Falken Wildpeak A/T's Review

Just curious, I've been considering these tires for my DD ('04 TJ Rubicon).  I'm curious if the reviewers ran these tires through dirt, mud and over sharp trail rocks (not to be confused with slickrock)?

FWIW, JP Magazine pretty much said what you did however they also claim the tires don't like sticky mud and they don't stop well (braking) on dirt trails.  After their (JP) review I went from being sold on these tires to maybe not so-much.  I once again find myself wondering if the Wildpeaks are as good as the Good Year Duratracs??

Thanks in advance for anything you can add to your magazine 'Tech' review (July 2011) of these tires as well anything you can add to help me make a decision.  

The WildPeaks worked as well as famous brand MT tires in light clay mud and rocks here in Utah. Deep gumbo mud? Neither the WildPeaks or the DuraTracs will work. The DuraTracs are a better all-around tire than the MTR with Kevlar tire. The WildPeaks are better all-around than both. I have no trouble stopping with them in the dirt. I'm not disagreeing with JP, though, as I have no idea what the consistency of the dirt where they tested was.

For hard core, gumbo mudding and rock crawling, use Interco IROK bias plies or try the new Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC tires.  
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The following is what "they" experienced:
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When we looked over the smoothly shaped treads and tight block gaps of Falken's new WildPeak A/T we said to ourselves, "Street tire, good in rain, crap moist dirt traction, pack quickly with mud, quiet on the street." But the old adage "you can't judge a book by its cover" never rang so true.....

.....For starters, these are hands-down some of the best wet-weather street tires we've driven. Plowing through deep standing water is sure and predictable. Once the sun broke through, our suspicions of a smooth, super-quiet ride on asphalt were confirmed. Killing the engine and coasting elicited only the slightest road noise. You'll never hear these tires in a Wrangler, and we doubt even a Cherokee is aerodynamic enough to notice.

Off-road we hit some steep hillclimbs comprised of loose So Cal soil still wet from the recent rains, as well as the occasional mud hole or two. These treads actually self-clean at slow speed. Dropping the pressure from 24psi to 10psi only made it better. While the WildPeak A/T lacks the gnarly bite of a large-lugged mud tire, as long as you keep them turning slowly, they'll crawl and grip forward exhibiting sure-footed steadiness with no need to blip the throttle to clear the tread. The generous circumferential voids in the center tread did wonders for steep, off-camber sidehilling. Time and time again we expected the rear of the Jeep to break free and pivot down-slope, but the tires just stuck. Loose, sloppy mud wasn't a problem, but the gooier, taffy-like mud we found did clog the tread readily, which one would expect of any all-terrain or mild mud-terrain.

In the rocks, we again dropped our pressure down to 8psi rear, but left our fronts at 10psi to avoid slipping a bead. The tires don't really stick like glue to slick granite. There's a bit of very minor slip, but it never results in tire spin-only slip from one biting lug to the next. Indeed, the slow-speed slipping from one lug to the next seemed an operational characteristic of the WildPeak A/T in nearly every terrain.

Our testing did point out one weakness in the WildPeak A/T, and that was in stopping, especially in the dirt. It wasn't really an issue on-road, but off-road we found that these tires lock up and skid more readily than others in this category. Again, you really need to have that next tread surface come into play to get traction out of these tires. However, if you're looking for a mild street tire for your daily driver that won't leave you stranded during your weekend off-road excursions, the WildPeak A/T is a home run.

Pros:

   * Crazy wet pavement performance
   * Surprisingly capable off-road
   * Mild-mannered on-road

Cons:

   * Limited off-road braking power
   * Steady throttle input required for best performance
   * Doesn't like sticky mud

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Anyway, I am going to buy a set (5) and see how well they work for me.  Thanks for your write-up on these tires.