Best all-year AT tyre.

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Finch

Well-Known Member
Following on from the snow thread, opinions please on the the best do-it-all AT tyre. No doubt this thread has been done dozens of times but tyres get updated rapidly.

For myself, I drive a mixture of on/off road. Summer off-roading is almost entirely shooting related which is fairly light duty. But in the winter my work requires me to commute on road every day then drive off-road to my work site across farmland that the owner does not want to see damaged. So I'm looking for an all-round AT tyre that will offer good road manners/noise levels/fuel economy on the tarmac all year round, and reasonable safety, (AT compromise accepted) with good levels of traction on winter grassland and stubbles without being so aggressive that they chew the ground up and get me into trouble with the landowner.

I have been running Grabber ATs and I've been very happy with them. They are quiet on the road, last well and have managed well off-road though they aren't that good at self-cleaning and clog rather easliy. But I thought they were pretty poor in the recent snow with middling traction and frightening braking, and TBH I've never been that happy with their straight line grip under braking in the wet at any time of year. So, what are the alternatives?

Can't buy the Grabber ATs any more. It's AT3s now.
I've been googling all night but I'm none the wiser. Do I go for the Grabber AT 3s? Otherwise I'm looking at Cooper or Toyo. Goodrich I've decided are too aggressive, expensive and noisy. Any ideas?
 
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markyw

Well-Known Member
I always put Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season on the family cars and have never had a problem. Was recommended the AT3 at one point, but research led me to think they may be noisier than the Verde.
Regards
Mark
 
Hereford

Hereford

Well-Known Member
Supporter
I have AT3’s on my 63 plate CRV AWD (since September last year). IIRC they were £112 a corner fitted plus the dreaded.
I have found them to solid on the road - in the wet they have been well mannered but I don’t drive as fast as I did in my younger days and the car is not GTi!
Off road they have been excellent - our ground gets particularly waterlogged and tricky on the inclines but they have coped well without cutting up the grass if you peg a sensible speed. The side tread definitely helps in the ruts through gateways between fields and I don’t find them to clog that badly. It’s hard to tell completely what they’re like off road as the CRV isn’t a ‘true’ off-roader, however it and the tyres have coped easily as well as my freelander 1 which had original AT’s.
 
landkeeper

landkeeper

Well-Known Member
i see you have dismissed them already but for me goodrich best tyre by far brilliant as an offroad tyre and great manners on road ,50k + on my last set and still going strong on a buddys truck only sold them on as i got a set of 5 bfg muds
 
Pedro

Pedro

Well-Known Member
I've got AT3's on and can't fault them, if that's any good. I have them on a Discovery 4 and it is used as an every day car, which includes the occasional long haul, unmade farm tracks, school runs (but don't tell anyone), and off road across mainly fields when it isn't too wet that the car will churn the field up. I've use them too in snowy and icy conditions on roads where the likes of Mondeos have been doing passable impressions of Torville and Dean, my car has just carried on regardless. Also used on one occasion to pull a medium sized caravan out of a muddy field with no drama.
 
Alantoo

Alantoo

Well-Known Member
Supporter
markyw said:
I always put Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season on the family cars and have never had a problem. Was recommended the AT3 at one point, but research led me to think they may be noisier than the Verde.
Regards
Mark
Click to expand...
I have been running Pirelli Scorpions on the V70 XC Volvo for 12 years and have been astonished how sure footed it is on fresh or packed snow and ice on the road. They have been fine on grass and stubble but not so grippy on mud...but then even the Insa Turbo Dakars on the old Discovery with huge knobblies are slippy on mud, and they are absolutely lethal on wet or icy roads, and packed snow.

Alan
 
Chasey

Chasey

Well-Known Member
I had Yokohama Geolandar on my Rav 4 for about 70K miles. No where near legal limit I swapped them for AT3's in October last year just before my trip to Scotland


Ist of the Geolanders were excellent on road and I never got stuck so Id say pretty damed good off road.

AT3s were scary bad on the road at first. I did 1700 miles on them getting to Scotland driving around and driving home and at high speed in corners, the steering felt vague and the grip levels non existent

Ed drove the Rav to the vets whilst in Scotland (bout 120mile round trip) and he said he felt the same.

After about 4K miles they seem to have settled in and I feel confident with them now but at first they were so bad I considered binning them and going back to Yokohama Geolanders

The AT3's have an aggressive tread pattern which inspires confidence and the of road ability is excellent as a trip through 6" mud in poring rain to recover a stranded trailer proved to me recently

If you can put up with the initial awful on road ability till they bed in or what ever they did, then the AT3's are good

Note I had Pirelli Scorpions on my Shogun and they were fantastic but 230 a pop The Yokohamas were £135 but I got the AT3s for £85.00 from Black Circle

Personally, in the unlikely event I need another set for the RAV (its done 130K now) Ill go back to Geolanders and pay the extra.
 
McKenzie

McKenzie

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Ordered these from All Tyres 365 Search

Great tyres but probably not what you're looking for.

The interesting thing about ordering from them was that when you put in a company name & a vat number the price per tyre dropped from £114 to £87 which came as a pleasant surprise. Also arrived when they said they would.
 
