“You wanna go off-roading?” This was the Slack message that site Publisher Matt Hardigree sent me a few weeks back. I’ve never really been off-roading on my own, in my own rig, my entire life. It’s true. Sure, I’ve been down some Coastal Carolina sandy trails with some college beeddaays in their Jeeps over the years, but not in my own 4×4.
Also, I’ve literally just never really been granted the opportunity nor had the time, the vehicle nor the land access (all at once) to do so. All those items are luxury gifts that I feel may be unappreciated by those who have access to them. Count your blessin’s y’all.
Off-Roading is certainly something I’ve always wanted to do, though. It’s in the same category as snowboarding/skiing, skeet shooting, swimming, working out, gardening/landscaping, and other recreational niceties that I never seem to find time for in this always-busy 21st Century Adult Life.
A Quick Note On My Trucks: The Tow Rig & The Parts Hauler
Speaking of off-roading, my $400, 250K-mile ‘04 Durango is 2WD (which makes it a superior tow rig on-road; less weight to lug around without the front differential), so sadly, it has to stay on-road. I’m more than ok with that limit in capability, as that rig is used for its covered and lockable cargo capacity to haul my band’s PA system and amps, and to tow non-running or non-legal cars back to my Evil Wrenching Lair for rescuing with its 4.7L Magnum V8 with 230hp and 290 lb-ft @ only 3,600 rpm.
Although I’ve had my share of 4WD vehicles over the years, I have only one currently. The hero truck that assisted in getting The Autopian Cab off the transport trailer last Thanksgiving (during dinner) is my 4×4 2004 Titan. I love that truck dearly. Titans are quite hardy, easy to fix (not turbo/hybrid/etc), and not nearly as popular as their peers, so that they can be purchased for a much lower price comparatively.
Sadly, I just never found the time to take my Titan or any of the other 4x4s that I’ve had over the years to the North End of Carolina Beach (Freeman Park) here in Wilmington. It’s a beautiful beach that allows 4WD vehicles on the sand. It looks straight outta a 4WD/”Adventure Lifestyle” brochure. Super enticing, yet there just never seems to be enough free time without something more pressing coming up.
I’ve had a ton of 4WD vehicles over the years because I have been running my own “Backyard Shitbox Rescue” for the past 30 years, which has led me to own 156 cars and to save most of them from the crusher.
Basically, I try to save cars that others have given up on and that nobody cares enough to invest time/money into via a little extra effort and a little mechanical know-how and a little luck. I don’t do it for the money (I have a job for that), but rather because it’s a healthy hobby that keeps me out of the bars and saves a shit-ton of plastic, rubber, glass, polyester/nylon seat fibers, glue, insulation and e-waste from going into the ground.
Yes, the metal from a scrap car is reused, but much of the rest is not. Have you looked on the ground at any “U-Pull It!” parts yard? Exactly my point. Don’t scrap it unless it’s the only option left and there are no feasible miles left in it! It’s The Autopian Way.
Ain’t Too Proud To Beg
I had been asking The Autopian Brass to let me go on a Press trip since before the site launched. I’ve dreamed about being a legit automotive journalist since I was a child, so I was chomping at the bit to get the green light from David/Jason/Matt and asked quite a few times over the past couple of years. Well, my efforts paid of,f and that opportunity was finally here! Providing Jason with a pathway to Citroen 2CV ownership may have helped grease the skids a bit.
Kumho Tires was debuting their “Road Venture R/T” (“Rugged Terrain”) tire and had invited The Autopian to experience the debut event! I immediately sent Matt an enthusiastic confirmation, put three Vacation Days on the calendar at my corporate office job, and before I knew it, I was on a plane headed to The Golden State with a top-lux automotive experience ahead of me!
