Tires: All-Terrain Vs All-Season/Touring?

[PastTense]

Any thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Which do you use?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Boondocking vs Urban Stealth Camping ?

All Terrains will probably cost more than street tires, and are often made of a softer rubber for better grip on slick rock, so they will usually wear faster than street tires.

But if you spend much time off pavement, they can be the difference between getting stuck or not.

True All Terains are usually very big and very wide and often use a wider than stock rim.

An aggresive mud/snow tire is kind of a hybrid, same kind of tread pattern, but a normal street tire size.

Regards
John

 

[Van-Tramp]

What type of driving do your do mostly?

All terrain will not perform as well on asphalt (think safety in stopping or corners) and will wear faster when on asphalt. However, if you are frequently on dirt roads (not full 4WD of course) the trade off may be worth it.

All season does not mean what you think it does. They market them as "will do OK in all seasons" but the reality is that the will SUCK in all seasons. They will do just fine in dry conditions on asphalt, but anything else and you are constantly at risk. I never recommend "all season" tires.

If you are like me, with 90% of my miles each year being done on asphalt (Interstates, highways, etc) then getting a good set of LRR (Low Rolling Resistance) tires will save you a few dollars each fuel fill up. However, you will need to avoid any snow or heavy rain. Both are easy to do since your home moves. Be extra careful on those dirt roads to ensure you do not find a soft spot. You can easily get stuck with LRR tires on dirt, but some scouting-ahead-on-foot will save you those headaches.

 

[akrvbob]

It totally depends on where you drive. If you drive in the city, get street tires. If you live in the country, get all terrain.

I spend nearly all my time in the National Forests or in the desert. I run very aggressive mud tires in back and street tires up front.
Bob

 

[SternWake]

I have AT tires, slightly oversized from the stock size. LT30x9.5x15 vs LT235/75/15. I lost MPG noticeably right off the bat around town, but have not done enough highway driving for that metric.

They look good, but have so far been unnecessary. Not too loud for an aggressive tread pattern either.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Un-sprung weight (weight not managed by your suspension springs) will kill your MPGs faster than any other weight. A tire that weigh's more will have a dramatic effect on fuel economy as your engine has to keep that extra mass rotating at the cost of fuel. Worse is that it has to GET that extra mass rotating every time you get started from a stop, at the cost of fuel. The same applies to your brakes, which will wear faster due to the extra weight in your tires. Of course, AT tires will weigh more than "street" tires, due to the extra rubber in tread and the heavier construction.

"All Terrain" tires will wear faster on pavement, cost more in fuel, not corner or brake as well on asphalt, but will be much safer on gravel/dirt/mud and you could even add rain to that list (large grooves for water to channel out).

"All-season" tires are effectively poor at all seasons, but can generally handle the lighter side of both summer of winter. They will wear quickly in anything other than mild temps (no Arizona in July or Minnesota in January). They will perform blandly in wet and awful in snow greater than a small flurry.

"Summer" tires (aka high-performance tires) will have the best dry-weather grip of any tire, and only be OK in any rain more than a sprinkle. They will be completely useless in the snow.

"Winter" tires will have significantly more grip in temps below 40 degrees, and exponentially better the further the temps drop... but melt (and become very dangerous) in temps above 80 degrees (take them off as soon as overnight temps no longer go below freezing).

Hope that helps

 

[PastTense]

Here are the two tires I am looking at if anyone has any further comments (I am interested in buying now at there is a 25% off sale now for these two particular tires):

All Terrain:
Cooper Tire Site:
http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-A-T3.aspx
Dealer:
http://tires.theisens.com/shop-for-...ice=&order=4&pagenumber=5&order=4&view=single

All Season/Touring:
Cooper Tire Site:
http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-H-T.aspx
Dealer:
http://tires.theisens.com/shop-for-...ice=&order=4&pagenumber=4&order=4&view=single

 

[Van-Tramp]

You still have not answered what your normal driving conditions will be...

However, the all season tires weigh 3 lbs more (that is a lot) and are siped (not smart for dry hot weather driving in my opinion).

The all terrain will be noisy, but does have an extra 5000 miles on the warranty along with a tick deeper tread... but has 3 tenths of an inch less contact patch (that is a lot).

Here is another option, one that I have liked in the past: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...SR6GRHTS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes
It has the same weight at the Cooper all-season (45lbs) has a contact patch 0.5 inches larger than the Cooper AT and .2 inches larger than the Cooper all-season, a few less revs per mile (lower engine RPM, saves fuel) and is LRR (low rolling resistance) but has less treat depth than either Cooper. And at $40+ cheaper per tire you can still have them shipped from TireRack.com and save money (buy 3 get one free on them too).

I would choose the Grabber All-season over the Cooper all-season, but if you plan to do a lot of off road (and I mean a lot), then those AT Coopers do not look to bad.

PS - My Grabbers *sucked* in the snow once the roads were white. If the roads stayed black (no ice pack) they did ok.

 

[SternWake]

One of my Friends has the AT3's and likes them a lot in load range C, LT 235/75/15.

But reading reviews on tirerack there will often be very contradictory reviews in different sizes so much so one thinks the reviewers were reviewing 2 different brand tires.

What vehicle are you driving? What will you be doing a majority of driving on and in what conditions?

If you have a Discount tire nearby, they will match any shipped price of an online store, if you bring in a print out.

I'd not jump on a tire sale without finding the most desirable tire for my intended driving. Often sales on tires are on old tires, and if one believes the 5 year rule on tires, and does not drive much.......

My last set of tires, Michelins had more than half their tread left, at 8 years old and 70K miles...

 

[TucsonAZ]

When I lived in WI I ran summer and winter tires, all seasons as was mentioned perform poorly in all seasons. In AZ both my father and myself have run Nitto Terra Grapplers and Michelin LTS M/S the latter being one of my favorite tires of all time. You don't say what you drive which may mean you'll get the same basic performance but a worse ride with an AT, if you have more than one tire that'll spin e.g. 4wd, posi rear and mostly go 55 and under I would go AT, otherwise I don't see much gains.

I was once pretty into 4x4, locked, lifted Land cruisers (yes, more than one of them) and something I heard that I liked was the 4wd (or lockers) isn't there to get you stuck further down the trail, it's there to get you unstuck. Basically meaning, don't get the ATs just to get you deeper into a worse situation. I don't think you'll see the gains you want unless you have a vehicle that can get good use of the tires.