Best “AT” tires for my bone-stock 2023 GX? (12 Viewers)

[Khione]

Hi everyone. First off, many thanks for everyone’s insightful posts. I am a recent lurker on this forum and it’s been an absolute wealth of knowledge.

I unfortunately have a bad case of tire analysis paralysis, so I’m creating a new thread here in the hopes of finding the best tire for my use case…

I will likely be picking up a brand new GX 460 next Friday in Denver. It will be replacing my Jeep Gladiator Mojave, which has been lots of fun but just isn’t the best fit for my use case (more on that below).

This car will spend 98% of its time “on road” as my daily driver and 2% of its time “off road” as an occasional light-duty adventure vehicle. “On road” = back & forth between DIA and the Roaring Fork Valley in the summer and winter months, driving to / from the ski hill, cross-continental trips twice per year between CO and VA, commuting in and around Washington, D.C. in the spring and fall months and longer road trips around the E Coast and Mountain West. “Off road” = various “dry” (i.e., ideally / hopefully not in the mud or snow) backcountry adventures lasting from day trips up to one week in CO and UT (never anything rated higher than blue / intermediate in the Funtreks books - stuff like Crystal Mill, the upper road to Lead King Basin, Lincoln Creek, Rim Rocker and White Rim).

For tires, I’m leaning toward BFG Trail Terrain T/As in stock size (no desire at this time to mod the vehicle in any way or mess with the calibrated speedo / odo). Others I’ve considered include KO2s, AT3Ws and Toyo AT3s, though these all seem like they may be overkill for my use case. I will be adding a Gamiviti Easential Expo rack but I’d otherwise like to keep on-road manners as “stock” as possible (quiet and MPG).

Thanks in advance for all your input!

 

[Rednexus]

P-rated (i.e, 4-ply) Wildpeak AT3Ws are awesome. They have a nominal difference in sound/MPG from a stock-style tire, do very well in the rain, 3-peak rated, look good, have good flat resistance, and do well off road when aired down. I have ~40K on mine with quite a bit of wheeling and they easily have ~10K left in them. One of the nice benefits of them is that they have robust sidewalls for a P-rated tire - despite airing mine down to 15-18 psi fairly often, they hold up great in sharp rocks. My 265/70R17s are M-USA, though I think some of the other ones may be made in Thailand or China. I'm getting another set in 285/70R17 next year due to these having been so good.

 

[MrTorgue]

I've really enjoyed my Nitto Ridge Grapplers in 265/70/17. I've got ~47k miles on them and they are finally needing replacement. They were exceptional offroad and in fresh snow. Best money I've ever spent. Too bad they are almost double the cost in todays inflationary environment versus when I got them in 2020.

 

[ericm979]

I went with Falken Rubitrek tires. They're very similar to the Wildpeak AT3W but with a very slightly more road focused tread pattern, and $20 less per tire when I bought mine. They are a bit hard to find.

There's some tread noise but not much. They do well for an AT tire on wet and dry pavement. They will still aquaplane when the water is deep enough however.

The Falkens run large for their nominal size and BFGs run small. Tire Rack has the numbers.

 

[r2m]

Hi everyone. First off, many thanks for everyone’s insightful posts. I am a recent lurker on this forum and it’s been an absolute wealth of knowledge.

I unfortunately have a bad case of tire analysis paralysis, so I’m creating a new thread here in the hopes of finding the best tire for my use case…

I will likely be picking up a brand new GX 460 next Friday in Denver. It will be replacing my Jeep Gladiator Mojave, which has been lots of fun but just isn’t the best fit for my use case (more on that below).

