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By Perry Mack
I was hooked on the dark, good looks at first glance. No I’m not talking ’50 Shades of Grey’ attracted, this is a tire after all. They looked so good I was almost afraid to drive them. Why? Have you ever looked across the room at a great looking girl or walked into a showroom blinded by the impressive lines of the new model truck, only to be disappointed when she started talking or find out that great looking truck only comes with an underpowered engine?
Finding a complete package of looks and performance can be challenging and disappointing. Would this be the case with the Open Country A/T II? A few issues ago I reviewed the Cooper Discoverer AT/3 on a number of Jeeps at their test facility in San Antonio, Texas and then here in Canada on my 2004 Dodge Ram Laramie. I was thoroughly impressed by the all terrain performance of that tire. Would the Toyo be as impressive? I ordered the same size tire; put them on the same rims and on the same truck.
First impressions are important and as I’ve said the Toyo’s look good. The LT tires I tested sizes have an aggressive scallop (for mud and slush traction) and an elevated buttress for bruise resistance giving it an aggressive. The Toyo A/T II Xtreme is also available, providing a more aggressive scallop than LT and P-Metric sizes and a slightly deeper tread depth. It is offered in flotation and plus sizes which have an even more elevated buttress and sidewall.
According to Toyo, the new tire has “an improved tread compound, basically a smaller carbon molecule but in a higher density.” Toyo is so confident that this tire will outlast leading competitor’s comparable products that they have covered the A/T II with and industry leading 100,000 km wear out warranty on P-metric sizes and 80,000 km on LT and flotation sizes. I didn’t have the 1000-acre test facility available to me in San Antonio. Instead I had to settle for the 2247 million acre test facility called Canada.
The tires arrived at the perfect time of year – middle of October. Over the next ninety days I abused the tires over pavement, grass, dirt, gravel, mud, rocks, snow, slush on everything from horizontal to steeply inclined and declined surfaces. If a manufacturer is going to tout a tire as all terrain, let’s test-drive it on all terrain. The tire was the LT 245/70R17, which was the tire size the truck was set-up for and should provide the most accurate handling results. Technically the truck was set-up for a P-metric tire so LT tires deliver a slightly harsher ride, especially since they require 10psi more tire pressure to handle the same load as the original tires. This is true for all LT tires, not just the Toyo’s. If you’re wondering what your vehicle is set up for – just check the tire placard, which is typically located on the drivers’ side door.
Here are the results.
The noise level is normal for an all terrain tire, inside cab sound level is 66.3 dB at 100 km/h. To put this number in perspective, engine at idle measures 52 dB, the fan turned on high hits 70 dB.
Traction on dry pavement is excellent and cornering inspires confidence. Wet pavement traction was also exceptional for an all terrain tire and I never experienced any hydroplaning in heavy rain conditions – like any tire (or vehicle) they won’t make up for poor judgment or driving skills but they also won’t punish you when road conditions change unexpectedly.
Snow came on heavy to the Okanagan this year, which was great for the tire review. I drove the tires through all types of different snow; first snowfall of the year – always exceptionally greasy, dry snow at -15 C and wet snow at 0 C. The tread does shed all types of snow very well and provides really good traction – easily better than the Cooper tires I tested in a previous issue but keep in mind this is not a snow rated tire.
It wasn’t planned but an opportunity came up to drive through a friend’s nursery after a solid rain. The mud was up to 20cm deep in the field providing an opportunity to really test the tires in mud of varying consistency and depth. Stopping and starting was no problem as the tread shed the mud and always got the truck moving.
I drove up a number of forest service roads (FSR’s), which gave an excellent opportunity to test the tires traction in gravel, rocks, sand, mud as well as icy and wet snow over a number of different inclines and declines. Airing down to 15 psi really took the edge off the washboard dirt roads. I have no reservations recommending them as an excellent daily driver, off-road, towing or work tire.