Falken Wildpeak a/t4w - XL or E Load Range?
 

A quick question - looking at the Falken Wildpeak a/t4w - there are 2 variants, and what feels like an inverted rating system. I know Load Range is a "ply" equivalent rating - however it seems backwards that the heavier "LT" (D rated) tire has the lower load index.

Curious as to what other's are selecting.... XL or D. (or are you going more by load index?)

1.) 275/55R20 FWP a/t4w Load Range XL Load Index 117 (2883 Lbs.) - Weight: 48 Lbs.
2.) 275/55R20 FWP a/t4w Load Range D Load Index 115 (2679 Lbs.) - Weight: 57 Lbs.
*by comparison the pos stock 255/60R20 Goodyear Adventures are XL / 113 (2535 Lbs) - Weight : 38 Lbs.
*data source: tirerack(com)

fysa: I am down a lot of fire & dirt roads, occasionally in a few rocks (rare) & in the summer I occasionally haul around a dirt bike on a carrier off the 2" receiver (typically adding about 365 lbs - bike+carrier+extra.gas etc.)


Looking for some input for anyone who's running Falken Wildpeaks on either the XL or D range.

This exact topic was discussed in another thread but I can't remember the title. Someone posted that the XL will handle better and ride smoother on road but the D has a slightly deeper tread depth. I ran the Wildpeak AT3's in XL on our LR4's and they were great on and off road. I'm about to take off the Nokian winter tires and I'm going with the Wildpeak AT4's in XL.

I went with XL's for the same reasons mentioned above and have been happy with them. Most of my driving is on road, and the times I've been off road they are also great. I have the Toyo Open Country's AT3.

I have the wild peaks at4w in d load ,275/60 r20 with a 1 Inch jhonson rod lift , no rubbing at all and they ride great and are quite, I also have wild peaks at3w on my defender 130 not much of a difference between ride quality

I’ve been considering doing the Gap IID lift with that size… good to know the D rated tire works in that configuration.

Other than (assumably) a mileage hit, any unexpected downsides?

I choose the load range D tires and had quite a few comments in the other thread about my experience and logic.

The load range D has significantly more tread. There are reports that these tires wear quite fast on the Jeep forums so I wanted as much as I could get for more for off road capability.

While I don’t know for certain because I couldn’t compare the tires back to back I can’t help but think that there are situations I have been in already where a BFG KO2 would have been superior in traction in snow/ice. I guess I wanted to try something different so I went this way but I would just do BFG if doing it again.

My past experience in hardpack/snow/ice with KO2's has been uninspiring & every pair I had got noisy once they wore in a bit. (they're a good all-rounder with tough sidewalls - but for my conditions I'm looking for a bit more winter ability) I was considering the Toyo AT3's however, several friends direct input says they're great while new but once they get a bit of use they lose the snow/ice capability edge. I was interested in the KO3's but like everyone else I'm not waiting around for BFG to do whatever it is they're doing. 🤣

Which has led me around to the new-ish Flalken a/t4w. *I will admit the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss is of interest, it reviews well but end users reviews seem to indicate about a 5:1 happy factor with quality and balancing and road noise. (if I was 50/50 on-road / off I wouldn't hesitate to try them, but I'm more 80-20% so noise and on-road performance is a factor here.).

none that I've noticed everything is great so far

I run the wild peaks in 265/60 r20 on my 130 and have 27,000 miles with plenty of tire left look almost new and still pretty quiet, I rotate every 5,000 I went with the wild peaks at4w just to give em a shot there supposed 2b better on street and off road only have em a couple weeks so time will tell but for me I think the wild peaks at3 or at4 are great I don't like a noisy tire and the at3 have been great in all weather snow,rain and off road

I just finished a 900 mile weekend in Death Valley in my new Defender I am definately putting the Wildpeaks on my LR3. I have the XL and am super happy. On the LR3 I’ll probably do the D as I plan it to be my overland vehicle out of the US.
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