Great Tire, Disappointing Looks
Just Purchased a set of Toyo Open country A/T III's (285/70r17) for my 2026 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road. I purchased these over the more aggressive looking BF Goodrich All Terrain KO3's or the Nitto Ridge Grapplers for their well deserved reputation for reliability and good road manners on pavement. And, based on the stock photos provided on most websites, they appeared to have just enough sidewall lugs/shoulder cleats/biting edges to give them that rugged off road look I wanted. Not as much as the other options but just enough.... However in reality those lugs/shoulder cleats/biting edges barely exist on the actual tire. What little there is is painfully thin, and a lot of it is just a suggestive outline on what is otherwise a more or less smooth sidewall. See the attached photos. The lugs/shoulder cleats/biting edges are clearly less pronounced than how they appear in the stock photos provided. Of course, by the time I realized this, the tires were already mounted and I owned them, so there is no turning back now. I'll eventually make my peace with them (I have to, they were $1442 mounted, and my understanding is they last forever), but every time I pass by another truck with a sick set of aggressive looking offroad tires I am experiencing pangs of regret. I just wish they looked like they did in the stock photos on the website. Is that wrong? I dunno....
