WILDPEAK A/T4W? LT or Standard?

[Ranger Sam]

I'm nearing 60,000 miles on my 2021 XLT Tremor. The stock General Grabber A/Tx tires that came from factory are ready to be replaced.

After hours and hours of research I am suffering from analysis paralysis. $1,200-$1,500 is a lot of money to spend and I want to make the best decision I can.

I drive 12,000 - 15,000 miles a year. Lots of 80+mph interstate driving. In the summer I am off road on the weekends, mainly on fire roads, nothing super crazy, but I sometimes find myself on a more technical trail getting to a campsite. In the summer I also tow a 4 seat rzr frequently. With the aluminum trailer, that comes to about 3500lbs plus all the camping gear and 2 to 4 adults in the cab. In the winter I deal with icy roads and I often beat the plows out in the morning. The small Idaho town I live in doesn't plow all of the city streets so I find myself either blazing a path in fresh snow, of driving on compacted and icy snow a few days after a storm.

All that being said, in your experience is the Falken Wildpeak A/T4W a good fit, anyone have lots of miles on those? I also noticed that they offer an LT version of that tire. Is that something I need, or should I stick the standard rating?

I appreciate any insight that can be given.

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[JohnnyO]

I would just get the standard load range. It will work better in the winter because it's not as stiff.

 

[Dahveed]

I have Wildpeak AT4Ws on my truck for the last 5,000 miles and really like them. They’re quiet and are wearing well. Standard load. No need for LT tires unless you really need the weight handling. LT tires will just add extra unsprung weight and hurt fuel mileage.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

The towing alone would make me choose the LT. It will feel less squirly when towing. You can lower air pressure to soften the ride, if needed. I would get a load range C though. E would be too high.

 

[Deleted User 38384]

What size tire ?

I just bought 4 General Grabber AT 285/65-R18s for 50% off.

 

[YaBoiNewton]

I'm nearing 60,000 miles on my 2021 XLT Tremor. The stock General Grabber A/Tx tires that came from factory are ready to be replaced.

After hours and hours of research I am suffering from analysis paralysis. $1,200-$1,500 is a lot of money to spend and I want to make the best decision I can.

I drive 12,000 - 15,000 miles a year. Lots of 80+mph interstate driving. In the summer I am off road on the weekends, mainly on fire roads, nothing super crazy, but I sometimes find myself on a more technical trail getting to a campsite. In the summer I also tow a 4 seat rzr frequently. With the aluminum trailer, that comes to about 3500lbs plus all the camping gear and 2 to 4 adults in the cab. In the winter I deal with icy roads and I often beat the plows out in the morning. The small Idaho town I live in doesn't plow all of the city streets so I find myself either blazing a path in fresh snow, of driving on compacted and icy snow a few days after a storm.

All that being said, in your experience is the Falken Wildpeak A/T4W a good fit, anyone have lots of miles on those? I also noticed that they offer an LT version of that tire. Is that something I need, or should I stick the standard rating?

I appreciate any insight that can be given.

Start with the load index of the tires you want and compare them to the specs for your truck.
From this website:https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/at4w
It looks like all AT4w tires have a 3 ply sidewall, regardless of load rating and the standard load tire in 265/70r17 has a maximum load of 2679lb for a single tire. That's a max capacity of 10,716lb distributed across 4 tires - far exceeding the GVWR for your truck. There will be no issue towing with standard load tires.

The main appeal of LT tires for us driving midsize trucks is the tougher carcass off road. They're much more resistance to puncture and can handle running low pressures much better.

 

[NerkyMohawk]

I went from the grabbers on the Tremor LT265/70r17 to Wildpeaks A/T4W in standard load 285/70r17. I tow a trailer, offroad, light rock crawling and use it as my daily. I have been much happier with the wildpeaks.

First thing I can say is the wildpeaks handle the snow and wet roads conditions much better. Everytime I took a turn or curve with the grabbers my rear tires would spin when it was wet. Never had an issue with that with the wildpeaks.

Offroad they handle very similar the grabbers should have been a much tougher tire, but my second offroading trip I lost a whole lug of the tread on a rock. Wildpeaks dont have any marks or anything.

Last thing, the grabbers picked up every single pebble they could, and flung them for 30 min after riding on a gravel road. The front of my camper has a few marks from those pebbles. The wildpeaks do not have this issue.

 

[Ranger Sam]

I have Wildpeak AT4Ws on my truck for the last 5,000 miles and really like them. They’re quiet and are wearing well. Standard load. No need for LT tires unless you really need the weight handling. LT tires will just add extra unsprung weight and hurt fuel mileage.

it looks like the weight capacity on the standard tire would be more than enough for the GVWR of the truck. The fuel mileage is something I didn’t consider. I appreciate the insight.

 

[Ranger Sam]

What size tire ?

