Pros
- Relatively quiet, with soft driving
- 65.000-mile treadlife warranty
- It comes in a wide range of tire sizes
- Excellent light snow performance thanks to the block design and deeper threads
- Superb hydroplaning resistance
Cons
- The dry tarmac performance is below average
- It doesn’t fair well with deeper snow or mud
- The A/T III is better in every aspect
Off-road vehicles are quite popular across the US. Even though they come in various shapes and sizes, part of their off-roading capabilities comes from the tires. Since they are the only contact the car makes with the ground, a good all-around tire can be crucial to a good driving experience.
Among the many all-terrain manufacturers you’ll find on the market is Toyo Tires. Their Open Country lineup comes in several variations, and the one I’ll be talking about today is their all-terrain tires.
A/T models have been around for quite a while, and even though Toyo is on their third version and the one that gets the spotlight is the second one.
As newer versions are introduced, the prices for the previous generation tires get dropped, making them a good deal. When I say a good deal, I mean tires with good performance for a lower price. So, is the Toyo Open Country A/T II any good? That’s what I’m here to answer.
Considering that the A/T II are all-terrain tires, you should be aware that they won’t be perfect in all conditions. The same applies to any kind of all-terrain tire you get, not just this model.
Since they are designed to work in all conditions from summer to winter, from tarmac to gravel and mud, they will never be as good as a dedicated tire.
These kinds of tires are designed to provide excellent balance in all conditions while being able to perform decently. As they are all-terrain tires, you can also take them off-roading.
For that, of course, you’ll need to have a vehicle capable of that, like a truck or SUV.
If you are interested in the Toyo Open Country A/T II, you’re in luck. I managed to get my hands on them and test them out.
My Toyo Open Country A/T II review will include several sections where I’ll be talking about their performance in various conditions.
In the end, I will give my opinion if you should buy them or not.
Contents
- What are the Features of the Toyo Open Country A/T II?
- What are the Specifications and Maintenance Indicators?
- How does it behave on a dry tarmac?
- How is it over wet and slippery roads?
- How does it work on snowy roads?
- Is it suitable for off-road driving?
- Is it comfortable and refined?
- Should I buy the Toyo Open Country A/T II?
- List of the Toyo Tires Review
What are the Features of the Toyo Open Country A/T II?
I’ll be starting off with the wide range of sizes that Toyo offers for this model. They are designed for trucks and SUVs, and you can find them in sizes 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 22 in various width and sidewall height and in total, you get 109 sizes.
Toyo designed the Open Country A/T II with three types of shoulder designs, and they will depend mostly on the size of the tire you get. The mid-scalloped shoulder comes with the P-metric and metric sizes.
Going one step above that is the scalloped shoulder, which can be found in the LT-metric and flotation sizes. The best and toughest shoulder you can get is the deep-scalloped one found only in the Xtreme sizes.
In general, most of the features revolve around the threads and blocks of the A/T II.
Off-road tires look good based mostly on the sidewall and tread design. Toyo went with that designing a tough-looking tire but also managed to get something out of it.
Despite the look, the design improves the performance in far from ideal conditions like snow or mud while keeping them less noisy.
In addition to that, the A/T II has a deeper thread with blocks that help the tire throw the rocks aside. It only adds to the great snow and mud traction but also manages to keep smaller stones from sticking to the grooves.
Speaking of snow performance, Toyo designed these tires with zigzag sipes and polygonal blocks. This feature enables them to dig in the snow and improve performance.
As for dry weather, the A/T II have special tie bars designed between the blocks, which provides multiple improvements. They help keep the blocks more stable in corners, reducing the flexing.
Another improvement comes in the tire wear department, where the tie bars help keep the wear as even as possible. Finally, the stiffness of the blocks helps with the braking.
To ensure longer life, the Open Country A/T II has a specially designed compound that is more resistant when it comes to tread wear. As a result, they have a 65.000-mile warranty on this model.
What are the Specifications and Maintenance Indicators?
Maintenance indicators have become a norm in the tire industry. Almost all modern tires from reputable manufacturers have them, meaning that the same goes for the Toyo Open Country A/T II.
Having maintenance indicators on a tire is very important, and it is also especially important to keep an eye on them. They are thin little bars in the tire’s thread indicating how much life you have in them. The bars are 2/32 inches high, measured from the lowest point in the thread.
As you drive the tires and the tread wears, the bars will get more and more visible. Once you reach the point where the bars and the rest of the blocks have the same height, it is time to change the tires.
There are two reasons why you’d want to change the tires at that point: performance and law. In most states, if you get pulled over with a thread less than 2/32 inches, you will get a fine.
On the performance side of things, all-terrain tires with a low thread will not perform as well as newer ones in most conditions.
They may be okay-ish on dry tarmac, but in every other case, you will not have a good time.
How does it behave on a dry tarmac?
As I’ve said before, all-terrain tires are not a replacement for dedicated tires, and the same goes for the Open Country A/T II.
The tires don’t like to be pushed hard and don’t perform as well as a road tire.
With that said, it is not all that bad. For every-day driving, most people will probably won’t have any problem with it.
Despite my words, the tires perform just as expected – decent braking and cornering in the dry, but not a replacement for a road tire.
How is it over wet and slippery roads?
While the dry performance is not something to write home about, driving them in the wet impressed me, which is to be expected.
Considering the thread and block design, the A/T II managed to perform excellently. Even when I pushed them a bit too hard, they still provided great levels of grip in the corners and got good braking distance.
The design of the tires also helps a lot with hydroplaning, providing greater resistance to it than some of their competitors.
How does it work on snowy roads?
Putting the Open Country A/T II on snow showed how good Toyo designed them for those kinds of conditions. There were some cases when the tires proved to be even better than I thought.
The traction and grip levels were great, just as the braking distance. Keep in mind that you won’t get this kind of performance in deeper snow. It is because the tires won’t be able to dig in deep enough to get traction. For that, you will need dedicated snow tires with studs.
I can say the same for driving them on ice. While they didn’t spin up without the vehicle moving, but the performance wasn’t good enough for me to recommend it for those conditions.
Is it suitable for off-road driving?
That’s what the A/T II is all about. While it did have decent performance in other conditions, I found them to be great at off-roading.
You will have excellent levels of grip if the conditions are met. I was able to push the vehicle a bit more in the corners without the thought of losing traction.
The tread and blocks also enable them to dig in good and get out of a corner or accelerate from a stand-still.
While I can praise them for that, there are some conditions where they won’t perform as well.
Deeper mud is this tire’s worst enemy, meaning that you won’t get any of the performances I mentioned.
Is it comfortable and refined?
In some cases, these kinds of tires are not the best ones, especially if you drive them on the road.
You may not have a harsh ride, but the noise can be obnoxious.
That’s not really the case with the Toyo Open Country A/T II. Even though they are not as quiet or soft as road tires, they were surprisingly quiet and absorbed bumps fairly well.
Keep in mind that we are talking about an all-terrain tire.
Should I buy the Toyo Open Country A/T II?
This will depend on what you are looking for. If you are after the best Open Country model from Toyo, then you should be looking at the A/T III. They are the latest version and have some improvement over the second generation.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a cheaper all-terrain tire with great performance in multiple conditions, then the A/T II is the perfect one for you.
You can see more Toyo Open Country A/T II review here: Video created by Stage 3 Motorsports
I’m Ivo Gievski, the content writer for Tireer. We built our website with over 15 years of experience and extensive research in the automotive and technology sectors. My dedication to delivering high-quality content is unwavering, and I strive to continuously hone my skills to stay ahead of industry trends and provide readers with informative, engaging, and valuable insights.