' buying them but in the short time I've had them, I am impressed. Quieter than BFGs, almost as quiet as the Michelin's it came with. They do very well in rain slick roads. They do better in the deep sand we have out here in our local deserts. In the snow in CO they did very well, better than what I recall for the BFGs. In the size I got (275-70 18) they are 3 peak/snowflake. If I had to choose again I would buy them again. Yes there are more aggressive (is this aggressive looking or aggressive-for-environment) tires out there, if your needs are for a larger mix of off-road or harsh climate than I see, you will probably give up a bit of gas mileage, deal with a bit more on-road growl, and hopefully for that trade-off, get a better fit for your needs.

 

I agree with that, I do believe the Duratracs are better in snow, just saying the Coopers were great. I cant discredit my customer review, as it is also my honest personal experience. Not sure that I'd lie to myself here.

This will surely go over well, but I have seen Duratracs lose side walls on the trail, and they have a considerably history of such. Theyre great tires in the wet as well, but are only half siped and lose that benefit after about 30k miles. I work with 2 guys that have ran them and didnt go back. They werent stiff enough for the F250 on the ones truck and wore quickly. Traction was shit after 2 years.

All tires seem to have downsides, my personal experience wouldnt have me searching for them, nor the KO2s for that matter. Yet plenty of people disagree with me. I dont think theyre wrong, Im happy they like their choice. Yet, I cant say that Im wrong either, as my experiences are true to me.

 

I’m not arguing your experience. You should buy what you’re happy with.

 

I don't buy tires for looks. I buy them for how they perform and especially on the ranch I hunt. I had Duratracs and ST Maxx on my Tacomas. The only real complaint I have heard on the Duratracs is weak sidewalls. That is why I went with ST Maxx when the KO2s that came on my Tacoma wore out. KO2s are tough tires. I have run 2 sets down to wear bars and no flats. I just need something better in the mud. If sidewalls were not a concern I would probably go with Duratracs again. A previous poster mentioned MTRs. They are a mud tire and rough and noisy. They are tough as nails. Discount Tire put a set on my Tacoma by accident. I ran them for a month and beat the crap out of them. They offered to let me have them at the same price as the Duratracs but just too much tire for Tacoma. Not much snow where I am at but I did get a chance to run the ST Maxx in a solid 6" and they performed well. My choice would be the Coopers.

 

No one ever brings up General ATX. ATX is serve snow rated tire. Rides great and plows through snow no problem. I commute over Teton pass everyday, a Winter all around tire is a must. Teton pass is a 10% grade so good traction is a must. They wear like steel to.

 

If you want more aggressive looks than standard AT tires you might consider looking at R/T style tires. They’re an in between from All terrain and Mud tires.

 

Check out Firestone Destination X/T. They seem to have pretty favorable reviews.

 

I have a set of these in my work truck right now. They are very good on the highway, packed snow, etc. If off road performance is a consideration, the Duratracs far outperform them IMO.

 

I've run the KO2 for years, and have the Falkens now. All the time has been Colorado mountains, with heavy snow, rocks and mud. I would say of the two, the Falkens have a slight edge in the snow so far, I can feel the difference in grip. Not to say the Ko2 aren't great, but the Falkens feel slightly grippier. I've also had lousy longevity on the K02s, averaged 30k miles on them before they are trash, and even then the last 5k miles are pretty mediocre. I like the look of those Yokohamas you are looking at, my dad runs Yokohamas (the general purpose AT tire, not the offroads) on his HD truck and they seem pretty solid...

 

Possibly, I have rallied ATX hard in the desert, and they had no problem. I found no chipping or tears the rubber. I like to drive fast in the desert so I assume I would have accrued some damage.

 

I’m sure they are great in the desert. I should have clarified my statement better, mud and deep snow is where the Duratrac will have a distinct performance advantage IME.

 

Better in deep so yeah right.

 

Your experiences are yours. Hence the reason I added IME. That means in my experience, not in your experience.


I could care less what anyone buys. It’s their money. I’ve used a good number of the tires mentioned in this thread. They all have their pros and they all have their cons. Have a good one and enjoy your ATXs.

 

Just giving you a hard time Everyone likes to give General a bad rap. They are just as good as the other guys.

 

So yea i agree dont believe everything u read in the internet but the i went off a techcian that goes on hunting trips and that knew people that ran that tire and he has never given me bad automotive advise.

 

Agree, best advise i received was do not buy a tire from its look buy a tire base on your needs. Good looking tire is just icing on the cake

 

I went with the Yokohama X-At because they had everything i needed. They were a mixture of a terrain tire. I needed a LT Rated tire that was good all year around and i only heard good things about them. And got a set of 4 under $1000. When i asked the discount tire rep he advise me go with the X-AT and so far i have been happy with my purchase.

 

The one thing i notice is that the wildpeak tires wear pretty fast. Had them on my mother pilot and well they wore out pretty quick. They did handle very well in that short period of time. Would we purchase again i would knowing my mother has great traction

 

Duratracs have fewer sidewall plies. Check the specs on them. I even talked to Goodyear before I bought them. They admitted that they has fewer sidewall plies then others. The best snow tires will have tighter tread then a mud tire.

 

Neither do I, but seeing it first happen hand isn't reading it off the internet. Was soft roading basically to a camp site, tighter spot with a downed plumed fir branch on the side of the road and a burm on the other. I raked my Coopers against it and it just shook the branch as I went buy. Friend with a smaller truck on Duratracs did the same, actually made less contact with it and the tire basically split from a small puncture. The hole pressed through and then after the tire rotated down onto the side with the hole it basically just split straight up.

I've seen this on the Tacoma forums as well, practically in the same way. Luckily we had a spare.

Plenty of examples on TW:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/duratrac-sidewalls-cut-too-easy.210699/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/duratrac-weak-sidewalls-anyone-have-real-evidence.668036/page-2

Plenty of people arguing both sides. Im not here to make up anyones mind, just saying I have seen this happen, so Im not just parroting anecdotes.

 

Toyo At3 did excellent on our 4runner after all the snow we had a few weeks back which had ice below it. If I don't get another set of Trail Grapplers on my Tundra when they wear out it will definitely be the Toyo.

 

No complaints about our 4R with the AT3s as well, had snow a month ago and did excellent.

 

I have had the KO2’s and the Duratrac’s. Both are solid tires but the Toyo AT3’s perform much better in the snow and ice.

 

The Yoko's look good but they are heavy....