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Need tires, decision paralysis.

abram

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I have to buy tires in the very near future and I'm stuck trying to decide after seemingly endless research. I have the 20" ATs, and my Pirellis just didn't last long enough for me (though I had no complaints on their performance or comfort). I know I'm going to have to make some compromises with range, but I have a couple hard requirements. I want to be able to buy them through America's Tire (it's just my preferred shop and I want to continue going there) and they need to be All-Terrains. Since America's Tire does not yet have the Toyo Open Country ATIII EV, I can't keep waiting unfortunately. I know I can order through SimpleTire.com but I am not familiar enough with them to be comfortable.

Important features to me are dry/wet handling (I'll seldom see snow) and a good balance of on and off road performance. Ideally not too loud or uncomfortable either. I know each of these choices are going to negatively impact my range.

So in my research I've decided my top three choices are the BFG KO3, the Falken Wildpeak AT4W and the Toyo Open Country ATIII (I'd have to "settle" for the non-EV variant here). I'll be sticking to the stock 275/65R20 size and I'm seemingly locked to getting LT tires which obviously ups the weight class. I'm honestly just torn on which to choose. I understand the perks and drawbacks of each, and at least on paper it feels like the Wildpeaks are my best choice, but their considerable weight has me hesitating.

Given my requirements, can anyone help me decide?
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ndmiller

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They are all much heavier than stock as you mentioned and will affect range, ride, handling somewhat....A trade-off. In your list K02, but off list is the Michelin Defender my top choice for dry/wet, including light off road.
 

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I’ll be replacing my original Pirelli AT tires this Fall, and those three are my leading contenders. I’m strongly leaning toward the KO3s because 1) they feature enhanced siping vs. Goodrich’s already excellent KO2s, and 2) the local family-owned tire shop that regularly rotated my Rivian’s tires sells BF Goodrich but not Falken or Toyo.

The big tire retailer in this region (Town Fair Tire) sells all three brands but wouldn’t rotate my Pirelli tires on a Rivian and told me they would install new tires on the Rivian if I bought tires from them —- but wouldn’t rotate those tires either. I’m done with Town Fair.
 
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abram

abram

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They are all much heavier than stock as you mentioned and will affect range, ride, handling somewhat....A trade-off. In your list K02, but off list is the Michelin Defender my top choice for dry/wet, including light off road.
I had looked at the Defender (I’m generally a big fan of Michelin!) but it seemed on paper to be more of a highway tire and not really what I was looking for. I’m far from an expert here though so I would happily be proven wrong.
 

Electrified Outdoors

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If your looking for ATs there are quite a few folks on here who have switched to other options. I will let them chime in with their recommendations. That's the great thing about the 20s is there are options.
 

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abram

abram

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If your looking for ATs there are quite a few folks on here who have switched to other options. I will let them chime in with their recommendations. That's the great thing about the 20s is there are options.
Indeed! I’ve followed all the threads which has really helped my research, but I’m prone to analysis paralysis. It’s a flaw.

FWIW, I think I bought the Heaviest LT’s possible in that size at 67lbs, and I lost 11% range—-worth every 11. Could care less after off roading for 6 hours and only using 30% of battery. Balls to the wall.
The Falkens? Or which option did you go with? But I appreciate this feedback, that’s honestly where I’m at, my commute has been “deleted” now that I work from home, so the bulk of my driving is short trips and around town stuff. So overall I don’t “need” range, but we do use the trucks for road trips and that’s where I feel mild hesitation.

I have the 275/65 Toyo EVs and I like them
I’d like the Toyos but they’re not available yet via America’s Tire unfortunately!
 