This car will spend 98% of its time “on road” as my daily driver and 2% of its time “off road” as an occasional light-duty adventure vehicle. “On road” = back & forth between DIA and the Roaring Fork Valley in the summer and winter months, driving to / from the ski hill, cross-continental trips twice per year between CO and VA, commuting in and around Washington, D.C. in the spring and fall months and longer road trips around the E Coast and Mountain West. “Off road” = various “dry” (i.e., ideally / hopefully not in the mud or snow) backcountry adventures lasting from day trips up to one week in CO and UT (never anything rated higher than blue / intermediate in the Funtreks books - stuff like Crystal Mill, the upper road to Lead King Basin, Lincoln Creek, Rim Rocker and White Rim).

For tires, I’m leaning toward BFG Trail Terrain T/As in stock size (no desire at this time to mod the vehicle in any way or mess with the calibrated speedo / odo). Others I’ve considered include KO2s, AT3Ws and Toyo AT3s, though these all seem like they may be overkill for my use case. I will be adding a Gamiviti Easential Expo rack but I’d otherwise like to keep on-road manners as “stock” as possible (quiet and MPG).

Thanks in advance for all your input!

Ha-ha-ha!
Your question might as be be asking everyone what flavor ice-cream to get!!
Okay, here goes. My flavor are and have been BFG A/T's and M/T's.
Reasons:

1. If you take care of them, an easy 60k miles on them. That's what, 5 years driving or so?
2. The M/T's are the quietest of any M/T's I've had, but will get loud at about half thread depth wear.
3. The A/T's generally rate as excellent.
4. Personally, I like the tread pattern.
5. Are great on the road in rain, snow, ice and great off roading, except mud, but then one would need M/T's.

To help you go to Tire Rack https://www.tirerack.com/content/tirerack/desktop/en/homepage.html
Select "Shop by tire size" not vehicle. Then enter size to get you started, then type of tire, e.g.: A/T, all season, etc., then click on the star rating icon just below the tire name. That will take you a graph how the tire rates on all types of conditions.
This should help narrow it down for you.

 

[windnsea00]

I have had good luck with the Toyo Open Country III A/T's on my GX and my past Tacoma, mine were built in Japan which is nice too.

 

[HVLA]

I have had ALL of the top AT tires on many different trucks and suvs. Hands down the best tire I have ever had are the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss a/t. I will never buy any other tire again.

 

[mikehighlife]

I has Wildpeaks on a previous truck and was a big fan.

I’ve been running Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S for the last 25k miles and am a big fan. Quiet, great snow and loose dirt traction. They run slightly small so I had no problem fitting a 266/70/17 in the spare.

 

[Rednexus]

I have had ALL of the top AT tires on many different trucks and suvs. Hands down the best tire I have ever had are the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss a/t. I will never buy any other tire again.

If i was going to abandon the Wildpeak, that (or the very similar Cooper version) is probably what I would pick as it's a great looking tire and a bit lighter than the Falkens in 285/70R17. What is keeping me in the Wildpeak camp is just how good they do in the rain and while towing, which are the majority of the miles for my GX currently. Not sure if the more aggressive Baja Boss would be a bit worse in those conditions....but it is a very attractive option.

 

[Cold Iron]

I just went though this complete exercise a week ago on my new to me 2019 GX460 that I've had for 2 weeks. The dealer put brand new Michelin Defender LTX M/S tires on it. Pulled into the driveway which is a long steep paver brick and slid in the fresh snow. Twice, once in the morning again in the afternoon. I've had a lot of tires in the 50 years that I've been driving. The one thing that scares me the most is losing control due to snow and ice. Seeing how all of the tires you mention are snowflake 3PMSF tires I'm guessing that is also in your needs analysis as well. Certainly is at the top of my list of needs. Maintain positive control at all times in all conditions. At least as close as possible.

In my search I expanded it to 17" wheels and in the end that is where I went. The TRD Pro wheels are 25 pounds, the stock Lexus wheels 32 so you save 7 pounds. Which I made up in a heavier tire but star of end result is the same weight as stock or close to it. I also went up an inch to 265/70/17, one inch shouldn't require a recalibration from all accounts I've read, if it does so be it. Will hopefully know in a week or so. My main concern is fitting it in the spare tire location.

