Both the Kenda Klever AT2 and the Falken Wildpeak AT3w give you a very suitable and reliable options for your light truck and full sized SUV, as they offer a great balance between traction and comfort. Though one tire still gets to be better over the other in some sections. Let’s find out.
Out of both tires the Kenda AT2 features a superior traction on dry roads, a great fuel economy, tread life, and overall superior traction on snowy terrains. Whereas the Falken Wildpeak AT3w does better on rocks, sand, gravel, mud, basically all types of rugged terrains, and at the same time it does not compromise too much on roads especially when it comes to wet ones.
Table of Contents
Internal Construction
Off-road tires must be built to withstand the challenging conditions of off-road driving, making durability a vital aspect of their design.
And so they are given with chip resistant rubber, deeper tread voids, and powerful inner construction.
But although both tires have cut resistant rubber on top, and deep enough tread, there’s a minor difference in their internal construction.
Both have 2 ply polyester casing with 2 steel belts and 2 cap plies of nylon, the Falken Wildpeak AT3w has 2 more layers of nylon in the bead area, revolving around the circumference.
So you get a slightly better protection there.
I covered it in detail in are A/T tires harder to get punctured.
Sizes Facts
Let me put things in a tabular form here.
| Falken Wildpeak AT3w | Kenda Klever AT2 | |
| Sizes Rims | 15 to 22 inches | 15 to 20 inches |
| Tread Depth Range | 12 to 19/32″ | 14/32″ or 15/32″ |
| Weight Range | 35 to 79.4 lbs | 35 to 60 lbs |
| Speed Ratings | Q, R, S, T, and H | R, S, T and H |
| Load Ratings | SL, XL, C, D, E, and F | SL, XL, C and E |
| Warranty | 55k miles on all | 50k (LT), and 60k for non-LT |
| 3PMSF | Yes | Yes (but on limited sizes) |
| Review Tire | Review Tire |
Learn:
What is speed rating?
What is load rating?
How to read tire size?
Outer Construction
Let me start things off here with Falken Wildpeak AT3w. So this tire is very well-optimized for both on and off-road traction, as it features a very unique tread design. Let me tell you why that’s the case.
Basically towards the middle, the lugs are seen with stepped edges and notches facing at various angles.
And although these provide ample off-road grip, the ridges, functioning as support pillars, and the closed up arrangement of the blocks don’t let the tire to have any compromise on smooth pavements as well.
Same is the case with it’s outer edges.
The shoulder lugs for one, are pasted on secondary rubber layers, so they get to be stable even though they have a lot of (tread) depth.
And since they lugs are bigger, compared to the ones in the middle, they get to provide ample footprint on highways.
Both of these feature amazing handling times on roads. And as for off-road, the tire supplies various notches and serrated outer edges, combined with sidewall lugs, and they give you the needed traction in almost all kinds of rugged terrains.
On the other hand, the Kenda Kelver AT2 provides you with smaller biters in comparison.
Let me start things here from the middle, where you see random arrangement of lugs of various sizes.
If you look close enough, you’d note that there are only 3 unique shapes here and all these lugs besides carrying rectilinear siping, have sharp edges, off-sets and ridges connecting each other.
These ridges have dual functionality, one they provide on-road stability, and two, they also act as stone ejectors to keep the tread clean.
Moving towards the shoulders, which cover the largest area of the tread (wrapped with wide longitudinal channels).
These lugs are bigger, have different sipes on them (having interlocking pattern), and their outer margins are staggered.
And where these provide off-road traction, the secondary rubber layers running underneath these lugs, provide on-road lateral stability with that as well.
Highway Capability
In order to accurately determine the dry performance of an all-terrain tire, a thorough analysis of its traction, steering, and cornering abilities is required. Let’s delve into a technical examination of these critical elements.
Dry Grip
The evaluation of dry or directional grip quantifies the tire’s traction capability on “straight roads” under dry conditions, through measurements of braking distance and acceleration time.
Though most of it comes from the central segment of the tread, as that area is the locus of weight concentration (of the vehicle), making a solid connection with the road.
That’s why Kenda Klever AT2 with slightly more closed up and stable lugs arrangement there provides superior traction abilities.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w, basically is also closed up there, but it’s traction suffers a little bit because of a lot of tread depth it has.
With deeper tread voids, lugs get to flex more upon full braking, and this wastes energy that could have been used in stopping the tire quickly.
Dry Handling
The outer shoulder lug’s ground connection in very crucial in determining the overall handling abilities. That’s because they get to be the most stressed while cornering (by the weight of the vehicle, that get transferred there).
That’s why out of both tires, the Kenda Klever AT2 gets to lack here a little, even though it has very similar looking outer lugs, comparatively.
Basically on Falken Wildpeak AT3w, you get to see a more compacted outer lugs arrangement, which aren’t too divided up with the wide circumferential rings.
Steering Response
When it comes to steering response, there are three main factors to consider, tire’s weight, tread depth and composition.
All of these factors basically decide how much would lugs bend/flex upon turning (mostly).
Kenda Klever AT2 being a lighter tire, and having shallower grooves gets to have a more stable connection with the road in comparison, as on it’s tread lugs aren’t pressurized too much to bend as much.
In comparison, the Falken Wildpeak AT3w with deepest tread in the All-Terrain category, gets to have a more “bend-able” lugs, even though they have reinforced foundations underneath them. So overall they cause it to over/under-steer more comparatively.
For Your Info: In all-terrain category, one of the fastest tire on dry in Continental TerrainContact A/T (review).
