Is there a tire that's tougher than a normal all season, but not quite A/T

[cb_13]

Availability kind of depends on the size. For the 17s I’d look into Michelin Defenders, Continental Terrain Contact AT or HT.

For the 16s I’d look at the General HTS60 or Michelin Defenders.

These are all tires I see hold up well full size trucks. They should do very well on gravel and decent for light off road. The General/Conti offerings show 12/32 of tread when new in the sizes you listed.

 

[Trav]

I drive this car in NE winters, now running Toyo Celsius. Michelin are over priced mediocre tires IMO based on experience with them.

All Weather Tire for Variable Conditions – Celsius

The Celsius All Weather Tire for variable conditions provides better snow and ice traction than typical all-season tires. Find your next set of tires here.

www.toyotires.com

 

[UG_Passat]

I drive this car in NE winters, now running Toyo Celsius. Michelin are over priced mediocre tires IMO based on experience with them.

All Weather Tire for Variable Conditions – Celsius

The Celsius All Weather Tire for variable conditions provides better snow and ice traction than typical all-season tires. Find your next set of tires here.

www.toyotires.com

At least I'm not the only one that buys the hype of the already legendary Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires.

 

[Trav]

Between the very short tire life with some models, cracking, the PAX scandal and the companies refusal to address the problem in any meaningful way put them on my do not on my buy list years ago, I don't even look at them.

 

[The Critic]

Between the very short tire life with some models, cracking, the PAX scandal and the companies refusal to address the problem in any meaningful way put them on my do not on my buy list years ago, I don't even look at them.

Michelin is still the brand with the fewest uniformity issues IME.

 

[KoolGrandWizardL]

Michelin LTX Force
Michelin LTX Trail
Michelin Defender LTX

Depends what region you are in.
LTX Force and LTX Trail are both marketed for SUVs and Asian Pick-Up trucks.
Defender LTX is marketed more for USA Pick up trucks and commercial users.

LTX Force would be my pick for more off road.
LTX Trail would be my pick for more on-road.
Defender LTX would be my pick for a work vehicle where tire life is more important than performance or comfort.

 

[irekm]

I’ve got a set going on my Silverado next week. I’ll report back how I like them. Have the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W on there now. Tread wear has been horrible!

That's weird, I have those Falken on F150 that's used for construction, towing trailers occasionally etc. , so far I have 60k miles on them and they are good for probably another 10k.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

140 mile commute? !!!

Sound like she needs a Hotel near work. Has to be cheaper and safer.

30 miles is my commute limit and even that was getting insane.

Good luck on the tires. Hope the outback does OK for her.

 

[Silver]

I second the BFG Trail Terrain. Excellent tire with a very eager grip yet relatively quiet on the road.

The predecessor was actually an OEM offering on Outbacks for a while.

 

[nthach]

When I think A/T tire, the Firestone Destination A/T, Toyo Open Country and General Grabber AT2/ATx come to mind.

The Subaru crowd have been installing Falken Wildpeaks lately. The Falken Wildpeak A/T has earned OEM status for the Subaru Outback Wilderness and RAV4 Adventure “rugged” CUVs. The “A/T” offerings from Conti and Pirelli are just a more agressively lugged H/T tire. Yes, the Michelin Defender LTX/LTX M/S is long in the tooth but it’s a proven tire. Personally, I’d look at those, the General Grabber HTS60 or Firestone Destination LE3.

 

[Andrew1972]

Nokian has some all weather tires and also Michelin CrossClimate2 did well on a mud season road in rural VT on my Honda Pilot where I was leaving 4-6” deep ruts.

CrossClimate2 are great in snow even deep.

 

[UG_Passat]

When I think A/T tire, the Firestone Destination A/T, Toyo Open Country and General Grabber AT2/ATx come to mind.

The Subaru crowd have been installing Falken Wildpeaks lately. The Falken Wildpeak A/T has earned OEM status for the Subaru Outback Wilderness and RAV4 Adventure “rugged” CUVs. The “A/T” offerings from Conti and Pirelli are just a more agressively lugged H/T tire. Yes, the Michelin Defender LTX/LTX M/S is long in the tooth but it’s a proven tire. Personally, I’d look at those, the General Grabber HTS60 or Firestone Destination LE3.

