A/T Tires Review: Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT, Nokian Outpost NAT, BFG KO3, Westlake SL369, Wrangler Duratrac RT, Wildpeak AT4, Recon Grappler

[Will721]

Haven't seen it posted yet, so I figured Id toss it up. I was surprised that a crowd favorite the Falken AT4W scored so poorly, and hes tested another favorite the Toyo several times resulting in also having poor results to the point it didn't even make this round of testing (he stated so in the comments). He also apparently couldn't get his hands on a set of Bajas in time to start the test.

Definitely one of the better testing criteria I've seen with a much more scientific and consistent basis for all testing. I was surprised a Perelli won overall. I really would have liked to see the Bajas.

Comparison Review:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre-Tests/Best-All-Terrain-Tyres-2026-Test.htm

Video:




AI summary:

This comprehensive review by Tyre Reviews spans a year of testing across Northern Europe (snow/ice), Central Europe (dry/wet), and Utah (off-road dirt handling). The test evaluates six of the newest, most aggressive all-terrain (AT) tires, one budget mild-AT tire, and a standard all-season tire as a reference point.

The test vehicle used is a Ford Ranger Raptor, mostly evaluated in rear-wheel-drive (RWD) mode to push the tires to their limits.

1. Dirt Handling & Off-Road Testing
Tested on a mix of rocky, smooth, and fluffy dirt surfaces in Utah.

• Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus (XTM AT/AT80): The top performer alongside the Nokian. Easiest, most predictable drive with a well-balanced grip circle.
• Nokian Outpost NAT: Matched the Pirelli for the best subjective driving feel; excellent carcass compliance over bumps and great bite in loose fluff.
• BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3: Highly impressive. Even though it's a stiff, heavy tire, its carcass was incredibly compliant in the ruts. It performs slightly better under straight-line braking and acceleration than it does while turning.
• Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac RT & Falken Wildpeak A/T4W: Both offered good mechanical grip, but their stiff carcasses caused them to struggle and bounce when hitting heavy ruts. The Falken suffered from noticeable understeer.
• Nitto Recon Grappler: Had decent straight-line braking grip, but very poor lateral (side-to-side) grip. The rear end would step out rapidly and unpredictably on throttle.
• Westlake SL369 (Budget/Mild AT): The most difficult tire on the dirt track. It had decent rubber compound grip on smooth sections, but its weak carcass provided zero stability through rough ruts.
• Pirelli Scorpion AS+ 3 (Reference All-Season): Performed surprisingly well on hard-packed dirt because its lighter weight and compliant carcass didn't have to account for extreme puncture resistance. However, it struggled to recover once sliding and would fail completely in deep mud.

2. Wet Performance & Braking
Wet handling was tested on a 2-minute lap. Wet braking and hydroplaning resistance were measured objectively.

• Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT: The absolute standout. It was an astonishing 5 seconds faster per lap than the Westlake and roughly 10 seconds faster than its premium rivals. It transformed the truck's dynamics, offering immense traction, crisp steering response, and top-tier wet braking.
• Westlake SL369: The surprise runner-up in the wet. Because its design is biased toward on-road driving (milder tread), it cleared water effectively and felt sharp on the brakes.
• Nokian Outpost NAT: The fastest of the remaining premium pack. It resisted terminal understeer and allowed the driver to rotate the truck smoothly using the throttle. It also won the hydroplaning resistance test.
• BFGoodrich KO3: Excelled at straight-line wet braking but heavily disliked cornering, exhibiting continuous, safe (but slow) understeer.
• Goodyear Duratrac RT: Felt "industrial" and required a lot of steering input. It had a wide recovery window but lacked structural sharpness.
• Falken A/T4W & Nitto Recon Grappler: Finished at the bottom. Both suffered from low grip, poor braking, and a "peaky" rear end that would suddenly snap into oversteer.

