Tire Replacement Info

[Aardvark]

[Edit 9/11/25: Added 275/60R20 tires to the chart]
Just in case anyone else would find this useful...

My vehicle: Gen 1 quad R1S, large battery
I'm at 34,500 miles on my OEM 20" Pirelli Scorpions. When my snow tires go on this winter (Nokian Hakkapeliittas), I'll be replacing my non-winter tires. I had no less than five tire threads bookmarked on this forum and have read over 300 posts about replacements. With information overload, I decided to summarize the parameters that are important to me (of course, there will be other opinions and priorities in the forum). We do mostly highway travel and trips to national and state parks that require light or zero off-roading, and trips to Colorado ski areas. I want low noise, good efficiency, good wear, and good to excellent rain/snow performance. Even though I have dedicated snow tires, I have been surprised more than once by a late-May heavy Colorado snow after removing snow tires. I don't care at all about the looks of the tire. Two winters ago, as I was sliding sideways in 23 inches of snow toward a ditch, I never once thought, "well at least my Pirellis look awesome." (epilogue: my brand new traction boards at the time worked great!). I also don't care about price. With 7500 lbs of car under me driving through the Colorado mountains in all weather, and after a couple white knuckle moments, I want the tires that are going to keep my family safe.

The tires below have all been discussed in forum threads. What struck me was that for every one of these, for every person that said "I love these: improved efficiency and greatly reduced noise," another person would claim "I'll never buy these again: reduced efficiency, and louder than my Pirellis." So that is why you don't see a column on "Forum Reviews." But I did get some good info from the personal experiences of others and greatly appreciate all those that provided comments.

The prices all come from TireRack.com. All the tires are 275/65R20 except the Goodyear Wrangler ATs that are 275/60R20 (and not available in the 65s). The reviews come from TireRack, but some of these tires are too new to have published reviews.
For me, and for what it's worth, I am leaning toward the Toyo Open Country- SL. I like that it is designed for EVs, has low rolling resistance and a 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake rating, and still provides an off-road capability. It's still a close decision between the Toyos and the Michelin LTX M/S2s. Over many years of driving, I've had great luck with Michelins, but I'm leaning toward the Toyos.

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[PaythePiper]

I just replaced those atrocious perellis last week to the Defenders. And I’ll say this…. The car is a completely better driving experience. I’m blown away at how bad those pirellis made the car drive and feel. I too looked at the Toyo’s, but I just don’t take it off-road enough to warrant the range loss.

 

[Aardvark]

I just replaced those atrocious perellis last week to the Defenders. And I’ll say this…. The car is a completely better driving experience. I’m blown away at how bad those pirellis made the car drive and feel. I too looked at the Toyo’s, but I just don’t take it off-road enough to warrant the range loss.

I'm with you on this. This is why I'm still on the fence between the Toyos and Michelins. I do very little true off-roading, but I like the idea of being ready to go off-road if a good opportunity comes up.
I probably won't finalize my decision until the day I order.

 

[Aardvark]

One buying tip for those eligible for the military discount at Discount Tire: even though Discount Tire acquired Tire Rack, if you order online from Tire Rack and have DT mount the tires, you will not find the military discount online. You can if you order through the Discount Tire website but they don't always have the same selections.
The answer is to visit DT and, in person, show them the tires you want from TR. They will apply the military discount on the spot.
I learned this the hard way when I bought my snow tires from DT and the rims from TR.

 

[Singletracker]

I suspect my Pirellis will see their last drive when the snow flys. I have a separate set of winter wheels and tires that will go on then. Come spring, I’ll be looking for some new summer shoes. After having had a great experience with the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W’s on my FJ, I think I will be looking long and hard at the A/T4W. The only potential drawback may be the weight and I’m not sure how significant that may really be. If they didn’t weigh 66 lbs. they would be the run away winner on this chart. They will certainly be much tougher off road. Hopefully, by next spring, there will be some reports sifting in on this forum. I had the SL version of the A/T3W on my FJ. They wore great, were very quiet (even after almost 30K miles), and performed great in all conditions, even in the snow.

