Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 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. Yokohama launched its latest tireline in this segment called the “Geolandar A/T G015” in 2016 while Falken’s WildPeak A/T Trail was launched 3 years later 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 Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 vs Falken WildPeak A/T Trail based on the relevant performance category. The Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 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 small difference in wet braking as WildPeak A/T Trail out-brake Geolandar A/T G015 with a braking distance difference of 3.4 feet (1m) !
As shown in other test, a small advantage in wet braking does not necessarily imply good wet handling capability. In wet handling, WildPeak A/T Trail managed a 0.56 seconds advantage in lap time against Geolandar A/T G015. For the subjective wet handling rating, Geolandar A/T G015 faired better with a subjective score of 6.91/10 compare to 6.75/10 of WildPeak A/T Trail. Overall, WildPeak A/T Trail was strong in wet braking & wet handling lap times. Both tires are rated quite close in subjective wet handling.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- +2.5% in wet braking
- -0.8% in wet handling (subj)
- +1.6% 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. Both tires were neck to neck in dry braking and had the same braking distance of 86.4 feet (26m) from a speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
In dry handling, both tires perform marginally the same in subjective points as WildPeak A/T Trail have a small advantage with a subjective rating of 7.09/10 over Geolandar A/T G015’s 7/10. In regards to the lap times, WildPeak A/T Trail was 0.66 seconds faster per lap relative to Geolandar A/T G015. Overall, WildPeak A/T Trail has a slight edge in dry handling.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- 0% in dry braking
- +0.4% in dry handling (subj)
- +2.1% 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 6.83/10 rating of Geolandar A/T G015 with steering & road handling being the main differences.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- +1.1% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Snow
As both tires had 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 hence legally recognizing them as a winter tire.
With wet & dry tests dominated by WildPeak A/T Trail , we saw a big difference in winter performances with Geolandar A/T G015 dominating across all snow tests. It stopped 5.9 feet (1.8m) earlier than WildPeak A/T Trail from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. It was also good when it came to snow acceleration as it took 0.7 feet (0.2m) 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, Geolandar A/T G015 is clearly the better snow tire.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- -9% in snow braking
- -4.1% 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 however not proven to be true as the advantage was mildly as Geolandar A/T G015 only out-braking WildPeak A/T Trail by 0.5 feet (0.15m) from a braking speed of 12 mph (20 km/h) to 0.
WildPeak A/T Trail:
- -1% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yokohama | Geolandar A/T G015 | All | 600 | A | B |
| Falken | WildPeak A/T Trail | All | 680 | A | A |
The mileage warranty for both Geolandar A/T G015 & WildPeak A/T Trail is at 60,000 miles. They both offered the same mileage warranty even though WildPeak A/T Trail has a higher UTQG tread wear rating of 680 compared to 600 of Geolandar A/T G015. Taking into consideration of both factors, we can expect a similar competitive 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
As both tires are in the quality segment, we do expect a highly competitive pricing. This was in alignment as WildPeak A/T Trail was only 7 dollars cheaper than WildPeak A/T Trail.
Tire size: 235/60R18
Geolandar A/T G015 : $220
WildPeak A/T Trail: $213
Difference: -3% more cheaper for WildPeak A/T Trail.
Summary
Overall, both tires excel at different performance segments. Geolandar A/T G015 had the 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, Geolandar A/T G015 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.