3. On-Road Comfort, Noise & NVH
Evaluated over a full day of driving across varying pavement types in Utah.

• Nokian Outpost NAT: The biggest surprise on the road. While it didn't strictly dominate one single area, it combined steering sharpness, low noise, and excellent ride damping perfectly, making it the host's top recommendation for a daily driver.
• BFGoodrich KO3: The most plush and comfortable tire. It rounded off harsh bumps beautifully. However, its steering in this specific size felt sluggish and unpredictable, causing a delayed "two-part turn" reaction between the front and rear axles.
• Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT: Possessed the sharpest, most stable steering and best shoulder stability (feeling like a sports tire), but rode slightly firmer and louder than the BFG.
• Goodyear Duratrac RT & Falken A/T4W: Both felt agricultural and a bit bouncy. The Falken was noticeably loud at highway speeds and suffered from poor damping over bumps.
• Westlake SL369: Noticeable drop-off in refinement. While total volume wasn't terribly high, it emitted an annoying high-pitched pitch reminiscent of a failing wheel bearing and held onto vibrations.
• Nitto Recon Grappler: The loudest tire on test. It produced a traditional, prominent all-terrain "hum" at speed that modern premium tires have largely engineered out.

4. Snow Performance
A brief overview ahead of a full upcoming winter test video.

• Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac RT: The objective king of the snow. It produced the fastest handling lap, best braking, and second-best traction.
• Pirelli Scorpion XTM AT & Nokian Outpost NAT: Right on the Goodyear's heels. The Pirelli had slightly better traction but slightly worse braking, while the Nokian was incredibly solid overall.
• BFGoodrich KO3: Very competitive and performed reliably in both 2WD and 4WD configurations.
• Falken A/T4W, Westlake, and Nitto: Considerably behind the pack. The Falken A/T4W was uniquely disappointing, with snow traction sitting 30% lower than the leaders. The host explicitly warns against using it in heavy winter climates.

Final Standings & Summary

PositionTire ModelKey StrengthsKey WeaknessesFinal Verdict1st PlacePirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus (XTM AT/AT80)

• Dominant wet braking
• Fastest wet & dirt handling laps
• Top-tier snow traction
• Exceptionally sharp steering
• Slightly firmer ride quality
• Slightly more road noise than the softest options

The Winner: Represents a generational leap for the AT category. Delivers sports-tire handling on pavement while dominating off-road and winter testing.2nd PlaceNokian Outpost NAT

• Best overall balance of manners
• Extremely low road noise
• Superb winter/snow grip
• High hydroplaning resistance
• Slightly longer raw braking distances in dry pavement conditions

The Best All-Rounder: A masterfully engineered package with zero glaring flaws. Easily the top recommendation for an everyday daily driver.3rd PlaceBFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3

• Unmatched plush ride comfort
• Excellent impact damping
• Stellar straight-line braking
• Great compliance in dirt ruts
• Heavy understeer in wet corners
• Sluggish, delayed "two-part" steering response on-road

The Comfort King: Sturdy and premium over rough bumps, but sacrifices pavement handling agility and cornering speeds.4th PlaceWestlake SL369 (Budget)

• Strong wet road braking
• Predictable on-road handling
• Very low retail entry price
• Weak carcass struggles in ruts
• Poor winter snow traction
• Emits an annoying, high-pitched highway drone

The Wild Card: Road-biased design punches well above its weight class on wet/dry pavement, but falls short in severe off-road terrain or real winter weather.5th PlaceGoodyear Wrangler Duratrac RT

• Undisputed king of pure snow
• Fastest snow handling & braking
• Tough, durable carcass in dirt
• Mediocre wet pavement grip
• Unrefined "industrial" handling
• Noticeably bouncy ride quality

The Winter Warrior: A traditional, heavy-duty all-terrain tire built to survive harsh jobsites and deep winter conditions, sacrificing daily street refinement.[/TD>6th PlaceFalken Wildpeak A/T4W

• Excellent dry braking metrics
• High tread life and wear resistance
• Terrible snow traction (-30%)
• Heavy understeer in dirt
• Prone to sudden wet oversteer

The Disappointment: Sacrificed too much performance and winter traction in favor of longevity. A massive step down from the celebrated AT3W legacy.7th PlaceNitto Recon Grappler

• Decent straight-line mechanical braking on dry dirt tracks
• Worst wet handling and braking
• Unpredictable, peaky breakaway
• Loud traditional highway hum

Last Place: A legacy 2021 platform that simply can no longer keep pace with modern rubber compounds and modern tread architecture.

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[OminousSkitter]

Too bad they didn't include MT Baja Boss. A different comparison test had them as the best non-winter tire on snow.