 

[Aardvark]

I suspect my Pirellis will see their last drive when the snow flys. I have a separate set of winter wheels and tires that will go on then. Come spring, I’ll be looking for some new summer shoes. After having had a great experience with the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W’s on my FJ, I think I will be looking long and hard at the A/T4W. The only potential drawback may be the weight and I’m not sure how significant that may really be. If they didn’t weigh 66 lbs. they would be the run away winner on this chart. They will certainly be much tougher off road. Hopefully, by next spring, there will be some reports sifting in on this forum. I had the SL version of the A/T3W on my FJ. They wore great, were very quiet (even after almost 30K miles), and performed great in all conditions, even in the snow.

Those are an LT class of AT tire and, from what I read, an outstanding choice for folks that do serious off-roading. That 66 lbs, needed to provide the durability, is a non-starter for me. I saw a couple of comments in another thread that the extra 20 lbs of weight per tire reduces efficiency by 20%. I haven't read any technical data to support or refute that claim, but there has to be a significant hit on efficiency.

 

[Time2Roll]

Is anyone concerned about speed rating?
The Scorpion looks to be rated H for 130 mph at about the top speed of the vehicle.

 

[Aardvark]

Is anyone concerned about speed rating?
The Scorpion looks to be rated H for 130 mph at about the top speed of the vehicle.

That's the same speed index as the OEM tires.

 

[Time2Roll]

That's the same speed index as the OEM tires.

Yes and the charts have some S & T

 

[Singletracker]

Those are an LT class of AT tire and, from what I read, an outstanding choice for folks that do serious off-roading. That 66 lbs, needed to provide the durability, is a non-starter for me. I saw a couple of comments in another thread that the extra 20 lbs of weight per tire reduces efficiency by 20%. I haven't read any technical data to support or refute that claim, but there has to be a significant hit on efficiency.

Yes, they are an LT tire and provide that extra toughness for off-roading. The potential efficiency hit is certainly a concern, but may, for some, be worth the trade off for the extra durability. Driving rocky, off road trails in a 7000+lbs. vehicle, with tires that weigh barely over 40 Lbs. is a recipe for disaster. There have been many reports of cut sidewalls on the OEM, light weight Pirellis. Like I said, I am looking forward to some more reports on the real world efficiency effects of the extra weight. I’m not an expert, but a 20% hit seems a little extreme. Bottom line - everybody has their own priorities

 

[PaythePiper]

I'm with you on this. This is why I'm still on the fence between the Toyos and Michelins. I do very little true off-roading, but I like the idea of being ready to go off-road if a good opportunity comes up.
I probably won't finalize my decision until the day I order.

Both are really great tires. I didn’t realize how poor the pirellis were. These defenders are so quiet. It’s phenomenal

 

[Singletracker]

I take with a grain of salt reports of how quiet tires are, based on new tires. It has been my experience, especially with A/T type tires, that just because a tire is quiet when it is new, and most are, doesn’t mean it is going to be that way after 15K, 20K or more miles. Unfortunately, most tire reviews are for relatively new tires. Ya know, just got a set of XYZ tires and, man, they ride nice, handle great, and are super quiet. Okay, well talk to me about them in two years. I would like to hear from more drivers that are passing the 20K-25K+ miles mark on their tires. Now, that would be meaningful.

 

[Zorg]

Got the Toyo tires in LT version (Pirelli shredded on highway and SL wasn't available). After 12k miles, they're getting noisy but not as bad as the Pirelli. They handled the snow just fine (live at 6000'). I am getting the Goodyear on the R1S so will find out soon enough how they perform when it's white outside.

 

[PaythePiper]

Got the Toyo tires in LT version (Pirelli shredded on highway and SL wasn't available). After 12k miles, they're getting noisy but not as bad as the Pirelli. They handled the snow just fine (live at 6000'). I am getting the Goodyear on the R1S so will find out soon enough how they perform when it's white outside.

Rotating religiously? Having my Raptor, I learned rotation is VERY important with ATs. 5000 miles or suffer the consequences lol

 

[PaythePiper]

I take with a grain of salt reports of how quiet tires are, based on new tires. It has been my experience, especially with A/T type tires, that just because a tire is quiet when it is new, and most are, doesn’t mean it is going to be that way after 15K, 20K or more miles. Unfortunately, most tire reviews are for relatively new tires. Ya know, just got a set of XYZ tires and, man, they ride nice, handle great, and are super quiet. Okay, well talk to me about them in two years. I would like to hear from more drivers that are passing the 20K-25K+ miles mark on their tires. Now, that would be meaningful.

Fair point indeed. But the change was so drastic, I’m optimistic it won’t taper off

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