“There’s Something Very Familiar About All This” -Biff Tannen, 2015, Hill Valley CA
I’ve been reading automotive reviews for 35 years now, so I was semi-familiar with the flow of how these events go, from a secondhand perspective. The excitement was palpable. I arrived at a luxury hotel that overlooked the Pacific Ocean in beautiful Huntington Beach; the kind of hotel where they offer you a glass of Prosecco while you’re checking in. That glass of fancy grape nectar went down fast.
Shortly after checking in that afternoon, they assembled all the journalists from the various invited media outlets to gather in the lobby and bused us to an Anaheim Angels baseball game! This was the first baseball game that I had been to since my grandfather took me to see the Yankees in ‘91. It was awesome.
After hitting the buffet, doing a shot with Cody Walker (brother of Paul) and meeting some really interesting other writers, I (barely) crawled out of Anaheim Stadium alive for our 6 am private jet to the Hyundai Proving Grounds in the Mojave Desert.
Once there, I was finally able to live my auto journalism dream, the same one I’ve had since ‘92; it was glorious and everything that I had hoped that it would be. Not only was I on a private jet (a “PJ”) for the first time in my 45 years on this planet, but we were also headed to the Hyundai Proving Grounds, a 4,300-acre facility in California City, California, where we would put Kumho’s all-new rugged-terrain tire to the test.
You see, Kumho was debuting their new Road Venture R/T (Rugged Terrain) tire. This new product sits in the halfway point between Kumho’s all-terrain and (“A/T) mud-terrain/max-traction (“M/T”) tires in capability and tread. It has the chunky, badass, offroad looks of a M/T, but with the everyday usability and noise reduction of an A/T. “Tough, yet comfortable” is how Kumho describes them. The “Goldilocks” position. A round of top-shelf porridges all around, on Kumho!
Journalistic Standards Note: This was my first experience being a part of the 4th Estate and joining a true elite force of fighters here at The Autopian in speaking truth to power. That’s not a responsibility that I took lightly in any way shape or form. Whereas I am beyond grateful to Kumho for how incredibly generous and kind they were over the course of this press trip, my responsibility is to you, our readers; for the truth to be conveyed to the best of my abilities.
No matter how great the top-shelf booze was, the jets, the sizzling steaks and fancy hotels are, their “Rough Terrain” tires will still get a fair review! That’s my commitment to you, my fellow Autopian.
This Desert Life
Kumho had flown in their executives to meet up with their North American staff to provide us with a lunch-and learn about the new tires before getting the “hands on” portion of the event. The focus of their messaging went through how the new R/T tires performed in wet, dry, on-road & off-road conditions along with noise levels, comfort level and appearance.
Of note also was a 50K mile Limited Warranty that Kumho claims is un-matched in the R/T space. A cursory search of the competition in this space did reveal other offerings with similar warranties; both main competitors Toyo and Falken provide a 45 K-mile and 50 K-mile product warranty, respectively. We found no customer-facing mention of a Warranty on the “Ridge Grappler (Hybrid Terrain)” offering from main competitor Nitto. Regardless, the Kumho R/Ts meets or exceeds its main competitive set.
Kumho also educated our group of attending journalists on the durability of the “multi-functionalized high-structure styrene-butadiene rubber and carbon black compound” in each tire’s symmetric tread pattern and sidewalls. Basically, the type of thing that you would flex if you have an army of chemical engineers on the payroll.
Those smarter-then-the-average-bear-type-of-folks got the grades to go to great schools around the globe and landed degrees and ultimately jobs at an international tire manufacturer, so a big hat-tip to them for making our world a little better, one chemically-enhanced and derived tire at a time.
Where The Rubber Meets The Road
After we were saturated with a deep dive into tire details, it was time to see how these new R/Ts actually performed. The first test was an on-road slalom course under both wet and dry conditions to gauge handling versus the competition.
