Toyo Open Country A20 Tire Review & Rating
The Open Country A20 from Toyo is used as original equipment on some pickups and sport utility vehicles, as well as being available as a replacement tire. It’s a tire that is designed to provide competent all-season traction and a smooth, comfortable ride on the highway.
An all-season tread compound and symmetric tread pattern combine with independent shoulder blocks to provide increased dry and wet traction. The tire’s footprint adds stability and improved steering response at higher speeds.
Four circumferential grooves around the tread enhance wet handling performance and lower the risk of hydroplaning through standing water. The tire is designed to provide traction in light snow, which we discuss more about in our overall thoughts.
Inside the tire you will find a steel belted construction for added strength and durability. A polyester cord body enhances ride comfort and gives the tire a more quiet ride. Toyo offers the A20 in 17-19 inch sizes.
Pros
- Good dry and wet traction
- Tires provide comfortable ride
Cons
- Winter traction is poor
- Tread life is shorter than expected
Overall Thoughts
Toyo has some very good tires in their tire lineup, but the A20 is not one of them in our opinion. Based on other driver reviews and ratings we are not alone in our conclusion. While this model does provide adequate dry and wet traction, as well as a smooth and comfortable ride for a highway SUV tire, the downsides far outweigh the upsides.
A shorter tread life is a serious issue with this tire, and with its treadwear rating of 300, it can be expected. We’ve heard many drivers reporting of getting only 15,000-25,000 miles out of the tread, which is unacceptable in anyone’s book. Beyond that, winter traction is another big problem with the A20. Some have went as far as to say it’s like trying to drive on skis. While that may be a little extreme, the traction on snow and ice is very poor. You’ll be better off by installing a set of winter tires if you live in an area that sees any kind of snow or ice.
Overall, if a Toyo tire is what you are looking for then one like the Open Country H/T would be a better choice. Other tires that you might want to look at would be the Michelin Defender LTX M/S, Cooper Discoverer HTP or General Grabber HTS60 among others.
What Vehicles Will The Toyo A20 Fit?
(This is not a complete list of ALL vehicles this tire will fit)
- Chevrolet Tahoe, Silverado, Trailblazer
- Dodge Durango, Dakota, Ram, Nitro
- Ford F-Series, Expedition, Ranger
- GMC Sierra, Envoy, Yukon
- Infiniti QX4 SUV
- Jeep Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, Commander, Liberty
- Mercedes Benz G500
- Nissan Titan, Frontier
- Toyota RAV4, Tundra, Tacoma, Highlander
- Volkswagen Touareg
Tire Sizes
17″
225/65R17 101H BW
P245/65R17 105S BW
18″
235/55R18 99H BW
235/55R18 99H BW
19″
P245/55R19 103S BW
Price Range
Toyo Open Country A20 prices range from approximately $159 and up. You may also find occasional rebates, discount prices, coupons and special offers on this tire.
Warranty
Toyo provides a limited tread warranty on the A20. Tire uniformity is guaranteed for the first 1/32 inch of wear. Materials and workmanship are warranted for 5-years and include free tire replacement during the first 25% of wear. A prorated amount is given for the remaining time period or down to the final 2/32 inch of tread depth.
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My 2013 Toyota Highlander came with the Toyo A20 P245/65R17 tires. They now have about 36,000 miles on them and are starting to show cracking in the treads and treads are about worn out. (I can just see the top of Washington’s head on a quarter when measuring tread depth.) The rubber dry rotting aside, I would have expected more tread life/mileage. My next set of tires will be something other than Toyo.
Just had our Prius V Toyo Proxes A 20 BW (P215/50R17 90W) tires replaced at our dealer with the same tires (which they didn’t stock for unknown reasons) Car has 54500 miles on it and these factory tires have been excellent and still have what I consider a good amount of very evenly worn tread on all of them. In the winter we haven’t noticed any issues with traction using sensible winter slick road driving practices. . Not sure why some of these other comments are so negative other than just being brand bias maybe?
If you are in need of (or close to in need of) tire replacement these Toyo tires are reasonably priced and have preformed actually better than other brands we’ve used on other car models over the years.
In fact, when we owned a Volvo XC 90 for over 6 years we went through 3 sets of what we thought were top brand (Michelin) tires due to excessive wear. Granted the Volvo is a much heavier car but given the chance in hind site we wouldn’t have hesitated using these Toyota brand tires without blowing our budget.
I’m so surprised by all these negative reviews. My 2015 Limited Platinum Highlander came with these tires, and here we are almost 5 years after the purchase (Dec 2015) and 84,000 miles later, Toyota is just now telling me I will need replacements before the end of the year.