Wet Performance
There are two main things here which tell you about the tire’s wet traction abilities, sipes and grooves. Both of these basically help in escaping the water out in time.
Sipes help by sucking water in the slits, and hydroplaning resistance is achieved by the grooves channeling rest of the water out in time, so a layer of water doesn’t form between the tread and the road (which causes floating).
Having said that, although both tires are pretty great here with their flexible tread and interconnected web of grooves showing water the way out, you get a slightly better traction on Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
This is because this tire has dual siping design, and with deeper tread voids (19/32″), more volume of water leaves out, and rest is wiped off in a better way.
Kenda Klever AT2 on the other hand, only features rectilinear sipes, and they tend to get stiffer upon turning, so overall wet handling time gets limited.
For Your Info: I’ve ranked Falken AT3w on top, in my list of best performing A/T tires.
Off Road Traction
All-terrain tires try to maintain a good balance between on-road and off-road traction, to navigate various terrain types effectively.
Let’s discuss them all.
On Rocks
On rocks, tires need durability particularly on the sidewalls, and enough biting edges to grip in all directions to handle rough terrain and climbing.
That’s why the Kenda AT2 lacks in comparison, even though it features numerous small blocks in the middle with offset edges providing grip in multiple angles.
The tire basically doesn’t offer as powerful of a sidewall lugs, and that combined with less aggressive shoulder lugs, it lacks a lot when it comes to lateral traction.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other side provide superior traction with thicker lugs on sidewalls and saw-toothed edges on the outer shoulder margins.
Moreover, with deeper tread voids and wider grooves, it provides bigger groove mouth to bite in to the surface of the rocks.
Recommended Read: Are all-terrain tires good on rocks?
On Mud
Mud is the toughest of all terrains, and here self cleaning grooves are crucial. That’s why the Wildpeak with more tread depth and better interconnected lateral and longitudinal grooves provides you with better efficacy.
Kenda Klever AT2 on the other side lacks in this, and it’s staggered shoulder lugs don’t have as big of mud scoops either, where on Falken you get that combined with thicker sidewall lugs slashing and scoops the mud up with more effectiveness.
On Sand
Sand is a very challenging terrain, where you have avoid as much digging as possible. That’s why tires that do best are light weight and have the capability to provide good enough footprint.
But even though the Kenda Klever AT2 is much lighter in comparison here, you don’t get to see it outperforming its competitor.
This has to do with it’s skinnier sidewall lugs for the most part and smaller central lugs, which are very prone to digging.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other hand, enhances its overall width by it’s spreading its sidewall lugs (with lowered air pressure), and as it’s overall tread is much more softer/flexible, you get to have a superior paddling effect on the tire as well.
Gravely Trails
In order to achieve better traction on gravel and dirt filled roads, tires need to have self cleaning grooves, and a cut resistant rubber.
So out of both tires, with wider grooves, Falken Wildpeak AT3w does a better job. It’s ridges and stepped edges basically act as stone ejectors, and it’s wider + flexible tread doesn’t want to hold stones/debris in for too long.
On the other side, the Kenda Klever AT2 gets stuck with stones more easily and it not only decreases performance but also damages the tread, even though it’s composition is cut resistant.
Fuel Efficiency
Kenda Klever AT2, being the lighter of the two and having less tread depth provides you with better efficacy here. Let me explain how.
The first part is very straight forward, the more the weight, the more the energy required to carry it. And with more less tread depth, lugs stay stable, and don’t want to flex too much during cornering, and braking, so energy is not wasted.
This can be explained better on Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
So this tire has a softer tread compound, and the lugs on top have a lot of tread depth (19/32″). So as the tire turns for example, these lugs bend in the opposite direction of the turn, because they are not kept firm, even though they have foundational supports underneath.
So with that energy gets wasted, which would have otherwise consumed in to rolling the tire as a whole.
Tread Noise
Off road tires produce more noise compared to passenger tires, that’s because they are more voided. And so with balder design, air particles basically strike around more freely, and this is what causes “tread noise”.
And most of that air comes fro the lateral grooves of the shoulders, it makes sense why Kenda Klever AT2 is noisy in comparison. If you consider its tread section by scrolling above, you’d note that the the central lugs are very smaller, and wrapped around wide circumferential tread voids.
These provide straight forward area for air particles to come in a strike the tread walls with full force.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other hand, makes interlocking lateral shoulder grooves, so air faces a hard time coming in. Moreover, even those particles which do manages to come in and strike around are dampened with variable pitch technology.
I covered all about that in: https://tiredriver.com/are-all-terrain-tires-noisy/
Winter Performance
A tire’s performance in snowy conditions is evaluated, based on its “ability” to provide stability while stopping, maintain control during turns, and accelerate effectively on shallow and deep snow, as well as on ice.
And in all these factors, both tires shine and have 3 peak mountain snowflake (3pmsf) ratings to them.
Though still out of both tires, since Kenda Klever AT2 provides superior snow grabbing abilities form the middle (part of the tread), it gets to provide better directional traction.
Whereas, the Falken Wildpeak AT3w with interlocking shoulder grooves and full depth wave-like siping, combined with notches and stepped edges remains unbeatable in terms of handling.
Take Home Points
Out of both tires, the Kenda AT2 provides you with a great budget pick with amazing traction on roads and stability on rugged terrains. Even though the tire lacks to its counterpart in a lot of performance section, (except for fuel economy and tread life), it’s still not too far off overall.
Moreover, its all season tread compound provide similar performance efficacy in nearly all types of conditions that’s why both tires are on par on snowy terrains having 3pmsf ratings.