I will just say that chucking a 5,000-lb SUV or light pickup violently around on pavement seems to only be in-play under an emergency maneuver. Some fellow journalists and professional test drivers that were also participating in these runs (in matching Ford Broncos shod in either Kumho or competitor R/Ts) were chucking these SUV with their high center of gravity and considerable mass into hard turns at speeds that had me grabbing the “Oh Shit!” handles for fear of a rollover. Floor accelerator, gain velocity, stand on brakes, jerk wheel and repeat. Violent, limits-style driving.
Similar to arguments made against tracking heavy, tall vehicles such as the Jeep Trackhawk, I fail to see why you would use such an elephantine machine for this application, where a car such as a used $5K 350Z would be so (please, anyone…), so much better at the intended task. To each their own, though.
The harsh, emergency-style heaving of these mechanically identical Broncos through the day-glow orange cones at 60-70mph did show the Kumho R/T tires to have astonishing grip in both wet and dry runs, though. The competition showed a discernible, additional amount of slip and howl with a less-secure, “Am I going to die!?“-type of feeling behind the wheel. Score: Kumho- 1, Competition- meh.
Into The Mud
For the next test, we were presented with identical 2WD Tacomas, one with Kumho R/Ts and the other with a competitor’s R/T rubber. They brought a tanker truck and an excavator out, dug a hole, filled it up with water, and instructed us to drive through (in 2WD) in each truck. Immediately, the tread sipes were encrusted with thick desert silt-mud.
I was lucky to have a wicked knowledgeable and kind off-road brand enthusiast in the passenger seat for my trip through the mud on the competitor rubber as you can see in the video below.
I went through the mud-hole in both trucks and did notice a slight advantage in traction on the Kumho R/Ts. Slight enough that your off-roading skill level could be a deciding factor towards successfully traversing the mud, or becoming stuck with either set of tires, but still, there was an advantage in traction.
Growing up in Upstate NY and waking up to ice and snow up to the glass on your vehicle and needing to rock it out of slippery, low-traction scenarios provided a good resume and skill set for this type of driving for this guy. Every little advantage helps in low-traction situations such as this and the Road Venture R/Ts did provide a slight advantage in traction. Score: Kumho R/Ts- 2, Competition – still meh
Where The Sidewalk Ends
The next test was off-roading in the Mojave! This truly was one of those moments where you have to pinch yourself to ensure that it is really happening, since it feels like a dream. We were instructed to select our choice of brand-new Tacoma or Bronco (both wearing Kumho R/Ts), and to follow our guide down the trails with instructions and commentary squawking out over a handheld radio in the cup holder/console.
Being in this ancient, vast desert, barreling down a thread of a path in between Joshua Trees, cacti, and other desert fauna, with a beautiful aqua-blue sky stretching on forever was such a unique, unusual visual for a guy that was raised in Utica, NY. It was beautiful.
There wasn’t a chance to experience the Mojave portion of the event on the competitors’ tires, but I can say that I had my Taco in 2WD and was able to bomb the heck out of the course without any issues whatsoever. The tires had excellent off-road grip and control considering the conditions. Score: Kumho – 3, Competition -Probably also fine.
“Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads” – Dr. E. Brown
I was reminded of a time a few years ago where my 2WD Durango was stuck in a friend’s front yard after it snowed about 2” in Wilmington NC (yes, it snows here, but only a few inches and only every few years or so). I rocked the truck back and forth (per the training I received during my teenage years in Utica, NY), yet the 2” of snow won the battle and the truck had to sit there for 24 hours until the snow melted.
It was embarrassing.
My mind couldn’t help but to comparatively recall that moment while slamming a 2WD Taco through deep sand without any issue at all in the Mojave. Tires really do make such a huge difference.
In my Great Jeep Adventure Tale from last summer, I spoke of how my brother Mike is probably the biggest fan of tire aesthetics that I know. He buys for looks first, and if there are any additional performance capabilities that a tire brings to the table, then that’s just a bonus to him.
