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Fed Up with Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws

29K views 53 replies 24 participants last post by  rajeevgandhi 
#1 ·
I really wanted to like these, but, so far, these have been nothing but a headache. I purchased five of these in 265/70R17 SL from America's Tire (Discount Tire in CA) and had them mounted to brand new TRD Pro wheels. My FJ is stock height.

In the last 3 weeks, I've been taken them back to America's Tire 3 times to have them rebalanced due to terrible vibration and wandering from 40-70mph. My FJ never had these issues with the old Bridgestones, and tracked perfectly. It seems that the technician even had to stack a bunch of wheel weights in layers on top of each other, three high, to try to get the wheel to balance properly without success. On the third try, they ordered two new AT3Ws and put all five tires on the road force balance machine. This helped, but there's still slight vibration.

Then yesterday. I stepped out of the FJ and glanced at the front driver's side tire to find that chunks of the tread blocks have fallen off. I walked around to check the other three tires, but those were fine. I checked the pressures on all five tires, and they were anywhere from 32-33.5 psi, normal.

Maybe I was unlucky and had tires from a bad batch. But in speaking with one of the techs at America's Tire this morning, he said that this same exact thing happened to another customer with a 4Runner. He says some of the AT3Ws are just not round, unfortunately. Good grief. I actually shied away from KO2s after reading of similar issues.

So, here were are. They're ordering 4 new Wildpeaks today to see if they can make it right once and for all. We'll see what happens. Just a heads up, in case anyone else was thinking about purchasing these tires. Falken has to work out some quality control issues.
 

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#16 ·
Toyota could never balanced my factory Dunlop AT20's right nor the KO2's. Discount Tire nails the KO2's perfectly every time. I tell Toyota not to touch the balance of my tires. I always get a vibration at 55-60 mph when Toyota did the balance. Every time Discount Tire did it, it was perfect. Might have just had a bad shop with a not as great balance machine. They are wearing perfectly for me. I'm around 12k miles on them.
 
#4 ·
I envy you, lol. Reviews like yours are what influenced my decision to go with the AT3Ws. In all fairness, they are incredibly quiet. And the guys at America's Tire have been super helpful during this process. I'm still holding out hope that they'll work out, but I kinda don't wanna get my hopes up. Will keep you posted.

Must have a bad set. I`m on my second set of the wild peaks AT3 and they are great. They are wearing great. They balanced fine. I will be getting a third set in the fall so I`m ready for next winter <img src="http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />
 
#5 ·
(snip) Then yesterday. I stepped out of the FJ and glanced at the front driver's side tire to find that chunks of the tread blocks have fallen off.
I'm not seeing anything in your photos that remotely looks like "chunks of tread block falling off".

Could you post some photos showing exactly where the chunks of tread block have "fallen off"?

What I do see is where the leading edges of a few tread blocks have been slightly "nibbled" by spinning the tires on a gravel or slightly rocky surface.
 
#6 ·
(snip) Then yesterday. I stepped out of the FJ and glanced at the front driver's side tire to find that chunks of the tread blocks have fallen off.
I'm not seeing anything in your photos that remotely looks like "chunks of tread block falling off".

Could you post some photos showing exactly where the chunks of tread block have "fallen off"?

What I do see is where the leading edges of a few tread blocks have been slightly "nibbled" by spinning the tires on a gravel or slightly rocky surface.
Whether "chunks" or "nibbles", it certainly doesn't look right, especially if all four tires have less than 30 miles on them from normal city and freeway driving. I haven't taken these on gravel or anything else, much less off road, so I have no idea why that one tire would look like that.

I have taken my old tires on some gravely dirt roads, and none of them have had such nibbles taken out of the tread like this. Those nibbles are around the whole tire, not just that patch. The tech at the shop also says it doesn't look right, and have forwarded my photos to a rep at Falken.
 
#8 ·
I am running 285/70/17's Falken WP's on steelies. They are 3 months old. 3000 miles. Just had them rotated. Mixed desert and highway use. No chunks missing . Have a slight hop on one corner because for some reason they keep throwing weights. 2x's now. A weight actually fell off while I was washing it! Pretty sure is a Discount Tire employee issue. Not a tire issue. Love these tires so far. Quiet and smooth.
Does anyone find that these tires stink? New rubber smell is one thing . But after 3 months ? Especially after they warm up after a drive.
 
#9 ·
Never heard anyone complain about Cooper or Yokohama tires. They just work.
 
#11 ·
Those pieces torn from the leading edge of the tread blocks look like they’ve been caused by wheel hop possibly. If that’s the wheel having a hard time holding weight it’s possible that tire isn’t perfectly round and fixing it with weight simply won’t work. It’ll continue to throw weights and this slight damage will become more evident as the tire begins to scallop from rapidly changing forces as it spins.
 
