Toyo Open Country MT or AT? How to decide?

[stom_m3]

So I've been racking my brain on which tire to get, an MT or and AT. I'm building my 2010 Toyota Sequoia for light/medium expeditions and day trips. I like the extra insurance of the MT and side tread but don't really know if it would be best in most situations. It seems as though based on the poll further in this forum it's a 50/50 split between MT/AT tires. How have other's made their decision on which tire to get. I've already done countless searches and research on the two but am still confused. I live in California and the majority of trails I'll be doing will be in CA, NV and AZ so I would like to pick a tire that would work best for that terrain. Thanks,

steven

 

[soonenough]

Is the Sequoia your daily driver (i.e. is comfort/noise an issue here)? Or are you trying to decide only based on which type of tire is better suited to the terrain you'll be traveling? I'm sure there are plenty of people with A/Ts that would be running M/Ts if it weren't for noise/drivability concerns on their DDs (myself being one of them).

 

[78Bronco]

When you need the traction you will hate the AT tires. BFG AT's cry when they see wet dirt.

 

[LimaMikeMike]

Look at the Nitto's as well they're made by Toyo and the new trail grappler is supposed to be a good compromise.

I have terra grapplers and like them especially in the winter.

 

[stom_m3]

Is the Sequoia your daily driver (i.e. is comfort/noise an issue here)? Or are you trying to decide only based on which type of tire is better suited to the terrain you'll be traveling? I'm sure there are plenty of people with A/Ts that would be running M/Ts if it weren't for noise/drivability concerns on their DDs (myself being one of them).

The Sequoia is my DD and the reality is that 99% of the time I will be using it on standard roads. For the 1% of the time, I would like to explore trails throughout CA, NV and AZ with my family (wife, 5yr boy and newborn girl). I almost view the MT's as insurance; you're really glad to have it when you need it. Which is why I'm torn between sacrificing ride, mpg's, noise with the assurance that I will be able to get my family safely through trails.

I would have liked to get two sets of rims but Toyota has so wonderfully made it difficult to do that with the TPMS requirements. It seems as though all Toyota had to do was to modify one line of code to accept 8 sensors as opposed to only 4. Frustrating. I know that there are ways to bypass the system but I hate the overhead of having something else to fix/monitor.

 

[mitssan]

I ran the Toyo Open County AT's for two years on my Nissan Frontier. I just took them off.

The Good:
The tires wear amazingly well. I have a friend that has gotten 80,000 km out of a set on his Pajero (Montero). They are great highway tires; they make no noise and I always got great millage with them. I wanted one set of tires to run year around and we have snow and ice to contend with up here, they have great scyping resulting in amazing winter performance for what is essentially an all season tire. Their wet weather performance is also way above par.

The Bad:
As great as they are on road they suck in the mud. If the trails you like include mud then be ready to spin the heck out of these tires, otherwise they will pack up with mud and you'll be asking your friendly neighborhood Jeeper for a tug. I didn't have any traction or flatting issues with them on hard packed trails, but at the same time I was too afraid to air them down below 20psi since they only have a 2 ply side wall. I don't have much experience with them on rock, and didn't have them on the truck for my recent Moab trip, however I'm guessing that they would do well in Moab, their plentiful ridges would grab the slick rock and take you up about anything (assuming the sidewall held up).
Mine were 6 ply tires and I ended up getting a flat by pounding a rock into these tires driving up a fire road. I thought it was dumb luck, but my local shop showed me a 10 ply Toyo AT that still had the rock wedged in it. My guess is that the scyping that makes them such a great winter tire packs up with rocks which work their way through the tread.

The Ugly:
I don't know what kind of trail you explore so it is hard to pick a good tire for other people (let alone myself). I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there isn't allot of mud were you are talking about going, but at the same time I'm guessing there isn't allot of snow or ice.

When you say 99% highway use the Toyo AT makes sense, but it really comes down to the other 1%. Will you be airing down allot? What kind of back roads will it be on? Mud? How cool do you want your truck to look? If I were just using my truck on the highway and on back roads (with some light trail duty mixed in) I would probably have stayed with the AT. My choice to tackle more aggressive trails, mixed in with the amount of mud I have to drive through to get to a decent trail made me switch to a more aggressive tire (Cepek FC-II). The FC gave me the safety of a three ply sidewall while still offering the winter traction characteristics of an AT tire. I know the FC won't be as good as the Toyo on the ice, but that is the sacrifice of a more aggressive tire. As for the millage... I miss my Toyo's

Good luck on your decision.