While flying back to Wilmington from California, I couldn’t help but envision a buyer like Mike would be squarely in the middle of the target customer diagram for the Road Venture R/Ts. They look the part (without having to go all the way to a M/T with their drawbacks on-road) and for many SUV/Truck owners, that’s the most important thing. It needs to look good, and they want to know that there is serious performance capability on tap if ever needed. It’s a feeling that you look good and also have your shit together if the situation calls for it, son!
Another recent use case for me would be the Xterra that I recently rescued from certain demise. If you recall from that tale, that truck had badly worn and mismatched tires that the young lady who bought the truck from me was not a fan of. She remarked that they were the only thing on the truck she didn’t like. A set of Kumho R/Ts would really make that truck look fantastic and add a ton of capability from the set of worn Chinese off-brand tires it was wearing when it left my stewardship.
I had a hell of a great time checking out the new Road Venture R/Ts in the Mojave, and I learned a ton about tire culture, manufacturing, synthetic rubber chemistry, capability, sustainability, and about the current R/T market space. It was eye-opening to say the least.
I would like to sincerely thank Kumho for being such gracious hosts and for recognizing the reach and tenor of The Autopian and for seeing its greatest power: you, the readers. I’m going to make a promise to myself to start making time for all the things that I listed above that I never seem to have the time for; life moves quickly and a guy named Ferris told me once that “If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it“.
There will be a 4×4 2004 Titan ripping up some trails in The Cape Fear sooner than later. I’ll be in the market soon for a set of tires for both of my trucks and know which ones I’ll choose.
Photos by author except where noted
Always love a good SWG tale. Glad you got to go wheeling – did you get any air while on those trails? Even just a wheel or two can be pretty alarming/exhilarating.
I love how, even in the old picture from Utica, SWG always makes a dramatic pose for a photo.
Wake up at 6am, shovel snow for 2+ hours, then change, shower and hopefully get to work by 9am.
Never again.
Thanks for reading and for joining us here in the Comments, Mr. Metcalf!
WHo else makes R/T (road and track?) mud looking tires besides Kumho?
Good stuff SWG!
Awesome to see SWG branching out beyond backyard rescue, I entered college as journalism major, but never followed through, so cool that you get to fulfill your dream of being an auto journalist. With my most recent vehicle acquisition I told myself I have to take it offroad, but without friends that offroad it is intimidating. Still hopefully I will be out on a trail later this fall or next spring!
A question to the rest of the commentariat, what resource is available for actual unbiased tire reviews anymore, consumer reports? Tires are expensive, but product lines don’t tend to stick around too long on cheaper rubber so it seems tough to find long-term reviews? Tireracks reviews/comparisons are junk nowadays, discount tire reviews read like ad copy, and asking about tires on the forums is like asking about oil.
For tire reviews, I tend to search the tire I want on youtube, and see what pops up. There are a few Austrailian guys that do (seemingly) honest tire reviews, and a new fav channel of mine, “Outdoor Auto” has also done some really good deep dives on tires on his channel over the past year.
I read it. Enjoyed it, as all SWG’s pieces. Two comments, one specific, one structural:
Specific:
Trees, cacti, and other desert fauna
Trees and cacti are desert flora. The fauna are the lizards, snakes, mice, buzzards, and so on.
Structural: yeah, it took a long time to get to the tires. Now, you can own it, in a “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” style, and barely mention the tires while discussing the demons in the skybox, or you can go old school, and I mean epic old school, and just lead with the final account of tearing it up through the Mojave. Hell, you had the whole _in medias res_ right there: back in Utica, like Penelope, you were spinning tires and undoing your own work, and now, thanks to your resourceful allies at Kumho, you were making progress, blasting through the sands far from home.
The Odyssey begins with the sacking of most of the staff at …
Okay, so it’ll be a little longer and in iambic pentameter, but is that a bad thing?
Where can I buy a Gossin Motors shirt?
Hit me up on social media and I’ll send you one when I make the next batch.
Thanks for your excellent taste in clothing, my man!
