Truck and SUV owners, especially ones who like spending time in the dirt, can appreciate the value of a quality all-terrain tire. As opposed to a street truck/SUV tire (offering little traction off pavement) and an aggressive off-road tire (great off-road traction, reduced fuel economy and loud on pavement), an all-terrain tire tries to blend the best of both on- and off-road worlds. So when we heard Toyo Tires was coming out with its new Open Country A/T II, we looked forward to checking out the new tires to see how they stacked up.

Toyo Tire designed its new Open Country A/T II to not only offer a comfortable on-road ride and feature off-road capability, but the company says its A/T II provides over 40 percent more tread life than its competitors. It features a 65,000-mile warranty and also comes with Toyo’s “No Regrets” 45-day, 500-mile trail offer. For those looking for something more aggressive for off-roading, the Xtreme version of the A/T II offers deeper treads and a more aggressive sidewall design. For truck and SUV owners more apt for towing heavy loads and needing a stiffer tire the LT (which offers more sidewall plys) will be a better fit. Both the LT and floatation tires still feature an impressive 50,000-mile warranty.

A new tread-resistant compound is what provides Toyo’s new A/T II with longer tread life, but the A/T II offers a host of other new features designed to tackle the wide variety of terrain truck and SUV owners may encounter. The deep tread grooves are designed for mud and snow traction, and they also feature small stone-ejecting blocks to help remove any rocks that might get stuck in the treads in off-pavement terrain. The new tread design features polygonal block with zig-zag sipes for good traction in the snow. Toyo then included tie-bar sections between the larger blocks to stabilize the tread blocks themselves, improving dry braking and helping reduce wear.

The sizing for the Open Country A/T II runs all the way up to a 35-inch tire in the Xtreme sizes, and there are a number of LT tire sizes available for towing/heavy load applications as well. The new tire comes in options that will fit many stock vehicles as well, including Chevy, Dodge Ram, Ford, GMC, Jeep, Toyota, Nissan, Cadillac, Hyundai and Honda.

We threw a set of 32-inch Open Country A/T IIs on our Tundra test vehicle (size P275/65R18). The sizing is essentially a direct replacement for the OE road tires (P25570R18) on the 4x4 Tundra but are slightly wider (about an inch wider), making it a seamless fit with no rubbing issues.

We also replaced the stock wheels with a set of Black Rhino’s Lucerne off-road wheel. This new six-spoke wheel features a triangle cutout in each spoke. It is designed with a large lip to keep the tire’s bead on the wheel when driven off-road. It comes in offsets ranging from +12mm to -12mm and is available in sizes 17x9, 18x9 and 20x9. We went with the 18x9 setup since it fit our truck with no modification, and our particular wheel has an offset of +12 for the Tundra.

On-Road and Off-Road Impressions
Once we got the Open Country A/T IIs mounted and installed, we were pleased to notice hardly any difference in road noise driving around town compared to the stock road tires. Although the Toyo A/T IIs offer a deeper tread for off-road traction, the tires are not at all loud on the road, whether on city streets or at higher speeds on the highway.

We towed a medium-sized trailer with a few thousand-pound load. Our 32-inch A/T IIs offer a max load of 2601 lbs. per tire, which is roughly 150 lbs. more (per tire) than our previous stock tires. For those looking to do towing of heavier loads, there’s the LT version (there’s even a LT275/65R18 in the same size we have) of the A/T II that provides a max load of 3415 lbs. per tire (this is a much stiffer 10-ply tire).

In wet road conditions, the A/T II performed well. It still wasn’t noticeably loud on the road and provided great traction when pulling up to stop lights or gassing it to merge on the freeway. We noticed no instance of it slipping under load, whether accelerating from a complete stop or when zipping around turns. In both wet and dry conditions, the tire didn’t lose traction once.

When it came to the dirt, the Open Country A/T II performed just as well. We have taken it a few times out to some of our favorite riding spots, serving as our travel vehicle loading with dirt bikes and gear, and also being our trail vehicle to do some exploring. Whether on loose, sandy terrain, hard-packed dirt or rocky trails, in all the A/T II has shown no signs of struggle. We did not take the truck into any giant mud holes, but in the typical off-road terrain we tackled it handled the rocks, sand and mud with no issue.

One of the nice surprises was pulling back onto the highway after getting off of the trail. We’re used to hearing rocks bounce off the wheel wells for a few miles, but that was not the case with the Open Country A/T II. The tires didn’t seem to retain many rocks at all, so it appears the tread grooves and the small stone-ejecting blocks do in fact help remove rocks.

Overall, we were impressed with the new Open Country A/T IIs from Toyo. It’s a good all-around tire for our truck. Although the tread design doesn’t appear as aggressive as some other tires on the market at a glance, there was really no situation where the tires didn’t perform as intended. With the 65,000-mile warranty and the quiet road operation, the A/T IIs are a great option for truck and SUV owners looking for an all-terrain tire for their everyday driver.

Those looking for something even more aggressive will want to look at the Xtreme version of the tire or elsewhere in the line. The next step up in the Toyo line is the Open Country M/T (or Maximum Traction) tire. For more information on this and other Toyo Tire products, check out the company’s website at http://www.toyotires.com/.

Tire Tested – Toyo Open Country A/T II
Tire Size: P275/65R18
Tire Width: 11 in.
Rim Diameter: 18 in.
Overall Diameter: 32.1 in.
Rim Width Range: 7.5-9.5 in.
Sidewall: 2-ply poly
Sidewall Height: 7.03 in.
Max Load: 2601 lbs.
Tire Weight: 50.7 lbs.
Revs Per Mile: 647

Contact
Black Rhino Wheels
http://www.blachrhinowheels.com/
www.facebook.com/BlackRhinoWheel

Toyo Tires
http://www.toyotires.com/