I Bought The Cheapest All-Terrain Tires At Walmart And They’re Way Better Than I Expected

Eighty dollars. That’s all I spent on each all-terrain tire I have wrapped around my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ’s 15-inch five-spokes. Typically, I think tires are one area where one should not ever “cheap out,” but I took a risk this time at my local neighborhood Walmart, and I’m glad I did. Here’s why.

Oh I’m going to get some flak for this one. Mention “cheap tires” in any car-enthusiast community and you can expect to get eviscerated. And I get it! Tires are the glue between a vehicle and the ground; without good ones, you can kiss acceleration, braking, handling, fuel economy, road noise, and all sorts of extremely important vehicle attributes goodbye. Tires are just too important to compromise.

My philosophy for the longest time has been to purchase junkyard tires. My view was that I’ve purchased many used vehicles without immediately replacing their tires, so used tires have been good to me. More importantly, junkyard prices meant I could get high-quality, brand-name rubber for less than a brand new cheap tire. “A quality-brand tire is more important than the tire being brand new,” I reasoned after checking the tread depth with a gauge, reading the manufacturer’s date on the sidewall, and inspecting the tire closely for defects.

This strategy has worked out great for me. I’ve had all sorts of fantastic Michelins and Firestones and Goodyears and Nexens and BFGs and all sorts of other quality brands on my vehicles — all from junkyards. It’s just one of the many ways working on my own vehicles and frequenting junkyards has let me drive vehicles with components that are much, much more expensive than I could ever afford new.

But my move to California has put what I hope is a temporary halt on my access to cheap, used junkyard tires, so a few years ago when I bought my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ, I headed to Wally World.

The Kumho Road Venture ATs that came on my Jeep were too large, and were rubbing on my rear fender flares. What’s more, they were old and dry-rotted. They had to go.

I wasn’t really up to spend a ton of money, but when my local junkyards and Facebook Marketplace came up short, I went to Walmart.com and filtered for all-terrain tires under $90. These are the two I got, with the very cheapest tire being one called a Dextero All Terrain DAT1:

Only $80!

To put that into context, the average 235 75R15 all-terrain tire probably costs about $130, with the cheapest name-brand being the Goodyear Trailrunner A/T at $105 a pop at my local Discount Tire-equivalent. Multiply that $25 delta by four and the Dexteros save you $100 even over those cheap Goodyears.

Image: Walmart

“But who the heck even is Dextero?” you might wonder. Well, according to the brand description on Walmart’s website, the tires are actually made in the good ol’ US of A!:

The DEXTERO ALL TERRAIN DAT1 is an AT tire designed to deliver excellent performance on or off the road. The tread is designed for superior grip on wet or dry roads and offers great self-cleaning for off-road traction. The rugged tread compound features long tread life and improved cut/chip resistance. Five-Pitch pattern technology reduces road noise for a quiet and comfortable ride. The DEXTERO ALL TERRAIN DAT1 is a fantastic choice for your SUV or Pickup Truck, with most sizes proudly made in the USA.

The brand itself isn’t American, though. It’s actually part of Singapore-based Giti Tire Group, which operates eight tire manufacturing facilities, with one having opened in South Carolina back in 2017. Still, the fact that these tires are made in the U.S. makes me feel less uneasy about buying them this cheap, and any remaining unease disappeared once I installed them on my YJ. These tires are surprisingly decent both on dry pavement and off-road.

On pavement, the tires are fine. I’ve really only driven it on dry roads, so your mileage may very in the wet (admittedly, Southern California roads represent the easiest testing-ground for a set of tires, as there’s rarely any moisture, so perhaps my expectations for these tires were too low). Tire noise is good, ride quality/comfort is good enough to where I don’t notice it on my already-bumpy Jeep Wrangler YJ, grip is more than I need for my application, and fuel economy isn’t something I’m going to be able to test driving this old brick. Treadwear after 5,000 miles appears normal.

Off-road, the tires have great grip on dirt and rocks. I tend to air my tires down to 20 PSI when I’m off-road, and that made for good ride comfort to go along with the grip.

If there’s one complaint I have it’s that some of the lugs get damaged every time I go off-road. Here you can see some broken pieces and just general wear (of course, I’m sure if a more expensive tire would have fared much better.):

But for my use, these USA-made Dexteros have been fantastic and worth every penny of $80. At least on my old Jeep in Southern California conditions, I just don’t know that spending even another $25 per tire on nicer rubber would have netted me significant enough benefit — or at least not one I can prove with data. And that’s exactly where I like to operate: On the “knee” of the benefit-cost curve, right at the point where spending more cash yields diminishing returns.

I’m not the only one. The tires have over 3,700 reviews on Walmart.com, with an average rating of 4.5 stars. For the most part, based on my internet research, it seems these tires are considered a solid value.

P.S. For my wife’s car, I bought Michelin CrossClimate II’s at an outrageous $1000 a set. I will do this again when they wear out.