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Last updated 10/21/2024 - Originally published 10/21/2024
Written by SimpleTire
The American tire maker Goodyear is a household name in the States. With innumerable patents to its name, Goodyear has established itself as a premium tire manufacturer with operations across the globe. Similarly, Toyo Tire is a relatively new name with an 80-year-old history of rolling out quality tires. The Japanese tire maker gained popularity through its wide range of capable SUVs and light truck tires. So, what happens when Goodyear and Toyo fight it out for the best highway-terrain tire with their Wrangler Fortitude HT and Open Country H/T II tires? Let’s dive deep.
Designed for SUVs and light trucks, the Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT and Toyo Open Country H/T II are highway-terrain tires that offer sturdy carcass and construction for enhanced load-carrying capacity. The all-season rubber compounds of these tires provide drivers with a combination of great year-round performance in dry, wet, and light snow and excellent tread life. Be it traction, grip, handling, or stability, they promise improved overall performance in different driving conditions. While both come with limited manufacturer tread life warranties, which tire should you go for? To know the answer, let us compare Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT vs. Toyo Open Country H/T II tires based on our proprietary SimpleScore.
Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT tires
Launched in 2014, the Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT features a tough rubber compound, optimized tread pattern, wide circumferential grooves, and full-depth sipes that not only reduce noise and vibration levels but also provide uniform wear throughout its lifecycle for increased service life. For added appeal, the Wrangler Fortitude HT gets the optional white letter or black sidewall design depending on tire size. While the durable compound provides extended tread life, the four deep aqua grooves of the Goodyear tire evacuate water quickly to resist hydroplaning and boost wet traction. The use of full-depth sipes and biting edges provides improved snow traction in low-temperature conditions. Available in several sizes, the Wrangler Fortitude HT offers a limited manufacturer tread life warranty of up to 65,000 miles for SL and XL sizes and 50,000 miles for LT sizes.
With an 8.5 out of 10 SimpleScore, the Wrangler Fortitude HT is solidly placed as a capable highway tire for SUV and light truck owners wanting great durability, traction, performance, and longevity.
Toyo Open Country H/T II tires
Relatively newer than the Wrangler Fortitude HT, the Toyo Open Country H/T II was launched in 2019 and features an optional white letter or black sidewall design to accentuate its visual appeal. While its wear-resistant rubber compound limits cuts, chips, and snags for improved durability, the multi-wave sipes boost grip and traction in dry, wet, and snow by providing extra biting edges. Designed for SUVs and light trucks, the Toyo highway tire features four circumferential grooves with broad shoulder grooves for effective water removal to maintain consistent traction and grip over wet and snowy surfaces and mitigate hydroplaning risks. Boosting the Open Country H/T II’s endurance capabilities are sturdy construction and reinforced sidewall design. While its P/Euro-metric sizes are backed by an up to 70,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty, its LT-metric sizes come with a 50,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty.
Boasting an average SimpleScore of 8.6, the Toyo Open Country H/T II returns reassuring grip, traction, handling, stability, and durability in different weathers and terrains.
Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT vs Toyo Open Country H/T II tires on traction
Tire traction is the basic function that does not let you skid and provides consistent road contact. Both the Goodyear and Toyo assure adequate traction on paved roads.
Scoring a 9.1 in traction, the Wrangler Fortitude HT features four deep aqua grooves for quick water removal from the tread to mitigate hydroplaning and enhance wet braking. For effective snow traction, it comes with full-depth sipes and biting edges.
Contrarily, the Toyo Open Country H/T II is slightly behind with an 8.4. Featuring adaptive longitudinal grooves and broad shoulder grooves, the Toyo tire provides enhanced water evacuation to limit hydroplaning and improve wet performance. Also, the multi-wave sipes lend extra biting edges to boost traction in different weather conditions.
The Wrangler Fortitude HT races ahead of the Open Country H/T II in traction and bags the higher traction award.
ADVANTAGE: Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT
Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT vs Toyo Open Country H/T II tires on handling
Whether it's a passenger car, a light truck, or an SUV, the steering response decides the confidence you’re going to have behind the wheels, making handling a vital aspect of tire selection.
The Goodyear highway-terrain tire features a solid center rib with a broad shoulder pattern and numerous sipes that put more rubber on the surface for increased handling performance in dry, wet, and light snow. It scores 8.9 in handling.
On the other hand, the Toyo Open Country H/T II scores an 8.5 out of 10 thanks to multiple sipes within the tread that grip the surface for improved handling performance. Meanwhile, the special outside tread design helps boost stability, grip, and control on paved roads.
The Goodyear continues its good performance and pips the Toyo in handling, too.
ADVANTAGE: Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT
Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT vs Toyo Open Country H/T II tires on longevity
For most buyers, the number of years or miles a tire lasts is the ultimate deciding factor in buying the same. Being all-season, highway tires both promise longer tread life and come with limited warranties.
Scoring its lowest in longevity (8.5), the Wrangler Fortitude HT comes with a durable rubber compound that helps it deliver great tread life. It is covered by an up to 65,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty.
With a special focus on service life, the Toyo Open Country H/T II scores an incredible 9.1 thanks to its sturdy, wear-resistant rubber compound, which boosts its durability. The Toyo also comes with a higher limited manufacturer tread life warranty - 70,000 miles – than the Goodyear.
With a superb longevity score, the Open Country H/T II wins this section.
ADVANTAGE: Toyo Open Country H/T II
When to use each
Highway terrain tires are essentially all-season tires with extra durability and sturdy construction for pulling heavy loads and hauling applications in SUVs and light trucks. Just like all-season tires, they offer great performance in dry, wet, and snow, along with increased longevity and durability throughout the year.
If you occasionally take your ride off the beaten path, you should go for all-terrain tires as they are more robust and better performers in off-road conditions than highway tires. For adventurous folks who frequently peep into the jungles, rugged-terrain or mud-terrain tires are the best depending on the terrain.
Which one should you choose?
In the end, the Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT wins 2-1 but that’s not it; with an exceptional longevity score and better mileage (70,000 vs 65,000), the Toyo is sure to be on the favorite lists of many potential buyers. Let’s analyze their prices to see which one is a better deal.
For the LT265/75R16 size, the Goodyear tire costs $323 per tire, while four tires cost $1292. Similarly, the Toyo costs $221 per tire, while four are priced at $884. The difference between them on four tires is $408.
Based on SimpleScore, you should consider the Goodyear Wrangler Fortitude HT if you:
- Drive vehicles like the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, RAM 1500, GMC Yukon, and Ford Expedition
- Want better traction (9.1 vs 8.4)
- Prefer great handling (8.9 vs 8.5)
- Want a balance between off and on-road performance
You should go for the Toyo Open Country H/T II if you:
- Drive vehicles like the RAM 3500, Ford Escape, Toyota Tundra, and Mazda CX-5
- Want a long-lasting tire (9.1 vs 8.5)
- Want a greater service life (70,000 vs 65,000 miles)
- Want a personalized design that looks classic on one side and sporty on the other
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help, and our helpful agents will be more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.