Yokohama YK-HTX Review: A Safe All-Season Choice for Light Truck and SUV

If your truck or SUV is a highway or city-dweller, the Yokohama YK-HTX is more than adequate for the job. It’s a bit more rugged than usual and can handle mild off-road driving. But it’s also refined for city streets and fast highways.

The Yokohama YK-HTX is a brilliant hybrid all-season tire. It’s a proper H/T tire but with a huge difference: it’s the X! I imagine the ‘HTX’ name probably stands for ‘highway-terrain cross-country’ because this is what the tire is all about. 

First and foremost, the Yokohama YK-HTX is an H/T tire for pickup trucks, vans, and rugged SUVs. This means superb comfort and low road noise on those long and arduous cross-country trips. But the Yokohama YK-HTX is also equipped with more rugged and chunkier tread blocks. It’s not as aggressive as the tread blocks on a proper A/T tire, but it’s large enough to convey the message of all-road capability. 

Confused? Don’t be. If you have a pickup truck or SUV and crossovers but don’t need a super-aggressive set of all-terrain tires (or if you do most of your driving in the streets/highways with occasional off-road use), the Yokohama YK-HTX is the perfect tire for your ride.

Is the Yokohama YK-HTX good for rugged terrain?

If you’re talking about sand, gravel, loose soil, grass, or anything that resembles a dirt road, then yes. The Yokohama YK-HTX is more than capable in mild to moderate off-road driving. It can certainly handle a bit more abuse than an ordinary set of H/T tires. That I can say much.

But if your truck or SUV is modified for serious off-road driving, you’re barking at the wrong tree. The Yokohama YK-HTX is only good for mild off-roading and light snow. If you need a more rugged and aggressive set of rubber, you should consider the Yokohama Geolandar A/T instead of the YK-HTX.

Can it handle deeper snow and thick ice?

No. Even though the Yokohama YK-HTX is a rugged version of an H/T tire, it is only good for light snow. If you live in places with long winters and heavy snowfall, you should go for winter tires or an aggressive set of all-terrain rubber. The tire compound utilized in the Yokohama YK-HTX is pliable enough for cold weather driving, but it doesn’t offer much grip on roads covered in deeper snow.

And besides, the Yokohama YK-HTX is not M + S rated, which means the tire is not meant to handle deep mud and severe snow.

What are the features of the Yokohama YK-HTX?

Since Yokohama designed the YK-HTX for all-season highway driving, the priority is to improve tire wear while also improving comfort and refinement. Yokohama achieved this by using a proprietary silica-infused compound enriched with Orange Oil technology. This particular compound is engineered to resist wear and promote longevity. It also lowers the rolling resistance of the rubber to promote better fuel economy.

Another sterling feature of the Yokohama YK-HTX is the optimized contact patch with triple 3D sipes. This feature promotes even wear while keeping traction consistent across all types of road surfaces. The tire also comes with multi-sipe blocks. It offers a lot more biting edges compared to other highway terrain tires. This gives the Yokohama YK-HTX stronger traction in loose, wet, or challenging road surfaces. This tire is also equipped with adaptive shoulder blocks and an optimized sidewall construction to promote stable handling even as the tire wears out. The shoulder blocks, in particular, form a continuous outer rib that helps in reducing road noise and tire roar.

Is it quiet and comfortable on paved roads?

The Yokohama YK-HTX is not the most comfortable or quietest highway tire in this category. In fact, if you prioritize utmost comfort and silence in a new set of tires, you are better off with a proper set of H/T or highway-terrain tires.

But I’m not saying the Yokohama YK-HTX will bounce and scream as you drive. It’s far from that. This tire is decently comfortable and quiet at slow to moderate speeds. You will only hear the tire roar as you approach higher cruising speeds. But for bumper-to-bumper city driving and occasional highway use, you won’t even know the tires are there. This is an impressive feat given the chunky nature of the Yokohama YK-HTX tires.

How about dry and wet performance?

The Yokohama YK-HTX is faultless in the dry. It maintains steady traction and grip without dumbing down the steering feel. Handling, braking, and cornering are pretty decent for a tire capable of conquering mild off-road trails. 

It’s the same story in the wet. There is no hint of aquaplaning on wet highways, but only if you don’t push it too much. Mind you, these tires may break traction in drenching wet or icy roads, but you’ll have to be heavy with the throttle and steering inputs to do so. This is not saying the tires are not good in the wet, but they’re certainly average when it comes to icy, greasy, or slippery roads.

How about tire wear?

The Yokohama YK-HTX has been around for many years now. The primary complaints were the lack of snow and off-road traction, and that’s about it. This tire is known for providing excellent all-season performance with longer wear. In this regard, it delivers in spades. If you’re still having second thoughts, Yokohama is offering the YK-HTX with a 70,000-mile limited treadwear warranty on P/E-metric sizes and a 50,000-mile warranty on LT-metric sizes.

You can see more Yokohama YK-HTX Review here: videos created by Discount Tire

Should I buy the Yokohama YK-HTX?

It depends on your needs and driving habits. Like I said, if your truck or SUV is a highway or city-dweller, the Yokohama YK-HTX is more than adequate for the job. But if you do a lot of driving in rough roads or if you frequently explore the wild outdoors, a more rugged set of all-terrain tires will suit you better.

But then we get to the price. The Yokohama YK-HTX is a bit more costly than an ordinary H/T tire but not by much. I wouldn’t mind paying more for tires especially if it offers multi-faceted capabilities. And for me, this is where the Yokohama YK-HTX begins to shine regardless of the price.