Tire weight question

Hey all! I am looking into grabbing some pizza cutters (255/80/R17) for my 05 AC V8 4x4. I am looking at the Falkan Wildpeak AT4 as the AT3's are hard to find these days. The AT4 in a 255/80/R17 comes in at 58 lbs. I will be running relatively light method 701's but am certainly worried about weight. That tire only comes in a load rating E and I am set on that size so my options are limited. Have any of you had experience running a heavy tire like this. If so I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

I personally loved the AT3w, but the AT4w are too heavy for me to stomach. Plus, my favorite part was snow performance and snipes are diminished and compound harder on the AT4ws. Duratrac RT, Geolandar AT4, Open Country... All in the low 50s. Then there are 255/75/17 options out there if you wanna go a lil lighter. Even some C rated options if you are into that.

My truck has Yokohama AT4s. Decent, hard to say if as good as AT3w.

 

58lbs is alot for sure. That’s dead on 33”, I just got 285/70r17 for my FJ and they are standard load at 46lbs and just shy of 33”. Unless the best gens can’t run 285 why not go that route and save weight and have more options. Load E would ride roughly too unless your rig is a dedicated offroader.

My supercharged tundra runs 315/70r17 and the winter tires are Load D at 59lbs and 21lbs for the rims, which likely is lighter than your potential combo, I definitely feel the weight and have alot of torque/horsepers.

 

After dealing with the bullshit (IMHO) level of road noise I had with the AT3W in 285/70r17 (32.9) in C on my truck with Method 305s, I’ll never buy a Wildpeak tire again. It was extraordinary. They drove great otherwise, I’m just sad they were obnoxiously droney/noisy. If that kinda stuff doesn’t bother you, maybe the AT4 is for you, or maybe they fixed it in the AT4. It started around 35mph for me at its worst and tapered off around 55, but was still there above that speed. Sounded like a hum with a wubwubwub drone reminiscent of bad wheel bearing. I got the AT3 due to positive feedback on this forum, and it was easy to find used with 60%+ tread.

That said, I’m currently running Mickey Baja Legend EXP in 275/70r17 (32.5) in E on my truck, much quieter, but obviously stiffer and I believe Mickey’s specs on them put them at 59# per tire and the E-rated (only option) are a bit more jarring over bumps if inflated at a normal pressure (33-35#). Not to mention cruise being inept on hills (surging), likely due to weight and possibly speedo off, speedo is gauged from ABS sensor on ‘05-06. And to that, the speedo reading off by 5-7mph at highway speeds is bothersome, but that’s just a symptom of oversizing, nothing you can do about that except Yellowbox, which is plug and play for ‘00-‘04 trucks only.

 

Tire and wheel weight makes a difference!

For example....I have run some "heavy" 33s and also some "light" 35s. I got better performance and MPG with the larger, but lighter, tires. Anything you can do to reduce rotational or un-sprung weight on a vehicle will directly impact performance. It is not a huge deal with our trucks, as MPG is what it is....but in my case I was able to improve MPG 1-2 points by being mindful about the tire and wheel choices.