You seem to be a Medium, maybe a Large. So, um, if you do run a batch, do you make any in Men’s sizes? You know, the ones that start with X?
For obese Americans? You guys only fit in F250s and Rams 3500 at this point, but these trucks betray you with their louse turning radious at the late night drive thru
I was wondering the same thing. It’s not a Brand, it’s an ethos.
Fantastic write up! Glad you only briefly mentioned the “top-shelf booze”, wouldn’t want you to get banned from future press events by Big Tire like what RV did to Mercedes
Man, that hangover the next day was no joke.
Thanks for reading and for being here with us in the Comments, CatMan!
It was about time that they gave you a press trip, maybe next we can have an article about a Jag. If “they” allow it.
I bought another Xterra and an Altima recently, which are the next couple stories. Neither are anywhere near as cool as a Jag, but we’ll hopefully get there one day.
Thanks for reading and carrying the torch, Space!
Is Autopian in bed with Big Nissan these days? Taxis, rock bands, Xterras, Titans, Altimas, 350Zeds? Thank gawd DT is still in lust with Jeeps and Torch with cheap crap that could kill you
Random happenstance lately! I’m still waging a secret whisper campaign to get some stories on my 4 Jags on the site.
The Nissan Surge will pass. Thanks for reading and commenting, my dude!
“They” (David and Jason), please greenlight the article about the Jag!
Of course you can’t do snow and ice testing in the desert but it would be nice to know if they have earned the snowflake on the mountain designation. For me that is something I look for since we do get occasional snow and I’m not about to have a set of winter tires since tires on my trucks tend to age out before they were out when only using 1 set per year.
I did by some Kumho’s for my van a few years ago. Price definitely was a factor since I knew that they will age out before wearing out. The snowflake and pricing were big factors in that decision. It has seen light snow a couple of times and overall I’m impressed with them. Now my pickup is about to age out its tires so this is definitely something I’ll consider.
I was looking at these tires a few weeks ago, IIRC they do not have the snowflake rating. Most tires in this RT category do not, I believe the Duratrac is the only one that does.
Some sizes of the Cooper Discoverer Rugged Trek and Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T have the 3PMSF symbol.
Bummer, but that would have been nice to have that info in the article along with a list of current and/or future sizes.
http://www.kumho.com, my dude.
Luckily for you, it has all the detailed product info you could ever ask for and it’s only a click away.
This piece isn’t an advertisement for this product.
Something like these or A/Ts Will be my next tire purchase. I need something that behaves well on road but can also handle the off.
Take last weekend’s adventure for example – 500 mi of highway and 80 mi of Forest Service roads and trails including some light crawling…
Stephen, was wondering why you haven’t been posting. I was afraid you were a culprit of the new management. You saved an aero Mercury Cougar, so you will always be a favorite person of mine. Thank Gawd you posted. heaven knows this site needs more eye candy than the planes, trains and automobiles. Oh, and not to forget, Mercedes RV articles. Glad to see you back.
Why thank you, Sofonda Wagons! Very kind of you to say.
I still miss that Cougar!
I expect to hear a song about tires very soon.
“Tires” is an easy rhyme now that I think about it (fires, wires, transpires)…
…but you’ll have a hard time coming up with a rhyme for “Kumho”
????
I love visiting the Wilmington area, so glad you got a proper press trip. You have earned it.
If I were to leave my secret underground volcano lair in Pittsburgh, Wilmington NC would be on my domestic list.
Thanks Third. The Cape Fear is getting more popular every year.
I quoted “The Last Resort” by The Eagles in the article, on the photo of the Pacific. There’s another line in that song that is very apt to both places:
“They call it paradise,
I don’t know why.
You call someplace paradise
Kiss it goodbye.”