Tirerack as mentioned above is a good repository of users real life evaluation of tires. Not the only one I use but it is a start.

The BFG Trail Terrain T/A you are thinking as your primary tire at this point is an On-Road All-Terrain tire and Tirerack puts groups of tires from the same category together so that you can compare them. The BFG Trail Terrain doesn't rank very well in snow and ice and is in the middle of the On-Road AT tires category.

The other tires are Off-Road All-Terrain and while you may think they are overkill I would say it depends. As long as they aren't too heavy and aggressive they can be decent for highway comfort with good manners and quiet, well somewhat. They will vary a lot based on the tire. The rankings for Tirerack and Off-Road AT tires is here.

The Falken Wildpeak A/T3W seem to be a clear leader and choice even with other reviews such as at Discount Tire. Also in those rankings is the KO2 which you listed as well and came stock on my Taco Baja T|X and I agree with the reviews. Great all around tire except for comfort and noise on highway. Also in Off Road AT category is the FIRESTONE DESTINATION A/T2 I had the original A/T and agree with the reviews again, it was terrible in the snow and ice.

I ended up going with the FALKEN WILDPEAK A/T3W 115T SL 31.7” and 17" TRD Pro wheels. Which are only 7" width so could be just a touch taller when mounted. Weight will be ~1 pound from stock tires and wheels. Still waiting for the wheels to come in so have no actual experience with them. But I am cautiously optimistic after researching the hell out of them. And the reviews on here as well.

 

[xychromosome]

I'll add a mention for Nitto terra grapplers. I've been happy with them and they sound like a good match for your anticipated use; 98% on-road, occasional offroad. They are 3 peak snow rated so also meet your snow driving requirements. I am mostly impressed by their even wear and still have plenty tread left after almost 40k miles.

 

[jonshonda]

There is always...always..always a drawback to running more aggressive tires. Noise, chance of added vibrations, chance of a rough ride, and a hit on fuel economy. So just understand that you are making those sacrifices to outfit your GX for XX% of your driving situations.

With that being said I ran BFG K02's C-rated tires on my GX470 for roughly 80k miles, with the first set giving me 60k miles of trouble free service AFTER I found a shop that does road force balancing using finger plates. I also rotated them at every oil change, so 5k miles.

I am in wisconsin, so we face pretty much every weather condition, from downpours to ice to snow measured in feet not inches. And I really liked them a lot. But they did ride a little rough, there were some added vibrations on the steering wheel, and they do get a little noisy but lexus did a good job with NVH so not a big deal.

Our GX460 came to us with almost new Michelin Defender LT/X M/S tires, and they are supposed to be one of the best overall non-AT tires on the market. We haven't had much for snow yet so I can't rate that performance, but so far they would be an ideal highway tire that should give you the snow performance you are looking for.

 

[Cold Iron]

There is always...always..always a drawback to running more aggressive tires. Noise, chance of added vibrations, chance of a rough ride, and a hit on fuel economy. So just understand that you are making those sacrifices to outfit your GX for XX% of your driving situations.

With that being said I ran BFG K02's C-rated tires on my GX470 for roughly 80k miles, with the first set giving me 60k miles of trouble free service AFTER I found a shop that does road force balancing using finger plates. I also rotated them at every oil change, so 5k miles.

I am in wisconsin, so we face pretty much every weather condition, from downpours to ice to snow measured in feet not inches. And I really liked them a lot. But they did ride a little rough, there were some added vibrations on the steering wheel, and they do get a little noisy but lexus did a good job with NVH so not a big deal.

Our GX460 came to us with almost new Michelin Defender LT/X M/S tires, and they are supposed to be one of the best overall non-AT tires on the market. We haven't had much for snow yet so I can't rate that performance, but so far they would be an ideal highway tire that should give you the snow performance you are looking for.

Last weekend in Minnesoda I had the chance to test almost new Michelin Defender LT/X M/S tires on mine in fresh snow

Creeping into the driveway in the morning

Again in the afternoon didn't even make it in as far before I started to slide sideways

Hopefully they work better for you. Hard pass for me and hoping my new wheels and tires come in and get on before the next snow.

