Toyo Open Country AT3 vs Falken Wildpeak AT Trail

Toyo Open Country AT3 and Falken Wildpeak AT Trail are both All-Terrain tires that are committed to providing good traction on and off-road.

Even though both are All-Terrain tires striving to provide balanced performance on all surfaces, still, AT Trail surpasses in on-road performance due to its densely packed tread blocks while AT3 is more suited for off-road ventures due to its sparsely placed tread blocks.

Toyo Open Country all terrain tire got an edge over its competitor due to its higher built strength and durability.

Comparing Toyo Open Country AT3 with Falken Wildpeak AT Trail

Toyo Open Country AT3 has a symmetrical tread pattern with a higher void ratio since its tread blocks are widely placed on the tread.

This decreases its contact patch, therefore, reducing the grip of the tire, making it perform poorly on-road in dry conditions.

The higher void ratio results in wider grooves, allowing the tire to easily navigate on wet surfaces as they along with deep sipes, can easily pass water through them.

The tire is also effective in mud and soft snow since its wider grooves allow efficient traction by throwing mud and soft snow backward, keeping it moving.

It has an open shoulder design with wider grooves between its tread blocks to facilitate the passing of mud.

Its traction on ice is, however, undesirable due to its lower contact patch, not allowing a decent grip on icy roads.

It has bold stone ejectors which emit the stones and pebbles from getting stuck in the grooves, allowing good traction on rocks.

It utilizes a 2-ply polyester casing reinforced with nylon which acts as a bed for twin high strength steel belts which makes the built of the tire very strong.

Higher built strength improves its treadwear resistance, making the tire more durable and allowing greater mileage.

The tire is loud on-road due to the larger amount of air particles that get trapped by its wider grooves.

However, these wider grooves do act as a suspension while traveling off-road, damping the impact of jerks, and making the ride smoother.

The Falken Wildpeak AT Trail features a lesser aggressive symmetrical tire with a lower void ratio which allows decent contact with the road, increasing the tire grip, therefore, its on-road dry traction.

Its narrow grooves and shallow sipes are however, not that effective in wet traction and may cause hydroplaning in severe rainy weather.

Mud and soft snow are also not efficiently thrown back by its narrow grooves which decreases the credibility of the tire off-road.

The Closed shoulder design with narrow grooves between its tread blocks hinders the passing of mud through them, further, decreasing its mud traction.

It has smaller stone ejectors which are not effective in keeping out the stones from its grooves, therefore, it’s not recommended to use this tire on rocks.

It is made up of silica tread compound which doesn’t provide much strength, decreasing the built strength of the tire.

On-Road Traction Comparison

AT3 has a higher void ratio allowing minimal gaps between its tread blocks, causing lesser contact with the road.

This decreases the grip of the tire hence increasing its braking distance, resulting in overall undesired on-road dry traction.

In wet conditions, the tire performs very well due to wider grooves and deeper sipes as they are efficient in wiping away the water through the tire.

AT Trail is considered better on-road due to its lower void ratio allowing maximum contact with the road.

Therefore, increasing its grip and decreasing its braking distances.

While on wet roads the tire struggle to maintain its grip as its narrow grooves are ineffective in wiping away the water, putting the tires at risk of hydroplaning.

Off-road Traction Comparison

Mud Terrain

Width of the grooves decides how a tire will behave on mud.

The tire with wider grooves will excel on mud as it can efficiently throw the mud backward, moving the tire forward.

Since AT3 has wider grooves, therefore, it performs well on mud.

Its open shoulder design further enhances its mud traction by allowing mud to easily pass through its shoulder grooves.

This results in a tire with great mud traction capabilities even on heavy mud.

AT Trail has narrow grooves which are unable to effectively throwback the mud and keep the tire moving. Its shoulder design is closed which does not facilitate the passing of mud through its tread blocks grooves. This can cause the tire to get stuck especially when navigating through heavy mud.

Side Note: Falken Wildpeak AT3w instead is a better pick for off road than Falken AT Trail.

Snow Terrain

Just like mud, Toyo Open Country AT3 is also superior in soft snow traction due to its wider grooves allowing soft snow to be efficiently thrown backward, resulting in good grip on snowy roads.

However, the tire is unable to grasp the icy roads due to its lower contact patch, decreasing the reliability of the tire on ice.

Falken AT Trail has narrow grooves which are unable to boldly move the vehicle on soft snow as they are not capable enough to evacuate the soft snow and provide the necessary grip.

Therefore, its soft snow traction is not well.

Whereas, it enjoys good traction on ice due to its higher contact patch, allowing the vehicle to move confidently on ice.

Rock Terrain

Toyo Open Country AT3 has bold stone ejectors which don’t allow stones and pebbles from getting inside its grooves and drilling through. It has a stronger built to resist all the trail damages like cuts and chips.

The wider grooves provide great grip on tricky angles of approach such characteristics make this tire perform remarkable on rocky terrain.

AT Trail has smaller stone ejectors which are not sufficient for keeping all the stones from getting stuck inside its grooves and pose a threat of stones drilling through its grooves.

Its built is not strong enough to sustain the harsh condition of rocky terrain and makes the tire vulnerable to trial damages.

It has narrow grooves which are not efficient in providing grips on difficult angles of approach on gravelly/rocky surface.

Treadwear and Durability

Toyo AT3 has a lower contact patch which means a lower amount of force is needed to rotate the tire.

This decreases the tire’s rolling resistance which causes lower treadwear.

It utilizes a 2-ply polyester casing reinforced with nylon which acts as a bed for strong steel belts which makes the built of the tire stronger.

The stronger built further enhances the treadwear resistance of the tire, resulting in higher durability and greater mileages to be achieved by this tire compared to its counterpart.

AT Trail has a higher contact patch, meaning a greater amount of force is needed to keep the tire moving. This increases the rolling resistance of the tire hence causing greater treadwear.

It is made up of silica tread compound which doesn’t provide much strength, decreasing the built strength of the tire.

The weaker built strength further increases its treadwear since the tire treadwear resistance is decreased.

This results in a much lower durable tire with lesser mileage, putting the tire at disadvantage against its competitor.

Which Tire is more Comfortable?

Toyo Open Country AT3 is not preferred on-road due to its wider grooves which are responsible for trapping many air particles within them, producing loud noises as they strike back and forth to the walls of grooves.

This makes the journey very uncomfortable on-road whereas these same grooves act as a suspension when traveling off-road, decreasing the impact of shocks, making the journey comfortable on uneven paths.

AT Trail has narrow grooves which don’t accumulate many air particles within its grooves when traveling at high speed on-road, thus, produces only a little bearable noise.

But these narrow grooves are not efficient in providing a smooth ride over uneven terrain due to their inability to absorb the shocks.

Price Differences

Toyo AT3 is a higher-priced tire due to its extra performance capabilities off-road, better-wet traction, higher durability, and greater mileage.

AT Trail is an on-road focused tire with greater traction on ice and better noise reduction.

Both the tires are suitable for different kinds of terrains, so the customer must decide the tire based upon his priorities and demands.

Conclusion

• AT Trail is better on-road while Toyo AT3 focuses on off-road.
• Wet traction of AT3 is higher due to wider grooves and deep sipes.
• Mud and soft snow traction of AT3 is also higher due to wider grooves
• AT Trail excels on ice due to its higher contact patch.
• Bold stone ejectors are present in AT3, giving it an edge over its competitor on rocks.
• The durability and mileage of AT3 are higher compared to AT Trail.
• AT3 is reliable off-road while AT Trail provides a comfortable ride on-road.