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I’ve long preached that all-terrain tires are the most important upgrade for any adventure vehicle as they provide the traction and stability needed for steep, rough, unpredictable roads. I personally use the BF Goodrich KO3s on my 2024 Toyota Tundra, and am often glad I have them. Just this past weekend those tires helped me and my family safely climb a rocky, steep, and harrowing mining road up to my favorite camping spot at 11,000 feet outside Silverton, Colorado.
But what if you drive a smaller, crossover vehicle like a Subaru Crosstrek or Honda CRV that’s not designed for all-terrain tires? What if you’re not interested in off-roading or rock-crawling and just want to cruise down a forest road to find a dispersed camping spot without worrying about getting a flat? You’re far from alone: this is the case for many, if not most, outdoor adventurers, and is the reason BF Goodrich makes the Trail-Terrain.
Originally launched back in 2021, the Trail-Terrain T/A received an update in June (it’s now called the T/A +). This new version sits in a small group of crossover-specific, all-terrain tires that include the Cooper Discoverer Road+Trail AT, Goodyear Wrangler TrailRunner AT, and the Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail. All the tires in this category will add important performance, but BFG’s Trail-Terrain T/A+ is the most updated. Initial testing suggests the Trail-Terrain T/A+ is a smart choice for drivers who don’t want to get too crazy but still need more performance and protection than what they’d find in an all-season tire.
BF Goodrich Trail-Terrain T/A +
The most important upgrade in the new Trail-Terrain T/A + is an updated rubber compound, which, matched with a specialized design, makes the tire more durable. The design helps the Trail-Terrain T/A+ resist “cut-and-chip” on gravel roads—a phenomenon where small cuts in the rubber eventually cause larger issues with the tread.
Thanks to a bigger dose of silica in the compound, the Trail-Terrain T/A+ are also supposed to be a full 10-percent grippier on wet roads than the original Trail-Terrains. The tires also carry a Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake rating, so they’ll hold the road well getting to and from the ski area.
BF Goodrich knows that most adventurers do the majority of their driving on pavement, so they reduced the Trail-Terrain T/A+’s rolling resistance by five percent over the original, which will make a noticeable difference in gas mileage. To round things out, the Trail-Terrain T/A+ carry a respectable 65,000-mile warranty (up from 60,000 on the original ) and allegedly last 25 percent longer so you can use them on your daily driver and not worry about ruining your investment.
I tested the new Trail-Terrain T/A+ on several different vehicles—a Subaru Outback, Toyota 4Runner, Chevy Tahoe, and Ford Bronco Sport—during a BF Goodrich event outside Vail, Colorado. My first and most important impression is that they drive like a regular street tire. We spent lots of time navigating I-70 at 75 miles per hour, and I never felt like I was riding on big chunky all-terrains that slowed the vehicle down on big hills or made it feel unstable when rounding a bend.
Tires with bigger lugs and extra grip often create extra road noise, but I couldn’t hear any hum from the Trail-Terrain T/A+. Overall, I was so impressed that I put a set on my 2015 Toyota Sienna minivan so we can comfortably and confidently take it camping and skiing and also drive it over 2,000 miles to California and back this summer.
During the Colorado test we spent about an hour on rocky dirt roads, and the tires delivered secure traction and support when I put the pedal down and drove fast over washboard and up some chunky switchbacks. Whether the tires will indeed hold up to hundreds of miles of dirt roads is TBD, but I trust BF Goodrich’s claims. I’ve used the company’s tires on all my vehicles for the past five years and have abused them regularly without any issues.
Finally, we know that looks count when it comes to tires, and the Trail-Terrain T/A+ doesn’t disappoint; thanks to chunkier tread blocks, the Trail-Terrain T/A+ tires exude a rugged, outdoor vibe. (The tire shop employees joked with me that I was upgrading my “dad van” when they fit the Trail-Terrain T/A + tires to our Sienna.) They don’t shout “I’m an off-roader!” but they do lend some adventurer cred.
