Well, I tried the Toyo Open Country ATIIIs for two weeks and ended up returning them. Tires were 275/65R18 E and intended to be a daily driver with very good weekend trail capability. I put them through the paces and here are my observations and why I didn't like them. This is a lengthy review and just a single data point, so take it for what it's worth.
I'd been debating between these and the Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT, but decided to try these first because of Toyo's 45-day/500 guarantee. It was attractive because, unlike other brands, they offer a full refund, including install costs, and didn't require you to swap into another Toyo. I scanned the fine print and felt confident in taking a risk on a new, unproven tire.
Performance. IMHO the marketing is mostly hype. First thing that struck me was that the much-vaunted, more aggressive sidewall tread is nothing more than decoration. It's literally printed on the tire and not more than 1/16" relief. The pics online make it look much more aggressive and pronounced than it is. The tires are pretty true to size and measured 31 5/8" x 10 7/8" on 8" wide rims. Tread width is about 9". The tire weighs 51.6 lbs and 82.1 lbs total on OE Tundra alloys. One of the things that attracted me about this tire is its light weight. Since this was to be my DD I wanted to keep the weight and diameter in check (while still switching to E-rated) to maintain my stopping, acceleration, and gear ratios as much as possible.
I was initially pleased with the tires. Dry road performance was good. They, of course, felt stiffer than stock, but not so much that my family noticed much. There was a barely noticeable increase in road-noise, though the noise they make is a bit of a high pitched buzz. I measured them at 66-67 dB at 80mph. They weren't as loud as my BFG KO2's, but louder than the milder Continental TerrainContact AT (which were silent). Off-road at Little Moab, UT the Toyo ATIIIs performed better than the Conti's, though not an apples to apples comparison as the wheel size and tire type are different (Conti's were P275/60R20). I was able to climb a solid rock face obstacle in low range Rock mode that I could not with the Conti's, though with some definite spinning. The extra sidewall and stiffness were also a big plus.
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Shortly thereafter we got a good snow in the mountains, so I took them up to test in the empty ski resort parking lots. This is where the disappointment started. Toyo touted the improved rain (didn't test) and snow performance of this tire, and they are 3PMSF, but I thought them mediocre at best. They gripped acceptably on packed snow at 32 degrees, and they stopped just ok. Definitely not skates, and definitely not snow tires. In 6" deep snow, I bogged almost to a complete stop with traction control engaged in 4H. There was enough slip that the computer almost completely disengaged power to all four wheels. With Active TRAC disengaged I was able to keep forward momentum with lots of throttle, but I didn't have a lot of control and didn't corner well. Even in 4L Sand mode the tires struggled in deep snow. With Crawl Control engaged it plowed through ok, but when I tried to use Turn Assist I got a few feet then just stopped and slowly spun all four wheels in-place.
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The next test was a trip out to the Deep Creek Mountains in western Utah. Family of five, a dog, and all our camping gear--full load. A good 2 hours of the 3-hour trip was on dirt, gravel, and washboard roads through the Utah desert. I aired down 10, then 15% on the gravel, and the tires gave me a sense of confidence on the drive in. I also got a chance to do some rougher tracks in the mountains and around the old mines. I was generally very satisfied with the off-road traction until we hit some snow patches on a narrow high mountain track with slight sidegrade. To be honest, it scared me. The temps were in the 40s and the snow was the grainy spring stuff about 4-6" deep. The first 20' section of snow only covered 3/4 of the track, so my right tires were on dirt and I
still started to slide sideways off the mountain. I backed out and tried again with more momentum. Made it through but the pucker factor was high. The second patch we hit covered the entire track. I started in, but it was clear after 10' that it was a no-go. End of the road.
Though the mountain snow thing was disappointing, I didn't intend to use these as winter tires and that was not high on my list of performance requirements, so not a deal-breaker. However, on the drive home on those gravel roads, I experienced the first flat in the four years I've owned the LX (and really the 18 years I've owned Land Cruisers). Having harshly judged the several mini-vans and cars we saw on the way in dealing with flats (and clearly running P-rated tires), I was pretty raw. Fluke? Maybe. Karma? Perhaps. Surprisingly, the rock punctured through the side of a tread block and tore a 1/2" hole on the inside of the tire. Taken alone this might be explained as one-off bad luck, but after we got home I inspected all the tires and found the treads torn to hell--lots of micro tears in the tread blocks and tire face, chunking, etc. One of the managers at the tire store said some of it looked like torque shear tears. That shouldn't have happened with the type of off-roading we did or traveling 50 mph on 15% aired down, brand new, E-rated tires on a maintained gravel road. The P-rated TerrainContact I threw on as a spare was nowhere near as cut up after another 2 hours on that same gravel, though it did pick up a lot of gravel in the treads. I can't compare the Toyo's to the KO2 off-road because it's been two years, and I rode the KO2s on the East Coast (totally different conditions). However, it did notice that the ATIII hardly threw any gravel into the wheel wells, while my KO2s sounded like hail on gravel roads.
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So, the AT IIIs went back to Discount Tire. This is where things go from bad to worse. The replacement insurance I bought covered the punctured and irreparable tire. But the other three... turns out Toyo's guarantee is a joke. Toyo refused to honor the satisfaction warranty because the tires were 'plus size' for my vehicle and not OEM. Who buys OEM sized off-road tires?? How about all the 34"+ size tires they sell? Not a non-commercial vehicle in the world I can think of that has OEM 34"+ tires! They also questioned my decision to air down 15% on gravel roads. Seriously?? Overall my experience with Toyo's customer service was very negative. Discount Tire tried to engage with them as well and also had a bad experience--so much so that they just ate the return and swore never to sell Toyo's again. Fortunately, DT took excellent care of me despite the condition of the tires. Can't say enough good things about those guys. Toyo on the other hand... epic fail. And as a footnote, 500 miles isn't really enough to get a good feel for tires.
