Toyo M-55

[CB3]

My cousin has Toyo M55. He struggles in even mild mud, and struggles on snow, and has a terrible time on ice.

My BFG AT drive circles around the M55 on those same conditions. Including mud, and I don't even consider BFG AT good for mud, but they're a bit better than M55 for mud. For snow and ice the BFG AT is way better.

I personally find the M55 to be a bit less aggressive than a typical AT of any brand.

However, his M55 are great for heavy hauling, which is his main purpose for buying them.

 

[ashooter]

Here's a photo that shows one reason I'm liking these tires, and why I really like the 255/85R16 size for the kind of driving I do. The tire is at 42psi, so it rides firm enough for highway use and yet still has enough flex to wrap around some of the rocks I drive over. I get a much smoother ride and I think/hope I'm a little less prone to getting flats than if I was using 235/85R16 or 265/75R16... and I don't have to mess with airing down/up all the time.

 

[Mike S]

My cousin has Toyo M55. He struggles in even mild mud, and struggles on snow, and has a terrible time on ice.

My BFG AT drive circles around the M55 on those same conditions. Including mud, and I don't even consider BFG AT good for mud, but they're a bit better than M55 for mud. For snow and ice the BFG AT is way better.

I personally find the M55 to be a bit less aggressive than a typical AT of any brand.

However, his M55 are great for heavy hauling, which is his main purpose for buying them.

I think that a lot depends on the vehicle, specific tire size to match the vehicle and inflation. If you run an M55 at the full rated 80 lbs, you will not do well with a light vehicle. Even towing I run them between 45 and 65 PSI, and find them much better than the Revos I ran on my TLC prior to the change.Most AT tires do not have an open enough tread for effective use in sticky mud. A true mud tire is a better choice, but, for me, the M55 is a good compromise.

 

[Alpinus]

Interesting thread! I thought I had made up my mind about the Toyo MT over the BFG KM2's. Still, I don't need mud tires, just strong sidewalls, so these two seemed to be the ones. But now I have discovered the M55's and after reading your reviews I am convinced that they will do the job for me, which is mostly driving on rocky gravel roads during the summer and mostly on paved roads during wintertime(no snow where I live, just icy conditions once in while). I have now the BFG KM's and they are ok exept for the noise and vibration on the tarmac.
I am waiting my tire dealer to give me a price for one set of M55:/
Redline and ashooter, your dedication to this subject is admirable. Thanks! ....and some people up here are calling me a tyre nutt... hah

 

[Erik N]

Bump. Great thread!

I am in the market for this size tire, in this load range (123). As far as I can tell, only the M55, MT, and K2's fit that bill.

Les Schwab wants $327 apiece for M55's, and $310 for MT's. K2's are about $200.

ashooter, you and I are neighbors by West Texas standards... although my V20 fishing rig lives in steelhead country. I was glad to read your account of the changes from the previous MT's to this tire, very informative. Are you still running these M55's?

 

[ashooter]

Yep, I still have the M55's on the Cruiser. Still love these tires, but I really haven't put a lot of miles on them. Without looking at my log book I can't be exact, but I think they have around 5-6,000 miles on them and they still look essentially new. These are going to last me a LOT longer than the MT's did, and are a lot smoother ride.

 

[ersatzknarf]

Glad this thread got bumped. M55 prices are not inexpensive, just about everywhere, especially now. Glad you are still enjoying them compared to the MTs, Ashooter. Thanks for commenting on the smoother ride. How about the "sound" (after a few thousand miles), please ?

 

[Redline]

snip...These are going to last me a LOT longer than the MT's did, and are a lot smoother ride.

Though both the Toyo MT and M55 are supposed to have chip/cut resistant compounds, the M55 is the tire that has been most popular in such conditions (forestry, mining), plus its an older design. I wonder if there are substantial differences in the tread compounds?

 

[ashooter]

The M-55's are quiet to me, but I'm coming from MT's as the previous set. Also, I have Yokohama Y-742s on the Chevy half-ton pickup, and those are the noisiest tires I've ever heard... wear pretty quickly, too.

Anyway, I have NO complaints at all about the M-55. Seems to wear long, rides extremely smooth, quiet, and sticks to everything I've ever pointed them at - very light mud, gravel, rock.

Interesting semi-related note: The MT's I had were sold to a local rancher who always runs used tires on his truck. I have no idea how many more miles he's gotten out of them, but I saw that truck the other day and it had a pair of my old MT's on the rear and a pair of used Michelin XPS Traction on the front. I was surprised that there wasn't a real noticeable difference in the sizes. On paper the 235/85R16 XPS is a good inch and a half smaller diam than the 255/85R16 Toyo MT, but without actually pulling out a tape measure or reading the sidewall, you'd have thought the tires were the same size.

