So, I recently did something I never thought I'd do. I replaced four perfectly good
brand new tires. You see, we had to replace the CanyonChasers company vehicle and we did so with
another Toyota Tacoma because Tacomas are freaking amazing!
But the stock tires on the truck. These Goodyear Adventure Terrain with Kevlar were unbelievably
terrible. Like, I got stuck in a few inches of snow... in a parking lot.
We really needed a tire more capable to support all of our canyon chasing activities. Which sent
me down a rabbit hole of truck tire research and I ended up ordering a set of Maxxis RAZR AT811s.
Now, if you ride mountain bikes, and I know that many of you do, Maxxis is an extremely
familiar name in tires. They they basically dominate the mountain bike tire world.
For the rest of us, we may never have heard of these guys unless you live in Australia or New
Zealand where they can be seen fitted to just about every third Hilux, Amarok and Navara.
They also just built this massive state-of-the-art facility in Taiwan.
But anyway, aside from the aggressive looking tread,
and the positive reviews coming out of the southern hemisphere, the 60,000 mile warranty,
and the three peak snow rating; what really drew me to the tire was their super low weight.
The OEM Goodyear weighs about 37 pounds per tire,
and the most popular AT tires weigh upwards of 60 pounds per tire.
The SL rated RAZR AT weighs 38 pounds. Only one pound more than the stock Goodyears.
So, as quickly as I can; car tires are rated by how much air they can hold which determines how
much weight they can carry and this is called the "load range." And back before radial tires,
a tire was made to hold more air by adding more layers and you may have heard of 10-ply
or 8-ply or whatever. And these are each given a letter grade. E would be
10-plys and C would be 6-plys and so on. But, of course, things are different now.
Passenger cars are typically rated as LL, for Light Load. Middleweight tires are rated as SL for
Standard Load and light truck tires as LT or XL, Extra Load but may still carry the letter rating
as a crossover to the old load rating standards. The important thing to remember is to look at
the door placard in your car, and it'll tell you which weight rating your vehicle needs.
Look, I've put ultra heavy LT or E-rated tires on compact and mid-sized trucks in the past,
and I can tell you, that adding all that unsprung mass has an adverse effect on how the
truck behaves in every situation. That's a lot of extra weight that has to be spun up, slowed down,
and that the suspension has to damp over bumps. The SL rated OEM tire and SL rated Maxxis
tire are still capable of carrying more weight than the truck is rated for itself.
I told you I went down a rabbit hole of truck tire research.
So, while Maxxis mountain bike tires are available in every bike shop in America, finding
Maxxis truck tires was a little bit harder. I ended up sourcing them through simpletire.com.
They offer a nice Veterans discount by the way. But they shipped them directly
to a certified tire installer. All I needed to do was show up at the Tunex in Riverton, Utah,
who meticulously mounted and balanced the new sneakers.
I was also impressed with how easily they balanced without a whole lot of weight; which is something
that many lug tires really struggle with. But an hour later, I was driving away with
my fancy new Maxxis tires. So, now's the real question. Are these things any good?
Well, right off the bat, I can tell you that thanks to the light weight of the tire,
how the truck behaves on pavement is basically unchanged from the original Goodyear tires.
Acceleration, braking, cornering, and especially gas mileage, have all remained unchanged.
The tire does have a stiffer carcass, but that tends to give the truck a little bit
more stability through corners, and especially braking through off ramps.
As far as how noisy the tire is with that open lug tread pattern well...
It's a little louder than OEM but not by much.
Tacoma!
Off-road they really shine. They maintain their composure while aired down to 25 psi
for fast blasts down gravel roads. And the stone ejectors at the corners really mitigate
rocks bouncing off the body of the truck. When the road got a bit more rugged,
the tires kept on churning along taking the truck into some decently remote areas with confidence.
And while not a dedicated Mud Terrain, they did an impressive job of keeping mud clear of the lugs.
While I can't quite comment on the longevity of the tire just yet,
the 60,000 mile warranty is very reassuring. So, who is this tire for? Well, if you're really
into driving over pointy rocks, far away from the trappings of all human life, where recovery could
be extremely difficult, you probably still want an LT rated tire, and yes this tire comes in LT
as well as SL. Even me, taking them over some jagged bitey rocks, I was being more attentive
than I would be on a 60-pound E-rated tire. But for the rest of us, possibly the majority
of us, who often leave pavement behind, but still commute, and get groceries, and make runs
to Costco, or tow motorcycles to the track: Those of us who still want our trucks to have good road
manners the majority of the time. I gotta' tell you, I'm extremely impressed. To be able to get
a very attractive looking, chunky and capable, All-Terrain tire that weighs in at 38 pounds,
is kind of like finding that goldilocks tire. Now, I've run some of the most popular AT tires
out there, BFG's and Wildpeaks, and even though I've not had these tires for all that long,
they're quickly becoming my favorite All-Terrain tire.
So, have you tried these things yet? let me know what you think of them. Or is there some other,
less well-known, tire that you really love? Tell me about them in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.