Gladiator got new shoes, 34” Falken Wikdpeak A/T4W

[Wambli Ska]

Finally just about destroyed the factory LT tires so now I can get suitable threads for my off-road adventures. The abundance of sharp lava rock all over the place around here is hell on highway tires. Actually they held up pretty well for about 24,000 miles.

Like ammo, tire technology is much more advanced than it used to be and the choices for AT tires is basically overwhelming so I spent a couple of months researching my not-insignificant investment.

Just put on 34” 285/70-18s brand new designed Falken Wikdpeak A/T4W. This is as big as I can go without a lift but I MIGHT put a leveling kit in the front to get rid of the factory “rake”. The new Jeeps are really well designed for bigger rubber.

I’ve been a BFG T/A KO fan my whole life but the reviews on these new Falken tires are really good and the price point was $40 per tire lower that the new T/A KO3 so why not. Still not cheap but $160 savings for the four tires is nothing to dismiss. They are 3 peaks rating (3PMSF) and snow performance is big for me so that sealed the deal.

Well I’m IMPRESSED!!!!! It’s the quietest, smoothest rolling AT tire I’ve ever run. So far the gas mileage is the same as my old LT factory tires and while the Jeep rides higher now I have felt zero change in the factory handling which was really good to begin with. Solid tracking and cornering and actually a little smoother ride over bumps and crappy pavement. A great improvement over what I had before for off-road for sure. Some trails that i couldn’t tackle before will now be easily handled.

If you are looking for new tires for your rig, these are REALLY worth a long hard look!

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My old tires by the time they got taken off…
Some of the cuts went all the way into the belts.

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[sakodude]

That country seems rough on tires! Arizona is not much better, wore a set out in the 2 years I was down there on my Wrangler at the time. Those Falkens look like they ought to carry you to Colorado just fine

[Bigslug]

Interested in knowing how they work for you going forward.

I'm still shy of 20,000 miles on my 2 Y.O. Tacoma TRD Off Road. I've been casually contemplating what the stock Goodyear Wrangler AT's will get replaced with when the time comes. The decision making process of selecting a good daily pavement driver that you REALLY don't want going flat or getting stuck when in the boonies ain't an easy one. Objectivity is hard to find in a world of infrequent, high-dollar purchases driven heavily by brand loyalty.

The stock Goodyear's don't suck. Seems like Toyota picked a decent one, though one has to wonder what kind of cost/performance matrix they use to pick issue tires when setting their vehicle sticker price. Had to patch one, but a roofing nail puncture is a roofing nail puncture no matter the brand. Deer Season 2024 didn't happen due to wild fire land closures, so they haven't had as much dirt time to date as I would have liked.

Got one co-worker who's a Falken fan.

Had no complaints with Bridgestone Dueler AT's in the past on the FJ-40. Pop is still running Firestones on his Tundra on the recommendations of his long term mechanic/tire guy.

The BFG KO2 is ubiquitous for a reason, I suppose. The new KO3 is still in the early "not a lot of sizes available yet" phase, but the vibe I'm getting is they are looking to improve on-pavement behavior. Leaning that way, but TBD.

[CPJ 2.0]

Nice Falken Tires.

[Wambli Ska]

Nice Falken Tires.

You never disappoint

[Wambli Ska]

That country seems rough on tires! Arizona is not much better, wore a set out in the 2 years I was down there on my Wrangler at the time. Those Falkens look like they ought to carry you to Colorado just fine

Half of the damage was done in AZ. Similar terrain and overall conditions. I’m hoping they WILL carry me to CO soon. You guys are killing me with your fun outings

[Wambli Ska]

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Took a run today to one of the coves on Lake Mead with wife and granddaughter. The girls approve! Not exactly challenging trails but the hard packed sand had a washboard pattern probably courtesy of a recent grading and the tires handled it well mitigating the rattle at a reasonable speed. I know that if I had aired down it would have been even better. They ate up the soft sand areas like they weren’t even there and took us all the way to the shore. Not a real test of capabilities but what we hit they handled well though I don’t think any other quality AT wouldn’t have done as well.

Just a fun day breaking them in a little and nice k owing we were safe from tire failure. We’ll do more challenging runs soon.