 

[Rednexus]

The Michelins might have been over-inflated. We have the crossover/sedan versions of the Defender on my wife's Highlander and have had them on a past Subaru and another FWD car - they are usually very good in the snow for both FWD and AWD vehicles (they also easily last 70-80K miles). In fact I'd say they perform a bit better on AWD vehicles than my GX does in the snow (at normal inflation pressures) with Wildpeaks.

If they are at 42 psi or something they are going to suck in the snow regardless. I usually run them at more like 30-32 psi.

 

[masturv8]

AT3W - SL rated

 

[Cold Iron]

I spend more time on Upland Journal then most sites hanging out with other bird hunters. One of the guys on there is from Wi. and on Tuesday he posted this quoting someone else about the Defenders:

WI Outdoor Nut

• Location: Midwest

Posted Tuesday at 10:20 AM

On 11/28/2023 at 5:28 AM, Rogue Hunter said:
Those Defenders are really good summer/highway tires. I'd have them on every vehicle I might own if I didn't live in snow country.

The defenders are on my wife's GX460. For being such a high end tire, I was disappointed. We do live in snow country and had our first snow fall this past weekend. At 55K miles, they are no good for traction in the snow. She could not back up our driveway which is at a 6 deg grade. I know there are many lovers of the Michelin's, but so far I have not see the value for the additional money. I ordered the black Friday walmart tires Cooper Evolution's for $652 out the door. The stealership wanted to put the same Michelin's on for $1452. Maybe the LTX's are a better tire, but there is no way they are 2.2x's better tire.

 

[Rednexus]

On our previous Outback, even with the tires having 60K miles on it, I'd have to floor in the snow/ice to get the wheels to spin in the snow with the Defenders. We finally replaced them at 70K due to wear and got a small rebate back from Michelin as they were on the wear bars prior to the 80K treadwear warranty.

But I haven't ran them on a bigger vehicle like a GX, personally I wouldn't run them on a GX as they aren't an AT tire and a GX needs an AT tire .

 

[987R]

I have had good luck with the Toyo Open Country III A/T's on my GX and my past Tacoma, mine were built in Japan which is nice too.

I'm a big fan of the Toyo AT3s. I have them on a RWD Sprinter van - excellent in the snow, not too harsh of a ride, either. I have BFG KO2s on a GX470 and it really roughened up the ride. Not a fan for how you will use the GX.

 

[Khione]

I just went though this complete exercise a week ago on my new to me 2019 GX460 that I've had for 2 weeks. The dealer put brand new Michelin Defender LTX M/S tires on it. Pulled into the driveway which is a long steep paver brick and slid in the fresh snow. Twice, once in the morning again in the afternoon. I've had a lot of tires in the 50 years that I've been driving. The one thing that scares me the most is losing control due to snow and ice. Seeing how all of the tires you mention are snowflake 3PMSF tires I'm guessing that is also in your needs analysis as well. Certainly is at the top of my list of needs. Maintain positive control at all times in all conditions. At least as close as possible.

In my search I expanded it to 17" wheels and in the end that is where I went. The TRD Pro wheels are 25 pounds, the stock Lexus wheels 32 so you save 7 pounds. Which I made up in a heavier tire but star of end result is the same weight as stock or close to it. I also went up an inch to 265/70/17, one inch shouldn't require a recalibration from all accounts I've read, if it does so be it. Will hopefully know in a week or so. My main concern is fitting it in the spare tire location.

Tirerack as mentioned above is a good repository of users real life evaluation of tires. Not the only one I use but it is a start.

The BFG Trail Terrain T/A you are thinking as your primary tire at this point is an On-Road All-Terrain tire and Tirerack puts groups of tires from the same category together so that you can compare them. The BFG Trail Terrain doesn't rank very well in snow and ice and is in the middle of the On-Road AT tires category.

