Best tire for 4runner

I have much experience with Toyo, Nitto, BFG and Falken. For very good all around all terrain tires each of those manufacturers is well regarded. However, this is a very subjective thing.

For me, I didn't care for the Nitto offerings nearly as much as the other three. IMO, they were sub-par compared to the others for snow/ice. The Toyo AT3 seems very competent but I felt it came in just below the two remaining options. I used BFG KO2 and KO3 for quite some time, but as soon as I tried the Falken AT3W, I quickly began to like how they performed both on road and off. Then once winter came to Northern Mi. I really appreciated their capabilities which IMO, surpassed all of the others. They wear very well and all sets I've had all balanced well. It's now the Falken AT4 and I'm hoping all the best qualities of the AT3W carry over.

I haven't bought dedicated winter tires in years. Even in my 45 years of driving in Northern Mi, I've had no accidents nor have I slid off the road. YMMV, if you feel you want/need a second set of tires for the winter there are great offerings.

 

Okay, now I'm looking at these, LOL. Great looking tread. A bit pricier than some of the others, but I'm willing to pay more for good tires.

 

Those new AT4W's look great!

I was looking the the sidewalls in a local shop a couple days ago. Super beefy. Seems like a very strong tire. A bit heavy though

Edit: AT4W will likely be my next tire choice. I have 20k miles or so to decide if I want to regear for their 285/75/17 or just stick with 285/70/17 and stock gears...

They don't make a 295/70/17 otherwise I'd step up to that and stay with stock gears for now...

 

I'm between the AT4 and the Mickey Baja Boss AT - leaning Baja Boss because of the amount of snow traveling in remote areas of Maine that I do. I am a Duratrac fanboy, but I'm willing to go with something else and those two are the current pack leaders. I hated the K02s I've had.

 

I wonder how old your Michelins were. I had some on my Tacoma that were great, until they were about 5 years old. They still had tread, but I think the compound had hardened and I suddenly had little grip in the rain.

I don't drive enough to buy them now, if I'm not going to come close to the mileage warranty on tires in 5 years, I don't buy them.

I think you should take your top 3 or 4 picks from here, then compare them on tire rack's website. You can look at mileage warranty, customer ratings, weight, treadwear, traction, and temperature ratings. These should all help you make a decision.

For your use case (mainly on road), P/SL/XL rating would be fine. LT tires would be overkill, adding weight and cost.

I'm also in North Carolina, and I think rain is our biggest issue here, so I put a lot of weight in wet road traction. The Wildpeaks are great here, but I've never tried any of the other AT suggestions.

 

I was going to say Duratracs for Maine, but you knew that. lol

I like the Baja Boss as an alternative, but i am hesitant for snow and my off roading. Curious how the do if you go that way.

 

I'll keep you posted. Going to run the Stock Nittos through the summer and then switch. I've had 33", 35", and 37" Duratracs on a truck and two jeeps, and I really love them, but I'm trying to get a bit more mileage out of the next set, and if I can cut down on noise without losing winter capabilities, I'll be very happy.

 

Good to hear how you love them. As do I.

There is a new Duratrac that may solve the sound issue, the new Duratrac RT. https://www.4runners.com/threads/new-wrangler-duratrac-rt.34223/

It may be the New answer for us Duratrac fans.

 

I looked into these. I don't want an E rated Duratrac, and it seems like that's the only option in 285/70/17. I've had them in C, D, and E, and I wouldn't want them in E again.

 

100%, no E load for me ether. Didn't relies they didn't have C load, or not yet. Maybe it was not listed? My Duratracs were not listed.