Toyo Tires and Warranty

jage · 05-22-2008, 09:32 PM

I want to buy Toyo Open Country M/Ts for both the van and the Jeep. The Jeep is in much more dire need right now, but:

A) Discount Tire doesn't sell Toyo's
B) Discount Tire won't work on my van (spacers- checked at the local my "file" has a note

)
C) I would like a nationwide road hazzard warranty, free rotation and balance much like Discount offers.

I made the mistake of buying my F250 tires at Tire Barn in Indiana, not realizing that once I left the state their service and warranty were meaningless.

So, options and advice?

alta825 · 05-23-2008, 06:16 AM

I got my Toyo MT's from the local Les Scwab. Their prices were reasonable and they included their Road Hazard, lifetime rotation/balancing.

They never mentioned anything about the spacers that re on the van as well, and I believe you should have a couple Les Scwab dealers over in CO.

jage · 05-23-2008, 08:26 AM

Well it was a good idea...
Les Schwab locations by state:
Alaska
California
Idaho
Montana
Nevada
Oregon
Washington
Utah

alta825 · 05-23-2008, 08:30 AM

My bad! Thought I saw one the other week in Grand Junction - good luck in your search

-d

BC · 05-23-2008, 10:19 AM

Jage, sounds like a legit reason for a roadtrip into Les Schwab territory. Strap on the jeep and head W or NW a bit. Those guys are really incredible as far as retailers of any kind, probably the most customer-oriented Co you will ever find. You wouldnt benefit from free rotations and great service post-purchase, but they are just good people and pricing is competitive. And after all, if you're gonna drop close to $3k to outfit both rigs, what's another $900 in fuel??

I finally took the plunge and swapped out the BFG's with a fair amount of tread still left and must say I am glad I did. I could swear the Toyo's have helped stablize the cornering ability even on the highway. Love the sidewall strength and E Rating. Some people panned them in snow, but in my initial runs in the snow they seem to be fine.

p.s. no mileage warranty on these bad boys. Zip. Assumption is they are being used for more extreme offroad use. But I've done some informal surveys around here when I see them and people say if you rotate often you can get 50-60k out of them easy.

Velogeo · 05-23-2008, 10:25 AM

BC, what size did you get?

And I totally agree about Les Schwab. Great place, great service. How can you not like a place that gives away meat?

sdwindansea · 05-23-2008, 10:50 AM

I have been reading that Nitto is the same as Toyo, just branded under a different name. Regardless, Nitto's get great reviews as well (I think Jage was actually the first to mention them on these forums). Maybe there is a dealer in your area that carries Nitto tires. I also wish there was a Les Schwab dealer in the San Diego.

jage · 05-23-2008, 03:05 PM

I was looking at Nitto Muds today after seeing the price for 5 35" M/T toyos... they're only D rated in the 35/12.50/17 where the toyos are E. It's worth the extra money to get the E.

The Jeep is really hurting for tires so I think the van will wait a little longer.

sdwindansea · 05-23-2008, 03:52 PM

Jage, unless I have no clue how to read tire ratings (which is entirely possible), it looks like Nitto does make the Mud Grappler in a 35/12.5/R17.

It is 35x12.50/R17LT E 125P with a load rating of of 3640 @ 65psi.

Nitto Mud Grappler Sizes & Specs

twolost · 05-25-2008, 07:13 AM

My wife and I picked up our SMB in September of 2007 and we have put down approximately 8200 miles so far. I had tried to install BFG 37 x 12.50 x 17 Mud Terrains at the time, but Sportsmobile was not having any of that as they said it would have required fender mods that they were simply unwilling to do. No problem… just thought I would ask. Sportsmobile put on their default (for my application) BFG LT315/70R17/D TA/KO’s instead. These tires have been fine. They ride nice, they have gone everywhere we have pointed them (forest service roads, snow, hwy, etc…) they are quiet, they run cool, and they have been puncture free.

With our upcoming trip to AK this summer and the amount of off-road miles we intend to travel (Hyder, Nabesna Road, Denali Hwy, and the Dalton Hwy) we decided to bite the bullet now and get a set of ‘E’ rated Toyo’s… long before our set of ‘D’ rated BFG’s wore out.

Today was my day for ‘tire shopping’. I already knew that I was going to go with a set of 6 x Toyo Open Country M/T’s (35X12.50R20LT 121Q E/10). While the tires were off of the rims, I also wanted the Hella tire pressure monitor installed. I also needed one additional American Racing Crater (Teflon) 17 x 9 eight lug wheel to give me a complete set of six.

First stop, Les Schwab. Now (to be up-front) I have had a negative run-in with Les Schwab before and I have avoided them like the plague ever since. I have spent well over 8K in tires at Discount Tire since my bad experience with Les Schwab and that takes into account that Discount Tire is about 10 times further from my home than Les. Well, as it has been stated here before… Discount Tire does not carry Toyo’s… and Les Schwab does. Maybe, time to give old Les one more shot? Begrudgingly, I headed to Les Schwab. On the positive side, Les had the tires in stock (at least four of the six). That’s it, there are no more positives…

Les would not install the Hella tire pressure monitors in each wheel and they were not successful in locating the specific wheel I needed. The fact is that they barely tried. As an FYI – the salesman quoted me $368.18 for each tire. The total for the tires only (six tires) was $2522.81.

Back to Discount Tire. After 15 minutes of negotiation, I finally persuaded Discount to locate and order the Toyo’s. They tried to sell me what they had on-hand first - but, I had my mind made-up and was not interested in their convenient alternatives. Once the sales guys actually picked up the phone… we started to make some progress. I asked about the warranty (as Discount did not sell Toyo’s by default). The salesman said that he would get the ‘certificates’ for each tire (meaning that any one of these tires would be replaced free of charge for the life of the tire if there was a real tire defect identified). Next, Hella tire pressure monitor. Discount did not have one, however, they had another brand that they install (although, nobody really knew much about it). I wanted the Hella. Ultimately, they were persuaded to at least give the Hella install a try if I was to purchase it separately and bring it in at the same time my tires were being installed. There would be no charge for this service (as it should be little more than a screw-in valve stem install). Lastly, the wheel. Unlike Les, I was able to convince the sales guy to once again pick-up the phone and call someone. The person he called supposedly had a number of these wheels in stock. Keep in mind that the person on the other end of the phone (who said he had lots of these wheels) was not in possession of all of wheel data (like the wheel off-set for example) - which, BTW is -12 on my specific set of wheels. I asked the sales guy to make sure his contact had the correct wheel data down to every last detail… but the sales guy was unwilling to do this and he said “the guy said that he had lots of wheels so I am not worried”. Amazing. So, semi-reluctantly, I placed the order for six tires and one wheel. I am off to get the Hella system separately. ETA for install is late next week. I will edit this post with the final cost once I get the tires installed.

Cheers,