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Last updated 5/18/2025 - Originally published 5/18/2025
Written by SimpleTire, Expertly reviewed by Brett Antosh
The American tire maker, Summit Tires has been around for close to half a century, churning out quality tires in different categories that cover up to 90 percent of the vehicles plying on the US roads. Similarly, Sumitomo Tire is a century-old Japanese tire maker that’s available in almost all the major countries around the globe. Designed for SUVs and light trucks, highway terrain tires offer great durability and year-round performance on paved roads.
Coming from these two brands, the Summit Trail Climber HT03 and the Sumitomo Encounter HT2 are highway terrain tires designed for SUVs and light trucks, and focus on providing comfortable on-road performance. The Summit Trail Climber HT03 emphasizes a smooth and quiet ride, coupled with reliable all-season traction. Its tread pattern is designed to balance dry and wet grip, with features like 3D sipes to enhance winter and wet performance.
The Sumitomo Encounter HT2, on the other hand, also aims for a comfortable highway ride but puts more focus on durability and long tread life. Its tread design typically incorporates wide circumferential grooves for effective water evacuation and lateral sipes for enhanced traction in various conditions. The Encounter HT2 is praised for its stability, even wear characteristics, and quiet operation, making it a solid choice for drivers prioritizing longevity and a refined driving experience on paved surfaces.
Backed by solid mileage warranties, both look neck-and-neck in performance. So, which one is better? Let’s compare the Summit Trail Climber HT03 vs Sumitomo Encounter HT2 tires based on SimpleScore to know the better deal.
Summit Trail Climber HT03 tires
Designed for SUVs and light trucks, the Summit Trail Climber HT03 is a highway terrain tire that prioritizes a comfortable and quiet ride. Its all-season capabilities are enhanced by 3D sipes, providing consistent grip in wet and light winter conditions. The tread pattern features circumferential channels for effective water displacement, reducing hydroplaning risk.
Built with a reinforced casing, the HT03 aims for durability and even tread wear, backed by a limited manufacturer's tread life warranty. Void angles and lateral groove tie bars are incorporated to minimize road noise and improve handling stability. This tire offers a balance of comfort, reliable traction, and a smooth driving experience on paved roads.
With an 8.0 out of 10 overall SimpleScore, the Summit Trail Climber HT03 assures adequate grip, traction, durability, stability, and control in different driving conditions.
Get Summit Trail Climber HT03 tires at the best deals for your vehicle here
Sumitomo Encounter HT2 tires
The Sumitomo Encounter HT2 is a highway terrain tire that is engineered for SUVs, CUVs, and light trucks, focusing on a comfortable and quiet ride. Its symmetric tread pattern with circumferential grooves ensures stability and responsive handling on paved roads. Wave-shaped sipes enhance braking power on both wet and dry surfaces, while wide grooves effectively reduce the risk of hydroplaning.
Built for longevity, it features reinforced twin steel belts that promote even wear, backed by a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty. The optimized tread design and curved shoulder grooves contribute to a smooth and quiet driving experience, making it a practical choice for everyday commutes and highway travel.
The Sumitomo Encounter HT2 scores an 8.2 in its overall SimpleScore thanks to its impressive handling, traction, durability, and longevity.
Get Sumitomo Encounter HT2 tires at the best deals for your vehicle here
Summit Trail Climber HT03 vs Sumitomo Encounter HT2 tires on traction
Traction is the most significant aspect of any tire as your safety is directly linked to the consistent grip you’ve on the road. Highway terrain tires are designed to offer superb grip, traction, and control in dry and wet conditions. The Summit and Sumitomo tires promise great traction throughout the year. Let’s check their scores to know which one is better in traction.
Scoring an 8.0, the Trail Climber HT03 features multiple 3D siping that grip the surface for consistent traction in dry and wet conditions. Thanks to the four circumferential grooves, the Summit tire clears water from the tread to avoid the risk of hydroplaning and improve wet traction. The connected grooves on the ribs further facilitate in quick clearing of water for consistent traction during rains or on wet surfaces.
Matching the traction performance of its counterpart, the Encounter HT2 scores an 8.0 here and displays great attributes of reduced stopping distance and effective grip in dry, wet, and light snowy conditions. With wide circumferential grooves and wave-type lateral sipes, the Sumitomo tire not only reduces road noise but also mitigates the risk of hydroplaning by evacuating water from the tread to boost wet performance.
