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by Perry Mack
It shouldn’t be important but this is a good looking tire and you can’t help but feel great walking past them and climbing into the cab. The aggressive look is a result of the open scalloped shoulder blocks. Aside from aesthetics, the shoulder blocks are part of what makes this a great performing tire. Starting with road manners, this M/T is noisier than any of the A/T’s tested earlier, but the quietest M/T, a decent ride at colder temperatures, which becomes perfect once the tire warms up. While not my favourite tire on wet pavement, it still provided good traction courtesy of the generous amount of siping.
33’s (LT285/70R17) mounted on a set of Mayhem 17-in rims were the test flavour for the Ram 1500. The tire handled well on the highway as we maxed out the payload capacity of the truck, driving back and forth through the Coast Mountains across the treacherous Coquihalla highway. After almost 10,000 km’s the tire showed minimal tread wear.
Traction was great everywhere with the all terrain in either direction – through sand, dirt, mud, rock and snow. Toyo attributes the traction in part to the hooked block design of the tread. The open shoulder blocks worked to provide extra grip crawling through the rocks, helped to protect the sidewalls from damage and to release mud/snow from the tread to always keep us moving forward - outstanding.
It’s not a hardcore rock crawling tire nor is it an extreme mud tire. The tire is bested suited if your primary goal is to achieve great off-road traction, while maintaining civilized road manners. You don’t mind a bit of noise (especially at highway speeds), and are willing to put up with a lumpy ride for a few minutes first thing on colder days. It’s a light truck tire so it’s designed to carry or tow heavier loads - best suited for half ton to full ton pick-up trucks and SUV’s that not only play hard, but have to work hard as well. These are a 4WDrive staff favourite.