September 30, 2021
On-/Off-Road All-Terrain tires continue to be an important tire category for our customers, so naturally, our team was excited to test a category leader and previously well performing benchmark against two untested options that consumers might cross shop. Each of these tires are designed to offer powerful off-road capabilities along with reasonable on-road manners, where they will most likely spend most of their time. Each also have the distinction of wearing the three-peak mountain snowflake branding, indicating they meet the tire industry’s severe snow service requirements.
The General Grabber A/TX makes its return to the Tire Rack testing program for the second time in 2021, but this time in Euro-Metric form instead of its previous LT-Metric load range E build. After very good results in LT form and continued success at the top of the consumer survey charts, it should help qualify the other two, untested competitors. The Falken WildPeak A/T3W and Sumitomo Encounter AT are the two latest products, both built for confident traction in all-terrain settings and promise good on-road traction along with the aforementioned three-peak mountain snowflake branding. Our evaluation used a 2021 Ford F-150 4x4 fitted with new, full tread depth 265/70R17 tires mounted on 17x7.5 wheels.
Our 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city and highway speeds, smooth and coarse concrete, as well as new and patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality and everyday handling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
Our team found the WildPeak A/T3W to be a nice on-road performer considering the tire’s purposeful tread pattern. While there was some traditional "All-Terrain" pattern noise, this serves as an example that "don’t judge a book by its cover" applies to tires as well. Noise stayed at a mostly modest level with a distant mix of white tones. Our drivers were impressed how the low level harmonics tended to fade in the acoustical background if given the opportunity on anything but the smoothest of pavement. The ride from the Falken was firm but well-damped, rounding out larger bumps well. Steering feel was fine considering the category and test platform, but our drivers found that after pushing past the initially hefty on-center feel, a slight delay in response was waiting on the other side. After the brief delay in steering, a rapid increase in response ended up creating a synthetic feel at times. The Grabber A/TX generated some more distinct tones on the road, perhaps revealing some of its off-road prowess, but was a little more intrusive nonetheless. The ride from the General also felt a little more robust, with smaller pavement imperfections more perceptible than initially expected. The Grabber A/TX’s steering was liked by our team thanks to its accurate feel with small inputs that would yield the appropriate small changes in direction. Some additional response and resistance at both low and higher speeds would have completed the package, but it was still the subjective on-road handling favorite. The Encounter AT did a commendable job on our road route, with a moderately consistent tread noise that generated higher-pitched pattern noises over most surfaces. The ride was considered comfortable by our team and in line with the group, but some lack of motion control after impacts exaggerated the rougher sections of our route a little more than the others in the test. Handling was a high point for the Sumitomo thanks to a nice weight on-center and good feedback, however, which is most often the case with All-Terrain tires on our full-sized truck test platform, our team would have appreciated some added steering response.
Maximum handling on a dry track likely isn’t a performance target during the development of On-/Off-Road All-Terrain tires, nor for the Ford F-150 4x4 used as a test vehicle. Because of this, our dry track testing consisted of 50-0 mph braking and lateral traction around our skidpad.
The WildPeak A/T3W achieved the highest lateral traction levels around our dry skidpad with .79g and brought the truck to a halt in a respectable mid-pack distance. The Encounter AT took the top spot in 50-0 mph braking distance by a significant margin of six feet over the next closest competitor and came in only a hundredth of a g behind the leader in lateral traction. The Grabber A/TX just slightly trailed the group in maximum lateral traction and rounded out the group in ultimate braking, with stopping distances ten feet longer than the Sumitomo but only four feet off the Falken.
Similar to in the dry, the manufacturers represented in our test likely didn’t focus on wet lap times for the tires in this group. Knowing that, our testing protocol involved our team driving our normal track route in a manner similar to someone driving assertively on the street, as opposed to trying to extract every last tenth of a second from their lap times. Objective figures for 50-0 mph braking and lateral traction on the skidpad were also taken for all products.
