Stock tires can't really be this bad

[Devils Paw 80]

Ideally you'd have two sets of tires, with one for winter, but not many people I know do this with their 4WD Toyotas around here-including myself.
A decent set of all terrains have always worked just fine, and we average around 80 inches of snow per year. In our record snow year of 200 inches back in '07, my neighbor was running practically bald BFG AT's on his beat up old '85 4Runner. And, we live at the top of a hill.

Edit: Yes, stock tires are frequently terrible. My wife's Honda Fit tires were crap and wore out within 15K miles.

 

[NCMTNS]

The minute I got my 17 the first thing I did was get rid of the Dunlops. POS tires. I know a lot of people have the KO2's but if you are looking for other suggestions I got the Nitto Terra Grappler G2's. Very happy with them.

 

[JS22STL]

The minute I got my 17 the first thing I did was get rid of the Dunlops. POS tires. I know a lot of people have the KO2's but if you are looking for other suggestions I got the Nitto Terra Grappler G2's. Very happy with them.

How is road noise compared to the POS Dunlops?

 

[TeCKis300]

As much as we like to hate on the OE Dunlops.

Imagine the market reaction if the 200-series came with AT tires stock:
- 10-20% less mpg (11 city/16 highway)
- Poor handling and braking land bruiser
- Road noise

Toyota made the right engineering and design decisions for the OEM tires to better serve the general population.

The OE compound may wear fast, but that also supports better brochure handling and braking numbers. OEMs never get kudos for stock snow or off-road performance tires, especially when it would be at the detriment for mainstream performance metrics.

 

[Markuson]

As much as we like to hate on the OE Dunlops.

Imagine the market reaction if the 200-series came with AT tires stock:
- 10-20% less mpg (11 city/16 highway)
- Poor handling and braking land bruiser
- Road noise

Toyota made the right engineering and design decisions for the OEM tires to better serve the general population.

The OE compound may wear fast, but that also supports better brochure handling and braking numbers. OEMs never get kudos for stock snow or off-road performance tires, especially when it would be at the detriment for mainstream performance metrics.

Typical AT's really don't impact MPG as badly as that in my experience.
When I had 285/70/17 KO2's on my truck with sliders and a lift, I got better than 18MPG highway to and from Wisconsin & San Diego.
That was loaded to the roof with gear, and 500lbs of passengers...and no odometer correction for larger tires.
If they had been KO2's in stock size? It would have fared even better.

 

[indycole]

As much as we like to hate on the OE Dunlops.

Imagine the market reaction if the 200-series came with AT tires stock:
- 10-20% less mpg (11 city/16 highway)
- Poor handling and braking land bruiser
- Road noise

Toyota made the right engineering and design decisions for the OEM tires to better serve the general population.

The OE compound may wear fast, but that also supports better brochure handling and braking numbers. OEMs never get kudos for stock snow or off-road performance tires, especially when it would be at the detriment for mainstream performance metrics.

I agree that stock ATs would be overkill but they could have gone stepped it up... as I mentioned even the Bridgestone Duelers (or equivalent in Michelin or Goodyear land) would be more appropriate. I'm generally sympathetic to most Toyota eng decisions but this one the one thing that really had me scratching my head from the outset. The LX gets better tires.

 

[JS22STL]

I agree that stock ATs would be overkill but they could have gone stepped it up... as I mentioned even the Bridgestone Duelers (or equivalent in Michelin or Goodyear land) would be more appropriate. I'm generally sympathetic to most Toyota eng decisions but this one the one thing that really had me scratching my head from the outset. The LX gets better tires.

Part of the problem is that the engineers decided to use an odd ball size. For people wanting a factory size (rather than change) have little options.

 

[SQRRRL]

I had no problem with the OEM tires. They did just fine last season. With that said I’m on Hankook DynaPro ATM’s now.

 

[Chocolate]

The LX gets better tires.

The LX gets the same Dunlop Grandtreks, only 285/50/20 (31.2") instead of 285/60/18 (31.5").

That is one supplier agreement I'd like to see go away.

 

[indycole]

I thought they do the Dunlops for 21" wheels and Michelin Latitudes on the 20" wheels? At least that's what I recall when I was shopping around in 2016.

Either way, yeah, better tires would better

 

[BabaBear]

Just when I thought I wasted some coin on a second set of wheels/tires for the winter... Boom! 16” of snow! The nokian hakkapeliitta suv r2s I picked up from discount tire have taken the LC to another level. The Dunlops were iffy last winter and had to be replaced for the safety of my wife and kids. I have used Blizzak and X-ice on lesser vehicles(Grand Cherokee, Tahoe, Yukon Denali) and thought those were good. The combination of the LC and Nokian tires are nearly unstoppable. I did some light cleaning of the snow in the driveway and asked my wife to pull the LC out so I could use the snow thrower, she asked me to video it pulling out thinking it might be some dramatic footage. Nope. She drove off without any hesitation.