 

[topofpalomar]

Thought I'd bring this subject up and put in my .02. I had a set of 285 75 16 Pro-Comp AT on my '06 2500HD 4X4 with pop-up camper. Burned thru those babies in less than 10k. Gave the M-55 a shot (same size) and love 'em. I've just turned 10k on the M-55 and so far so good. Driving up and down the mountain road tends to wear tires pretty quickly but the Toyo's do very well. Not as good in the sandy washes in Borrego as the Pro-Comp's were; the M-55's tend to hunt in sand. Of course I'm lazy and rarely, if ever, air down. But the sound is more bearable that the Pro-Comp's were, the wear is certainly better, and I don't worry about punctures. I paid around $316.00 each at Barney's in Temecula back in December, 2010. I'd buy Toyo M-55 again.

Cliff

 

[Redline]

Thought I'd bring this subject up and put in my .02. I had a set of 285 75 16 Pro-Comp AT on my '06 2500HD 4X4 with pop-up camper. Burned thru those babies in less than 10k. Gave the M-55 a shot (same size) and love 'em. I've just turned 10k on the M-55 and so far so good. snip...

Cliff

Nice, thanks for sharing that about the M55s.

Only 10k for the Pro-Comp AT.......................................... WOW!

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

That's interesting about the Pro Comp AT's. My father ran them a few times in a 35" on his heavy Cummins and loved them. They were mounted on bead locked Walker Evans. I used to tease him all the time about them until he had to bring me TWO spares to replace my blown BFG AT's.

I was on an antelope hunt north of Summit Lake Indian reservation and flatted out twice in a light weight 1988 Toyota regular cab. In a chain of miraculous events I was able to get the message to him that I needed two new tires. He postponed a business trip to SoCal and delivered the tires mounted on two new cheap wheels. The round trip was probably close to 300 miles for him. Quite the father.

I will say this; He never let me live it down that the Pro Comps delivered the spares, nor did he offer to help change out either flat. :sombrero: he did however watch and provide great conversation and company.

 

[Redline]

That's interesting about the Pro Comp AT's. My father ran them a few times in a 35" on his heavy Cummins and loved them. They were mounted on bead locked Walker Evans. I used to tease him all the time about them until he had to bring me TWO spares to replace my blown BFG AT's.

Can we guess that maybe the Toyo M55 would have been stronger and less likely to fail...I think so

I was on an antelope hunt north of Summit Lake Indian reservation and flatted out twice in a light weight 1988 Toyota regular cab. In a chain of miraculous events I was able to get the message to him that I needed two new tires. He postponed a business trip to SoCal and delivered the tires mounted on two new cheap wheels. The round trip was probably close to 300 miles for him. Quite the father.

And that was in the days long before the SPOT messenger, etc., you had your personal SAR = NICE.

 

[topofpalomar]

Nice, thanks for sharing that about the M55s.

Only 10k for the Pro-Comp AT.......................................... WOW!

Yeah, honestly I wasn't too impressed with the Pro-Comps. But like I mentioned, the road up and down Palomar Mountain (sharp switchbacks all the way to the top) doesn't help with wear on any tire. The wife's commuter (2010 4-Runner Trail) is on 265 70 17 Summit Ht 113s with over 8k on 'em and are showing some wear but we should get over 25k on those if all goes well.

I did notice a difference in the ride quality when I went from the Pro-Comp's to the Toyo's on the Chevy. Much rougher of course without the camper on. But load up the camper, air up the tires and hit the road then it's a really fine ride. And the noise isn't too bad, really. Like was mentioned in this thread, semi-truck high-pitch wine is noticeable but not annoying to us.

I'm taking the truck down this coming Tuesday to get my free rotation then heading out to Picacho State Park along the Colorado River for 4 days of camping, canoeing and photographing at Taylor Lake before the park closes due to budget cuts. (Recessions are such a bummer!)

Cliff

 

[Redline]

snip...

I did notice a difference in the ride quality when I went from the Pro-Comp's to the Toyo's on the Chevy. Much rougher of course without the camper on. But load up the camper, air up the tires and hit the road then it's a really fine ride. And the noise isn't too bad, really. Like was mentioned in this thread, semi-truck high-pitch wine is noticeable but not annoying to us.

snip...

Glad you mentioned the firmer ride with the Toyos, it's a fact. Some will argue they can't feel or don't mind, maybe so. But there can be a very noticeable difference in ride and other performance characteristics depending on the construction and design of a tire, and a person's awareness of such differences.

I wrote a bit about this on my blog: http://roadtraveler.net/wheels-tires-and-sidewalls