#24 ·
I've seen this on BFGs in the past. The scalloping gets quite pronounced.
 
#13 ·
They look like blems to me. Some dealers receive blem tires often to be competitive in pricing. My distributor sent me a set a few years back. We caught it before we mounted them. I called them up, they said the blems must have gotten mixed up in a regular batch and they would offer me a discount credit. I told them I have another tire distributor also. They kindly sent me a set of 'regular' production tires and I still use them as my main distributor. I would ask the dealer if they are receiving blems.

I used to have major problems with Falken tires on a normal basis. After selling hundreds of sets of High Country AT, I was starting to notice wear issues and even warrantied a few sets. Falken left a really bad taste in my mouth after that and so I would not buy. I know they spent millions in their R&D department shortly after that but I was still reluctant to try them again. I have only sold the new Wildpeak MT lately after reading some reviews and having a few customers who requested them. So to get my own opinion of the tire, I ordered up a set for the shop's '96 Dodge 2500 Cummins 4x4 but I don't have enough time on them yet to review. Personally, I don't really care for the looks of the AT3W and am a huge believer of Cooper AT3 (which have 4 different compounds now, 2 with aggressive sidewalls). If it ain't broke, don't fix it! They simply work and work well as an All Terrain tire and fit a price point well below BFG, and they simply last longer without the drawbacks of the newer thin sidewalls that BFG and others are using now. I am also about 20,000 miles into a set of General Grabber ATX tires and am very confident in that product now as well as their Grabber X3. As @Thorn661 mentioned, I run Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003 on our FJ and am pleased so far. I sell tires and use them on our company, personal, and our kid's vehicles and we use them hard. I only want to sell what I know works.
 
#14 ·
My first job was a tire shop and we would get blems all the time. The owner would offer them at a discounted price but would always tell the buyer up front and there was no warranty involved. I ran a set of 295/50 blems for years on my F100 and they did wear fast but that was mostly my fault. :grin
 
#17 ·
Thanks, all, for the info/input. I had no idea that they would sell blemishes. Besides just asking Discount Tire, how could I tell if they were blemishes or not? Are they marked a certain way?

The ones I picked up were SL, or P rated tires.

I'm looking at Coopers and Yoko's as a plan B for now.
 
#18 ·
Every company has their way of marking a blem. Some are an ink spot other than the usual colors which are typically red, yellow, green, or white. Some may have a stripe across the tread somewhere too. You would probably have to contact Falken to find out for sure.

P=passenger, SL=Sidewall Load, usually indicating a stronger sidewall but they are usually still considered 4 ply rating, and may be load range C. They will handle a heavier load than standard 4 ply rated tires. Tires that have the "LT" before the size will typically be stronger and have better sidewalls than those with none or a "P"(passenger car rated), and will have a "C", "D", or "E" load rating and higher ply rating consequently.

You can't go wrong with Coopers. I've sold them for many years and I have yet to warranty one. That's not to say that things can't happen to them, but typically it's an alignment, shock, or driver fault.

Let us know the end result.
 
#19 ·
I have Cooper Discoverer AT3s and like them. I went with them partly because they are a load range C. A bit more than a P rated tire but I didn't see the need for E rated either. I run them at 35 psi and they are wearing evenly.

Also they have a similar tread style to the ones that you have. Again an in between pattern, not highway not mud.
 
#21 · (Edited)
I run the Wildpeak AT3W on my LR3 and I had them road force balanced on the first installation because I wanted to avoid issues. I had them installed at our Cadillac (and former Saab) dealer because we have always had a Saab and fully trusted the guys there to do it right. Some tires took 6-7oz of weight and they could not get 2 tires below 35 lbs of road force. Around town they are definately smooth and quiet. On the highway they are great until about 70 and then there is a slight vibration that progresses with increased speed. It's not enough to cause issue or be any kind of safety concern, but I notice it.

It's frustrating because these have been my favorite tire so far, they have not slipped on any surface (dry, wet, snow) and are quiet for the tread design. I am really torn as to whether I will buy them again. My wife just got a set of Yokohama Geolandar AT 1015 to replace her Duratracs (which got so loud it was a joke after 25,000 miles) and she is thrilled - she says hands down they are the best tire she has driven on. Her only gripe is that the design is not as beefy as she would like, but then again, they probably would not perform as well if they were "beefier" - we're all forever chasing the perect tire!
 