 

[NCMTNS]

How is road noise compared to the POS Dunlops?

There is more road noise but not unbearable. It is a slight rumble at highway speeds but don't hear much around town. Hope that helps.

 

[Reckless]

Ideally you'd have two sets of tires, with one for winter, but not many people I know do this with their 4WD Toyotas around here-including myself.
A decent set of all terrains have always worked just fine, and we average around 80 inches of snow per year. In our record snow year of 200 inches back in '07, my neighbor was running practically bald BFG AT's on his beat up old '85 4Runner. And, we live at the top of a hill.

Edit: Yes, stock tires are frequently terrible. My wife's Honda Fit tires were crap and wore out within 15K miles.

My KO2s have 40k miles on them and we accidentally outran a mounty for 5 minutes through the xmas day snow storm in Toronto this year ~8-12 in of snow. When he finally pulled us over he was compleltely exasperrated and claimed he almost crashed his car 4 times trying to pull us over (we were doing speed limit 60mph but everyone else was doing 20mph). When he asked how we were able to move so fast without any problems we said it was the Bridgestone KO2s. We didnt lose traction once and roads were unsalted and unplowed.

I wonder how much better snow tires can be, we could have gone 80mph but we felt bad for everyone next to us driving slow and cautious.

 

[DirtNap]

Now have to somehow convince the wife we need new tires on a brand new $75k vehicle when I told her prior to purchasing this thing came turn key ready to rock!

Major strategic error there, busdriver. It is going to make getting the sliders, lift, 35's, bumpers, lights, roof rack, locking diffs, awning, tent, winch, and second gas tank much more difficult.

To potentially add value, I recently swapped KO's for Ridge Grappler. Same/less road noise, same/slightly less mileage. But slightly more aggressive tread for an AT (but less than Cooper ST Maxx if I'm thinking of the right comp)

 

[Bendcruiser]

Pulled the trigger today. Ordered KO2’s stock size and having my stock rims powder coated in a flat Matte finish. I’ve had the LC for one week , too long for the Dunslops. Will post pics next week when it’s done.

 

[Markuson]

Major strategic error there, busdriver. It is going to make getting the sliders, lift, 35's, bumpers, lights, roof rack, locking diffs, awning, tent, winch, and second gas tank much more difficult.

To potentially add value, I recently swapped KO's for Ridge Grappler. Same/less road noise, same/slightly less mileage. But slightly more aggressive tread for an AT (but less than Cooper ST Maxx if I'm thinking of the right comp)

Or... You could buy @Canyonero's fully built 2015 LC... He's asking $75k for it... Only 19k miles... Sweet rig!

 

[hickuptruck]

To everyone that says KO2s are unstoppable, haha, you simply haven't run Finnish Hakkapeliitas. Sure KO2s get a 3 peak snowflake on them with new silica compounds and some sipes, but Hakkas are something else. They are simply on another playing field as they were designed and tested by people who don't see asphalt for more than half the year.

I'm personally not a fan on KO2s but I'm in the minority. They are a master of none type of tyre and needlessly expensive.

 

[Markuson]

To everyone that says KO2s are unstoppable, haha, you simply haven't run Finnish Hakkapeliitas. Sure KO2s get a 3 peak snowflake on them with new silica compounds and some sipes, but Hakkas are something else. They are simply on another playing field as they were designed and tested by people who don't see asphalt for more than half the year.

I'm personally not a fan on KO2s but I'm in the minority. They are a master of none type of tyre and needlessly expensive.

Right. No one claims KO2's are "master" of anything, because All-Terrains aren't designed to be.

So...shockingly...
Track tires beat KO2s on the track...
Mud tires beat KO2's in the mud...
Sand floater tires beat KO2's on sand dunes...
Military tires beat KO2s when frequently hit by bullets...
And...specialized snow tires beat KO2s in winter conditions.

On the other hand-- for those who are in and out of MANY conditions on a regular basis?
KO2s are a darn good choice, and fulfill their intended role(s) extremely well.

 

[SWUtah]

Right. No one claims KO2's are "master" of anything, because All-Terrains aren't designed to be.

So...shockingly...
Track tires beat KO2s on the track...
Mud tires beat KO2's in the mud...
Sand floater tires beat KO2's on sand dunes...
Military tires beat KO2s when frequently hit by bullets...
And...specialized snow tires beat KO2s in winter conditions.

On the other hand-- for those who are in and out of MANY conditions on a regular basis?
KO2s are a darn good choice, and fulfill their intended role(s) extremely well.

Plus they look good

 

[DirtNap]

Military tires beat KO2s when frequently hit by bullets... .

Buried the lede there. Do you mean to say we could buy tires that are literally bulletproof?