Rocky Mountain All Terrain Tires Review

Real test data, off-road insights, and daily-driving impact — from a former Bridgestone engineer.

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain, sold exclusively through Discount Tire, is an affordable On-Road A/T tire built for SUVs, crossovers, and light-duty pickups. With a highway-inspired tread design, it prioritizes smooth road manners, low noise, and year-round drivability while still carrying a 3PMSF rating for reliable winter traction. Its budget-friendly pricing and well-rounded performance have made it a popular alternative to more expensive name-brand all-terrains, though its lighter tread pattern means less bite in mud, sand, or rocky trails.

From our testing and driver reports, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain delivers strong wet and snow performance for its class, dependable tread life, and excellent highway comfort. The trade-off is limited off-road depth — it’s better suited to paved roads, dirt, and gravel than to aggressive trail use or heavy towing.

In the sections ahead, we’ll dig into its dry, wet, snow, and light off-road performance. You can also compare it against similar budget A/Ts in our All-Terrain Tire Decision Tool for quick recommendations by SUV, CUV, or truck class.

Overview

Rocky Mountain All Terrain is an excellent choice if you’re in search of a budget-friendly all-terrain tire. While it may not excel in extreme off-road conditions, it strikes a good balance between on-road and light off-road performance. It’s particularly well-suited for SUVs or 1/2-ton trucks. However, if you have a heavier vehicle, you might encounter a shorter lifespan with this tire.

Tire Decision Tool

For those in a hurry: this tool makes it easy. Just pick your vehicle and what matters most to you, and it’ll instantly suggest the best tire options.

Usage Mix

Emphasis

Vehicle

How many tires?

Click Show to see tire recommendations. (After that, changes update automatically.)

On-Road Manners

Rock Mountain All Terrain tire is a great choice for on-road use. Below, I’ll provide a detailed explanation of what you can expect from it.

Dry Traction

The dry traction of a tire is largely determined by the amount of tire compound in contact with the road. In the case of the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire, its compact tread pattern allows it to have a substantial amount of rubber on the road. Additionally, the tire features a soft compound, which further enhances its traction in any condition.

Wet Traction

Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire offers a respectable level of wet traction, and this can be attributed to two key factors.

Firstly, the tire features well-siped lugs, reminiscent of the legendary Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S. These sipes contribute to improved grip on wet surfaces.

Secondly, the tire’s compound plays a significant role. In terms of compound stiffness, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire stands out with one of the softest compounds on the market. While its competitors in the SL load range typically have UTQG ratings of around 600, this tire boasts a lower UTQG rating of 520. This lower rating indicates a softer compound, which performs exceptionally well in wet conditions.

Handling

When it comes to handling, two key metrics come into play: steering response and cornering stability.

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire excels in both these aspects. Its continuous and reinforced center rib enhances its responsiveness, making steering feel more immediate and precise. Additionally, the tire’s rounded shoulders, although not overly aggressive in appearance, play a crucial role in reducing its tread width. This reduction further contributes to improved responsiveness.

In terms of cornering stability, the tire’s narrow and compact tread pattern is a significant asset. Combined with solid sidewalls (although not as robust as some competitors like the BF Goodrich KO2 or Nitto Ridge Grappler), the tire manages to distribute the load effectively and maintain stability during cornering.

Furthermore, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain features four circumferential grooves and full-depth siping. These design elements enhance its water evacuation capabilities, resulting in impressive resistance to hydroplaning. Consequently, drivers can feel confident in the tire’s wet handling performance.

In summary, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain offers commendable handling capabilities, delivering both responsiveness and stability.

Comfort

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire boasts a compact and highway-like tread pattern with a 3-3 center rib design. This design choice makes it relatively straightforward to optimize for a consistent contact patch.

Thanks to its well-maintained contact with the road surface during rolling, this tire delivers a smooth and comfortable riding experience.

Road Noise

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire’s reduced void area plays a pivotal role in noise reduction. Additionally, upon closer inspection of the shoulder section, you’ll notice that the lugs are uniform, resulting in reduced traction on loose terrain but enhanced noise reduction.

Furthermore, this tire has a slightly lower tread depth compared to its competitors. This characteristic enables it to break the airflow within the tread more easily than its counterparts. In summary, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire is known for its quiet and noise-free performance.

Off Road Prowess

When it comes to off-road performance, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire may not be the absolute best choice, but it still holds its own in certain conditions. This tire performs well in light off-road conditions where an emphasis on evacuation capability is needed. However, for more demanding off-road activities like rock crawling or dune driving, it’s advisable to look for alternative tire options.

In summary, the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire is not solely an off-road tire but strikes a balance between light off-road capability and respectable on-road performance.

Winter Performance

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire excels in bare pavement and on-road snow conditions, thanks to its 3PMSF designation and well-siped compound.

However, it faces challenges in deep snow conditions. While its full-depth sipes assist in gripping and chewing through snow, the tire struggles to efficiently evacuate snow, affecting its performance in slush and deep snow.

On icy surfaces, the tire’s sipes and soft compound provide good traction, but it’s not the ideal choice for a tire that needs to excel in all four seasons, especially on ice.

Deep Dive into the Tread

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire features a variable pitch design that enhances handling on uneven terrains. Although its well-siped pattern provides good wet and on-road snow traction, it can lead to increased rolling resistance.

Additionally, some of its lugs have a step-down feature, which benefits loaded applications. Despite the soft compound, this design element helps reduce tire squirming, contributing to better stability and performance under load.

Compound Composition

The Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire is rated 520 A B UTQG on P-metric sizes, indicating an A rating for wet traction and a B rating for temperature.

This rating suggests that the tire may wear more quickly on rocky terrains, resulting in lower cut and chipping resistance.

Overall, the tire’s compound strikes a good balance between off-road and on-road performance, with better performance observed on highway conditions.

Treadwear Life

From my perspective, the primary drawback of the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire is its lower tread depth, which, while beneficial for handling, results in a shorter lifespan compared to premium brand all-terrain tires.

Additionally, the highly siped compound can lead to higher rolling resistance on loaded applications, potentially affecting towing capability.

Warranty Coverage

Rocky Mountain offers a 50,000-mile warranty for P-metric sizes of this tire, while LT sizes come with a 45,000-mile warranty.

Price Point

In terms of price point, this tire is unbeatable. While a set of four tires from most of its competitors costs almost $1000, Rocky Mountain All Terrain comes in at around $600, making it a cost-effective choice.

Conclusion

If you’re searching for an affordable tire, I highly recommend giving Rocky Mountain All Terrain a try. While it may not be the absolute best all-terrain tire on the market, it offers excellent value for its price point.

A Quick Check List:

LT sizes have stronger sidewalls. That feature makes them more durable. Yet, these tires offer a rougher ride. (LT vs P-Metric tires)
XL sizes tend to carry more load and offer better handling. Hence, if you’ll go with p-metric sizes, they might be a better pick for hauling and towing( XL vs SL tires)
Please pay attention to the load index & load range and speed index. These metrics are essential if you expect decent tread life
There isn’t a bad tire in the market right now, you should just know what to expect from tires

I hope the article was helpful. Have a safe ride folks!

For those who prefer to see whole market analyze:

A couple of popular size analyses:

Want to learn more about all-terrain tires:

Rocky Mountain All Terrain Tires Review

Overview

Tire Decision Tool