What could the difference be??
Im curious what the difference is too. It has to be something.
Which Michelins are smooth and quiet? Yet good traction and mileage. I have 2016 Rav4 LTD with the Toyos. 32k miles. Need replacing soon. Although, not bad in rain or snow. No complaints. But would prefer longer lasting mileage
I believe it depends on highway or Street driving makes a big difference on the tire.
I drive a lot on the highway I have 40,000 miles on the tires and they are still holding up.
I have a 2015 Subaru Forester Touring sedan that I purchased w/ 18′ rim’s. The car came with 225/55R 18 Bridgestone Deullers on it, a sloppy ride and I am wondering ig I can purchase the Toyo, Open Country A20 yires for my vehicle going up to size 235/55R 18’s pr will it cause a problem with the front wheels mak8ng turns, Concerned.
I have a 2019 Toyota Highlander which came with Toyo Open Country A20 tires (19 inch). We live in southern California so we are not worried about snow conditions. The tires ride smooth and quiet which is probably why Toyota uses them.
I’ve owned 6 SUV’s over they years and found that none of these vehicles get more than 25 to 30 thousand miles of wear due to the weight of the car especially when you do a lot of city driving. When the tires are worn I will replace with Michelins due to their wear, traction and safety record. They are more expensive but you get what you pay for. American Tire Company takes excellent car of my tires at no charge and are very competitive when purchasing new tires. I was surprised to see their pricing was as competitive as Costco.
Hey Patrick, thanks for sharing your experience. I agree, Michelins really have an almost spotless safety and traction record. Good luck with buying new tires! Keep us posted.
Provide no traction even on even light snow. Found out the hard way after an accident. Very surprised they were so bad as original equipment on a 2015 Highlander. Sent an email to customer service Toyo Canada but they didn’t bother to reply. Need to replace with something safer.
Hey Gerry
Sorry to hear about the accident. Hope you’re doing well. You have several great alternatives to choose from if you want a capable tire that handles well in snow conditions. Please read our Top 10 Winter Tires list to learn more about tires that are perfect for snowy weather.
The Toyo A20’s came on my 2016 Toyota Tacoma. I currently have 44K miles on them and they ride great and are decent in snow/rain. My last Toyota, 2007 Tacoma, came with the same tires which I had to replace after 22k miles due to excessive wear.
After all the comments I read I feel fortunate to have 37000 miles on my 2013 highlander these tires and I’am in need of replacements, looking at michelins. its a shame to place cheap tires on a expensive product toyota should consider a better quality tire for their vehicles.
I have these on my Rav4 and am disappointed with wet weather, their traction is poor.
I have zero negative things to say about these tires. They are OE on my wife’s RAV4. I’M standing here in the state inspector’s garage and they passed again at 69,100 miles. They will need to be replaced before next year but for that mileage on an OE tire is excellent.
My experience was the same with these tires. I had a 2008 Toyota Highlander Limited purchased new and upon bringing the vehicle to the dealer for a routine oil change/maintenance around 21K miles, I was quite surprised to be informed that all tires needed replacing. They had been rotated every 5K and I do mostly highway driving. The service salesman pointed out the wear and to my dismay they were nearly bald and could see the belts actually showing through in places. Upon inquiring the replacement costs, I was quoted a price of more than $1200 for a new set of Toyota’s A20 OEM tires that would ultimately last me another 20K miles. I found this to be rather unusual for a set of tires at this price point and ended up replacing with Bridgestone Duellers for about $400 less at a local tire shop that lasted about 50K miles. Another point to note about the Toyo A20’s was the poor traction on wet roads, while I did not have AWD, I didn’t expect to “spin tires” EVERY time when pulling out of my neighborhood at very slow speeds in wet weather and my experience in light snow was ridiculously slippery with the OEM tires. I too found these to be somewhat dangerous tires due to their very poor performance and short life span. Bought a new Toyota Highlander last year and chose the AWD XLE with the 18 in tires which offers far more choices with significantly better tread life for less $$ in lieu of the Limited front wheel drive model with the 19 in tires as the vehicles were same price but AWD is priceless when you need it!
My 2013 Toyota Highlander had these tires. I drive moderately. At 11,500 miles the TOYO tire shoulder tread depth was shallow enough to allow the top of Lincolns penny head to show. The tire centers were not much better. Chris at Modern Toyota said Toyo does not pro-rate this original equipment tire (good thinking Toyo..saves Toyo some warranty money). So, the real problem is there are now 100 pounds of 4 TOYO tire casings from Japan to be ground up for rubber mulch to sell at Lowes or else tossed in the Winston Salem landfill too soon.
