Both the Kanati Trail Hog AT and the Falken Wildpeak AT3w are all-terrain tires perfect tire for enthusiasts looking to get the most out of their heavy trucks and full sized SUVs, as they offer a great balance between off-road traction and highway stability. Yet, comparing both it can take a lot time to pick one. Let me save you some of that.
As a tire engineer, I believe that the out of both the Kanati Trail Hog A/T is better off on rugged terrains with it’s extreme biting grooves and self cleaning tread with bold stone ejectors. Though it’s surprising to see that the tire’s directional grip on dry roads is pretty great. Though overall on-road performance is limited in comparison. And that’s where Falken Wildpeak AT3w comes in with it’s silica rich compound providing grip in all seasons, and even on snow, though both tires are 3PMSFR.
Table of Contents
Durability
The durability of off-road tires is of paramount importance, as they must be able to endure rough terrains and sharp objects.
To meet this requirement, both these tires are designed with cut-resistant rubber and deep tread voids. But still as the tire’s toughness is largely influenced by its internal construction, with 3 ply sidewalls the Kanati Trail Hog AT provides you with a slightly greater durability.
The Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other hand, although has 2 ply polyester cover, it’s not too far off as you also get 2 extra layers of polyamide running around the tire’s bead.
Other than this, both tires have 2 steel belts and 2 layers of nylon reinforcing them.
Available Sizes
Let me put things in a tabular form here.
| Falken Wildpeak AT3w | Kanati Trail Hog A/T | |
| Sizes Available | 15 to 22 inches | 16 to 20 inches |
| Tread Depth Range | 12 to 19/32″ | 18/32″ on all |
| Weight Range | 35 to 79.4 lbs | 45 to 75 lbs |
| Speed Ratings | Q, R, S, T, and H | Q only |
| Load Ratings | SL, XL, C, D, E, and F | E only |
| Warranty | 55k miles on all | None |
| 3PMSF | Yes | Yes |
Review Falken AT3w in detail: https://tiredriver.com/falken-wildpeak-at3w-review/
Outer Construction
Starting with Falken Wildpeak AT3w. This tire offers a tread design which is optimized to perfection for both on and off-road traction. Let me explain why that’s the case.
Basically the lugs in the middle are closely packed together and feature ridges on the sides, serving as supportive pillars.
And where these provide amazing traction on highways, the various biters in the form of notches and stepped edges provide ample grip on rugged terrains as well.
Same is going on the shoulder lugs.
These shoulder lugs are bigger and pasted on secondary rubber layers underneath (reinforced foundations). So both of these ensure the tire remains stable during cornering, offering ample lateral traction and steering response.
And at the same time with staggered edges and sidewall lugs, you get to have amazing off-road values as well.
They get to work at their full potential when you lower the tire on air pressure.
The Kanati Trail Hog on the other side, features a slightly more aggressive design.
Let’s start things form the middle.
Here you have smaller lugs (compared to sides). These lugs wrap on to each other and create a very tough passing series of lateral and longitudinal grooves connecting with the outer wider circumferential channels.
So there is no doubt that the tread is pretty self cleaning.
Same goes for the shoulders, although they run in pairs having connector in between, the wider surrounding lateral gaps make them more suitable for rugged terrains rather than pavements.
These stud-able lugs are equipped with full depth sipes, and have staggered outer edges which turn in to a powerful pattern on sidewalls.
Moreover, you also get powerful stone ejectors in the middle of these shoulder lugs, unlike the Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
Highway Capability
To get a clear picture of an all-terrain tire‘s dry performance, it’s essential to consider its traction, steering, and cornering abilities. Let’s delve deeper into these critical factors.
Dry Grip
Dry grip or directional grip, is seen on a straight path, and is calculated through braking distance and acceleration time evaluations. And since the middle part of the tread experiences the most weight and friction concentration, this area is judged for this performance metric.
And both tires here are pretty great here, the Kanati Trail Hog AT has although a lot of spacing around lugs, but it’s on sides, and the middle area is more packed up, just like its competitor.