FISH BOY

FISH BOY

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Ran Pirelli Scorpion zeros on my Discovery 3 for over 7 years and found them ace in all conditions.

Unfortunately I believe they stopped making them and was replaced with the Verde. Key to the Verde is they originally made two types, the plain verde which was 100% road based and the all season which I believe has 85% on and 15% off road capabilities.

Anyway, just by looking at the pattern, I could see that neither would be suitable for me with the ocassional mud plugging.

Read loads of reviews saying that the new AT3 was so much quieter than the old AT2 due to the change in pattern while maintaining its off road prowess. Had them on for nearly 7k miles now and I have to say im very impressed with them. They are no noisier than a standard road tyre, give good control and feedback on the roads while impressive on the not so accessible parts of the estate.

Another to consider is the Pirelli ATR which I have heard good things about.
 
Tim.243

Tim.243

Well-Known Member
BFG AT on all the farm/road wagons around here including my Ranger.



Simple facts are if the track is wet and used a lot you will cut it up no matter what vehicle used.

On my shoot the tenant farmer was in a set-aside scheme so I had to leg the feed over a ditch from the wood.
He is out of it from last year and leaving this Autumn, so it was ok to run on the margin. Low range low psi have left 2 deep tracks on the wet bits but my back is miles better....

If you don't want tracks don't drive on it...........

Tim.243
 
T

Toddy222

Member
Tim.243 said:
BFG AT on all the farm/road wagons around here including my Ranger.



Simple facts are if the track is wet and used a lot you will cut it up no matter what vehicle used.

On my shoot the tenant farmer was in a set-aside scheme so I had to leg the feed over a ditch from the wood.
He is out of it from last year and leaving this Autumn, so it was ok to run on the margin. Low range low psi have left 2 deep tracks on the wet bits but my back is miles better....

If you don't want tracks don't drive on it...........

Tim.243
Click to expand...
BFG AT had them on my 90 best part of 40k still loads left
 
F

Finch

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't say I've ruled out BFG but they are more expensive than AT3s and they tend to have a poorer fuel economy and noise rating.
Fuel economy on the road is an issue. My Vitara is in permanent 4WD and I do a lot of road miles. My main client for work for the next two winters is far enough away for the fuel costs to make its economic viability borderline. So I don't want fuel consumption to be any worse than it is now with the Grabber ATs.

For all its faults though, the Vitara is not a heavy car and that suits me. With the G ATs it floats along and leaves almost no marks on the fields as long as I do my bit correctly. The shepherd's quad bike actually makes deeper tracks than my cars does. They definitely don't self-clean though. I take it the At3s do.
 
D

Dan Newcombe

Well-Known Member
I have the Cooper AT3 on an L200 and they seem pretty good so far.

probably not as aggressive off road as the BFG AT but have done me a good job - if its looking too wet i walk.

Went for them as they are cheaper then the BFG and also i wanted something more road biased but still with some ability in the snow, mud and most importantly stronger sidewalls.

Another option is the Cooper ST tyres i had the STT on our work L200 before and liked them just as much as the BFG we have on at the moment so the AT offering should be just as good.
 
Eric the Red

Eric the Red

Well-Known Member
Supporter
I moved from Pirelli Scorpion Zeros to Scorpion ATR to cope with a bit more off road capability. They have been very good indeed on road and performed very well in the recent snow. I have heard very good things about Cooper LTZ, but not tried them.
 
dartmoordog

dartmoordog

Well-Known Member
I have been running 4x4 vehicles for longer than I would like to admit too, nearly 30 years as a Water Bailiff, plus helping out with the keepering on two shoots and shooting and stalking.

This, in no way, makes me an expert, but I will have nothing but BFG AT on my vehicles.
 
merlin

merlin

Well-Known Member
Dan Newcombe said:
I have the Cooper AT3 on an L200 and they seem pretty good so far.

probably not as aggressive off road as the BFG AT but have done me a good job - if its looking too wet i walk.

Went for them as they are cheaper then the BFG and also i wanted something more road biased but still with some ability in the snow, mud and most importantly stronger sidewalls.

Another option is the Cooper ST tyres i had the STT on our work L200 before and liked them just as much as the BFG we have on at the moment so the AT offering should be just as good.
Click to expand...
.... I'm following this thread with interest having just bought a new shooting wagon that I want to put 4 x AT tyres on..... I had General Grabber AT2s, then GGAT3's, on my previous wagon (Terrano), but I've been considering Cooper Discoverer AT3s - seem a better all rounder, good off road but with (apparently) better wet grip than GGs or BFGs, and a farmer mate has them on his L200 and rates them..... Any other views on the Coopers?
 
Woodsmoke

Woodsmoke

Well-Known Member
I like the Pirelli Scorpion ATs. I have them on my Cherokee and they've yet to let me down in either snow or mud. The back end is a bit twitchy in the wet though. I also had them on my Shogun, and again it was twitchy on wet tarmac. My Terrano wore Bridgestone Dueller HT840's, which I found absolutely superb! And my Freelander 1 had Federal ATs on it, which again were amazing tyres. I think a lot depends on the vehicle type though, wheelbase, weight, etc. Interestingly, the Bridgestones were slated as being appalling on wet tarmac, but I found them to be just fine
 
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