[Wambli Ska]

Interested in knowing how they work for you going forward.

I'm still shy of 20,000 miles on my 2 Y.O. Tacoma TRD Off Road. I've been casually contemplating what the stock Goodyear Wrangler AT's will get replaced with when the time comes. The decision making process of selecting a good daily pavement driver that you REALLY don't want going flat or getting stuck when in the boonies ain't an easy one. Objectivity is hard to find in a world of infrequent, high-dollar purchases driven heavily by brand loyalty.

The stock Goodyear's don't suck. Seems like Toyota picked a decent one, though one has to wonder what kind of cost/performance matrix they use to pick issue tires when setting their vehicle sticker price. Had to patch one, but a roofing nail puncture is a roofing nail puncture no matter the brand. Deer Season 2024 didn't happen due to wild fire land closures, so they haven't had as much dirt time to date as I would have liked.

Got one co-worker who's a Falken fan.

Had no complaints with Bridgestone Dueler AT's in the past on the FJ-40. Pop is still running Firestones on his Tundra on the recommendations of his long term mechanic/tire guy.

The BFG KO2 is ubiquitous for a reason, I suppose. The new KO3 is still in the early "not a lot of sizes available yet" phase, but the vibe I'm getting is they are looking to improve on-pavement behavior. Leaning that way, but TBD.

When you stick to the “good” brands I don’t know that there are any really “bad tires”. The original KO2, I’ve been told by tire folks, had an issue with sidewalk deformation when you went oversize on light vehicles and they would go out of round on light vehicles like my old TJ if consistently run at highway speeds because they were designed for heavier trucks. I had to deal with that issues 2-3 times over the 50k miles I put on mine. Durability was great of off-road performance was excellent so basically remounting and re balancing a couple of times was a small price to pay as far as I was concerned.

The new KO 3 have that beat cording to the same guys and they do have better on road performance and much better water displacement. My old ones would turn my jeep into a hydroplane whenever I hit a few inches of water at highway speeds which was a bit high on the pucker factor. Again the tires were designed for a heavier vehicles and the little TJ just didn’t have enough weight to push them down to the pavement. The new Jeeps don’t seem to have that problem.

Some of the new tire models come with cool things like Kevlar sidewalls so they are cut resistant and some interesting thread patterns. I basically tried to find a sweet spot knowing that the harshest trails of boulders in Moab are not in my future but like you said I don’t feel like getting stranded 15-20 miles off-road, especially in the summer here. And realistically about 75% of my driving is roads and highway. These seem to hit all the good points with no negatives at the right price point.

[Gila]

That country seems rough on tires! Arizona is not much better, wore a set out in the 2 years I was down there on my Wrangler at the time. Those Falkens look like they ought to carry you to Colorado just fine

Half of the damage was done in AZ. Similar terrain and overall conditions. I’m hoping they WILL carry me to CO soon. You guys are killing me with your fun outings

That's why I run BF Goodrich 10 ply tires on my 2500 Dodge Ram.

[Wambli Ska]

That country seems rough on tires! Arizona is not much better, wore a set out in the 2 years I was down there on my Wrangler at the time. Those Falkens look like they ought to carry you to Colorado just fine

Half of the damage was done in AZ. Similar terrain and overall conditions. I’m hoping they WILL carry me to CO soon. You guys are killing me with your fun outings

That's why I run BF Goodrich 10 ply tires on my 2500 Dodge Ram.

Do they still do 10 plies? I did some research on this and read that most manufacturers are going away from rating tires in "plies" because of the newer materials they use on the belts and sidewalls are much stronger than the older stuff. I was actually looking for 10 ply tires when I started but there are very few of them left out there that advertise as such.

In any case, YES, the Southwestern desert needs TOUGH tires!! Even the most seemingly civilized dirt road will abrade the crap out of tires around here and those sharp rocks are just brutal. Some of cuts on my old tires looked like they were done with a razor and they were DEEP!!!!

[shotgunshooter3]

Given that you made it to a second set of tires on a vehicle, I personally am awaiting the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

[Gila]

Half of the damage was done in AZ. Similar terrain and overall conditions. I’m hoping they WILL carry me to CO soon. You guys are killing me with your fun outings

That's why I run BF Goodrich 10 ply tires on my 2500 Dodge Ram.

