Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire, produced by Discount Tire, is gaining popularity thanks to its affordability and versatile performance. This tire features a 3PMSF compound, which means it’s designed to handle winter conditions effectively. However, its on-road manners take precedence, thanks to its highway-like tread pattern. While this pattern provides excellent performance on paved roads, it does come at a slight cost in terms of off-road capability.
As a former Bridgestone engineer, I’ll now evaluate the Rocky Mountain All Terrain tire based on various factors, helping you understand its strengths and weaknesses. Let’s dive into the details.
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.
All-Terrain Tires Cheat Sheet
Finding the ideal all-terrain tire among the plethora of options available can be overwhelming. But don’t worry, my team and I have taken on this challenge head-on. Besides our hands-on experiences with these tires, we also analyze thousands of customer reviews and test reports.
We also analyzed ‘What customer complains more about all-terrain tires?’. Even though some of these complains are coming from the nature of all-terrain tires, there is still way to prevent yourself from these issues. Below, you can see articles about, hydroplaning, tire noise
- How to reduce tire noise?
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-noise - Tire Vibration
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-vibration - Tire Air Pressure – How to Decide?
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-air-pressure-info
Please note that: Light-Duty is 1500 series, Medium-Duty is 2500 series and Heavy-Duty is 3500 series. If you do towing or hauling, I recommend considering at least Medium-Duty tires.
Mobile users can scroll the table to the left to see the whole data.
For those who prefer a more textual representation and dislike sifting through tables of data:
- https://tireterrain.com/best-all-terrain-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-all-terrain-tires-for-snow/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-1-2-ton-truck-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-3-4-ton-truck-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-rt-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-tires-for-snow-plowing/
A couple of popular size analyses:
- https://tireterrain.com/best-35×12-50r20-all-terrain-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-285-70r17-all-terrain-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-275-55r20-all-terrain-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-275-65r18-all-terrain-tires/
Want to learn more about all-terrain tires:
- https://tireterrain.com/highway-tires-vs-all-terrain-vs-mud-terrain/
- https://tireterrain.com/all-season-vs-all-terrain-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/tire-load-index-and-load-range/
- https://tireterrain.com/lt-tires-vs-passenger-tires/
- https://tireterrain.com/are-all-terrain-tires-good-for-daily-driving/
- https://tireterrain.com/are-all-terrain-tires-good-in-snow/
- https://tireterrain.com/are-all-terrain-tires-loud/
- https://tireterrain.com/how-long-do-all-terrain-tires-last/
- https://tireterrain.com/are-all-terrain-tires-good-in-rain/
- https://tireterrain.com/off-road-tire-pressure-load-range-for-every-rig/
Table of Contents
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.
I hope the article was helpful. Have a safe ride folks!