All Terrain AT tyres are an Off Road Tyre that has been developed for off road use and road use. It has become a popular label of tyre for Off Road Community. Generally it s less extreme than a Mud Terrain Tyre. It is a very competitive market Different manufactures have their own take on on the slant of capability weather to lean towards Off Road capability or on road performance and safety. Some of these tyres can be quite aggressive in appearance with knobbly and defined tread and voids. Some of the leading exponents of these tyres also have a degree of frilogy or tread on the side walls also which may help protect the tyre in very adverse going. They tend to be very heavily constructed to help prevent damage and absorb knocks and scrapes that one might expect on arduous off road pursuit. One might expect to find them on Landrover Defenders Jeeps etc, farm pick ups and so on. They have become popular amongst other road users for appearance and are termed Swamper. As far as I know no actual tyre has an official term Swamper applied to it. It is a generic term used by the Trasporter community and perhaps a few others to dress a vehicle with rugged looks. That is fitment of off road tyres plastic body mouldings and generally style the vehicle to make it look tough. The irony is that many following this trend often lower or drop their vehicles. People that normally want to exceed off road would be looking to raise suspension to avoid obstacles such as rocks and arduous undulations, dips, troughs, axle twisters fording and other wise damage to the underside of the vehicle. Groups that might benefit such tyres might include, Farmers, Farm Workers and families depending on location, Mountain Rescue vehicles, people that other wise need those types of tyres to travel off road. Some exploration visitors may also use these types of tyres when travelling far afield on expedition type holidays to Iceland for instance. The tyres are very heavily constructed multiple ply tread etc and will weigh far more than standard road tyres. On road performance of these types of tyre are comparatively compromised compared to more normal road tyres. One might expect more noise especially as tyre ware progresses after a few thousand miles stiffer ride because they tend to be reinforce and often come in XL and high weighy tollerences ae normally compromised compared to more normal on road tyres. Most have low high speed tollerence with low speed ratings but some do have higher ratings for fas highway use for instance General tyres do produce some All terain tyres whith high speed performance. There is a good trend now with All terain tyres to be rated 3PM&S which may have a bearing on people wanting to travel to alpine countries during the winter but not all AT tyres have this label and woud be unsuitable unless accompanied with snow chains for example.
My veiw is that most people would be beter off with All Season Tyres if they only had one set of rims, if they had two or more sets of rims then they could buy specialised tyres for different times of the year or specialist persuits sch as off road bias. The magority of sites for "campers" do not demand off road tyres. Of course some may chose more out of the way palces that cater less for evrything including the kitchen sink they might be visiting mudy fields sloping wet grass and so on. Even so a good set of AS tyres wuld normally surfice but AT tres might do the job more easily and if camping rough off road or fishing trips off road fairly frequently then AT tyres might be a good choice for them.
For my own case well, we live in an old welsh Farm. I have land woodland fiels and so on but I am also Land Locked and need to travel through land belonging to surounding farms. I have rights and two completly different routes out of the property. Going a way mainly off road only a bit of trach at the exstream ends but drive mainly across open fields just across grass no visable track. The other way aboken water damage track that resembels a Green Lane or B.O.A.T. Byway. Open to. All Traffic. which it is not though part is a bidledway and is travelled byt tractors. Rocky in places very heavily ruted in others axle twisters and so on During winter storms the lower track is mdameaged by fast running water and parts can be torn away trees sometimes fall over or branches block the way. The upper way when weather dictates can be impassable due to lack of traction or bogging. So in essance it is wild, that is why I use AT tyres as do many farm vehicles around here. It is not uncommon during the winter months for me having to Air our Tyres right down to quite low values 1 bar or 14 psi but often or no 6psi to garantee traction and mimise damage to fields ect My T6 is 4Motion but also has a rear Differential Lock I use oversise BF Goodridge All terain Tyres KO2 255/55R18 XL108? I have had to use them all year round this because it has been so wet. Normal tyres would not last they would become damaged with side wall becoming slashed against loosened rocks and Blackthorns after hedge cutting of course normal could not gain traction.. Some All season tyres can get traction off road to an extent an can be aired down to improve traction and floatation etc