Do they still do 10 plies? I did some research on this and read that most manufacturers are going away from rating tires in "plies" because of the newer materials they use on the belts and sidewalls are much stronger than the older stuff. I was actually looking for 10 ply tires when I started but there are very few of them left out there that advertise as such.

In any case, YES, the Southwestern desert needs TOUGH tires!! Even the most seemingly civilized dirt road will abrade the crap out of tires around here and those sharp rocks are just brutal. Some of cuts on my old tires looked like they were done with a razor and they were DEEP!!!!

I don't know if they still make them. They did the last time I purchased them. I'm getting close to needing a new set, so I guess I'll find out.

[jbp-ohio]

Falken has gone the way of most tire brands. Made in Japan, get good reviews, build up a loyal customer base..... and now make them (not all) in Indonesia.

I always liked Cooper tires. Made in the USA (some in Ohio). Since Goodyear bought them I'm sure they'll be moving more to.......

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[Wambli Ska]

Given that you made it to a second set of tires on a vehicle, I personally am awaiting the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

That's what my wife said!!!!!

[Wambli Ska]

I don't know if they still make them. They did the last time I purchased them. I'm getting close to needing a new set, so I guess I'll find out.

Prepare to be overwhelmed with choices

[Wambli Ska]

Falken has gone the way of most tire brands. Made in Japan, get good reviews, build up a loyal customer base..... and now make them (not all) in Indonesia.

I always liked Cooper tires. Made in the USA (some in Ohio). Since Goodyear bought them I'm sure they'll be moving more to.......

trump-china-chynah-gif.gif

Well hopefully some of those manufacturers will come back if the right tax laws and tariffs are enacted. I tried to stay away from the no name Chinese made tires, which have just about flooded the market nowadays but it's getting difficult to figure out what comes from where.

[PFD45]

Don't wait for Dunlap. Another sad story.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/20/business/ ... ese-owner/

[Wambli Ska]

Don't wait for Dunlap. Another sad story.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/20/business/ ... ese-owner/

Absolutely tragic, but not sure why Schumer and Hochul called that one a "surprise". It IS a Japanese owned company and they got TAXED right out of the state.

[CPJ 2.0]

Don't wait for Dunlap. Another sad story.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/20/business/ ... ese-owner/

Absolutely tragic, but not sure why Schumer and Hochul called that one a "surprise". It IS a Japanese owned company and they got TAXED right out of the state.

Because it’s never their fault. Duh.

[Gila]

I don't know if they still make them. They did the last time I purchased them. I'm getting close to needing a new set, so I guess I'll find out.

Prepare to be overwhelmed with choices

[Wambli Ska]

Don't wait for Dunlap. Another sad story.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/20/business/ ... ese-owner/

Absolutely tragic, but not sure why Schumer and Hochul called that one a "surprise". It IS a Japanese owned company and they got TAXED right out of the state.

Because it’s never their fault. Duh.

Yep, that

[CPJ 2.0]

Absolutely tragic, but not sure why Schumer and Hochul called that one a "surprise". It IS a Japanese owned company and they got TAXED right out of the state.

Because it’s never their fault. Duh.

Yep, that

I liked how they mentioned the politicians were mad at the company.
Ohhhhhh, I bet that’ll make them stay.

[jkp]

Given that you made it to a second set of tires on a vehicle, I personally am awaiting the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

Well it's only 24k miles. If he makes it to 10 oil changes I'll be impressed.

[Wambli Ska]

Because it’s never their fault. Duh.

Yep, that

I liked how they mentioned the politicians were mad at the company.
Ohhhhhh, I bet that’ll make them stay.

I know! Their impression on how much their feelings matter to anyone is astonishing!!!

[Wambli Ska]

Given that you made it to a second set of tires on a vehicle, I personally am awaiting the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

Well it's only 24k miles. If he makes it to 10 oil changes I'll be impressed.

HA!!!! That’s never going to happen…. I don’t think I’ve ever made it past a second set of tires. But who knows. I AM getting older which means wiser too no?