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opnwide

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The Falkens? Or which option did you go with? But I appreciate this feedback, that’s honestly where I’m at, my commute has been “deleted” now that I work from home, so the bulk of my driving is short trips and around town stuff. So overall I don’t “need” range, but we do use the trucks for road trips and that’s where I feel mild hesitation.
And a bonus off road for ya…
 

onesoil

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Have you looked into the Nokian Outpost nAT 275/65? I found out about this tire 6+ months ago while I was trying to help my father select a tire to replace his obnoxiously loud (and surprisingly poor performing, at least in anything slimy) pirelli 20” ATs. I was surprised how little information or anecdote there was about these tires when I first read about them. Perhaps it is because Nokian is relatively new to the AT market? Our heavy equipment tire supplier did say his whole crew ran them for the last year (through last winter) and had nothing but great things to say about them (just another anecdote, but one that got me closer to convinced that they would be suited to our environment—VT throws a lot of mud, mixed precip, and generally low traction surfaces at us throughout any given year).

My father finally took the plunge on these Nokians at 21k miles on his 20” pirelli ATs and described them as “completely changing the vehicle for the better in every conceivable way—silence, at long last, better road feel while being more compliant and absorbing of road imperfections, better traction in the wet and slimy, better tracking, better everything!” I haven’t had a chance to take his R1T out yet, but I did see them in person and they look great. He is generally curmudgeonly about things such as this (Rivian choosing a crappy tire on his fancy new truck), and ran his tires down to not legal—his extremely positive experience so far at least to me indicates they are really vastly better.

I’m now even more excited to burn my pirellis down and move on from them.
I just can’t decide whether to run Hakkas in the winter or try running the outpost nAT year round, since it sounds like they may be one of the few 3 peak snow rated ATs that’s a decently capable tire in the cold months. It seems that this tire is finally getting some traction on this forum too (oof, I know ??‍♂).

José from Rivian tracker seems to be getting same or better range to the factory 20” AT, which is impressive given the Outpost’s added weight (58lbs.)
 

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I have to buy tires in the very near future and I'm stuck trying to decide after seemingly endless research. I have the 20" ATs, and my Pirellis just didn't last long enough for me (though I had no complaints on their performance or comfort). I know I'm going to have to make some compromises with range, but I have a couple hard requirements. I want to be able to buy them through America's Tire (it's just my preferred shop and I want to continue going there) and they need to be All-Terrains. Since America's Tire does not yet have the Toyo Open Country ATIII EV, I can't keep waiting unfortunately. I know I can order through SimpleTire.com but I am not familiar enough with them to be comfortable.

Important features to me are dry/wet handling (I'll seldom see snow) and a good balance of on and off road performance. Ideally not too loud or uncomfortable either. I know each of these choices are going to negatively impact my range.

So in my research I've decided my top three choices are the BFG KO3, the Falken Wildpeak AT4W and the Toyo Open Country ATIII (I'd have to "settle" for the non-EV variant here). I'll be sticking to the stock 275/65R20 size and I'm seemingly locked to getting LT tires which obviously ups the weight class. I'm honestly just torn on which to choose. I understand the perks and drawbacks of each, and at least on paper it feels like the Wildpeaks are my best choice, but their considerable weight has me hesitating.

Given my requirements, can anyone help me decide?
How much time do you realistically have left to wait? Given everything you’re saying, I would recommend the KO3s (I myself have the AT4Ws). I’m giving you this recommendation independent of range impact - but with the KO3s in the 50lbs range you’ll be better off than my AT4Ws in the 60ls range. The reason I’m recommending them is because of your distinction “I barely see snow”.

The AT4Ws are the best hybrid AT for folks who see snow somewhat commonly. The KO3s are the best hybrid AT for folks who are more dry/wet conditions rather than cold climate.

the crux here is you say you can’t wait any longer because there is a high chance BFG will release a C or D load KO3 in stock 275/65/20 size, which will help a lot with range impact over your E-Load tires.

lastly, I really don’t think you need to be so worried about simpletire, tirerack etc. I’ve used both several times and there is no issue having the tires shipped to your preferred store. IF you are truly out of time on the pirellis AND you can get over your online shop anxiety, then I’d order the Toyo AT3 EVs today.
 

R1Tom

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I went with the OEM Pirelli becuase I want the Cell Shaded representation on the app to match my actual truck....

But really I did go with the Pirelli becuase I like the all around performance of them. Just going to rotate them every 5k this time to see if it helps with noise at all.
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