What Are The Best All-Round Tires For SUVs?
George emailed to ask what tires he should fit to the 2021 Lexus GX 460 he just bought on my recommendation. He says his driving is 90 percent on pavement, and has heard good things about the Michelin Defender LTX.
That GX is probably the vehicle I recommend most to my friends and readers. Sold in other markets as the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, it has several of the features that make the full-fat Land Cruiser so special—KDSS and full-time four-wheel drive—in a more manageable, affordable package. It’s about the same size as a 4Runner, but unlike that vehicle, the GX is sold complete with both a motor and transmission, and an interior. Given the extremely high prices 4Runner’s fetch both new and used, paying a small premium for a vehicle that doesn’t require you to kick your legs through a hole in the floor in order to get up to highway speeds, and which doesn’t feel like a rental car from the early 2000s inside, is well worth it.
I recommend the GX to people who need the ability drive off-road, through winter weather, or both. But, the primary determining factor in a vehicle’s capability in either condition isn’t which wheels are driven, or how much articulation the suspension offers, it’s simply the tires. So, even if you aren’t doing all your miles on dirt, you should run a tire that complements and enhances the GX’s capabilities, if you want it to perform like you expect it to.
The Michelin Defender LTX is simply an all-season road tire designed to support the weight of an SUV or truck. Confusingly, it carries an M+S (for mud and snow) stamp on its sidewall. That mark is achieved through a certain percentage of void to lug in the tread pattern. It does not reflect any designed, tested, or real world capability in mud or snow. It’s marketing bullshit only.
A better choice for the GX will be a real all-terrain tire. Of those, the Toyo Open Country ATIII, and Falken Wildpeak AT3W should be considered the best choices.
The way to run an all-terrain without ruining your vehicle’s ride quality and fuel economy, or impairing its acceleration and braking abilities is to run the lightest tire possible, as close to stock size as you can get.
To do this, you’ll want to find a p-metric tire, rather than an LT. Those terms refer to a tire’s load rating. P-metric tires are designed to support the weight of a passenger car; LT tires are for light trucks (in this definition, anything shy of a commercial vehicle). All other things being equal, a tire designed to support more weight will be stiffer and heavier than a tire designed to support less weight. (People with more off-road oriented needs often fit LT tires for their added strength and puncture resistance.)
But! You still need to make sure that p-metric all-terrain can support a vehicle’s minimum tire load rating, which on the GX is 2,200 pounds.
Let’s make this easy on George. The stock tire size for his GX is 265/60-18. Toyo makes an appropriately strong p-metric ATIII in that size that weighs 38 pounds (product code 356290). That’s four pounds lighter than the equivalent Falken, and only a fraction of a pound heavier than those Michelin all-seasons.
Compared to the Michelin Defenders, the Toyos will be slightly louder on the highway, but likely not a degree that you’ll notice after you’ve first fitted them. And, since they’re not any heavier, they’ll offer the same ride quality. Where you’ll notice a difference will be any time you experience a low traction situation. The Defenders would struggle so hard to find grip on dirt or in snow that all the vehicle’ systems would be forced to work overtime just to keep you moving. On the Toyos, you’ll have the appropriate level of grip to actually take advantage of the GX’s capabilities, so the truck will feel more sure-footed, and more capable. It’ll be safer too.
Another advantage is that an all-terrain is designed to stay on the rim at lower pressures, meaning you can safely air down to 20psi or lower off-road. And that will drastically improve both ride quality and traction.
When it’s not winter tire season, we run those ATIIIs (in LT form) on the long travel Land Cruiser. While obviously extremely good off-road, the most impressive thing about them has been how sure footed they remain both on wet pavement, and on packed snow. All-terrains have traditionally struggled in both those situations. That makes them a good shoulder season tire for places like Montana, which can see winter weather any month of the year, or a good option for drivers who don’t live in a place that experiences winter conditions, but occasionally travel to or through them. They’re just the right tires for the truck.
How Do You Recover A Subaru?
Rob messaged me on Instagram to ask about off-road recovery points on his Subaru Outback. He’d read last year’s article “Please Stop Ruining Your Subarus,” and is trying to make an effective plan for his, in the likely event that it ever gets stuck off-road.
In broad terms, “recovery” is the act of getting a vehicle un-stuck. That might be if you’ve got some wrong ideas in your head about how all-wheel drive works (once things get slippery, only one wheel is driven), and try to take one through some soft sand. And it might be something more difficult, like if you roll your vehicle down an embankment off-road. Recovery can be as simple as lowering your tire pressures, and it can be as complicated as rigging a multi-vehicle winch pull.
