Just got a set of the new Falken Wildpeak A-T Trail tires on my '18 Renegade TH (OEM tire size w/no lift). Wanted to drop by and do a mini review to offer my rationale for buying and first impressions. I use the Renegade as my daily commuter so it mostly sees pavement until I head to Colorado and New Mexico and then, it's fire trail and unimproved road. I was originally shopping the Falken AT3W tires to replace the OEM Falken Wildpeak HT's but the price for those suddenly shot up from $152 to $184. This is a short term vehicle for me that my son will inherit when he gets his license in Summer 2020 (which is one of the reasons it stays stock) so I was looking for the best combination of capabilities. At $152 the AT3W's are a no brainer but at $184 the value proposition starts to disappear, especially for a vehicle that I'm passing along to a kid who really doesn't want to off-road. At $131/tire which is only $10 more than the OEM Falken HT's, the A-T Trails seemed like the way to go, plus Falken rates it for 65k miles. The tires have significantly more aggressive tread than the HT's but nowhere near what the AT3W offers. It compares favorably to the Pirelli Scorpion AT Plus, which I've had my eyes on, but again at a better price point. I didn't think to turn the wheel and get a shot of the tread. What I was trying to do was capture the shadows coming off the raised lettering on the sides and the shoulder lugs because they are pretty aggressive so, despite being a two ply tire, you should still have pretty decent protection if you decide to air down a bit. Subjectively, they seem on par with the HT's noise-wise. They might be a bit louder because of the more aggressive trad but I'm just not certain. Either way, they run quiet and I don't need to turn the radio up or anything. We're having a wet spell here in North Texas so I had a chance to see how it performs on-pavement under hard braking, turning and accelerating they feel way more composed than the HT's ever did in the wet. The sipes and tread do an excellent job of moving the water out of the contact patch for both wet/slick pavement and 2-3 inch deep water on the side of the road that I deliberately aimed for to try and unsettle things. Very minimal pull to the sides where the water was deep and I never felt like the tire wanted to hydroplane or act weird from the different traction conditions side-to side. This is a three-peak mountain snowflake rated tire so I'll have a chance to put that to the test when I head to Telluride for New Years. For now, I'm reasonably impressed with the feel and performance. I haven't had it long enough to check fuel economy but the change should be insignificant. It's 2 pounds heavier than the HTs. It's not going to satisfy the same requirements as a KO2 or AT3W but for anyone looking for a compromise between the OEM tire and the BFG, it should do nicely. At about $50/tire less than the Pirelli Scorpion AT Plus, I can live withough the 225 profile tire.
We put a set of these on our Renegade and so far, I'm very impressed. We ran it down unplowed, undriven country roads with 6" of snow, as well as on packed snow with patchy ice. They were outstanding. They turned the car into a real snow beast! I've got KO2's on my JK and JL and these are every bit as good in snow condions. I agree with you on the rain traction. I was told by Discount Tire that these were developed for an overlanding style edition of the new Rav 4. I think they are a perfect match for the Renegade.
