If you’ve got a truck or an SUV and you’re in the market for a performance tire — the Falken Wildpeak H/T deserves a close look. It’s an all-season offering from the 38 years old Japanese tire brand Falken. It claims to have exceptional performance on dry and wet roads along with the superior tread life and ride comfort of a touring tire.
Falken Wildpeak H/T – Overview
Falken has a pretty good track record of combining the best qualities of two completely different tire categories, and they’ve had the same target with the Wildpeak H/T. The tire’s primary domain is to provide all-season performance in dry and wet conditions, but they’ve engineered a tread design that doesn’t compromise comfort levels.
Moreover, since the tire is meant for bulky trucks and SUVs, it’s also durable! For that, the tire has high-tension casing ply, stiffer and wilder steel belts, and an optimized design for even treadwear.
The tread design is non-directional and symmetric for improved driving comfort and stable handling.
Let’s see how it performs in real-world scenarios.
Performance on Dry Roads
The Falken Wildpeak H/T is designed for grippy city driving and a comfortable highway experience. It offers superior traction levels on dry pavement and doesn’t seem to budge on loose surfaces, such as dry sand or hard dirt.
However, dry tarmac is where the tire comes into its element. Even at higher speeds, your SUV or truck will feel incredibly stable with confidence-inspiring cornering capabilities. We also had no complaints about its consistent and sharp braking performance. Overall, the Falken Wildpeak H/T is great on dry roads!
Wet Performance
This tire handles wet conditions with ease. The steering feels responsive and accurate while handling remains stable even at higher speeds. It doesn’t seem to lose road grip even as you traverse over puddles of water in the rain.
We didn’t get any wheel spin or traction struggles even at the speed limit, and that’s all you can wish for in the rain! The Falken Wildpeak H/T sits right up there with the premium H/T tires when it comes to wet performance — and that’s high praise considering its price!
Winter Performance
Tires that do well in the touring department generally don’t impress in snowy conditions, but the Wildpeak H/T is different. If you get light to moderate winters where you live, this tire will be a reliable addition to your truck or SUV. Unless you encounter deep snow, you won’t need a set of dedicated snow tires if you’ve got the Falken Wildpeak H/T.
Ride Comfort and Road Noise
Ride comfort has a lot to do with the type of suspension you’ve got on your truck or SUV, but our experience with the Falken Wildpeak H/T was pretty impressive. If you take your truck or SUV to occasional cross-country trips, you’ll love having these tires under you! The ride quality remains plush on smooth highway roads, but you won’t feel any noticeable bumps as you cruise over a rough patch of gravel either!
Since the H/T in its name stands for “highway terrain” — the tire is designed to be quiet enough on the highway. The tread design is effective at subduing the road noise even at medium to high speeds. However, the tire roar might get more noticeable if you’re transporting a heavy load in your truck through the highway.
Off-Road Capabilities
Being a pickup truck or SUV tire, you’d expect the Falken Wildpeak H/T to have some level of off-road capability — and it does! It’s not much since the tire is mainly designed to stay on the road, but the sturdy build quality of the Wildpeak H/T can handle tougher conditions than sand or gravel. It can get you through rough muddy or rocky patches in a pinch, but the tire is only recommended for occasional light-offroading.
Handling
As long as the tire provides ample traction and stability on dry and wet pavement, it’s considered a solid handler for elevated vehicles. The Falken Wildpeak H/T fits that criteria quite comfortably. It offers a ton of practicality for all the use cases of pickup trucks or SUVs such as towing, carrying heavy loads, cross-country traveling, or simply navigating through city streets. Unless you’re an off-roading enthusiast, this tire will comfortably handle anything you throw its way.
Conclusion
We’ve got nothing but good things to say about the Falken Wildpeak H/T. You don’t see a lot of performance all-season truck tires with the refined qualities of a touring tire. Its only weak zone is off-road terrain, but since most modern trucks and SUVs never see a day of off-roading in their lifespan, the Wildpeak H/T has a pretty big target demographic. We’d highly recommend this tire if your priorities are performance, durability, and comfort.