2016 All Terrain and Off Road MT Tire Test

It's not often we see a proper off road tire test, but this one by the South African Magazine "Drive Out" seems to tick all the boxes.

It takes ten mud terrain (M/T) tires in 265/75 R16, sticks them on a 4x4 Ford Ranger pickup truck, and puts them through wet, gravel, rock and endurance tests to find out which tire will be the most useful for hardcore off road use.

The Tests

In order to test the tires in their most common conditions, the magazine chose to focus on off road performance. Instead of testing dry and wet road performance, only wet braking and wet handling were tested, as the variance in dry performance was small.

The off road tests were far more thorough. The Ford Ranger was put through braking tests on gravel, traction on rocky surfaces and traction in mud, and the tire was even tested on a  rig to see how strong the sidewalls are.

Wet

Braking down from 50 mph on wet roads proved close, with the gap between the best and worst on test just 16 feet. The Dunlop narrowly beat the Hankook to first place, with the Goodyear finishing third.

Under wet handling tests the Goodyear moved to the top spot, with Hankook holding second place. The wet braking winning Dunlop, could only manage fifth place, with Bridgestone rounding out the top three.

Gravel

For the gravel braking test, again from 50 mph, the pressure was reduced from 2.4 bar to 1.8 bar. This time the Hankook was the winning tire, with the BF Goodrich and Goodyear rounding out the top three.

Rock Traction

For rock traction, the tires had to get the Ford up a solid 30 degree incline. The magazine attempted three runs, one at 1.8 bar, then at 2 bar, then 2.2 bar and finally 2.4 bar. As the tire pressure increases, the ability on rock decreases, and top marks are awarded for the tires which can make it up at every pressure.

Seven of the ten tires made it up at the full 2.4 bar. Yokohama finished eighth, managing the 2.2 bar run but failing at 2.4 bar, Kumho finish ninth and failed at 2.2 bar, and Nankang finished in last place, failing to make it up at 1.8 bar.

Sidewall Strength

With punctures a very real part of offroading, and usually a major inconvenience, the magazine tested each tire at 2.4 bar with a special machine that measures how much pressure is needed to puncture the shoulder area, between the tread and the sidewall.

The three ply sidewall tires (BF Goodrich, Achilles, Nankang and Goodyear) tires generally did better than the 2 layer tires, though Kumho and Yokohama scored well for a twin ply construction.

Mud Traction

The mud test proved to be a real problem for the magazine, and even though they knew repeatability of the test would be an issue, they didn't realise just how hard it would be!

In the end, even using a specialist mud bath, the testers couldn't get any meaningful data from driving the truck in and out of the mud area, so decided to omit the results from the test.

Results

1^st

Goodyear Wrangler MT R

265/75 R16

Goodyear perfectly coped with all the tests, and thus were considered the best. The driver described the clear leader as a model for all conditions, and although it is an expensive tire, it's worth it.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	90.5
Snow	45.1
Offroad	50
Toughness	49.1

Total: 234.7

2^nd

BFGoodrich Mud Terrain TA KM2

265/75 R16

Despite its rigid structure and aggressive image, BF Goodrich actually turned out to be quiet on the road. A mediocre braking performance and unstable handling on wet surfaces, but they are perfect for off-road, and the strength of the sidewalls is incredible.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	86.6
Snow	45.6
Offroad	50
Toughness	50

Total: 232.2

3^rd

Achilles Desert Hawk XMT

265/75 R16

Although Achilles - a budget brand, the ability of these tires on the roads is impressive, especially considering the price. Achilles is not very stable behavior on the roads, but firm sidewall eventually allowed them to enter the top three.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	84.4
Snow	43.5
Offroad	50
Toughness	43.9

Total: 221.8

4^th

General Grabber MT

265/75 R16

After the General Grabber AT won in the previous Drive Out tire test, there was a lot expected of the MT version. Even though they were ok in all disciplines, they didn't excel in any one of them. The strength of the sidewalls is also disappointing, given that they have a 3-layer construction.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	88.3
Snow	45
Offroad	50
Toughness	43.9

Total: 227.2

5^th

Hankook Dynapro MT

265/75 R16

The Korean company continues to impress - their tires performed well in the last two tests, and that says a consistently high quality of their products. This time, Hankook impressed on the asphalt and gravel, and if not for the relatively low strength of the sidewalls, they would have taken a place among the leaders of this test.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	90.3
Snow	45.7
Offroad	50
Toughness	29.8

Total: 215.8

6^th

Yokohama Geolandar MT

265/75 R16

Although Yokohama were relatively good results on asphalt, they had poor grip on the rocky slope.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	88.6
Snow	46
Offroad	37.5
Toughness	40.4

Total: 212.5

7^th

Dunlop Grandtrek MT2

265/75 R16

The Dunlop tires were the cheapest in the test, yet surprised with a good performance on asphalt. They have a weak strength of the sidewalls and not very good results off road

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	90.1
Snow	42.9
Offroad	50
Toughness	25.4

Total: 208.4

8^th

Bridgestone Dueler MT

265/75 R16

On the pavement, it was not too bad, and Bridgestone were well balanced, but on gravel the grip was poor, and the sidewall weak

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	88.5
Snow	43
Offroad	50
Toughness	26.8

Total: 208.3

9^th

Kumho Road Venture MT KL71

265/75 R16

Kumho still can't compete with market flagship, and had poor dry braking in particular.

All discipline results (4)

Test	Result
Wet	86.6
Snow	43.9
Offroad	25
Toughness	45.6

Total: 201.1

10^th

Nankang Mudstar Radial MT

265/75 R16

Nankang were not able to perform well in any of the tests, especially the rock traction where the tire failed completely. Furthermore, according to the driver, the tire had an unpredictable balance on wet surfaces, poor comfort and poor wet braking

All discipline results (3)

Test	Result
Wet	85.9
Snow	41.7
Toughness	42.1

Total: 169.7