Vredestein Pinza AT **installed**

[reds10]

My KO3s are wearing terribly and are making significant noise and some vibration so I wanted to give a mild AT tire a shot that I haven’t used before.

The pinza AT has very high marks on tire rack for the category but there isn’t much other info out there on them.

They are far more aggressive than I thought they would be. Website pictures do not do them justice. These were some older stock marked down and with coupon made it hard to pass up.

I’ll get these installed in a couple of weeks and post some update pics.

fwiw - I just wanted to try something different. There are lots of good choices out there, but every tire has a compromise.

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[tisser07]

Nice, are those 285/70/17?

 

[reds10]

Nice, are those 285/70/17?

Yes, stock size

 

[tisser07]

Even better, they look a bit bigger, please share some photos once installed

 

[Toadlex]

Curious, watching.

 

[Pic-N-Stick]

Yeah, sure look more aggressive than they look on Tire Rack. Really interested to hear how they absorb impacts and handle/brake and sound compared to the KO3's!

 

[reds10]

50 mile update.

I had the Vredestein Pinza AT tires in LT285/70r17 installed today. These are 3 ply sidewall tires apparently with a weight of 60lbs each (v the 56lbs stock tire I believe).

Looks: better than I expected but not exactly great. There are dozens of tires better looking than these. They remind me a lot of the Cooper Discover AT3 tires in the overall pattern.

Noise: Silent, or as silent as a tire can be. I have great hearing and noises bother me. I knew the badly worn K03 tires had gotten loud, but I didn't realize how much more peaceful driving would be with a new set of tires.

Comfort: I feel more of the small bumps and imperfections in the road, but it absorbs the larger bumps and impacts better. I'm not sure how that works. I also tried to gauge the carcass of the stock tire v the Pinza AT and they honestly felt exactly the same when it came to sidewall stiffness and rebound when unmounted. Any fears I had of going from stock load range C to load range E tires was unfounded in this application.

Driving: Its smooth and straight. I think my stock tires has worn so badly that i was accustomed to vibrations and noises that are all gone now. I'm shocked how smooth it is, but any new tire would probably be similar.

Traction: not enough time to say.

Overall: I'm very pleased so far. I hate to give up looks to gain other attributes, but it is what it is.

Costs: I intentionally went with some old stock tires on Tirerack that were marked down and they had a $20 per tire coupon. After tax, the whole set was at my house for $895. Not great, but far better than the $1400 i was looking at for other tire sets. After mounting at discount tire, i was barely over 1k for the set.

I'll report back in a few thousand miles.

 

[Pic-N-Stick]

Thanks for the follow-up. What psi are you running?

 

[reds10]

Running 40 PSI currently will do chalk test soon.

More updates:

Towing: no issues towing. Stable, smooth, quiet. I hauled 3500lbs over 150 miles through curvy backroad highways with mild hills.

Rocks: not as bad as K03s about throwing rocks, but it does still throw rocks about 50% as much as a the K03s but much smaller sized rocks. The deeper groves don’t collect anything, but the smaller block section seem to hold onto pea gravel sized pieces and don’t sling out as easily as the K03s.

Worthless wet test: washed truck Saturday and sunday and pulled out onto the road briskly and count not get a tire to slip at all. The K03s would easily spin out taking 90 degree turns out of the car wash. So that’s a promising sign.

 

[Pic-N-Stick]

I'd guess running 35 or 36 would smooth out those small bumps!

 

[reds10]

2,000 mile update.

Ride comfort: still great. I did recently air down to 36 PSI and there is a difference in the small bumps for sure. I feel like there might be a sliiiiiight bit more road noise from more contact. chalk test at 40 PSI showed i very small amount of chalk on outside edges from too much pressure so i lowered down a few psi and chalk test looked fine (i haven't tried other pressures yet).

Noise: I'm going to say silent. I know that's not true, but dang is the best sound quality AT tire I've ever had. There is no hum, nor roar from tire noise. But in all fairness, Arkansas roads tend to be very quiet as the surface isn't as aggressive as many other states.

Impacts: These take harder impacts MUCH better than K03s at 36 psi. small bumps and road imperfection might be slightly better than K03 now that I've lowered the pressure.

Rain: outstanding for an AT tire. no hydroplaning in water ruts in the roads (in all fairness the k03s were pretty remarkable in this regard as well). this was my biggest concern.

Snow: none, although I'll likely be heading out to CO in a couple weeks so i might get to test them out. I have a feeling they will be outstanding with the very significant amount of sipping they have.

Dry traction: outstanding. I barely can get a chirp out of these in sport mode where the k03s happily made noise

Grass: outstanding. Long story short, I did some creative parking at a popular trailhead in a fielded area while it was drizzling and thought i was in 4A the whole time but was only in 2H (i would not have every tried it in just 2H). It never slipped and I was shocked I did what i did in just 2wd.

Breaking: Flat out superior to the K03s. It's probably driver error, but i managed to lock up and squeal the front tire many times on the K03s, from new to worn, with firm breaking and turning hard into turnoffs and parking lots. I never felt safe coming in hot with the K03s. Zero issues with the pinza tires.

Gravel: still disappointed. they pick up plenty of rocks. not as bad as K03, but enough i won't ever be taking off my step rails because the protection they provide is much needed.

Looks: meh, it hasn't grown on me. but I don't hate them. The benefits have worn me over.

Fuel mileage: at 40PSI they ran the same MPG as the K03s (19.6 MPG for me). at 36 PSI i'm getting 19.4-19.5 mpg. Really hard to know how much affect the sudden change in weather is having on the fuel mileage. When the K03s came off, it was still hot as heck in AR with highs in the 90s every day. Since then there have been several rather brisk mornings and cool days. I also haven't been running Shell 93 recently which gives me the best fuel mileage.

So I'm going to call it a wash for the time being.

overall 9/10. The rock retention on gravel and overall looks are negatives in my opinion. Everything else is a huge positive so far. I'm strongly considering putting a set of these on my 2024 Ford Expedition Timberline which is a 5,600lb rocket. If not these, it will likely be the continental terrain contact at 2 tires they just came out with which should have better wet traction, and look appropriate for a family rig with mild aggressiveness.

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