What I have had direct experience with.
The first set of tires I bought for the Frontier was a set of 265/75R16 Toyo AT2’s. I bought them before I knew what I was looking for in a tire. I was also at stock height, so I stuck with the stock size. They were P rated, so they were super comfy on the road. They did pretty good on the Greens and light Blues that I was running at the time. They have some sizes in an HD version that have a little deeper tread and what looks like a little more aggressive spacing in the tread. I would consider this a more aggressive AT tread than most. I have considered getting them again, in a more appropriate size and number of plys for my needs.
I ran a set of E rated 285/75R16 Duratracs on the Frontier for a while. I loved them. They have pretty great road manners. Not to loud on the highway, great in the snow, great in beach sand, and incredible in the woods. Besides that, the sidewall looks great! Nice and aggressive looking. The tread is set up with an AT pattern down the center, with a little more aggressive MT style tread at and around the sidewall. It is a 2 ply sidewall. Some have had issues with it tearing on sharp rocks on the trail. I knew about this and decided to get them anyway. The softer sidewall makes for greater on road comfort and the tire will wrap around terrain better Offroad. They lasted forever. I’m not sure what the mileage was, but I believe they still had half tread when I traded it in on my RAM. They did everything I ever asked of them.
I’m running a set of E rated 305/70R16 Mastercraft MXT’s on the Xterra now. I understand you’re asking about AT, not MT, but I thought I would include them. I was looking for another set of Duratracs. But I couldn’t pass up the deal I got on them. They are pretty aggressive MT tread. They are getting pretty loud on the road, but they have been wearing great. (A little uneven in the front, but that’s normal for a lifted X.) They are pretty predictable on road even in wet conditions. Decent on the highway, although I took a hit on my mileage. They are pretty heavy. I think I lost 2.5 miles per gallon overall vs. the Duratracs. They have a three ply sidewall, although I find they wrap around the terrain pretty well. I had them aired down to 15f/12r on the last run. I feel more comfortable at 18 psi in the woods. On some dark Blue/light Black trails I believe I spun one tire a little on the wheel. It looks like I have some rubber or something rolled up in the bead. It seals at road pressure, but it leaks a little when aired down.
Most recently I bought a set of tires for my RAM 3500. The stock size is 275/70R18. A big 33” tire. The stock tire was a Firestone Transforce AT tread. It was more of an aggressive highway tread. I wouldn’t consider it an AT style tread at all.
I was in the market for a set of aggressive AT’s or what I would call a hybrid tread, the AT tread in the middle and MT tread on the outsides. I considered Duratracs again, or a set of General Grabber AT2’s, the Toyo AT2’s or RT’s, BFGoodrich T/A KO2’s, and some of the Cooper’s like the SST’s or MAXX’s. I was a little flexible on the size. I was looking for 285/75R18, 305/70R18, or a true 35/12.50R18. All are 35” tires, but in varying widths. 11.5”,12”, and 12.5” respectively. My real goal was a little taller, and a little wider tire that had good on road manners (95+%) and could be used in beach sand. I needed to keep my 125+ weight rating also. I watched the main online tire retailers and a few other more local to me places. I looked at Discount Tire Direct and TireRack. I have ordered from both in the past with great experiences. I also kept an eye on Walmart, Costco, Tire Warehouse, and Town Fare Tire. If you are patient, you can find a deal. I waited and watched. After roughly 6 weeks of checking daily the 305/70R18 T/A KO2’s dropped from roughly $360/tire to $192 each on DTD. I couldn’t pass it up. I had a local tire place, listed on their site as an installer, mount, balance, and rpms service them at $79 for the 4. If you are a little flexible on the brand or size, and patient, take 10-15 minutes a day and look around. It will pay off.
Also it seems like the cost of 33” and 35” tires for a 16 inch wheel has been dropping a lot lately. The trend of the auto manufacturers moving to 18” or 20”+ wheels recently is working in our favor.
Hope my rambling helps.
_________________ John Murphy Leyden, MA. TheNewX. ClubFrontier. NEA4WD Delegate. My X. http://www.nexterra.org/forums/viewtopi ... =71&t=9534
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