The Encounter AT tied for the highest lateral wet traction with the Falken but took the top spot in 50-0 mph braking distance by about 3 feet. It was also the subjective favorite of our team around our wet handling course. Our drivers were impressed how the Sumitomo put everything together into a seamless performance, with acceleration and braking that felt noticeably stronger than the competition and predicable cornering grip that broke traction gradually and was very easy to mitigate and correct. The Grabber A/TX displayed good handling characteristics in the wet, with accurate steering that made turn-in and hitting the apex easy and predictable. However, while the General’s well-balanced and precise handling feel scored well subjectively with our team, it was hard to ignore the disparity in objective traction. The Grabber AT/X struggled to match the others in outright grip, with lateral traction a significant .05g behind the others and taking over one truck length further, to stop from 50 mph. The WildPeak A/T3W might have trailed the others in subjective wet scores, but it essentially matched the highest lateral traction metrics in the test and technically set the quickest times around the handling course, if only by the slightest margin. While objectively the Falken hit all the right marks, our team found its handling a little dull and vague around the track, with some more aggressive oversteer at times, most likely due to the stronger front end grip. This could be an acceptable concession for an All-Terrain product, but in the end the others proved a more adept wet track performance was possible.
The three tires in our test are branded with the tire industry’s three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol, which indicates they are severe snow service-rated. The test a tire must pass to earn the 3PMSF symbol measures longitudinal acceleration traction in medium-packed snow, and it’s a pass/fail test, so one tire may exceed the requirement significantly, while another just barely passes. Even so, both will have the same symbol on the sidewall. Since the 3PMSF test measures longitudinal acceleration traction only, there is no braking or cornering component, and we have repeatedly found significant variance in real-world traction from 3PMSF-branded tires. Lastly, the test doesn’t evaluate ice traction in any way.
Like we found in other aspects of our testing, the three tires in our group were remarkably close in the snow, but the Grabber A/TX has the distinction of leading every test. A very-narrow gap of 1.2 feet separated the three in 0-12 mph acceleration, with the Grabber A/TX’s 30.94-foot distance representing the top objective figure. One place the Grabber A/TX held a more-significant advantage was in 25-0 mph braking, where it led the competition by 5-7 feet. On the handling track, the gap between the tires was only 1.6 seconds in average lap time. Our drivers thought the Grabber A/TX had the best steering feel in the group and had the fastest response to inputs, as well. The WildPeak A/T3W and Encounter AT were very close objectively and subjectively, as well. Their acceleration results were only separated by .23 foot, and the WildPeak A/T3W had the advantage in 25-0 mph braking by 2 feet. Similarly, their lap times were only .7 second apart, and our testers gave them identical subjective scores.
Continuing the running theme, our results on the ice were close enough that it could be considered a three-way tie. Our testing consisted of 12-0 mph braking, and the Encounter AT required the least distance to come to a stop at 48.6 feet. The WildPeak A/T3W took .7 feet longer, and the Grabber A/TX rounded out the group with an even 50-foot stop.
Once the evaluations were totaled, our team was left with an incredibly close set of combined scores. This highlights the fact that when customers are making their tire choices, it comes down to more than simple number to represent value, but more importantly what satisfies the needs and preferences of how, where and what the customer drives. The Falken WildPeak A/T3W’s good on-road performance impressed our team, considering the test set’s presumed off-road prowess. With competitive traction in line with the best in the test, it’s sure to satisfy a wide range of On-/Off-Road All-Terrain drivers on the street. The General Grabber A/TX manages to not over index in any one area and, even though it seems to struggle in the wet comparatively, its traction historically satisfies consumers on the road. It also leads the group in light snow traction, if only by a narrow margin. The overall package is well-balanced, with on-road performance that doesn’t sacrifice any one particular attribute. The Sumitomo Encounter AT might have given a slightly more traditional all-terrain performance on the road, but it stays competitive with the others in this test while offering the highest objective wet grip.
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