The wild peaks on the RAV4 are not the same as the ones you buy on the aftermarket

 

[dblshock]

consider Toyo Open Country H/T II ...serious winters here going on my 3rd with these, all good.

 

[Thermo1223]

Just got the old lady a 2012 Subaru Outback and I'm having a tough time finding a tire that fits the bill for us. She has a 140 mile commute 4 days a week that's 1/3 interstate and 2/3 hilly and curvy state highways. We have lots of dirt/gravel roads so I'm looking for something that'd have enough beef to it to be able to handle the dirt roads of New Hampshire Mud Season and not get cut apart on dirt/gravel but still have good tread life and cornering/wet road handling. I think an A/T would be a bit too aggressive and wear too quickly for the application but most of the all-seasons I've looked at are a bit lightly built for the mud and ruts we deal with up here. Another important bit is that it has some snow capability, we put our winter tires on the last week of October and they come off in mid march so being able to handle those beginning of/end of winter light snow squalls is certainly an important consideration. We both run studded Nokians for winter so that's a non-issue. Much preference is given to tires made in USA as well, preferably looking for I can't remember for the life of me which size wheel her car has at the moment but the tires would either be 215/70R16 or 225/60R17

I will never not recommend Nokian WR's even though you have winter tires for that time period.

They were a fabulous tire every time I used them, even in mud/gravel.

Nokian Tyres WR G4 SUV - Performance in all weather conditions / Nokian Tires

The versatile Nokian Tyres WR G4 SUV optimally combines high-performance, all-season handling and reliable winter grip to make it a true all-weather tire.

www.nokiantires.com

 

[4WD]

Robot or human?

Cooper SRX

 

[AJW001]

Nokian Outpost APT or Nitto Nomad Grappler in the mild A/T class.

 

[hemitruck]

I know you said no AT tires, but I would give Cooper AT3 4S tires a look. Put them on wife’s Jeep Cherokee and they don’t look bad. They will handle every condition you mentioned. From the drivers seat, your wife won’t even notice they are an AT tire other than the fact they will go through the snow without drama. They were amazing on a trip to rye beach in the middle of a snow snow storm.

 

[JTK]

What ever you decide, keep in mind that if you get one non-repairable flat on that Subaru AWD, you're buying another full set of tires. A tire warranty will cover only the non-repairable one at best.

This scenario just played out on our 2019 Nissan Pathfinder. My wife came back from the gas station saying her tire light just went on. I could hear the hissing to find a little triangular piece of box cutter blade sticking out of the shoulder of the right rear. Ugh.. If fact I'm dropping it off at the tire shop today, rollin' with the donut on. The crosswind HP010's I had on it were just about needing to be replaced anyway w/29K miles on them. Another set of ~$118/ea crosswinds are going on.

 

[AJW001]

I know you said no AT tires, but I would give Cooper AT3 4S tires a look. Put them on wife’s Jeep Cherokee and they don’t look bad. They will handle every condition you mentioned. From the drivers seat, your wife won’t even notice they are an AT tire other than the fact they will go through the snow without drama. They were amazing on a trip to rye beach in the middle of a snow snow storm.

I agree. The Cooper AT3 4S is a fantastic option.

 

[AJW001]

What ever you decide, keep in mind that if you get one non-repairable flat on that Subaru AWD, you're buying another full set of tires. A tire warranty will cover only the non-repairable one at best.

This scenario just played out on our 2019 Nissan Pathfinder. My wife came back from the gas station saying her tire light just went on. I could hear the hissing to find a little triangular piece of box cutter blade sticking out of the shoulder of the right rear. Ugh.. If fact I'm dropping it off at the tire shop today, rollin' with the donut on. The crosswind HP010's I had on it were just about needing to be replaced anyway w/29K miles on them. Another set of ~$118/ea crosswinds are going on.

This is a really good point. For this reason, I opted for the Nokian Outpost APT as the tread and sidewalls are lined with kevlar/aramide and have them in order. They are mild enough to be used on the street and have enough AT characteristics (without going AT) to be used in well/moderate maintained forest service roads.

Of course, box cutter blades would get the best of almost any tire.