Falken Wildpeak H/T Tire Review

The Falken Wildpeak H/T is an all-season performance tire designed for pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. If offers superior performance on both wet and dry roads while giving you the comfort and exceptional tread life of a touring tire.

Falken has a knack for combining the stellar qualities of different types of tires, and the Falken Wildpeak H/T is no exception. And since this tire is engineered to support the weight of bigger, heavier, and bulkier vehicles, Falken also set their sights on durability. Falken gave the Wildpeak H/T stiffer and wider steel belts along with a high-tension casing ply to deliver better durability.

The Falken Wildpeak H/T is also equipped with a symmetric and non-directional five-rib tread design. This feature is designed to provide better handling stability and driving comfort.

Best of all (and as with all Falken tires), the Wildpeak H/T starts at an affordable and pocket-friendly price. If you have a stock pickup truck or SUV that travels mostly over paved roads, don’t forget to check out the Falken Wildpeak H/T.

Falken Wildpeak H/T Review: Performance Tread

The Falken Wildpeak H/T may look like an ordinary tire, what with the plebian non-directional tread design. If you’re one of those people who judges a tire based on looks, the Wildpeak H/T will probably disappoint your discerning tastes.

But looks can be deceiving. The tire is equipped with larger circumferential straight grooves to offer superior wet handling. The tread blocks are adorned with multi-wave lateral sipes for better all-season traction and performance. It also has a variable-pitch shoulder design to lower road noise while improving handling, stability, and grip on wet or slippery roads.

But there are limitations to the capabilities of the Falken Wildpeak H/T. If you’re planning to do a lot of off-road driving, your vehicle will feel better with a set of all-terrain or A/T tires. Off-road prowess is not one of the strongest points of the Wildpeak H/T. However, things get better in the highway. That’s where the tires will surely shine. It can provide thousands of miles of serene driving comfort and exceptional tread wear in normal everyday driving.

Falken Wildpeak H/T Review: Tire review in different conditions

In this review of the Falken Wildpeak H/T, I tested the tires to see how they perform under varying road conditions.

Dry

As a tire designed for highway driving, the Falken Wildpeak H/T delivers in spades. It offers superior levels of traction of grip even on loose and dry surfaces, such as roads with loose tarmac, dry sand, or hard dirt. But this tire is in its natural element as you traverse the open road. The non-directional tread pattern works in this regard as my truck felt confidence-inspiring even as I breached the speed limit. Braking also felt strong and consistent as I was able to haul down to a full stop without any fuss or drama.

Wet

The Falken Wildpeak H/T felt glorious over wet roads. The handling remained tight, the steering remained accurate and responsive, and the tires delivered incredible levels of grip even when traversing over rain-drenched roads. I never felt the tires spinning or hunting for traction as I sped aggressively. This is high praise for a rugged H/T tire! My truck is not a sports car by any means, but it had sports car levels of grip even on wet roads. It simply felt amazing!

Snow

Given the touring capabilities of the Falken Wildpeak H/T, I wasn’t expecting the tires to revel over snowy roads. But to my surprise, the tires were more than adequate over light or moderate snow. It only had trouble forging over deep snow as it tried spinning helplessly to source the required traction. But if you live in places with moderate to heavy snowfall in the winter, you are better off with a set of all-terrain or A/T tires. But for light snow and icy applications, the Falken Wildpeak H/T is more than capable to motivate your driving experience.

Comfort

It might have to do with the softer suspension in my truck, but I was pleasantly admiring the comfort levels of the Falken Wildpeak H/T as I did some cross-country driving. On smooth roads the tires felt wonderful. But the tires still felt comfy as I navigated my track over a long patch of rugged terrain with loose gravel and wet sand.

Off-Road

The Falken Wildpeak H/T tires are only recommended for light off-roading. If your vehicle is modified for extreme off-road driving to handle deep mud and overly rocky terrain, you’ll need a better set of all-terrain or mud tires. But it’s not all bad when you think about it. The rugged nature of the Wildpeak H/T is more than enough to handle something more demanding than loose gravel or sand.

Handling and Noise

A tire that delivers excellent wet and dry performance is a capable handler in my book. And while my truck is not a sports car, I have high praises for the Falken Wildpeak H/T in terms of handling and cornering. It doesn’t grip the road as well if you consistently apply abrupt steering and throttle inputs to safely navigate a tight corner. But for normal driving applications such as carrying heavy loads and towing, the Wildpeak H/T will do the job with nary a complaint.

And since the Falken Wildpeak H/T is designed for highway driving, you can expect road noise to be subdued as well. In fact, Falken was able to hit the right spot in terms of refinement. The Wildpeak H/T will have little to no tire roar at slow to medium speeds, but you can expect amore road noise if carrying heavy loads or when cruising at higher than average speeds.

The Bottom Line

I only have high praises for the Falken Wildpeak H/T. It offered rugged performance with the refinement of a proper touring tire. Sure, it doesn’t perform as well over rough roads or demanding off-road terrain, but it excels in the part that matters the most: driving over paved roads.

For the price, I highly recommend the Falken Wildpeak H/T. If long-distance comfort, durability, and excellent all-season handling are your top priorities in a truck tire, give the Wildpeak H/T a closer look.