BFGoodrich Trail-Terrain T/A vs Falken WildPeak A/T Trail: The last time we looked into the all terrain segment, we show how Goodyear’s Wrangler AT Adventure showed clear competency in off-road & dry performances over the highly popular BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO. As these 2 products are more focused on off road properties, we would like to introduce 2 new products in a slightly altered segment where the off road and on road performances are equally weighted. BFGoodrich launched its latest tireline in this segment called the “Trail-Terrain T/A” in 2020 while Falken’s WildPeak A/T Trail was launched a year earlier in 2019. Without further ado, let’s bring these 2 tires head to head and see who comes out on top!
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from Tire Rack’s Testing On-/Off-Road All-Terrain Tires 2021 test. A total of 4 tires were tested on Tire Rack’s proving ground. The graph below shows the comparison between BFGoodrich Trail-Terrain T/A vs Falken WildPeak A/T Trail based on the relevant performance category. The BFGoodrich Trail-Terrain T/A was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
As both tires have a certified 3 peak mountain logo, Tire Rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were evaluated. There are however no off road tests this time around and we have to depend on the snow & ice test for hints. The tire size of interest is a 235/60R18 which is a common tire size for Honda CR-V & Volvo XC60. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a powerful 2019 Audi Q5 Premium 2.0T.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. We saw a huge difference in wet braking as WildPeak A/T Trail totally out-brake Trail-Terrain T/A with a braking distance difference of 21.8 feet (6.6m) !
With such large deficit in wet braking, WildPeak A/T Trail continued its dominance in wet handling with a 2.79 seconds advantage in lap time against Trail-Terrain T/A. For the subjective wet handling rating, WildPeak A/T Trail faired better with a subjective score of 6.75/10 compare to 5.78/10 of Trail-Terrain T/A. Overall, WildPeak A/T Trail dominated Trail-Terrain T/A in all wet performances.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- +15.8% in wet braking
- +4.9% in wet handling (subj)
- +7.8% in wet handling (lap time)
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. While things overwhelmingly favored WildPeak A/T Trail in wet, the same holds for dry performances. WildPeak A/T Trail managed to brake 6.3 feet (1.9m) earlier compared to Trail-Terrain T/A from a speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
In dry handling, both tires perform marginally the same with WildPeak A/T Trail having a small advantage with a subjective rating of 7.09/10 over Trail-Terrain T/A’s 6.66/10. In regards to the lap times, WildPeak A/T Trail was 0.62 seconds faster per lap relative to Trail-Terrain T/A. Overall, WildPeak A/T Trail is definitely the better dry tire between the two.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- +7.3% in dry braking
- +2.2% in dry handling (subj)
- +2% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Ride comfort, noise & comfort was tested and as in dry & wet performances, the scores are really close. WildPeak A/T Trail came out slightly ahead at 7.04/10 rating compared to the 6.75/10 rating of Trail-Terrain T/A with noise being the main differences.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- +1.5% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Snow
As both tires has the 3 peak mountain log on it, we were thrilled when Tire Rack included snow on its testing list. As discussed earlier in the introduction, The 3 peak logo certification requires both tires to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation.
With wet & dry tests dominated by WildPeak A/T Trail , we saw a big difference in winter performances with Trail-Terrain T/A dominating across all snow tests. It stopped 9.45 feet (2.9m) earlier than WildPeak A/T Trail from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. It was also extremely good when it came to snow acceleration as it took 1.9 feet (0.6m) less distance to accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h). While it was also quicker in lap time (2.8 seconds !) and also subjectively better in snow handling (+0.37 points). Overall, Trail-Terrain T/A is clearly the better snow tire.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- -14.3% in snow braking
- -10.7% in snow acceleration
- -1.9% in snow handling (subj)
- -4.1% in snow handling (lap time)
Ice
With such dominating performances in snow, we would expect this to continue in ice. This was fulfilled as Trail-Terrain T/A produced the largest test deficit in this test by out-braking WildPeak A/T Trail by 10 feet (3m) from a braking speed of 12 mph (20 km/h) to 0.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- -20.4% in ice braking
UTQG rating
We have previously shown that UTQG tread wear rating can be a good indication of your expected mileage. Below are the UTQG values of both of the tirelines.
| Brand | Tireline | Size | Tread Wear | Traction | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BFGoodrich | Trail-Terrain T/A | All | 660 | A | A |
| Falken | WildPeak A/T Trail | All | 680 | A | A |
The mileage warranty for WildPeak A/T Trail is at 60,000 miles while for Trail-Terrain T/A it is at 65,000 miles. This is reflected in their UTQG tread wear rating of 680 for WildPeak A/T Trail compared to 660 of Trail-Terrain T/A. As the differences are really small, we can expect a similar mileage for both tires.
For more in depth information about UTQG, please check out this article here. We even have a free download on the latest UTQG values from the leading tire manufacturers.
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect BFGoodrich (Michelin) to command the highest priced tire in the market. This was in alignment as Trail-Terrain T/A was 5 dollars more expensive than WildPeak A/T Trail.
Tire size: 235/60R18
Trail-Terrain T/A : $218
WildPeak A/T Trail: $213
Difference: -2% more cheaper for WildPeak A/T Trail.
Summary
Overall, both tires excel at different performance segments. Trail-Terrain T/A had a big advantage in snow & ice performances while WildPeak A/T Trail had a dominant wet & dry performance. The main trade off is between winter against summer performance in this case. If you need a winter performance tire, Trail-Terrain T/A would be the choice for you but if you live in places which have only mild winter conditions & summer conditions is your dominant weather, WildPeak A/T Trail would be your choice.