Meraki Autoworks

iTrader: (8)

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Smokeyyank

So we've had the GX about 4 months and absolutely love it....with one exception. The stock tires suck for my winters. They might be fine for some but where I'm at the just dont work. Really need a good AT tire to survive winter. We are up in the Mountains around Vail. So we are getting hammered with snow and cold for most of the year. This is my wife's ride so dont need anything overly aggressive but need something with more bite than the soccer mom tires on there now. Right now I'm looking at either BFG ATs, Falken Wildpeak AT3 (run these on one of my jeeps and really like them) or any other suggestions.

ObsidianBl

When the time comes, I'll be getting the wildpeak at3 for my GX. Everything that I've read brings me back to the falken's (price, mileage warranty, snow flake rating and the mildly aggressive sidewall "look").

I have Cooper Discoverer AT3 on the 4Runner and they look and perform well too.

I thought I read that CO requires snow chains in every part of the state???

Smokeyyank

Pretty much everything you said about the Falkens is why I picked them up. Only thing I wasn't big on is I had to get E load to get a decent ply rating and they ride a little rough on my jeep which I knew e rated would, but they do great in any bad weather and offroad.

Yes we have traction laws but chains are only for cars that aren't 4wd or have snow tires.

ASE

For the price of a few deductible's plus then living with any (repaired) damage ... and this assumes no one was injured, or worse ... IMHO having a dedicated set of hardcore winter tires (even better with studs) mounted on a second set of rims is cheap insurance ... assuming the GX is a long term keeper, or if you see another "Toyota" (of the same platform) in your future.

John00

AT tires are not the best for snow and especially cold. The pattern and composition actually make them worse than many all seasons or tourings. The big AT patches without the many sipes end up like slicks.
If you want a good tire for the snow you need one with the three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol. Second place comes the M+S marking. Still, these are tested for certain types of snow.
I have Michelin CrossClimate SUV tires. Better than ATs for snow, dry pavement, wet and sand.
ATs do have their purposes but snow and cold are not them.


check out the youtube vids on the CrossClimates.

ASE

Agree... it's all about sipes, unless you have studs ... especially with black ice. That's why Michelin Defender LTX M/S tires perform better than most A/T tires on snow and ice ... even though they look like soccer mom tires.

ASE

If you read tire reviews, check out European sources where they include brands from Sweden, Finland and Norway ... places where they live with snow and more specifically ice for the majority of the year. Winter Tire reviews from North American sources are a joke in comparison to how seriously they test winter tires in this region of the world. I used Gislaved winter tires for years, but now use Nokian Hakkapeliitta's where I have a set mounted on extra wheels that fit either my FJ Cruiser (Nitto Trail Grappler for Summer) or GX460 (Michelin Defender LTX M/S for Summer) with the Michelin's performing pretty close to most dedicated (mainstream) winter tires.

Smokeyyank

Second set of tires aint gonna happen. I get why a lot of people do it, but I dont want to dedicate that much space in my garage to storing them. As for the defenders on there. I've never liked them, we had them in my wife's liberty and they just never did great. On the GX they have decent tread currently but still just no grip. Last week in Keystone they just couldn't grip as well as the falkens on the Jeep in the snow. I had to drive the GX over Vail pass and had to come back to Denver same day to catch a flight. Drove the Jeep to Denver. GX slipped up twice. Jeep no slipping at all and drive was way worse. Jeep with Falkens in Part time just gripped way better. In 4wd its planted with no issues. I get ATs aren't the "best" for snow but I've always had better luck with those versus all season.

John00

exact reason i went with the CrossClimates, I wasnt going to keep changing yet I wanted three peak for snow while i mostly drive on dry pavement, and could do without road noise, poorer handling, etc of AT tires. if going for the AT look and theres an AT with the 3peak on it, get that. Ive heard there some AT M+S, but id rather go with the 3peak.

for me, it came down to which AT tire, then I was leaning towards falkens. during my research i saw the CrossClimates were way better. the falkens did have a different composition that was supposed to be better than most ATs but they just couldnt compare to the CrossClimates mostly due to the tread pattern.

LexusGXFan

Yokohama has an AT tire for the GX with the snow flake.

LexusGXFan

I meant the three peak mountain snow flake....

John00

yokohama geolander A/T. doesnt have the rubber block patches, its more treaded like a highway tire with the 5 columns.
https://www.discounttire.com/tires/all-terrain-catalog

bowhun2r

I've have these on my T4R LE for well over a year (swapped them on before I even brought the truck home) and now have 19K miles on them. Holding up great.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...tnum=66TR8TCAT

https://www.continentaltire.com/prod...t-22560r17-99h

Not as aggressive looking or sounding as my previous KO2s. Very nice drive and hardly any road noise. We had some decent snow in NE last year and this tire never let me down. I also hunt in some logging roads and again...never let me down. We get a lot of rain and that's where this tire shined. Braking and handling in the rain was excellent.

They look nice as well. Definitely do not look like the stock street tires delivered on the truck...but not as aggressive looking as some Nitto's or KO2's either.

This is the tire I'll be putting on my wife's new GX.

Smokeyyank

Awesome, thanks for the info all. Currently that Falkens are the top choice, but will do a little more research and see. Will wait probably a little closer to thanksgiving as I know there will be deals to be had.