Shame on the geniuses that decided to put poorly designed tires on a $34,000 SUV. A new set of decent tires is about the same price as a Sienna timing belt so maybe customers should fix the timing belts on their Sienna vans and keep rolling in the CE/LE/XLE vans.
Which Michelins are smooth and quiet? Yet good traction and mileage. I have 2016 Rav4 with the Toyos. 32k miles. Need replacing soon. Although, not bad in rain or snow. No complaints. But would prefer longer lasting mileage
While these tires ride smooth and quiet on my 2013 Toyota Highlander at expressway speeds, they are slippery when wet. I do not want to do an emergency stop with these tires. I only have 34000 miles, but am considering getting back to Michelin.
I’m about to replace it with another brand that have a better traction on ice/snow. I had an accident on February this year due to tires slipped on a patch of ice. I’m not taking that risk again this coming snow season. Our 2013 Highlander has 20k+ miles but not on the tires. We used dedicated snow tires during bad ones.
This afternoon these Toyo A20 tires almost killed me and my two friends. We purchased our Toyota Venza used so we did not know if they were original or replaced, but they had good tire tread. Today I was doing 70 mph in I75 in Tampa, FL, and the car started to shake and my front left tire completely sheared off of the tire rim wholly intake and went flying approximately 50 ft in the air and off into a field. I was 1/4 mile from construction that had concrete barricades on the edge of the road. If that happened, the tire would have hit that concrete and bounced back through my windshield. I was able to control the car and drive on the rim and get off of the road safely. I will never buy a Toyo product again.
I have a 2012 Toyota Highlander with Toyo Open Country A20 tires, which are worn nearly bare after only 22,000 miles. My driving habits are very mild (mainly trips to the grocery store and taking my children to school). This is a leased vehicle and the Toyota dealership has rotated the tires per the recommended maintenance schedule. Now I am told that the tires need to be replaced (at my expense) due to excessive wear. This is completely unacceptable!
As others have mentioned, Winter traction has never been great with these tires (even when they were relatively new). I live in the Northeast and, in the Winter, my SUV slides to the bottom of our driveway while my husband’s Audi makes the same trip with ease. I will be sure to research the tires that are supplied on my next vehicle before making a purchase. My recommendation: avoid Toyo Open Country A20 tires.
These tires were on our new 2015 Toyota Highlander Limited which now has 31,000 miles. They are terrible in the light snow and although they still have plenty of tread left, they are very noisy. I actually brought the car to the dealer thinking it had a bad wheel bearing. For some reason Toyota has a habit of supplying cheap tires with their Highlanders over the years. Our previous 2008 also had tires that didn’t last and were very poor in the rain and light snow. Im looking at replacing them with Michelin Defender LXT tires. Anyone have experience with these?
What tire did you decide to use to replace the Toyos? And how do you like them?
These wore out at 18,000 miles. Do NOT drive them in ANY snow condition. Toyo company admitted to me they are meant to be a THREE season tire…and NOT meant for the Northeast with ANY type of snow or moisture on ground. But only if you live in the Sahara Desert.
I must agree. I have never had such a poor tire and I have been around a very long time. Traction is virtually non-existent and Toyota should never place them on a new vehicle. I am at 27,000 miles and looking to replace them on my 2013 Highlander.
I drive a 2012 rav4, Im angry that i have to buy a whole new set of tires along with installation, balancing and alignment ($600-$750) because these crappy tires lost all their tread after only 26,600 miles. Totally absurd.
Toyo Open Country A20 on brand new Toyota Highlander 2013 are by far the worst tires for traction I’ve ever owned. I had over a dozen vehicles in my life time and these are the worst. Light snow or slippery condition and these tires a worthless. The anti lock brakes are continuously pulsating when applied on the lightest amount of snow. Can’t stop. Even at low speeds where other drivers have control, but not me with these tires. They’re awful at best. You’d think Toyota would do better on their new vehicles than this. These tires are dangerous to drive on if the pavement is wet or during light snow fall. Don’t buy them and insist on replacements with any other if on a new vehicle you’re about to purchase.
Thanks for the tip. I live is snow country and just bought a new Highlander. After reading the reviews I went back to the dealer and told them I wanted something different. They gave me credit on the Toyos ($50 a tire) and bought the Michelins, even got a rebate. Intend to let Toyota know in customer survey that people are noticing they are selling a great product with crappy tires.