Though if you have to pick one, still, you are going to get slightly better performance with Falken Wildpeak AT3w, as this tire basically has C shaped lugs with notches facing in all directions in the middle, and this, combined with summer (rectilinear) sipes, you get a better efficacy overall.
(That’s why speed rating on this tire goes up to H).
Dry Cornering
When it comes to tire’s cornering abilities, the amount of ground contact with the outer shoulder lugs is significant (as they get to have the most pressure on them when a tire turns).
And with such wider lateral gaps between the lugs on Kanati Trail Hog AT, its very understandable, why you don’t get a better lateral traction on this tire.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other hand, comes with very closed up shoulder lugs, and although they don’t get to have stone ejectors in between, they get to provide rubber to road connection while turning, resulting in larger G forces.
Steering Response
When it comes to steering response, the main thing to consider is how firm is the connection of the (tread) lugs with the road.
The firmer the better.
That’s why here, the tread composition, along with depth, and overall weight is considered.
Tread having softer composition are malleable, and with a lot of depth, it would be easier to bend the lugs with the weight of the tire as it tires to turn. This causes under-steering at first, followed by over-steering.
That’s why in comparison, as you don’t get to have as much of a stable connection with the surface on Kanati Trail Hog AT, the overall under/over-steering balance is seen better on Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
For Your Info: In all-terrain category, one of the fastest tire on dry in Continental TerrainContact A/T (review).
Wet Performance
To enhance traction on wet surfaces, it is important to focus on both grip and avoiding hydroplaning. Both of these factors basically provide you with faster water evacuation.
Wet Grip
The tire tread’s sipes, or slits/gaps, remove water from the road with suction. And so its safe to say that the increased sipes result in improved water wiping, though overall tread flexibility and siping structure also play a crucial role here.
So it makes sense that out of both tires, why Kanati Trail Hog AT lacks here a lot. This tire features very less siping overall, and even those are not interlocking (in the middle).
Whereas Falken Wildpeak AT3w featuring much better siping with dual design and a softer tread compound provides you with better wiping abilities.
Hydroplaning
Aquaplaning, which is also called hydroplaning, occurs when a tire is unable to efficiently remove water from its tread, resulting in floating and reduced traction.
But as most of the water gets channeled out through the grooves, it can be seen why both tires have no problem here. Both of them have wide and deep tread voids, interconnecting with each other allowing water to leave out in all directions.
Rugged-Terrain Traction
Off-road tires need to find a good balance between all sorts of rugged terrains. Though some of the important ones to consider are mentioned below.
On Mud
The narrow grooves on all-terrain tires may cause reduced traction as they are more prone to getting packed up with thick mud. So on this type of terrain you need a balder/self cleaning tire.
That’s why it makes sense why out of both tires, the Kanati Trail Hog AT provides you with better results.
Wildpeak AT3w on the other hand, does not provide wide enough outer circumferential groove rings, nor lateral grooves between the shoulders like Trail Hog. So it’s less effective on this terrain. Though it’s larger tread depth really helps.
Rocky Tracks
Rocky terrain is also very challenging as it demands the most durability, and apart form that, a grip in all directions (that basically is needed during climbing).
So considering that which tire is better here? Well its a little complicated as both tires do things differently.
The Kanati Trail Hog AT basically has more aggressive shoulder lugs, and thicker sidewall biters. So the tire provides superior lateral traction in comparison, especially with lowered air pressure (where lugs on sides provide extra footprint as well).
Falken Wildpeak AT3w, on the other hand, has a better biting ability in the middle, with C shaped lugs facing in all directions and ramps on on Z shaped lugs and shoulders. So here you get a superior directional grip, or in other words, climbing abilities (while moving straight).
Recommended Read: Are all-terrain tires good on rocks?
On Sand
On sand you need to avoid digging as much as possible. So in order to do that, tire’s need to be lighter in weight, have a softer rubber composition, and should provide “paddles”.
