I grew up and learned to drive in Minnesota, where icy driveways and several feet of snow weren’t uncommon, and I’ve spent the last decade roaming around the West, driving my fair share of burly jeep roads in all kinds of conditions. I feel confident navigating snowstorms and rough roads, but I know that my skills are really only as good as the tires on my vehicle.
Where I live now, in northern New Mexico, it could be dumping in the mountains on my way to skin a lap at the local ski hill and dry and sandy in the local arroyos, where I like to walk my dogs. And like many places in the Southwest, I often find myself putting on some serious highway miles to reach crags and campsites on the weekends—not to mention schlepping my kids around to school and grandparents’ homes during the week. These days, I don’t need a specific winter, sand, or highway tire; I need something that can do a little bit of everything.
Enter the Nokian Tyres Outpost nAT, which I had installed on my 4Runner four months ago. “It’s an all-terrain tire certified for driving in snow, but still comfortable on the highway,” Wes Boling, communications and content manager at Nokian Tyres, told me over email ahead of testing the tire. “It has a deep tread, long mileage warranty, and it’s reinforced with Kevlar to protect from punctures and blowouts.”
Designed for light trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, the Outpost nAT features reinforced sidewalls and tread, a deep tread pattern, and a warranty up to 60,000 miles. It comes in a wide range of sizes, from 15-inch to 20-inch fitments. The size on my SUV, 265/70R17, has a max load of 2,679 pounds, up to 118 miles per hour.
It’s worth noting that the Outpost nAT is more of an everything tire than a true winter one. It has the three-peak mountain snowflake certification, and, Boling told me, is developed with snow in mind. But for those seeking a true snow option, he suggested the Hakkapeliitta LT3 winter tire.
I’m far from an expert on vehicles and tires, but I noticed a difference immediately between the low-profile tires I was running and the Outpost nATs. When a fall storm washed out the dirt road that leads to my home, I plowed through the mud and water without a second thought. On the way to ski in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains after the first big snow of the year, my husband and I opted to take my SUV instead of his truck because we knew my tires could better handle the weather. When I got lost on some rugged forest roads in the mountains outside of Truchas, New Mexico, my only worry was finding my way back to the main road—not whether my tires could make it. And, while I’d braced for a major dent in my highway mileage per gallon due to the larger tires, the difference is so minor, I don’t really notice it at all in my day-to-day driving.
Finally, the Outpost nAT gets bonus points for looks. As a mom who bought a third-row SUV rather than a minivan for both practical reasons and because I couldn’t bear to leave my outdoorsy cred behind, I have to admit that I feel pretty cool driving around with these on my car.
The post An Ode to the Do-Everything Nokian Tyres Outpost nAT appeared first on Outside Online.