Maurie

 

[Far far north]

My truck had Toyo AT on it when I got it and LOVED them for anything but deep, sticky mud.
They had about 60.000 km on them when I got the truck and still were very impressive on rocks, wet mud, snow and ice.
Now I got Toyo MT and all I can say so far is that they are almost useless on ice, awesome in deep snow, good and quiet on highway and as good as anything on rocks, still haven't got to try them in any mud.
And also, they are VERY heavy!
They balance easy like all Toyos, didn't need any weight.

Some pics lastly (sorry about the size)

 

[RHINO]

i live and play in the desert. i switched from an MT to a very mild AT tire not too long ago, ive had these tires out several times now in my local and most frequented terrain and i can say that i am done with MT tires.

 

[stom_m3]

I ran the Toyo Open County AT's for two years on my Nissan Frontier. I just took them off.

The Good:
The tires wear amazingly well. I have a friend that has gotten 80,000 km out of a set on his Pajero (Montero). They are great highway tires; they make no noise and I always got great millage with them. I wanted one set of tires to run year around and we have snow and ice to contend with up here, they have great scyping resulting in amazing winter performance for what is essentially an all season tire. Their wet weather performance is also way above par.

The Bad:
As great as they are on road they suck in the mud. If the trails you like include mud then be ready to spin the heck out of these tires, otherwise they will pack up with mud and you'll be asking your friendly neighborhood Jeeper for a tug. I didn't have any traction or flatting issues with them on hard packed trails, but at the same time I was too afraid to air them down below 20psi since they only have a 2 ply side wall. I don't have much experience with them on rock, and didn't have them on the truck for my recent Moab trip, however I'm guessing that they would do well in Moab, their plentiful ridges would grab the slick rock and take you up about anything (assuming the sidewall held up).
Mine were 6 ply tires and I ended up getting a flat by pounding a rock into these tires driving up a fire road. I thought it was dumb luck, but my local shop showed me a 10 ply Toyo AT that still had the rock wedged in it. My guess is that the scyping that makes them such a great winter tire packs up with rocks which work their way through the tread.

The Ugly:
I don't know what kind of trail you explore so it is hard to pick a good tire for other people (let alone myself). I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there isn't allot of mud were you are talking about going, but at the same time I'm guessing there isn't allot of snow or ice.

When you say 99% highway use the Toyo AT makes sense, but it really comes down to the other 1%. Will you be airing down allot? What kind of back roads will it be on? Mud? How cool do you want your truck to look? If I were just using my truck on the highway and on back roads (with some light trail duty mixed in) I would probably have stayed with the AT. My choice to tackle more aggressive trails, mixed in with the amount of mud I have to drive through to get to a decent trail made me switch to a more aggressive tire (Cepek FC-II). The FC gave me the safety of a three ply sidewall while still offering the winter traction characteristics of an AT tire. I know the FC won't be as good as the Toyo on the ice, but that is the sacrifice of a more aggressive tire. As for the millage... I miss my Toyo's

Good luck on your decision.

Maurie

Thanks for the input. Is there a reason you decided to go with the FC as opposed to the Toyo MT? I definitely like the MT look but there's always the practicality of things. The comment about the rock working it's way into the tire and puncturing it is an interesting one. I've always thought of rock punctures happening from impacts as opposed to being lodged.

Based on the Roger Mitchell book, Inyo-Mono SUV Trails, I'll be doing level 1-3 trails on a scale of 1-6 (6 looking absolutely impossible). CA, NV and AZ are very arid and I'm more likely worried about those types of conditions. I probably won't do many expeditions in the winter as getting my family stuck in snow in the middle of no where sounds dangerous. Also, I live in San Diego so 99% of the time I wouldn't have to worry about severe climate conditions. Unless there was a massive earthquake and CA was falling into the ocean :snorkel:

So are there trail situations where an AT tire would work better than the MT tire? Seems like the general comments state the AT would be better on ice and the MT better for mud. What about rocky trails, wet rocky conditions. Both the Toyo AT and MT tires I'm looking at are 10 ply tires. I'm leaning towards the Toyo MT to be trail conservative but I see a lot of people using AT's.

 

[stom_m3]

i live and play in the desert. i switched from an MT to a very mild AT tire not too long ago, ive had these tires out several times now in my local and most frequented terrain and i can say that i am done with MT tires.

