The R/T or “rugged terrain” tire is a rather new development in the light truck tire world. Rugged terrain tires are designed to split the difference between the performance of an all-terrain tire and that of a mud-terrain tire. There are certain kinds of surfaces and terrain that are going to be too much for an all-terrain tire to deal with easily, but then mud-terrain tires tend to be noisy, difficult to balance, and overall less-than-ideal for the highway and daily drivers.

That’s where the Toyo Open Country R/T Trail comes in. Especially in deep snow, soupy mud, sand, or loose dirt, the Toyo Open Country R/T Trail is designed to offer better off-road grip than a conventional all-terrain tire, but without the noise and harshness of a dedicated mud-terrain tire. That’s all with a reinforced casing and damage-resistant tread formulation, for a really durable tire that’s up to the challenge and the rigors of off-road use in rough country.

But we don’t expect you to just take our word for it – let’s take a closer look with this Toyo Open Country R/T Trail review.

Features and Benefits

Traction and toughness along with civilized behavior on the street – here are some of the features and designs in the Toyo Open Country R/T Trail that make it such a great choice for a rugged-terrain tire:

• Extra-thick sidewall guards against scuffs, punctures, and cuts in rough use
• Built-in rim flange protects the sidewall and valuable wheels against curb scuffs
• Deep, dense sipe pattern delivers unbeatable traction on wet pavement
• Wide zigzag circumferential grooves evacuate standing water to resist hydroplaning effect
• Optimized tread design with large tread blocks and high void ratio for good self-cleaning of mud, stones, and debris
• 3-variable pitch pattern for reduced road noise and harshness
• Wide lateral grooves with built-in stone ejectors to protect casing against stone drilling
• 4-way tapered notches boost off-road traction
• Staggered scalloped shoulder blocks are designed for lateral traction to claw out of ruts
• Can be used aired-down for rock crawling
• Steel belted construction and spiral-wound nylon cap layer over polyester plies
• Silica-dense tread formulation is designed for durability, long, even wear and confident traction on wet or dry pavement
• Lugs are reinforced to minimize tread squirm at highway speed and stand up to rough use offroad

M+S rated for use in mud and snow, the Open Country R/T Trail is backed by a 45,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty and comes in 47 sizes (including oversized tires) for use on various vehicles.

Pros and Cons

So, is this Toyo tire the right choice for your ride? Let’s take a look at the tire’s strengths:

PROS:

• Improved grip over typical all-terrain tires
• Surprisingly quiet ride on pavement
• Durable
• Generous tread life warranty coverage

Unfortunately, no tire is perfect and that’s true for the Open Country R/T Trail too:

CONS:

• Not Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rated for winter service
• Not great on ice
• Fuel efficiency could be better

SimpleTire’s view on Toyo Open Country R/T Trail tires

If you’re serious about going off-road but you don’t like the clumsy handling, noise, balancing issues, and poor wear properties of mud-terrain tires, you really should consider rugged-terrain tires instead. And if you’re in the market for a rugged-terrain tire, you can’t do much better than the Toyo Open Country R/T. Toyo put extensive field-testing into this design at their Georgia test facility, and most Open Country R/T Trail tires will be made in the USA.

The Open Country R/T is surprisingly quiet on pavement, with a forgiving ride and decent handling, plus noise levels that aren’t much more than a hum. The tough casing design can be deflated as low as 15 psi, which rock-crawling enthusiasts will appreciate. As for the 45,000 mile tread life warranty coverage, that’s actually pretty exceptional when you consider that many all-terrain and mud-terrain tires don’t come with a mileage guarantee at all. No, the Open Country R/T Trail doesn’t have the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake designation, but we’re honestly not sure why it doesn’t. Drivers seem to not have many complaints about winter traction with this tire, except maybe on icy surfaces where nothing short of a studded tire can get the job done. The rigid sidewalls don’t really cut into ride quality, and drivers report that hours on the road with a set of Toyo Open Country R/T tires aren’t exhausting like some tires, thanks to lower noise and refined road manners.

Vehicles the Toyo Open Country R/T Trail is a good replacement tire for

As a rugged terrain tire, the Toyo Open Country R/T Trail is a great choice for Jeeps, light trucks, and SUVs like the:

• Jeep Wrangler
• Toyota 4Runner
• RAM 1500
• Chevrolet Trailblazer
• Ford Maverick
• Honda Ridgeline
• Subaru Outback