Toyo Proxes S/T's review!!

[gto78]

Well, I spent a month researching tires and for my personal needs decided to use Toyo Proxes S/T's. I have a 1998 Eddie Bauer edition 4.0, 2wd. I use 265/70-16's. The tires I removed were Michelin's that had over 50 thousand miles, and were riding like ****. The Michelin's were extremely OVER priced, and handled embarrassingly horrible in rainy conditions.

Lets get to the Toyo's. The Toyos mounted up nice, but balanced out horrible- and I was extremely disappointed in how much the road force variation was. Three of the four tires had over 20 pounds of road force! WTF is that? ALSO, 3 of the four tires required HALF A POUND OF BALANCING WEIGHTS. That means 8 ounces of balancing weights for each tire guys, thats insane. The wheels were nearly perfect, no run out, not bent or anything. One tire had 7 pounds of road force variation, like a normal tire should.

I installed them (along with new front shocks) and took it for a lot of driving to see what they do. On semi smooth roads they were nice, lots and lots of grip- you completely feel the road through the steering wheel... They are firm, not mushy, and are almost completely impossible to break loose on wet cement (ie:car wash). For smoothness and comfort I give them an 8 out of 10. For control I give them a 10, but for noise on "smooth new roads" I give them a 7. During braking and speeds below 70 mph on very smooth new blacktop they have a distinct humming noise. My fear is that the noise is only going to get loUDER each week.

So far I am happy overall, but I can't wait to put a thousand miles on them and re-balance to see what condition they REALLY are in...

 

[blitzk]

I've had them on previous cars, and also have them on my 04 XLT 285/35/22's. I have to agree with your review. They're hard to balance, but AWESOME tires. Not only do they perform great, they have the look to match.

 

[gto78]

Well it's been 6 weeks since I installed the Toyo's. So far they are about the same, slightly noisier now. They ride smooth, but loud. Especially on smooth roads you can really hear them. Also they seem to shake above 80 mph. I need to rebalance them but haven't had enough time. They handle EXTREMELY well, especially on wet pavement. The crappy Michelins that I had on there before use to be quiet when new, but NEVER handled good on wet roads- ever. These Toyo Proxes make this truck feel like a new explorer. It has so much more road feel, steering response, and braking power. I have not taken them off road yet. I'll post an update as soon as I get a chance to rebalance them.

JOE