With the same scores, there’s no clear winner in the traction tussle. It’s a tie.
ADVANTAGE: Tie
Summit Trail Climber HT03 vs Sumitomo Encounter HT2 tires on handling
The better the steering response, the more in control you’re of your vehicle. Tires play an important role in ensuring you’ve total control of your vehicle, as they are your only contact with the surface. The Trail Climber HT03 and the Encounter HT2 promise enhanced handling performance on paved roads.
Boasting an 8.0 in handing, the Summit tire rides on its ribbed tread pattern that allows increased steering response, stability, and lane-changing capabilities on highways. Thanks to the reinforced casing and solid sidewall construction, the Trail Climber HT03 maintains its uniformity even during heavy load-carrying conditions.
Contrarily, the Sumitomo tire yet again equals the score with an 8.0! Backed by jointless nylon overlay plies and reinforced bead apex, the Encounter HT2 delivers confident steering feedback, high-speed stability, and high cornering strength. The solid shoulder pattern and flat profile put more rubber on the ground for reassuring control and handling in dry and wet conditions.
Continuing their fiery battle, the handling section, too, doesn’t see a winner, and both tires continue to remain locked. It’s a tie again.
ADVANTAGE: Tie
Summit Trail Climber HT03 vs Sumitomo Encounter HT2 tires on longevity
Highway-terrain tires are preferred for their all-season compound that bears the changing weather conditions and lasts longer compared to all-terrain tires. This is the section that separates the Summit and Sumitomo tires, as one returns extraordinary ratings to beat the other. Let’s see who that lucky one is.
The Summit Trail Climber HT03 scores yet another 8.0, and this time in longevity to assure adequate tread life and reliable performance throughout its lifecycle. The reinforced carcass of the Summit tire promotes uniform tread wear throughout its lifecycle while resisting uneven wear in different driving conditions. It is backed by a 50,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty for LT sizes and up to 60,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty for P-metric sizes.
On the other hand, the Sumitomo Encounter HT2 reveals its knockout punch by scoring a superb 8.8 in longevity. Backed by a strong carcass and sturdy construction, the Sumitomo highway tire assures great performance alongside an impressive service life. It is backed by an up to 60,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty for LT and metric sizes.
Finally, we have a winner here in the name of Sumitomo Encounter HT2, which wins the longevity battle quite convincingly.
ADVANTAGE: Sumitomo Encounter HT2
When to use each
Highway-terrain tires are designed primarily for on-road driving with special focus on comfort, quietness, and long tread life. They feature less aggressive tread patterns with circumferential ribs for stability and smaller grooves for efficient water evacuation, ensuring good wet traction. While capable of handling light off-road conditions like gravel, their focus remains on providing a smooth and predictable driving experience on paved surfaces for SUVs, trucks, and vans.
The same is true for the Trail Climber HT03 and the Encounter HT2, as they perfectly balance traction, handling, and tread life. However, the Sumitomo tire has an edge over the Summit in terms of longevity as it offers better tread life.
Which one should you choose?
To sum up, the Sumitomo Encounter HT2 wins the comparison 1-0, as we see repeated ties in the handling and traction sections. The Summit Trail Climber HT03 gives a tough fight to the Japanese tire, with matching scores in the first two sections. However, you should check out the individual traits of each tire before you head over to tire shopping. Let’s get down to the final point, often a dealbreaker, the price!
In terms of prices, the 235/70R16 106T tire size, the Summit Trail Climber HT03 costs around $95 per tire, and four such tires cost $380, while the Sumitomo Encounter HT2 costs around $147 per tire, and four such tires cost $588 (a difference of $208 for a set).
Based on SimpleScore, you should choose the Summit Trail Climber HT03 if you:
- Drive a vehicle like the Ram 3500, Ford Explorer, or Honda Pilot
- Prefer a tire that comes with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty
- Want an affordable highway terrain tire that offers great traction, handling, and longevity
You can go for the Sumitomo Encounter HT2 if you:
- Drive vehicles like the Toyota Sequoia, Chevrolet Tahoe, or Jeep Wagoneer
- Prefer tires with a better LT-metric mileage warranty (60,000 vs 50,000 miles)
- Want a long-lasting tire (8.8 vs 8.0)
- Want a highway terrain tire that offers great traction and handling
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.