 

[Will721]

Shout out to the administrator for adding the article link and summary. (I'm lazy)

 

[JayTech]

I work in parts so I like to test out a lot of tires so that I can stand behind my recommendations. So I get they might not stand out as the best tire when comparing the options out there in terms of grip performance, but I found the Falkens do really good and stand out as one of the better all rounders. I live in the Snow belt in Central Ontario, Canada, where we especially the past couple years, have gotten record amounts of snow. I've driven in over 2 ft of loose and packed snow multiple times and they handled almost as good as a set of dedicated snow tires. As long as I was in 4hi and not 2wd, I never had any issues with getting stuck. Wet performance is a non issue unless you are driving like an idiot(which I have done and they still aren't terrible). Off road they handled wonderfully. Yes the sidewall is a little stiff on the LTs and they are very heavy but I felt they were still plenty capable and predictable. On road, they are super comfortable to drive on and also one of the more quiet options considering their tread design.

The Nitto tires in this video on the other hand, I am personally not a fan of. Had those on my current truck a week and took them off right away. They were louder than what I wanted on road, and handling was unimpressive. I ended up trying out the Nitto Terra Grappler G3 as an alternative and honestly I am very impressed with them currently. Fairly quiet on road and only start to really make any kind of undesirable noise at speeds I am not travelling at 99% of the time(80+mph), but even then if you have music playing, you can't really hear them even then.

 

[Madmez]

Can anyone attest to the nokians?

 

[AmbyBomb]

I work in parts so I like to test out a lot of tires so that I can stand behind my recommendations. So I get they might not stand out as the best tire when comparing the options out there in terms of grip performance, but I found the Falkens do really good and stand out as one of the better all rounders. I live in the Snow belt in Central Ontario, Canada, where we especially the past couple years, have gotten record amounts of snow. I've driven in over 2 ft of loose and packed snow multiple times and they handled almost as good as a set of dedicated snow tires. As long as I was in 4hi and not 2wd, I never had any issues with getting stuck. Wet performance is a non issue unless you are driving like an idiot(which I have done and they still aren't terrible). Off road they handled wonderfully. Yes the sidewall is a little stiff on the LTs and they are very heavy but I felt they were still plenty capable and predictable. On road, they are super comfortable to drive on and also one of the more quiet options considering their tread design.

The Nitto tires in this video on the other hand, I am personally not a fan of. Had those on my current truck a week and took them off right away. They were louder than what I wanted on road, and handling was unimpressive. I ended up trying out the Nitto Terra Grappler G3 as an alternative and honestly I am very impressed with them currently. Fairly quiet on road and only start to really make any kind of undesirable noise at speeds I am not travelling at 99% of the time(80+mph), but even then if you have music playing, you can't really hear them even then.

I agree with you on the Falkens. I have them on my 3500 on based on that, put them on my Tacoma.

 

[Eesh29]

I live in Canada and I have Falkens At4w s .... they preform great. The only thing I don't care for is how heavy they are. Unfortunately the Perelli’s look to be the same weight

 

[MT-Taco]

Can anyone attest to the nokians?

I have 34K miles on a set of Nokian NAT’s 285/70R17 SL (46lbs) I’m not a tire nerd but I can say they are the best AT tire I’ve owned. Great manners and quiet on pavement dry, wet, or snow packed. And are excellent off road.

 

[Mightyquinn]

I plan on upgrading to the Pirelli XTM AT's once my Goodyear's that came from the factory are worn down a little bit more. Just seems like a good all around tire to me plus it looks pretty nice too.

 

[GER_95]

I swapped out the original tires at 1k [Sep 2024]for the Pirelli XTM AT. Find them to be the best all around tire for Canadian winters and summer driving.

 

[Ironhide]

Have about 5k miles on a set of XTMs. They are very surefooted, especially in the rain. Surprisingly quiet as well.

 

[Lars]

Can anyone attest to the nokians?

I’m a bit of a homer re nokians.
The outposts I had were on a 99 4Runner. Liked them just fine for year round use. I’m in winnipeg. I don’t rock climb or wtvr. Snow, some sand and overgrown logging trails.
I had Hakkas on my other 99 4Runner and Ones on wife’s bmw. All good. Not a fan of nokians single retailer system in Canada though.

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