#22 ·
I've been through virtually every tire brand between my 3 jeeps, 2 pro-4xs and FJ over the last 8 years. My Falkens are the best at I've every used (especially for road noise). I bought on Amazon and exclusively use a small local tire shop for install. This was the best decision I ever made. I took my FJ to Toyota twice before to get an alignment and balance on my prior set of Wranglers and first time it almost seemed like I had death wobble it would get so bad on the interstate.

I think your problem is with the shop, not the tire. Looks like they are sticking you with some blems and some $10/hr installers.

I'm over 12k in of interstate and hard off-roading over the southwest and Texas and they barely look broken in. Also, I run 48 psi and check it weekly.
 
#23 ·
All tire manufacturers make bad tires from time to time. I had four square BFG all terain's. Nothing would balance them. BFG comped them out. After two great sets it was a big surprise. I switched to Goodyear and love my Wranglers. This set is great. The next set???
 
#25 ·
I've put almost 40,000 on my LT285/70/17E's over the last 3 years. I'm doing a 5 tire rotation and have been really happy with them. I've had a few balancing issues but it's been from one particular shop. Of course it's the one that is most convenient but a stop at a different DT shop has corrected it both times. They run smooth on the highway and around town and are wearing like iron. I've only had one time where they didn't grip on some super slick clay and would be interested to try them on snow. I live in FL and haven't traveled north in the winter yet. They seem to be pretty hard and are getting loud though. I've read that there have been more issues with the p-metrics than the LT's. They stunk to high heaven for the first couple of months that I had them. I won a set of KM3's at last years Appalachian Toyota Roundup and just received them (I was holding out for a size that was not being produced yet but ended up with same 285's) and am torn if I should just keep running the Falkens or switch to the KM3's now.
 

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#27 ·
UPDATE: Just took it in to install the new Wildpeaks they ordered last week, only to be told by the manager that he had received an e-mail from Falken this morning informing of a recall. Great.

He said that Falken is still determining the production codes on the defective tires, so he will keep me posted. But until then, all Wildpeaks are being taken off the shelves.

Debating on whether I should give it another shot, since these seem to be a defective set. Or just go with something else completely. This is my fourth visit to America's Tire. Maybe the 5th time's a charm? Bummer.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Thank you. I just entered my info in that recall form above, but after I pressed "submit", the response was "Thank you for your application to be a brand ambassador..."?? I have no idea what just happened there, lol.

So, three of the five tires, including the scalloping front driver side tire, have the same DOT number DA70 3MDR0719. We'll see what they tell me about that and the rest.
 
#30 ·
IDK, I pulled that link off my dealer's site. It's probably just for us but now you're registered and will probably hear back from either Falken or the dealer. The dealer should have done this while you were there, so at least something may happen now.
 
#34 ·
UPDATE: Went in this morning, and they swapped out the two front tires with new ones (the two rears were already replaced during visit #3 ). The manager did it himself, to make sure everything was checked off. He said that the driver's side front tire was so out of round that it needed 11 weights to balance it out, which was unacceptable.

I've since driven it about 20 miles or so, both on the freeway and surface streets, and everthing seems A-ok, so far. Due to time contraints, I'll drive it around some more on the weekend to see if anything turns up.

I feel better about it, overall. I think it was just a case of bad luck that sometimes happens with different tires. Although this whole thing took way too long to fix, it seems like it's good now, and I'd probably do business with America's Tire again. Maybe, probably. Lol.


Have a great rest of the week, everyone! ?
 
#35 ·
The neverending saga continues. The vibrations persist, so the manager took it out for a spin himself. He says that he felt shaking in the front and rear. He thinks that the TRD Pro wheels may not be compatible because of the difference in rim width (going from 7.5" wide steelie to 7" TRD Pro), and the difference in offset. He says that changing out the wheels pinched the tires in, and also effectively decreased my track width, which is causing loss of overall stability.

Can someone verify the info about the track width? I was under the assumption, after much reading, that the TRD Pro wheels would increase my track width by half an inch on both sides, for 1" overall?

They're now swapping out the fronts one more time. Worst case scenario, I'll have to put my old steelies back on with the Wildpeaks, I think. I'm super disappointed that this is happening, especially that these aren't oddball rims. They're pretty popular for FJs. Sigh.
 
#36 ·
Sounds like a load of poppy coc.k.

I'm running the TRD Pro rims as is my boss on his 4runner and our salesman on his Tacoma.

No one is having shakes, shimmies or other issues. All different brands of tires and the 2 shop trucks have their tires swapped with winter tires and back again to summers.
 
#39 ·
And this is why I just don't understand it. ?

They want to rule out that it's the rims, so they're gonna swap them back to the OEM steelies next week to see what happens. If the shakes persist, then those Wildpeaks just arent meant to be. They've ordered a set of KO2s.
 
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