Both the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 and the Falken Wildpeak AT3w are very different all-terrain tires. Here the Geolandar does things better on highways, whereas Wildpeak AT3w would not let you down on rougher tracks. Let’s see which one is a better pick for you.
Being a tire engineer from my perspective, being a more on-road oriented tire, the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 offers superior grip on pavements, especially in wet conditions. But the most highlighting area of performance for this tire is its on road comfort. Its top tier. Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other side, is great off road but at the same time it compromises very little on tar as well.
Table of Contents
Tire’s Info
Lets start with Yokohama Geolandar AT G015 first.
- Available in 112 sizes ranging from 15 to 22 inches (rim sizes)/
- Sizes have load ratings in SL, XL, C, D and E.
- Weight range is 25 to 70 lbs.
- Available speed ratings are, R, S, T, and H
- Tread depth ranges from, 12/32″ to 18/32″, where most of the sizes are seen in 17/32″.
- 60k miles warranty for P metric and 50k for LT.
- 3PMSF and M+S ratings available on all sizes.
The Falken Wildpeak AT3w:
- 76 total sizes where they range from 15 to 22″
- Speed ratings of Q, R, S, T, and some even have H
- 12/32″ (only seen in one size) and goes all the way up to 19/32″, most sizes get to have 17/32″
- Weight range of 35 to 79.4 lbs.
- 55k miles warranty.
- 3PMSF and M+S ratings available on all sizes.
Tread Structure
Yokohama Geolandar G015 is a closed up tire in comparison with more biters overall and a softer rubber composition.
It makes 5 rib design with 4 pretty straight longitudinal channels.
Lets move things from sides…
The shoulder lugs of this tire towards sidewalls are although not serrated, they have stepped edges which makes each block staggered on itself.
All these blocks have wave-designed siping and notches facing inner ribs.
Despite having a softer tread composition, the lugs are pretty stable, as all of them are joined together with ridges in between.
Same is the case with inner ribs as well, as all of them have secondary layers which join all these lugs together, providing directional on-road stability.
The inner most rib has zigzag lateral groove notches, while the surrounding ribs have similar notches but aligned vertically.
Furthermore, all blocks carry (similar to shoulder lugs) siping of wave-like pattern.
On the other side, the Falken Wildpeak AT3w is slightly more aggressive in tread design as it features open rib pattern.
Here there are Z and C shaped blocks.
The bigger Z shaped lugs cover the center most area of the tread and besides having sharp edges, they also have stepped sides for additional bite.
The surrounding C shaped lugs carry similar features as well, with rectilinear siping and supporting ridges.
All these ribs make a web of grooves connecting outer wider longitudinal channels in a better way (in comparison).
On shoulder lugs, there’s 2 rib design, where one has notches and the other has sharp stepped edges on sides.
The siping here is also different (and should I add more effective), as it’s interlocking here, and of course full depth.
Moreover, to enhance stability all lugs are connected together by a minor supporting bar, see if you can find it in the image above.
Lastly, talking about sidewalls, the tire again offers a more rugged design featuring thicker lugs over there.
Durability
All Terrain tires have to be strong, or they won’t be able to give you the required confidence aspiring ride off-road, as there tires encounter a lot of sharp objects that can pierce through easily. And here sidewalls are mostly susceptible to that.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w is a better pick here in comparison.
Both tires although offer 2 ply polyester casing (the inner most), having 2 wide running steel belts on top, the Yokohama Geolandar A/T only has a single layer of nylon as a cap ply, whereas the Falken AT3w offers you with two.
Moreover, Wildpeak also has 2 extra layers of polyamide rotating around the bead as well, so where the Geolandar G015 has 2 ply sides and a single ply nylon cap, the Wildpeak AT3w gives you 2 ply polyester + 2 ply polyamide on sides, and 2 layers of nylon covering the middle area of the tread.
