Not to be a downer, but these reviews are useless without an A/B comparison. Especially as somebody who admits to coming from standard all seasons.
For an extra $60/corner, I put a reputable tire (Goodyear Duratrac) on my LR3.
My personal experience has been never to cheap out on tires. I've never regretted buying high end tires - be it for a track/race car, street driven sports car, standard daily, truck, offroader.... but I sure have regretted cheaping out.
Again, not saying these off-brand tires are bad, but usually this is the case. But no way to know without an A/B comparo.
You said what I was going to, though I’m running KO2’s. There is a place for cheap tires, like a high school kid with a Ford Ranger working at the auto parts store, a single mom with a Toyota Corolla, or a hunting truck that’s rarely driven on pavement. Running an LR3 as a DD on the highway and off road wouldn’t be one of those choices for me.
Brakes, shocks, and tires are things worth spending the $ for IMO. Having one of them throw the tread off, last 30k miles instead of 50, or just shake and rattle the whole time is false economy.
That being said, tire companies can come into the game and make quality stuff. Cooper tires were considered second rate when I was growing up, but it’s commonly accepted that they are on par with if not better than BFG, Goodyear, etc, at this point. Maybe these tires will be one of those cases.
One thing that helps newer companies is being able to copy some other designs, the trail blades appear very similar to the Toyo MT’s, which are well regarded.
