Toyo M-55

[winkosmosis]

I love the clean, mechanical, retro look of these tires! Too many tire makers are going wild with their designs... making them look like some biker's tribal tattoos instead of like tires.

They remind me of the tires on race trucks I used to see in offroad magazines from the 80s

 

[Redline]

I just opened my cheap calipers to your .36" number and then checked the distance next to a tread depth gauge.

12/32" really is not that 'gone', not that I personally care to run off-highway tires much below 10/32", but I think most run their tires lower than you did.

Do my estimates seem about right? Could you have driven a total of 29k before the tires where down to the wear-bars?

I'm glad somebody could figure out the math! I decided the caliper measurement was accurate, so rather than screw it up trying to convert to 32nds, I just left it alone.

 

[ashooter]

...Do my estimates seem about right? Could you have driven a total of 29k before the tires where down to the wear-bars?

Your numbers sound about right. I normally want to replace the tires by the time they get down to a quarter-inch of tread (8/32nds), so I was 0.11" (3-and-a-half 32nds) short of that... By my surveyor-ish math, I could have gotten another 5,500 miles before I was down to 8/32nds. Also by my surveyor-ish math, if I maintained a constant rate of wear (0.02" per 1000 miles), I could have gotten a total of 26,875 miles out of the M/T's before the tread was down to 2/32nds.


Confused yet?

 

[Redline]

Confused yet

Nope, I think we are on the same page and line

I agree, 8/32" is a good depth to dump tires.

 

[winkosmosis]

Where do you buy these tires?

Do they not come in 31x10.5x15?

 

[Redline]

http://toyotires.com/tire/pattern/m-55

No 31x10.50R15 M55

In that size I also suggest the ******** Cepek Fun Country II, load range C unless you need more weight carrying/stifness.

 

[winkosmosis]

Well it looks like I'll be using BFG AT KOs for the rest of my life!

 

[ashooter]

Where do you buy these tires?

Do they not come in 31x10.5x15?

Local politics caused me to buy them from the local tire dealer across the street, but the best prices I've seen are from treadepot.com (same place I bought my M/T's from).

One of the drawbacks to these tires is that they are basically not marketed by Toyo at all, as far as I can tell, and are considered "just a commercial truck tire", so they are available in a very limited number of sizes. I'm actually surprised they are still selling the 255/85R16, but I guess there's a big enough market for them someplace to make it worthwhile.

It's a shame they don't market these more aggressively because based on second-hand info I have from guys who have run both Toyo M-55 and BFG "All-Terrain T/A KO", these seem to be sort of in the same niche, but a MUCH better tire in terms of durability, driveability, snow/ice performance, wet pavement performance, etc. In other words, if you like the BFG AT's, you'd LOVE Toyo M-55's. Only drawback besides limited size choices is the price.

 

[okie2]

A happy customer riding along on Toyo ATs! Bought these from Schwabs on 12-22-2005 and mounted on a 94 K2500 Suburban with a 454. Mileage then 171,393 and now at 200,498. In 29,105 miles I have consumed 8/32s of thread. I'm running the LT265/75R/16Es.

I tend to be a aggresive driver, especially on curvy pavement. The tires have been rotated twice. I'd guess that less then 10% of the miles have been off-road. Mostly back dirt roads in all kinds of weather looking for Salmon, Steelheads and Photographic opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. We had 193" of precipitation in our area last year and the ol' Suburban never missed a step. These are one hell of a rain tire and they let you rail around the curves on dry pavement. No under steer and no front end push!

We recently moved to Las Vegas,Nv. I am so glad to get out of that damn rainy, damp, wet, chill you to the bone weather! Sure is nice to see blue skies and white clouds every day. I have not turned on my windshield wipers in four months.......can you believe it!!!! Seems like a miracle to me.

I'll be getting some new Toyo M-55s in the Spring or sooner since I'll be spending a lot more time off-road in this area in the future. I like the Ats but I want a little more tire for that "OOPS!" moment you run into every now and then when you are off-road.

I have never been in a desert environment before and I am looking forward to meeting some of the locals at the area 4wheel shops and talking to some of the folks on this forum who live in the "neighborhood". I need to find out where to go, where not to go, what not to do and what to bring in this new, and yet unforgiving at times, environment.

So thanks to ashooter, Redline and many more for the insight into the performance and behavior of the Toyo tires. Wish they had a Schwab Tire shop in this area.

That's my granddaughter in the Avatar. She's a little doll baby!

 

[ashooter]

Just a heads-up: Dyna Beads do not work well in my M-55's.

The town I live in is waaaaaaay out in the boonies. Speed limit in town is 30mph, and speed limit everywhere within 65 miles outside of town is 75mph. I just got home from a 600 mile trip where I drove about 150 miles on roads where the speed limit was between 50 and 60mph. That is very much the "unsweet spot" for the Dyna Beads... Between about 45 mph and 60 mph, the steering wheel wobbled quite a bit. The beads seemed to work fine with the M/T's, but I never really drove them 45-60 except on the way up to or down from 70.

Monday morning, the Dyna Beads are getting shop-vac'd out and I'm getting some good old fashioned wheel weights.

Other than that, I'm still loving these tires!

 

[Redline]

Interesting. I tried Dyna Beads with a set of Toyo M/T 255/85 last year and they didn't work for me at all, terrible balance at freeway speeds (around 65 where I typically drive). After the very brief trial, I too went back to regular wheel weights.

Just a heads-up: Dyna Beads do not work well in my M-55's.

snip.............

Other than that, I'm still loving these tires!

 

[CB3]

My cousin has Toyo M55 on his Ford Super Duty.

They're a great heavy duty all terrain tire, IMO, but they are terrible for mud, and only marginally acceptable on snow and ice.

 

[Redline]

I think those are accurate descriptions.
A heavy-duty A/T is why it's popular for commercial applications.
It doesn't have enough void for difficult mud.
Not much siping by modern standards for winter/ice.

However the M55 is a good rugged commercial traction tire that was around long before crossover tread designs became popular (again). Tires like the Toyo M55, Goodyear DuraTrac, ******** Cepek F-C II seem to be attracting much more interest as practical 4x4 tire choices than some of the more aggressive options that sometimes don't last with lots of highway miles.

My cousin has Toyo M55 on his Ford Super Duty.

They're a great heavy duty all terrain tire, IMO, but they are terrible for mud, and only marginally acceptable on snow and ice.

 

[ashooter]

One of the front tires needed close to 8 oz. of lead to balance. The rest were under 4 oz, so maybe I just had one tire that didn't get along with the DynaBeads. Either way, the 45-60mph wobble's gone, so I'm happy. Smooth as glass now!

 

[Mike S]

Yeah, Toyo makes their M55 AT's in the 255/85/16 as well...

I am running this tire on my FZJ80 right now, and have had a decent amount of driving experience with the M55 on my F350 (in 285/75/R16).

I find the all-around performance to be very good, especially in rain and snow. In mud, they do not ball up with gumbo. They are a bit more aggressive than an AT tire, but not as aggressive as a, MT. They wear well and have strong side walls.

I will buy them again.