One of the most common ways to recover a stuck vehicle is to use another to tug it out. I’m going to skip the in-depth conversation around straps and shackles and weight ratings here, and just focus on vehicle components. Like most passenger cars, Subarus come with only a dinky little screw-in eyelet. These are strong enough for a gentle pull out of some sand or similar, but I wouldn’t trust one for any job more difficult than that.
Regardless of the type of vehicles involved, recoveries are dangerous. Even the weight of a Subaru is enough to kill you if the vehicle falls or slides unexpectedly. And, that weight creates an enormous amount of tension in winch lines and snatch straps. Take this stuff seriously.
The easiest way to add a safe recovery point to any vehicle is with a tow hitch. Buy one at UHaul, make sure they use Loctite when they install it, add a hitch receiver recovery point, buy an ARB Weekender kit, and you’re good to go. (Never use a hitch ball as a recovery point!) Because a hitch receiver is dead center on the vehicle, and because the mount is bolted to the frame, you’re actually better off doing this than you are with an aftermarket bumper and their commonly off-center recovery points.
But what if you need to move forwards? Some crazy people are actually fitting winch bumpers to their crossovers these days, but doing so adds a ton of weight, likely impairs safety in a crash, and just shouldn’t be necessary in the type of terrain an AWD crossover is capable of traversing. Rather than bother with elaborate modifications, a better solution is simply to carry a set of Maxtrax, and acknowledge the limitations inherent in your vehicle’s design. A Subaru is not a Jeep. Being able to perform safe recoveries is one of the reasons you should’t take one places it doesn’t belong.
How Will You Travel With Dogs After The ESA Ban, You Horrible, Horrible Man?
Hands down the topic about which I get the most hate mail is dogs. An article about adopting a dog? Death threats. An article about the careful use of a shock collar? A bunch of Karens tried to get me cancelled. Call an emotional support animal a fake service dog? My inbox explodes, often with people who don’t understand the differences between the two, and don’t really seem to have a grasp on the topic at all.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a story breaking down the ways in which the DOT’s ban on emotional support animals on commercial flights was going to alter flying for all of us. And almost immediately I started getting emails that a) called me names and b) asked how on earth the people in question were going to be able to transport their dogs on flights.
The gist of most of those was almost an exact repetition of the point I’ve made across several articles. People were taking advantage of the ESA loophole—in which you only needed a letter you purchased online or one you faked yourself—in order to take your pet on a plane for free. People were complaining that the fees for taking a small dog on a plane—typically about $125 each way—were too high, and that checking a dog as cargo could cost as much as $500, and was dangerous. WHY DON’T I HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THIER CAUSE?!!!!1?
I do actually, because these are challenges faced by all pet owners. Airlines are a business like any other. Selfish people acting only as individuals created a problem that had to be cracked down on. Dogs owners collectively, acting as a community, create an enormous business opportunity, especially at a time in which airlines, like all other businesses, are trying to innovate to create new revenue streams. Now that dog owners can’t be selfish assholes, we need to find a safe, legitimate way to fly with our pets.
How can that need be served? I’m asking you because I don’t have the answer. But, I do have an awful lot of eyeballs I can apply if anyone, or any organization, can come up with a solution.
Former airline guy here. Putting any animal, dog or otherwise, in the cargo hold of an airliner, is insanely risky and dangerous. It is tremendously stressful for the animal, and the cargo process is not designed for live animals - too many opportunities for escape, damage to the animal’s enclosure, or other breakdowns that could injure or kill the animal. I told everyone who asked me about flying with a dog (it’s always a dog) not to do it. Too much risk. The airlines fly animals because their customers demand it, but the airlines would prefer not to. Wes, there is a business opportunity here, but it is a difficult problem to solve without crazy high costs and prices.
solution for traveling with pets: drive or kennel them. i think "emotional support animal" should be banned from everything. i'm tired of seeing dogs in walmart. and a service dog should have to be licensed with that license on the owner or person with the animal at all times. people should be allowed to ask to see the license.
i'm tired of people complaining about things that shouldn't be a problem. your pet doesn't belong in the store. other people's allergies or fear of dogs over rules your need to carry little fifi everywhere.
the airlines could ask beforehand if someone is planning to fly with a dog and make arrangements for that person to get on the plane first, sit in back, and have the pet in a kennel at the window seat. but it's pretty cruel to have a dog in a kennel on a really long flight. it needs to pee too.