Sorry for the typo: “Tbird”. Frickin autocorrect, maaaayne!^
Stephen, speaking as a fellow 4x year old, it is too late for snowboarding. I am sorry to bear this news! Even in my early 20s learning to snowboard was, and still is today, the most savage beating I ever took doing anything. (Though I’ve heard that if you’ve got a lot of experience wakeboarding, and maybe skateboarding, it’s a lot easier to pick up.)
Oh yeah, and fun article! You are great at making the reader feel your enthusiasm.
I am an expert skier. I’ve skied the EX terrain at crested butte, the wall and all the bowls at kirkwood, I’ve skied Shasta and lassen.
I’ve snowboarded twice. I broke my elbow the first time, and I sprained my wrist the second. Never again.
I don’t know anyone who hadn’t switched to skiing by 35! Snowboarding isn’t hard once you get it, but you have to learn it while you’re still young enough that you can just shrug when someone says “expect your head and body to slam into the ground hard, repeatedly, both directions, as if the Hulk had just picked you up by the ankles.”
I was the guy on Wide World of Sports who crashed going off the ski jump.
After they put my bones back together I switched to snow boards.
No regrets.
Tell me about it. I can ski backwards blindfolded. But on a board I have to fight my way down the hill.
After an exhausted day trying not to die, I get back on skis and tell myself this is SO much easier, just stick to this.
As someone heading headlong to 50, I fear this and learning skiing have passed me by. The mind may say yes, but the body knows better. I ain’t as good as I once was.
To quote Indy, it’s not the years, it’s the mileage.
I taught an 82 year old woman to ski once. Her grandkids were learning & she was determined to learn with them! We spent half a day on the “magic carpet” conveyor belt lift & gentle slopes before she joined her family for a few laps. Awesome day for me.
Nearly five pages on an epic tire trip and the one, throw-away snowboarding line is the one that stuck- glorious!
You’re right though, the window is slowly closing on activities such as those. New “old man” opportunities will arise though, like golf.
Thanks for reading and for the kind words, Stacks! Dig your style.
Come out to UT! I’ll get you skiing, Jeeping, and sailing in the same weekend!
My age also starts with a 4, and I came to that same conclusion over a decade ago. Tried skiing for the first time in my early 30’s, and after getting laughed at by a group of 10-year-olds, I realized my window for getting good at that had already closed. Watching the beginner snowboarders struggle to even stand on the things dissuaded me from even trying that.
On the point made about your brother going for aesthetics, he’s not alone. In my experience, people buy tires based on a few reasons, and I’ll break down the not-at-all-scientific percentage that I saw for each reason:
50% “what’s the cheapest you have in stock?”
25% “what do you have in” (insert brand loyalty here)
24% “what’s the tread look like”
1% “what’s the best tire out now?”
This reality caused a number of frustrated discussions with my reps that just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t selling more of the hottest, newest (read-highest priced) tire.
This is fantastic – thank you! I really enjoy hearing about the retail side of our obsession, just like in Matt Sexton’s tales of NAPA. Esp from people for whom it clearly isn’t just another business (otherwise why would they be here, of all places?!)
I did recently go for the _second best_ UHP all season but that was only because it had a $110 rebate.
That’s usually all it takes. A nice rebate, a little salesmanship, and you have someone rolling out of the shop on tires that will truly let them get the most out of their car. It was a good feeling.
I always buy online or at least do my research, choose a tire and then call around for the best deal on it. Iusually go for the best in the category, but this time the savings got me to compromise. XD
I think you should write something for The Autopian about your experiences here. It sounds like you have interesting stuff to say, some great tales about customers and brands / sales reps, and good advice to give.
Started as a tire tech at 16, went on to own the store for 10 years before moving on to sell cars at a dealership for another 10 years, and now I drive my car for a living. I’ve seen some shit lol!
But man, writing? THAT would be the dream.
Yup, what is on sale/cheapest is most people’s #1 priority when purchasing tires.
Great point and well stated!
I was disappointed with lack of reviews for the Falken R/T early 2024 when I needed tires. Even guys in the shops didn’t have experience or much to say about them.
