Falken Wildpeak M/T

Falken throws its hat in the mud-wrestling ring with a brand-new mud-terrain

- Ben Battles

YOU KNOW THAT FEELING YOU get when something really outstanding happens in your life? You know what we’re talking about: things like a past-due promotion, inheriting your grand father’s cool old truck, or being witness to your newborn child coming into the world? OK, well, we might be overstating this a tad, but that’s kind of the same type of “happy” we get when a manufacturer gives birth to a new mud-terrain tire. Maybe it’s the possibility that these new sneakers will be the end-all, no-compromise answer to our off-road-rubber needs, or maybe it’s that we just don’t care. It’s another mud-terrain option to choose from, and that’s never a bad thing.

As a direct result of our magnetized draw to the back country, we just happen to be addicted to mud tires, and soon after writing this, we’ll all have a brand-new and highly legitimate option to feed the addiction with: the WildPeak M/T from Falken. A few years back, Falken garnered some serious street cred among off-road enthusiasts with its popular off-highway-performance-oriented WildPeak A/T tire. This tire touted better-than-average off road traction among its all-terrain peers and matched it with an equal amount of positive on-road attributes. Where the rubber met the road (and trail), this tire lived up to its claims, and  Falken hit the all-terrain scene rolling strong. With a win under its belt, Falken set course to create a more-serious off road tire—one that’s not afraid to mix it up in the slop, instead of just dip its toes in and then skirt around it. Mud has always been an all-terrain’s kryptonite, and in an effort to effectively address the glaring omission in their lineup, Falken gave birth to the prototype mud-terrain tire seen here. Falken is currently in the process of final refinements for the production versions, which should be available soon.