G'day Adventurers
I know this is going to go down like a lead balloon, but much like the heated discussions regarding vehicle brands and types, so folk 'out there' get rather bitter and twisted when it comes to a brand name or product they are happy with or quite truthfully something they've spent a lot of hard earned Dollars on and then ~ someone else gives that brand name or product a review that says it's nothing but crap, so don't waste your money and Bingo the battle lines are drawn and the brawling begins.
So the question is 'anyone running Toyo tyres?
Lots of detailed answers and mostly positive reports on the Toyo RT tyres, this is where my review differs greatly from the main stream, but I trust it does not start a mud slinging session, now my personal experiences with the Toyo tyre brand is all based on one and only one set of Toyo RT 285 - 75r x 16 tyres, which were purchased and fitted to my Land Cruiser 80 Series Sahara wagon, this is a set of six (6) brand new tyres and a mandatory wheel alignment which technically ensures these new tyres have a decent start to their service life on the Cruiser.
As anyone knows, buying a set of six relatively large tyres is an expensive undertaking, even if the whole exercise is done at a major discount tyre outlet in a capital city, where competition for your business/dollar is almost ruthless, simply because you the customer can just walk away if the price is not right.
I am NO LONGER running Toyo RT tyres and I can't see myself ever buying Toyo tyres again, no matter how good the reviews might be, simply because these brand new Toyo RT tyres at the time could have cost my wife and my self ~ our lives!
We were just four Kilometres away from the tyre fitters premises and possibly 500 metres from where we were based in the northern suburbs of Perth WA. when the Land Cruiser lost road grip and slid sideways on a down hill/slope on a major arterial road in heavy peak hour traffic, it had rained enough to use the windscreen wipers, but it was sunny at the time. My Cruiser is no lightweight but it carries the weight quite comfortably with the aid of better than standard springs, shock absorbers and all the associated suspension gear that actually keeps the vehicle level, stable and safe as a caravan towing/touring and off road capable four wheel drive, I must state, the entire braking system was over hauled several weeks prior to this actual incident and YES it had rained in that time, the only thing that was an unknown were the Toyo RT's, the tyres that came off and scrapped were very well worn mixture of BFG mud terrains, and Micky T ATZ P3's and all these tyres were well past their use by date, but did not lose grip on any surface wet or dry.
Anyway here we were, jammed hard up against the LH lane curb on a super busy road, with no way of turning the steering to the right, so I just plowed ahead along the curb, something like a train on its tracks but scuffing the sidewalls really hard, wet rubber and concrete are not good all at the same time.
Back to the tyre fitters the next day, my experience described to the manager and the people directly involved in the sale of and the fitting of these Toyo RT tyres ~ their conclusion was I was going too fast at the time, my answer was an emphatic BULLSHIT, then one of the gang of four says, wet white road markings could have made the car lose grip/control, another BULLSHIT remark came from me, only because all the road markings were still ahead of where things went pear shaped!
Then a classic retort from Mr Manager ~ must have been the 'mould release agent' still on the tyres, so you can guess what my comment to his mould release statement was, Yep another Bullshit Mate.
So for just over two years of service on the Cruiser with close to 70,000 K's clocked, and just a single puncture from a piece of dry Mulga, I could not kill these things and the place where I chose to live and willfully explore usually solo vehicle and always hard core off road, is the inland Pilbara it can be brutal at times on both man and machine, but as I said I could not kill these Toyo RT's but I was never comfortable with their lack of grip on wet asphalt simply because they were crap from day one and as such I will never spend my hard earned money buying Toyo Tyres/Tires.
My last trip to the big smoke, in May of this year saw the Toyo's go to the recyclers and my hard earned dollars went on a set of six brand new Falken Wildpeak A/T's 285 - 75r X 16 ~ not sure what the next two years might bring with these made in Thailand tyres but I will certainly keep you informed.
Safe travels : Joe Fury