I’d say my priority order was: performance, availability, price, look.
I haven’t heard anything bad a bout them, in fact my buddy has them on his Sasquatch Bronco and really likes them. They’re just so damn heavy for any given size, which is a Falken thing.
Been on my JL diesel for ~18 months and ~15000 miles; towing, camping, commuting, moving, and even a few thousand wheelin’. Heavy; hard to balance out; flat-spot overnight, especially when below about 45 degrees, then take 10-15 minutes+ driving to warm up an round-out again; mediocre performance on snow, worse on ice; wearing quickly. They do pretty well in the rocks and rocky trails, especially when aired down; pretty quiet on the pavement; better than any of the A/T tires in mud. I’ll probably go back to a KM3 or similar mud tire next round, maybe get it siped for better winter performance, but I didn’t have an issue before that the R/T seemed to drastically improve for the other trade-offs.
Aesthetics play a role. I HATE the way my Michelin CrossClimates look on my SUV. But a co-worker’s experience led me to try them anyways.
I still hate the look, but 10/10 would buy again. As someone who normally runs dedicated snow tires, these things work WAY better than they have any right to.
But they ugly.
Haha, so true. On the 4Runner site, someone will get ten recommendations to get Michelins for thier strictly street driven 4R, then a week later they’re posting pics of their new Nitto Ridge Grapplers or Falken Wildpeaks.
Okay, now on to discussion of the article and subject at hand.
There’s a lot to be said for tires that can provide good off-road/bad-road traction while still being tractable in highway use. After all, there are a good number of us who are not hard-core Rubicon/Moab types but still spend a lot of time on fire roads, two-tracks, desert roads, in bad traction situations and so forth – and we’re also very likely to have driven hours on highways to the point where we leave the pavement. So having something that can effectively bridge both use cases is quite helpful.
That’s part of the reason why Kumho also focused on handling and emergency situations; most of the miles driven on these tires will still be on pavement even for people who spend a lot of time out in the boonies. You want to know how the tire will react in common driving scenarios.
Thanks for a fun article and I’m glad your first press junket was a good one.
Hence, why the RT segment is so hot right now. They pick up customers wanting better snow/off road performance than their A/T tires, and they pick up customers tired of replacing dedicated M/T tires every 15,000 miles.
And for the large part, most people that buy R/Ts buy them again. It’s a rare case of a compromise product that turns out to be great for most people.
I’ve had most of the A/T tires out there and several of the M/Ts. Falken R/T on my Jeep now (Duratrac on the truck). They are heavy! Was hoping for better winter and ice performance coming from a M/T, but not as good as I hoped. Wear also not much better than the KM3 they replaced either. A lot more tires coming into this R/T market the last couple years.
Most people do almost all their driving on pavement or dry roads, but 100% of getting stuck in snow or mud.
One of the (VERY) few things I miss about owning a tire shop was the manufacturer ride & drives. While they were always, always fun, some were much more honest than others. One manufacturer introducing a UHP summer tire let us take laps in Mustangs on an autocross track, and the 3 cars were bone stock, allowing us to really feel the difference between the tires, and it was wild to truly feel the new ones hang on a little longer before giving in to understeer.
Others, though, they ranged from the sneaky (running through the mud in Jeeps, the competitor jeeps, while identical, did not have the anti-spin differential, leading to a much more difficult time) to the downright obvious (2 bmw 1 series shod with competitor tires, the host tires equipped on a debadged M series car: that fooled exactly nobody)
Regardless of my experiences, the use of both broncos and 2nd pickups shows they’re pretty proud of these, and I’d hope so: This “RT” class is the “half ton pickup” of the half ton pickup tire world right now. Selling like crazy, whether anyone needs them or not.
Crazy that they would try to fool people with an M car vs a standard one. I’d put that brand at the bottom of my list.
