Milestar Patagonia M/T Review – 5th Gen 4Runner

Milestar Patagonia M/T Superior Traction Off-Road Tires Review For the 5th Gen 4Runner

The Tire Problem

Anyone who spends enough time behind the wheel in the driver’s seat will agree that tires are the most important aspect when it comes to vehicle performance.

Those who off-road enough will also tell you that a set of tires can make or break your day while you’re out there. Problem is, big brand tires are extremely expensive (especially more expensive when you go up in tire size) and for people who wheel on a weekly basis (like me), spending north of $1.2K every so often would be a big, big problem. Especially during COVID-19 when people’s livelihoods are negatively impacted.

Upgrading From the Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs…

With my Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs reaching 3 years and 40k miles of service that consisted of desert running, crawling, and snow wheeling, it was time for new tires.

Don’t get me wrong, the Duratracs were great; they handled everything extremely well but due to their old age and high mileage, there were lots of missing chunks resulting in loss of traction while crawling at the end of my 1800 mile expedition to Moab in September 2020. Plus, I’ve been wanting to go 285 profile instead of sticking with the stock 265 profile for a while, so I figured it was time for an upgrade when I returned from Moab.

The Tire Solution

I had a few requirements to meet when I was in the market for new tires:

• Meets my budget (under $1K installed)
• Mud-Terrain (for the more aggressive look)
• Be able to handle snow
• Not too noisy

Why Milestar Patagonia?

My friend at Miyaki Motorsports (@miyakimotorsports) recommended the Milestar Patagonia M/T after I returned from Moab and I brought up the tire situation while he was changing my oil. He said that he’s been running those on his personal 4×4 for years and they’ve performed extremely well, even in snow.

On top of that, these are more affordable compared to the big brands that people usually go for. After that conversation, I looked up the Patagonia tires and decided to give these a shot.

The features that sold me on the Patagonia Tires were:

• High Void Thread Design – Promotes Self-Cleaning Capabilities
• Integrated Stone Ejectors
• Angled Biting Edges – Traction Enhancement
• Complex Siping Design – Grip Enhancement
• Center Rib – Ride Enhancement
• 3-Ply Sidewall
• White Lettering

Find it online (Milestar Patagonia M/T Tires):

• Amazon.com: Check Price
• SimpleTire.com: Check Price
• AmericasTire.com: Check Price

Basic Inspection

Upon inspection, the Patagonia M/T looks way more aggressive than the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac A/T that I had.

The tread blocks are massive and look like they mean business. The stone ejectors look integrated as well. To top it off, the white lettering looks right at home on my white 4Runner. Overall, these tires look like they mean business and are ready to go explore!

Installation Overview

Installation is simple – have the shop install them for you!

However, as Brenan explained in the Biggest Tires on Stock 4Runner article, going 33” is a questionable fit and will require a lift, else you will suffer from massive rubbing issues and potentially break something on your rig. For me to run these 33” tires, we had to push the fender liner in (as detailed in this write-up by Brenan) and cut into the front mudflaps where tires and mudflaps touch.

No other modifications or adjustment was needed for me to run these on the trail.

Milestar Patagonia M/T Impressions

As previously mentioned in my BMC High-Performance Drop-In Filter article, my 4Runner is also my daily commute vehicle.

Despite wheeling it every weekend, 80% of the miles accumulated are from pavement driving and the on-road aspect was the first thing I noticed. People say mud terrains are noisy, but not these; I’ve put over 2000 miles on this set of tires through the pavement, sand, water crossing, and crawling since I bought them…

Below are my impressions of each aspect of driving:

#1. Pavement

These are QUIET on the pavement. I expected road noise on M/T as people always complain about it, but I’ve heard no road noise whether I was going speed limit or doing 80MPH. All I heard was the wind noise coming from the stuff I put on my roof rack. I am extremely impressed. Handling wise, I am now able to tackle turns at speed without braking too much or hearing tires scream. The tires just grab the road surface!

#2. Sand

Driving through deep sand was a breeze as well; I air down to 18PSI when going off-pavement, and when driving through deep sand it feels like I am gliding through instead of pushing my rig through. I was able to drive through miles of deep sand sections at high speed and even able to fully stop and take off in 2WD without any traction issue.

#3. Water Crossing

There was no slipping on the tire at all. The tires grabbed on to the riverbed and propelled the rig forward just like it was on dry land.

#4. Crawling

Crawling at 18PSI, I did Paiute Canyon Road in Lytle Creek, CA in 2WD. There were sections where we had to go through rock gardens and boulders, and the Patagonias handled all those like a champ in 2WD. I did not get stuck at all and there was no slipping while crawling through boulders.

#5. The Ride

The ride quality is also smooth on the pavement; while I had the Goodyears with the same suspension setup, the ride was on the stiffer side for some reason. Pairing the same suspension setup with the Patagonia tires, I’ve noticed that the truck rides silky smooth and absorbs the bumps and dips gracefully.

Final Thoughts

Consider how impressed I am with the performance of these tires, I would urge my fellow 4Runner owners to consider these when shopping for new tires.

You should give these a shot if you are looking for a set of off-pavement tires that:

• Doesn’t cost a lot
• Looks aggressive
• Performs great both on and off-road
• Quiet on pavement

I’ve yet to test these out in the snow since it’s only October and snow season does not start in Southern California until late November or December. I will send an update once they see snow.

Snow Update

We enjoyed 2 days of rainstorm here in the sunny SoCal, which also meant higher elevations enjoyed a lot of fresh white powders. Because the storm didn’t happen until Monday, I had to wait a couple of days before heading into the snow to test out these M/Ts; which turned out to be a good thing because I was able to see their performance in both ice and snow. Talking about killing two birds with one stone.

I was worried about getting stuck in powdery snow and losing traction on ice, but none of that happened. I even tried intentionally getting stuck in the snow by flooring my gas paddle to dig myself in, but the tires just kept on propelling the truck forward. I then stopped on ice and tried to break traction, but that attempt failed miserably as well. These tires just kept me going and going.

These tires are not exactly brand new when I took them for a snow run. I’ve put over 5000 miles of crawling, high-speed desert running, sand carving, and commuting. Yet, they still performed as well as my friend’s A/Ts. If you’re holding out on purchasing these because you’ve heard M/Ts are not suitable for snow, rest assured that these will not disappoint you.