Winter Performance
Both of these tires are branded with 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake and M+S rating which actually tells us that they are better in acceleration (on snow), compared to average all season tires. A rough estimate is that they are 25% better.
Some folks confuse this rating with other performance factors like the snow braking and handling, which is not what this is about.
In terms of braking and handling, the Falken Wildpeak AT3w is overall a better pick in all sorts of terrains, e.g, hard packed snow, deep snow, ice and so on.
The tire basically offers a more powerful biters which trap in the snowflakes in a better way (to make snow to snow contact).
The Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 is pretty great here as well, but looking at thing overall, it lacks slightly in comparison.
Dry Roads Performance
When it comes to performing on pavements, the all-terrain tires aren’t expected to perform too much, that’s because in order to up the off road experience, the tire compromised it’s on-road capabilities. This actually goes hand in hand.
Here, the overall performance is calculated by measuring the tire’s feedback, handling stability and grip.
To judge directional grip, middle part of the tire is considered to see how much contact patch it offers to meet up with the surface.
So here with closed up blocks arrangement, combined with numerous biting edges and softer tread, the Yokohama Geolandar G015 produces a more desirable results.
With less balder design it makes more frictional forces with the surface as it has a larger rubber exposure.
Its closed up shoulder lugs also do great on lateral traction, which comes in to action when a tire turns, and here the shoulder lugs make the most rubber contact with the surface its turning on.
On the other side, the Falken Wildpeak AT3w although isn’t too far off, it’s more voided tread is not able to meet up with the surface as much comparatively.
Though it’s limiting grip here does wonders off road.
Wet Performance
Wet performance contains 3 parts which needs examining, one is the grip, then comes handling and lastly, there’s hydroplaning. Let’s talk about all of them one by one.
Wet Grip
Wet grip of a tire is highly dependent on siping. And most off road tires lack in it, limiting their water removal abilities.
Both tires here overall shine prominently in the crowd of all-terrain tires, as their performance on wet is simply amazing.
The Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 actually does much better here compared to when things are dry mostly because of it’s wave-like siping patter throughout the tread.
With this pattern the sipes don’t get stiffen up upon heavy braking and turning. And the it’s tread is already softer, so together they generate very great results.
The Falken Wildpeak AT3w on the other side, although lacks slightly in braking and acceleration, it’s handling performance is just as good as the Geolandar.
That’s because it’s shoulder for one cover a lot of area of the tread, and second, they are equipped with interlocking sipes which I’ve explained does things better compared to rectilinear sipes it has in the middle (which by the way are also called summer sipes, as they provide biters on dry).
Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning happens when a tire is not able to move out water in time, and it creates a layer in between the tire and the road.
So here it’s calculated by how fast a tire can move over water.
Out of both tires, it makes sense why Falken Wildpeak AT3w is superior here with a more balder design.
It offers water multiple channels to move out easily, as it’s openly voided shoulders are connected with the web of grooves all over the tread.
The Yokohama Geolandar A/T on the other side, has very tightly packed shoulder in comparison.
And with continuous running ribs in the middle water is only able to freely move out longitudinally, and lateral evacuation gets harder for it.
Fuel Consumption
When it comes to fuel economy, the overall rolling resistance comes in to action, which is measured with the friction a tire generates with the road.
Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 does things better here as the tire is lighter in comparison.
With a single cap ply and 2 ply sidewall construction, this tire offers less pressure on its lugs.
And as pressure depends on amount of weight over a specific area, the closed up lug design of the tire distributes that pressure evenly in comparison.
So it does not consume as much fuel compared to Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
Tread Life
Although the tread life is also measured by taking in to account the tire’s rolling resistance, here with elastic composition (cut and chip resistant) and larger tread depth both tires are very efficient.
With dual layered tread, and large tread depth where both tires have 17/32″ (on most of their sizes), both of them take a long time to wear off.
That’s why these tires are also very similar in terms of their mileage warranty.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w offers 50k for all sizes whereas the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 offers 60k for its P metric sizes and 50k for its LT sizes.