Leave it to SWG to be able to, for lack of a better term, humanize tires. Esp given the usual auto journo practice of mostly throwing stats at you with a few descriptive phrases sprinkled in here and there.
Is it R/T or RT? The hotel sign and the tires themselves say RT, but I swear I’ve seen others as A/T, etc.
An R/T is not much more than an A/T with chunkier tread blocks. Most companies that sell an A/T also sell an RT in the same line.
Thanks Jack! Your kind words are always one of the highlights of checking out the Comments section after writing a piece.
Didn’t see anything about pricing? And it drives me nuts seeing Mohave Dessert spelt with a J as I lived in the AZ and we used the H.
Mohave Valley and the Mojave Desert are two different areas. And seeing desert spelled dessert drives ME nuts. JK.
Actually there is a Mohave desert in AZ and the casinos offer desserts so technically they are Mohave desserts. JUst saying.
But as I always say if it is funny you can’t take offense. So no problem
That IS funny! I hadn’t thought of the casino dessert offerings.
And much like a Miata, I couldn’t comfortably fit in Fiat Spyders, either. As much as I wanted to. And they did/do look cool.
And to be clear, I rarely take offense from anything posted on this site. Including now. I probably need to learn how to be less pedantic.
when I saw the word “Kumho” I Immediately said to myself “I should call her” 😉
I just came here for the Kumho jokes. Leaving satisfied…
Good!! My work here is done….. 🙂
I was frantically reading the article looking for any mention of this very horrible name to use in English-speaking countries.
I’m surprised there’s only your comment that mentions it.
On a serious note, this name isn’t going to work in most countries regardless of language. Even non-English speaking countries know enough to recognize that “Kumho” is way too funny to be taken seriously.
There’s a reason why Mitsubishi changed the word to Montero and why Honda ended up not using the word “Fitta” for their Fit/Jazz.
I too can’t believe that they still use this name in English speaking countries! What next, Tramp Tires? 😉
doesn’t hit the same as the lumberjack girl sniffing her fingers and thinking that but yeah, I thought the same thing every time I stopped at the late lamented Kum-n-Go
Yeah, these are probably better than Fuckstones…
Or BF Goodwench 😉
SWG my friend, the tire brand is spelled Kumho (you can even see it on your press truck). You definitely want to do a dirty edit on the article.
Also, Kumho is a South Korean company so double check as to whether those were “Japanese executives” you were hanging out with. Possible, but worth checking.
Yes, indeed. thank you.
Good grief this was way too long for what little info there was about the tires.
…which is exactly why we love this site!
Give the new kid a break.
No, that’s what’s different here.
Every company gives press releases. You can find those regurgitated everywhere.
Here? Even on something as mundane as the 30th new RT tire in the past 3 years, you get a STORY, man.
My man!
I will walk with my people.
Walking with people on a tire story might not be the goal.
Just enjoy the journey. That was 90% of the old car mag’s.
We don’t really do product reviews here.
Talking about the trip out to CA and about these tires in a way that aligns with the style of both the site and my shitbox adventure sounds much more fun than just stats & prices.
SWG’s byline is one of the few things that could get me to click on an article about tires (no offense, SWG, but so would pretty much any other author on this site). SWG’s writing is what keeps me reading & identifying with 5 pages of a giddy adventure tale that happens to be centered around a tire.
Honestly, I’m one of those people who don’t care or think much about tires. But I read the article. Now I know that Kumho is even a brand, and about some categories of tires I didn’t know existed.
The reason I read an article on tires is because it told a well told story by someone who seems like a cool guy based on other articles he’s written.
So yeah, the story to tire ratio wasn’t what you wanted. Luckily, there are some great resources on tires out there on the internet that will hopefully give you the more tire rich updates you crave.
Eh, SWG’s writing is actually really good. He tells a story without repeating himself. It’s long but I find it far more enjoyable than Mercedes’ pieces. She needs a stronger editor.
you…must be a riot at keg parties