Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 Review

The Yokohama Geolandar G015 is an All-terrain tire used in Trucks, Jeeps, and Crossovers. It provides all season traction with it’s balanced symmetrical tread pattern. It’s very on road oriented but at the same time amazes you with what it can do off-road, I took this tires through all types of terrains below.

Being a tire engineer who tested all these tires, I can tell that the Yokohama Geolandar AT G015 is the most comfortable tire out there when it comes to all terrain tires. But the tire is not just limited to that. Being an AT, it’s capable of taking on some off road challenges. The tire also qualifies for sever winter rating, making these eligible to run in even extreme snow.

What’s good about it:

• Most comfortable in the category, with very less on road noise.
• Amazing traction values on wet roads.
• 3PMSF certified.

What can be improved about this tire:

• Dry grip of the tire is not as impressive as the wet.
• Does not provide satisfactory fuel economy.
• Gravel roads is not this tire’s strongest suit.

Durability

The tire is not as durable, but it’s satisfactory. It has the inner most carcass of polyester having 2 layers. 2 belts of steel run on top and a single layer of nylon is on top.

But with spirally wound nylon layer, the sidewall gets slightly more protected.

But overall, the sidewalls are weak, so be careful out there with them. Also, Geolandar G015 also does not provide thick lugs here, which could have added a bit of a protection.

If you wondering, by the way, the most powerful sidewalls comes on BF Goodrich KO2. And yes on Falken Wildpeak AT3w (review), you get 2 extra layers of polyester on the sides, but Yokohama did none of this with Geolandar G015.

But the tire does not provide sidewall lugs which could have protected the sides even more.

Tread Appearance

The tire provides a lot of biters throughout its tread. You can see 4 longitudinal channels run making 3 ribs in between.

These ribs or columns made by blocks have very sharp lateral grooves, which provide extra biting, in fact there is a separate term for them, I believe they are called groove biters.

Besides these, very sharp edges are seen on all blocks, including notches in the middle.

The central rib is not wider like the surrounding two, and this really puts this tire on the back seat in terms of grip (I’ll talk about it in the upcoming sections).

All these blocks have groove notches with deep slits in them besides having zigzag siping everywhere.

The shoulder blocks are not staggered but they still provide enough biters.

Compare Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 with others

• Falken Wildpeak AT3w.
• Yokohama Geolandar X-A/T G016
• Toyo Open Country AT3
• General Grabber AT3
• Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain Plus
• Sumitomo Encounter A/T

Comfort And Noise

Yokohama Geolandar G015, provides multiple polymer layers inside it’s tread. These compound do two things, one they remove the tire’s stiffness and second, they add elasticity to it.

That’s why Geolandar G015 is rated for the most comfortable All Terrain tire out there.

That’s why the tire provides such a comfortable ride, where any impact on roads or even off roads subside in it’s tread.

The polymer in it’s rubber is very efficient to distributes these impacts very nicely.

The tire also does a great job canceling the tread noise.

It’s killer central pattern is not for show, and is specially designed for a lot of things, where noise takes a huge part.

The tire offers variable pitches on different areas and so noise (which is just air flowing in and out of the blocks), is generated with different frequency throughout.

All these noise waves try to cancel out each other, and provide you with a very silent tire.

Overall, you are not going to feel much different between them and any other comfortable touring tire.

On Road Performance

When it comes to highways, where most of the AT tires are not expected to perform too well, the Yokohama Geolandar AT G015 provides very satisfactory response, especially on wet roads.

The tire is very civil and provide good enough traction. But I do face some things with this tire worth mentioning, let’s check them out.

The tire during dry road handling tests, are quite slow to respond to the steering’s action. It feels like they don’t want to move at first and then they jump in all of the sudden, making you feel that they might oversteer.

So it’s safe to not to consider these tires, how do I put this… not “sporty”.

The dramatic response of the tires have a learning curve, so it’s going to take some time getting used to.

But that is an extreme scenario, so these tires overall are going to handle pretty good overall for a average driver.

And on wet roads, this tire becomes slightly more vocal with quicker feedback.

Also one thing to note: I noticed these tires loose some traction with higher temperatures, so for folks who get high degrees summers, keep in mind that they will loose handling performance when things go above 100 degrees (F).

Winter Traction

The softer compound of the tire helps it just like the winter tires do. That’s why winter tires don’t work in summers, as their tread would get too soft and wear off).

Yokohama Geolandar G015 makes a good compromise between the stiffness and the softness of its tread compound.

So even in winters freezing temp. the tire does not get too stiffen up and maintains the traction.

But the tire is not just that, it provides with several, I’d say uncountable biting edges which help in trapping the snow and enhance traction.

That’s why the tire is also awarded with sever winter rating of 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake.

The tire offers very good lateral stability here as well. But keep in mind that with more closed up snow, they start to loose their grip.

For Your Info: The best budget pick having 3PMSF rating is Kenda Klever AT2 (review).

Tread Wear

So since the tire is on the softer end, you are not going to get too impressed by it, especially if you take them off road, where they would wear faster, despite its chip resistant rubber.

If I tell you from experience, the set of tires that mostly stayed on road for me, did about 40k miles.

Again only talking highways. And compared to any other, say, Toyo Open Country AT3, the tire did 50k which was also used off road a little bit as well.

But still, Yokohama gives you 60k miles warranty with these puppies.

And yes worth reminding, when it comes to wear, the top AT tire for this comes out to be General Grabber A/TX (review), it’s very impressive.

Off Road Performance

Off road, you can not expect too much from these tires, and I end up getting stuck with them every time I make things tough for them.

And yes, worth reminding, Yokohama Geolandar G015 is not good on wet grass. I don’t why it’s tread is no able to grip here so well, but then again that’s an issue with so many others out there.

Mud Performance

Mud is something AT tires are pretty scared off.

So with Yokohama Geolandar G015, get ready to get packed here. The does not provide good cleaning of it’s tread, which is a crucial traction factor on muddy terrains.

The self cleaning ability of the tire comes from wider grooves, and this tire does not offer that.

Furthermore, there no staggered shoulders with it, which usually help the tires with scooping, like see on Toyo Open Country AT3 (review).

Traction on Rocks

The tire sidewalls really come in handy on this type of terrain. But if you checked out Geolandar G015 tire’s sidewalls (in the image at the very start), you have seen how they are not up to the mark.

So even if you pressure down these tires, there are no lugs to provide extra footprint to these tires.

But still, the middle bitters of the tire’s are going to take you to slightly less aggressive rocky terrains.

Also their cut resistant rubber provides satisfactory gravel traction as well. They are also going to be the most comfortable there as well.

Verdict?

Well when it comes to Yokohama Geolandar G015, the tire provides a very decent on road performance. But then again they are very less aggressive, especially, on the shoulders and sidewalls.

And yes, there are not too protected too, so you are not going to get the confidence with them if you dare to take them on rugged terrains.

On snow however, the tire is pretty impressive and it makes sense why it’s branded with 3 peak mountain snowflake rating.