The other tires are Off-Road All-Terrain and while you may think they are overkill I would say it depends. As long as they aren't too heavy and aggressive they can be decent for highway comfort with good manners and quiet, well somewhat. They will vary a lot based on the tire. The rankings for Tirerack and Off-Road AT tires is here.

The Falken Wildpeak A/T3W seem to be a clear leader and choice even with other reviews such as at Discount Tire. Also in those rankings is the KO2 which you listed as well and came stock on my Taco Baja T|X and I agree with the reviews. Great all around tire except for comfort and noise on highway. Also in Off Road AT category is the FIRESTONE DESTINATION A/T2 I had the original A/T and agree with the reviews again, it was terrible in the snow and ice.

I ended up going with the FALKEN WILDPEAK A/T3W 115T SL 31.7” and 17" TRD Pro wheels. Which are only 7" width so could be just a touch taller when mounted. Weight will be ~1 pound from stock tires and wheels. Still waiting for the wheels to come in so have no actual experience with them. But I am cautiously optimistic after researching the hell out of them. And the reviews on here as well.

Thank you all for your great feedback. So many options and considerations! One poster said it best: “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”. For me, upon further reflection, it’s probably “Rocky Road”. Coming from a Gladiator Mojave with somewhat worn KO2s and a bunch of crap up top, I’m guessing the incremental noise from inside the otherwise tomb-like GX460 won’t be much of an issue for me, so I might as well go “full AT”. Cold Iron, I’ve seen a few other threads referencing the 17” TRD Pro wheels with 265/70/17 and that does seem to be an intriguing option. Are yours OEM? Any special considerations (including lugs) when mounting them on the GX or just bring them in and say “mount them”? Looks like they might rub on the front bolt but I assume the flat bolt replacement would fix that. Is that your expectation? Also, will you be replacing the spare and if so, do you expect it to fit fully inflated? I’ll be installing an aftermarket hitch - not the OEM - as I’ll never be towing more than 3k, so hopefully this gives me some additional wiggle room. Finally, AT3Ws seem like my best option, but there are so many other good suggestions here. Baja Boss (which weren’t even previously on my radar) seem to be a close second. If cost were no factor, if noise difference on highway were relatively comparable (which it seems to be) and considering that I’ll be doing plenty of snow driving in the Rockies, which would you all recommend between those two? TIA

 

[Banandalorian]

I've been running standard load (P rated) Pirelli Scorpion AT+ in 265/70/17 for the last 2.5 years and ~30,000 miles and they have been phenomenal. The GX is my daily, our road trip car, and for my off road shenanigans for I've encountered pretty much every terrain. On road they are quite, comfortable, and handle great in the dry and wet. 30k miles looks to be about half the tread life and within the last couple of months they have started making a little more on road noise however it is only noticeable if you are attune to that sort of thing (I have noticed, my wife hasn't). The on road handling is much more confidence inspiring than the "highway SUV" tires I replaced - the Pirellis feel responsive and stable vs the old tires which felt squirmy/squishy if you had to do any kind of emergency or enthusiastic turning or braking.
They work quite well in winter weather on and off road. The only area I feel they really lose out to a dedicated winter tire is on sheet-ice where a snow tire will have better braking and turning performance. This has included driving through everything from slush to foot+ deep snow drifts.
For general off road use they also work great. I've had the sidewalls smeared across rocks when aired down and no issues with punctures/tears (so far). I find that pretty impressive for a p-rated tire. Traction on everything except deep mud is also very good.

*Forgot to add that I would actually go up one size when replacing the tires (265/65/18 if keeping the stock wheels, or 265/70/17 and get some 17 inch wheels). The extra inch of tire has no noticeable impact on gas mileage or performance on road, but it gives you a little extra clearance and sidewall offroad and likely corrects your speedometer. More importantly, that extra little bit of tire goes a long way towards making the GX look like an off-road capable truck instead of a tall minivan.