Now having said that, it can be seen why Wildpeak AT3w does a better job here. It’s sidewall lugs are pasted on a larger surface area, so they spread out to bring superior tread width to be in contact with the soft terrain. With larger contact patch and softer compound it provides superior grip in all directions.
On the other hand in Kanati Trail Hog AT are voided in comparison and it also has harder rubber compound so it does not stick to the soft sand and its bald tread does not provide a good enough contact patch.
Dirt Tracks
For maximum protection and performance on gravely roads, off-road tires must be equipped with self-cleaning stone ejectors, as stones and dirt particles can cause harm and affect traction negatively.
Though that’s not a problem on Kanati Trail Hog AT, as the tire has MT-like grooves with bold stone ejectors.
However, in comparison, you can’t expect the same performance out of Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
Fuel Consumption
The fuel efficiency is largely shaped by the rolling resistance of tires, and that gets affected by the overall weight and tread composition.
And having a more weighing structure, it’s not a surprise, that out of both, Kanati Trail Hog AT provides you with lower fuel economy.
This is because less surface of lugs are carrying a lot more weight in comparison, and so they rub off the surface with more force. Moreover, as these lugs are not that stable, they get to flex/bend more wasting overall energy and consuming more fuel as a result.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other hand, has closed up lugs, so even though this tire also weighs a lot, that weight gets evenly distributed across those blocks, so less rolling resistance gets generated.
Tread Mileage
Though rolling resistance also affects the tread life of a tire, there are some other factors to check out as well, and these include the overall tire’s composition and tread depth.
So for example, soft tires will wear out more quickly, and shallow tread can lead to rapid burn-off of the rubber down to 2/32″ (which is the legal limit, see here in check tread depth post).
So comparing both tires, you get a better millage out of Falken Wildpeak AT3w. The tire besides having less rolling resistance, also provides you with a lot of tread depth (going up to 19/32″), and takes a while to burn off. That’s why you get 55k miles warranty here.
Whereas on Kanati Trail Hog AT, the softer tread and higher rolling resistance burns off the rubber way faster, and it makes sense why the company does not give any kind of warranty with it.
Ride Quality
In terms of general ride comfort, two elements are considered. Tread noise and the tire’s ability to soak up the imperfections of the road.
I’ll elaborate further.
Tread Noise
The sound we hear from tires is the result of air movement, primarily through the grooves on shoulders.
The walls of these grooves are basically hit hit by air particles, leading to noise production. So it makes sense why balder tires like the Kanati Trail Hog get to be noisier.
The wider circumferential outer groove rings, simply provide a lot of area for air particles to hit around generating noise.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other side, not only has less less tread voids, it’s grooves on the shoulder lugs are interlocking providing variable pitch formation.
Comfort
A comfortable tire must feature a flexible inner structure and pliable top rubber with malleable lugs, all of these features are basically designed to effectively dampen road irregularities.
And here Wildpeak AT3w again takes the cake, with it’s softer tread on top, and simply 2 ply inner construction of polyester casing. So the overall structure is better at soaking up the bumps.
Kanati Trail Hog AT on the other hand, is stiffer with it’s 3 plies, and it’s rubber top is also composed of less silica, giving ride stiffness.
Snow Traction
Unlike the Kanati, the Falken AT3w comes with 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake rating, so it’s better suitable for all sorts of snowy conditions, well except for deeper terrains, let me explain why.
On snow, you need snow grabbing abilities, so the lodges snow can come in contact with the ground (you want that because snowflakes with an interlocking design stick better on other particles, compared to tread’s rubber).
So Trail Hog A/T with wider grooves can take on deeper/fluffy snow, whereas Wildpeak AT3w is more gripping on roads, and even a little bit of ice.
Take Home Points
Out of both tires, even though Trail Hog is good enough on dry roads when it comes to directional grip, the overall on-road performance is seen better on Wildpeak AT3w (in both wet and dry conditions). And this goes for other performance areas as well, which include tread wear, comfort and mileage.
Kanati A/T on the other side, does better on rugged terrains.