Can you expand a little bit on what tires you were using and what characteristics have you not wanting to use MT's anymore. Any input is appreciated. Thanks,

 

[mitssan]

Thanks for the input. Is there a reason you decided to go with the FC as opposed to the Toyo MT? AT's.

$$$$ was the biggest reason. The build quility of any Toyo is almost impossible to beat. It isn't uncommon to hear people talk about them not needing balance weight. Toyo's also wear incredibly well, although it is my understanding that is partly due to harder rubber.

Where I live and play we have to conend with snow and ice for half the year. I'm a big believer in winter and summer tires, but the cost of running two sets of wheels is expensive. Especially when you own a Nissan and have to contend with funky bolt patterns and weird offsets. Oh, and TPMS sensors. If I could have afforded another set of wheels I would have grabbed MTs.

The FC was a compramise. It was a far cheaper tire compared to the Toyo. It gets me fair summer and winter performance so I only need one set of tires. It also gets me the durability of an MT carcus. It took allot of weights to balance the FCs, they are a little noisy on the highway (nothing compared to most MTs), but they aren't a Toyo. The other advantage of the cheaper tire is that I feel allot less guilty abusing them and if I want to try somehting different in a year or two I won't feel like I'm wasting my money.


Maurie

 

[Brian McVickers]

So I've been racking my brain on which tire to get, an MT or and AT. I'm building my 2010 Toyota Sequoia for light/medium expeditions and day trips. I like the extra insurance of the MT and side tread but don't really know if it would be best in most situations. It seems as though based on the poll further in this forum it's a 50/50 split between MT/AT tires. How have other's made their decision on which tire to get. I've already done countless searches and research on the two but am still confused. I live in California and the majority of trails I'll be doing will be in CA, NV and AZ so I would like to pick a tire that would work best for that terrain. Thanks,

steven

Hi Steven,
I have had the Toyo Open Country AT tires on my 2001 DII for almost two years now. An exceptional tire in my regard, They have needed very little balancing, good grip on the trail and long lasting durability.

If you will be doing a majority of street driving and in the dry southwest as you indicated I would stick with the AT design.

Regards,
Brian

 

[soonenough]

The Sequoia is my DD and the reality is that 99% of the time I will be using it on standard roads. For the 1% of the time, I would like to explore trails throughout CA, NV and AZ with my family (wife, 5yr boy and newborn girl). I almost view the MT's as insurance; you're really glad to have it when you need it. Which is why I'm torn between sacrificing ride, mpg's, noise with the assurance that I will be able to get my family safely through trails.

I read through the thread and couldn't find if you were absolutely set on the Toyos or not, but if you're not, there are several 'hybrid' tread patterns out there that might be worth a look. I have the Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs, which are somewhere in-between an A/T and an M/T (some people call them X/Ts). I have an 80-mile mostly-highway commute to work 5 days a week, and after almost 10,000 miles, I find them to be perfectly comfortable. The noise doesn't bother me at all, and they have very little if any vibration or wandering problems if balanced properly. And that's coming from someone who drove a sports coupe before buying my Tacoma, and had sworn off aggressive tires forever after owning a set of the BFG M/Ts (the original KMs, not the KM2s) on an older vehicle.

 

[spressomon]

Been through 2-sets of Toyo AT's. They perform very, very well in all conditions on and off-road except, as you would expect, deeper mud. And they are a tough tire regarding casing, sidewall and overall construction. But the size I need, 285/75R18, is one of the sizes not covered by their tread life warranty. I was only able to get 16,000 miles out of them before they were at 3/32"...too expensive for me regardless of the overall great performance. Both sets wore at the same rate so I know the first set was not an anomaly.

If they would have given me an honest 25,000 miles I'd still be running them.

Just know, also, they are a heavy tire relative to other choices. The Nitto TerraGrappler has performed very, very well for 2 of my 80-Series buddies...I'd go with them in a second if they made my size.

Having said all that I really, really love my Goodyear MT/R Kevlars. Very quiet for an MT, although more so of course than any AT tread, and have provided superior traction on all conditions on and off-road in the past 11-months.

 

[05LR3AZ]

Just know, also, they are a heavy tire relative to other choices. The Nitto TerraGrappler has performed very, very well for 2 of my 80-Series buddies...I'd go with them in a second if they made my size.

Having said all that I really, really love my Goodyear MT/R Kevlars. Very quiet for an MT, although more so of course than any AT tread, and have provided superior traction on all conditions on and off-road in the past 11-months.

Hey, great choice in tires! I run the Nitto's on my LR3 and the MT/R Kevlars on my Discovery. I've driven alot of hwy miles and some rocky AZ trails with the Nitto's and they've been great. I'm always partial to a more aggressive tire though...