Is your dealership willing to swap tires for you? There are happy owners of both the OE Geolandar G015 and Toyo A/T III tires, but haven't seen the Toyo on a Wilderness specifically.

These, right? Open Country A/T III | The All-Terrain Tires for Trucks, SUVs and CUVs

 

Is your dealership willing to swap tires for you? There are happy owners of both the OE Geolandar G015 and Toyo A/T III tires, but haven't seen the Toyo on a Wilderness specifically.

These, right? Open Country A/T III | The All-Terrain Tires for Trucks, SUVs and CUVs

I am planning on purchasing the tires at discount, cheaper than a dealership. That is what I was looking into about the Geolanders.

 

I’m also looking at the Toyo AT3 in a 235/65. They seem a little lighter than the K02 and should fit in the spare well. The vehicle is on order till next month so all I can do is Google accessories for now. I was looking at the Wildpeaks, but the 235 size is tamed down on those.

 

I'm pasting specs from four popular tires:

All-new BFG Trail Terrain:

Wildpeak A/T Trail:

Toyo Open Country A/T-III:

Goodyear Wrangler Workhorse AT:

 

From these specs, I would choose one of the lightest two, and of those two I would choose the Toyo because the two pound weight penalty is worth the higher UTQG ratings. Throw in the great reviews on the Toyo and you have a winner. I believe in the stock 225/65-17 size the Toyo comes in at 30#.

Had I gone with an all-terrain, I would have chosen the stock size Toyo. Instead, I ended up with a stock size Nokian Encompass all weather tire because I'm more interested in winter performance from the Subaru; the Nokian has aramid sidewalls for durability in the type of off-roading we might take the Subaru on, our pickup has KO2's for serious off-roading, the type an Outback would not be able to do no matter what tires or mods you do to it. As a bonus, the Nokians come in at 26#, same as the stock Yokos, so no surprise the fuel economy has remained the same.

For the OP, the G015's that come on the Wilderness are decent tires, you might consider saving your $800+ and get your money's worth out of them before replacing them. I got 36K miles from the stock Yokos that came on our Outback.

 

I’ve had the 18” G015’s on my Kia Sorento for 5-6mths (trade-in today for new to me 2020 Premier XT, my first Subaru). Hands down the best tire I’ve had driving in rain and quiet and will be putting on my Outback.

 

We have inquired with our salesman about ordering the Toyo's since we had those on the Wrangler we traded-in. Requesting to get five of them to replace all the tires, including the spare. I've had an outstanding experience with them, and they have stiffer sidewalls for airing down where needed.

I decided to go ahead and have the dealership order the tires so they can be mounted before delivery, which will save the hassle of going to a tire place that would likely destroy the Geolanders. Some tire places in Georgia punch out the sidewalls rendering tires taken off useless even if new.

That way, the dealership can use the Geolanders for someone else's vehicle if they screw up a tire somehow. Subaru's with the asymmetrical drive know they have to replace in complete sets; otherwise, the drivetrain could get fudged up.

I go into places that the Toyo's have clawed their way through with nary any effort. We were watching some of the off-road tests of the Wilderness by several testers on YouTube, and many of them commented that the tire was just not aggressive enough for certain conditions.

So replacing the OEMs with something a lot better with a longer-lasting tread warranty is better in the long term since the ATX/IIIs are good for 60,000 miles. We add that they do extremely well on wet and dry pavements, though tire spray will be more considerable than the Geolanders. (Nothing like giving the car behind you an unexpected spray down from a Subaru.)

 

Ballermaris, is the dealer buying the factory tires back from you or giving you some type of credit toward the Toyos? I brought it up once over the phone and they were hesitant about it.

 

We have not gone that far in the inquiry as of yet.

 

@Ballermaris Any updates on your tires/delivery? My Wilderness is at the dealer now getting prepped and I may be picking it up tomorrow. I asked about getting all five tires swapped out for the Toyos and they offered to order them for me. However, I wanted to swap the Geo's out for credit at the dealer and they looked at me like I was crazy and was the first person to ever ask for a different set of tires on a new car. I'm sure other dealers would have no issue swapping the stock tires for credit, but options are rather limited right now as far as vehicle availability. I'll probably end up just riding out these Geolanders until its time for new tires. I can't even find a mom and pop used tire place that's interested in buying the factory tires off me in my area.

 

@mrtheandrew For reference, I was able to sell my OEM Yoko Avid GT takeoffs yesterday, with 5000km for $400 locally on Kijiji in two days. Replaced with Yoko IceGuards G075 on factory wheels.

 

@Ballermaris awesome!! I’ll be especially curious as to how well it fits the spare. Definitely post pictures!

 

The tires are the same size so there should not be any fitment issues in the tire well of the spare area.

 

Called my local @Discount Tire store in Chamblee to verify my install appointment for the Toyo AT/III's and they have four of the five tires in. They hope to have the fifth one by Friday the 17th, so we can have everything installed on the 18th of December.

If worse comes to worst, we will get the four done and come back to have the fifth tire mounted on the spare tire wheel. We have to figure they too are struggling with supply chains too. The AT/III's are made in Japan and not the United States.

Still, it will be great to have the Toyo's underneath the car.

 

The @Discount Tire store in Chamblee only had four of five tires come in, so no biggie. When the fifth tire shows up, we will go back and have it installed in the spare tire position.

The good news, the tire store was able to reuse the TPMS units, so we got a refund of $324. There were no errors from the TPMS after mounting the tires.

The aggressiveness of the new tires is apparent compared to the Geloanders. We are running 35 PSI all the way around, and for the spare, we will have them configure it for 40 PSI since it will be stowed in the spare tire storage.

Note the white stuff on the rims is the tire mounting lubricant, and will wash off rather quickly.

The ride is a bit stiffer, the way I like it. Everyone has their personal preferences. Also with the tires being in my view stiffer in terms of sidewall strength, the off-road side of things gives the tires a bit more protection.

The tires have a treadwear mileage rating of 65,000 miles.

 

@Ballermaris, thank you for posting your initial thoughts on the Toyo Open Country AT3 tires along with some good photos.

We appreciate your business.

 

Just put K02s on. Really happy with them. Maybe my hearing's just not as good anymore but I don't notice them being any louder and if gas mileage is affected, it's very minimal.

 

What size did you end up going with for the KO2's?

Just put K02s on. Really happy with them. Maybe my hearing's just not as good anymore but I don't notice them being any louder and if gas mileage is affected, it's very minimal.
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The AT/III's we put on our Wilderness, have about the same road noise as the Geolanders had. I think the more aggressive off-road tread gives an advantage better than the more street-leaning Geolanders.

 

Probably a good idea not to go big with the KO2 because the weight can escalate quickly. 245/65-17 will not fit in the spare tire well.