I just bought 4 General Grabber AT 285/65-R18s for 50% off.

I’m sticking with the stock size: 265/70R17.
That’s a killer deal though!

 

[Ranger Sam]

Start with the load index of the tires you want and compare them to the specs for your truck.
From this website:https://www.falkentire.com/wildpeak/at4w
It looks like all AT4w tires have a 3 ply sidewall, regardless of load rating and the standard load tire in 265/70r17 has a maximum load of 2679lb for a single tire. That's a max capacity of 10,716lb distributed across 4 tires - far exceeding the GVWR for your truck. There will be no issue towing with standard load tires.

The main appeal of LT tires for us driving midsize trucks is the tougher carcass off road. They're much more resistance to puncture and can handle running low pressures much better.

I’m not to concerned with the weight capacity of the standard tires because as you pointed out they can hold far more than the GVWR. To your other point, the tougher sidewall is what is appealing to me. I guess I need to decide if it is worth daily driving LT tires for the few times where they would come in handy.

 

[Ranger Sam]

I went from the grabbers on the Tremor LT265/70r17 to Wildpeaks A/T4W in standard load 285/70r17. I tow a trailer, offroad, light rock crawling and use it as my daily. I have been much happier with the wildpeaks.

First thing I can say is the wildpeaks handle the snow and wet roads conditions much better. Everytime I took a turn or curve with the grabbers my rear tires would spin when it was wet. Never had an issue with that with the wildpeaks.

Offroad they handle very similar the grabbers should have been a much tougher tire, but my second offroading trip I lost a whole lug of the tread on a rock. Wildpeaks dont have any marks or anything. The Duraspec 3 ply side walls do a great job.

Last thing, the grabbers picked up every single pebble they could, and flung them for 30 min after riding on a gravel road. The front of my camper has a few marks from those pebbles. The wildpeaks do not have this issue.

Sounds like we have very similar use cases. I plan to stick with the stock size though.

I’m glad you’ve seen good performance in wet conditions. I too was unimpressed with how easily the general grabbers broke loose.

The general grabbers holding onto rocks almost made me punt the tires much sooner. Hearing the pings of the rocks and seeing the paint chips on the lower part of the door was angering. I’m glad the wildpeaks behave better.

Thanks for sharing your experience! It helps a lot!

 

[NerkyMohawk]

Sounds like we have very similar use cases. I plan to stick with the stock size though.

I’m glad you’ve seen good performance in wet conditions. I too was unimpressed with how easily the general grabbers broke loose.

The general grabbers holding onto rocks almost made me punt the tires much sooner. Hearing the pings of the rocks and seeing the paint chips on the lower part of the door was angering. I’m glad the wildpeaks behave better.

Thanks for sharing your experience! It helps a lot!

Glad I could help! I'd say you are probably fine with standard load vs the LT.

 

[YaBoiNewton]

I’m not to concerned with the weight capacity of the standard tires because as you pointed out they can hold far more than the GVWR. To your other point, the tougher sidewall is what is appealing to me. I guess I need to decide if it is worth daily driving LT tires for the few times where they would come in handy.

So they all have a 3-ply sidewall so I wouldn't really worry about that. I think you'll be ok with the standard load tire in this case. A ton of nuance required for tire discussions, but basically tires like the AT4w are very tough as it is and will hold up well off road.

I ran SL duratracs, with two ply sidewalls, for ~70k mi off roading almost weekly and they were great. I'm rolling on the 3 ply LT Duratrac RTs now and yeah they're stiffer but the ride quality is still fine for daily driving. I don't really think you can go wrong here. Just saying if it's a cost thing, then I don't believe you'll be missing anything going with the SL wildpeaks. You're just buying some margin with the LT tires.

 

[Ranger Sam]

I appreciate everyone’s insight. I think I will go with the SL version over the LT due to my normal use cases and stick with the stock size. I will look forward to leaving a review in a years time or so after I put about 10,000 miles on them as to how they worked out for me.

 

[HippoTrucker]

So they all have a 3-ply sidewall so I wouldn't really worry about that. I think you'll be ok with the standard load tire in this case. A ton of nuance required for tire discussions, but basically tires like the AT4w are very tough as it is and will hold up well off road.

I ran SL duratracs, with two ply sidewalls, for ~70k mi off roading almost weekly and they were great. I'm rolling on the 3 ply LT Duratrac RTs now and yeah they're stiffer but the ride quality is still fine for daily driving. I don't really think you can go wrong here. Just saying if it's a cost thing, then I don't believe you'll be missing anything going with the SL wildpeaks. You're just buying some margin with the LT tires.

Only certain specs of the AT4w have the 3 ply sidewall, the SLs don't. If it doesn't say "Duraspec" on the sidewall it's not 3 ply. I would absolutely not go with an SL tire if you do any offroading with rocky terrain.

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