Ride Quality
On roads, although you have suspension installed, tire’s play a major role in absorbing the shocks. You can say they act as secondary suspensions both on and off road.
The quality of ride is also dependent on overall tread noise, which is a big one with off road tires, as the balder the tire gets the louder it gets.
Noise
With balder tires, noise is generated a lot as more air is able to get in the tread and move around freely. This air strikes around on walls and generate noise.
So out of both tires, the Yokohama Geolandar is quieter with its less voided design.
The Falken Wildpeak is also very silent, but not in comparison. That’s because Geolandar G015 is actually the most comfortable tire that you can get in the top coming A/T tires.
For Your Info: Both tires also have pitch sequencing tread, which offers slight subtle variation is geometry (of tread blocks) so that air hitting them can generate different pitches and can cancel out each other.
Comfort
Comfort is required on both on and off road and here with a softer built tread, the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 offers better results in comparison.
This is because its inner construction has less no. of cap plies and with that, stiffness is reduced a lot.
Falken Wildpeak AT3w is also pretty soaking as well, but with 3 extra polyamide layers (2 in sidewalls and one extra cap ply), the tire does not produce as good of a performance here.
Off Road Traction
All-terrain tires need to find a good balance between on and off road traction, where the later is slightly trickier, as it includes a lot of variations of terrains.
Let’s discuss them all one by one.
On Mud
Mud is a toughest challenge of all. That’s why we have tires named after them, mud-terrain.
Mud tires basically are great as they have highly voided design which allows more mud to escape out.
Out of the tires I am discussion here, although both offer similar tread depth (on average), the Falken Wildpeak AT3w offers better mud escaping abilities with its open design (in comparison).
Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 on the other side has continuous ribs and with ridges in between shoulder lugs, mud can not escape form sides (which is highly importation). And so it gets packed very quickly.
Moreover, the Wildpeak’s sidewall lugs act as traction scoops which throw mud backwards to generate forward moving aid.
On Gravel and Dirt
Although both the Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 and the Falken Wildpeak AT3w don’t have stone ejectors, the Wildpeak AT3w is again still better.
That’s because its open design is less susceptible for stones to get stuck.
On Rocks
On rocks, or should I say climbing big rocks, you need a tread with a lot of biters, a dependable durability and big sidewall lugs for extra traction (in case you need it).
So it makes sense why Falken Wildpeak AT3w generates more desirable results here.
The tire is stronger on the sidewalls both internally and externally, where inside, it has two layers covering the bead area and providing protection, and outside, it has U shaped lugs which provide traction especially when air down to a lower PSI pressure.
Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 although is lighter which helps it in climbing, it’s non existent sidewall lugs and less aggressive sides, don’t offer the highly needed lateral tracti0n (which avoids the sideways slippage of the vehicle, which can also cause overturning).
Recommended Read: Are A/T tires good on rocks?
On Sand
Sand is a weird terrain that requires paddle tires. But have you ever wondered why these tires do so good here?
Well because of their contact patch.
They have a lot of tread real estate to meet with the sand. And they have powerful bead locks so you can lower air pressure further (to increase that contact patch).
Moreover, they are also light in weight so incline traction isn’t an issue on sand as well.
Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 does things better in terms of weight and it also offers a lot of rubber contact from the middle, but on sides, without any lugs, the tire’s overall tread prion can only reach so much.
The Falken Wildpeak AT3w lugs there significantly increases the overall tread print whit lower pressure, the tire also has stronger rim locks in comparison, so you can move on sand with lowered pressure with more confidence.
Conclusion
Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 is one of the best tires to have (in all-terrain tires) when it comes to comfort and on road noise. The tire offers amazing ride quality values.
It also offers amazing results on wet streets as well.
On the other side, although the Falken Wildpeak AT3w is not able to outperform that tire in those mentioned categories, the tire does pretty great and compromises very little for its superior off road traction.
It’s also better on snow, despite both having 3pmsf rating.
