We Get Dirty at ‘Climb the Falls’ with Yokohama Tires

We go off-roading with friends from our forums to test out Yokohama’s tougher-than-tough Geolandar M/T G003 tires during ‘Climb the Falls.’ 

Chevrolet Forum moderator Country_09 was one of four of our forum users and moderators that received a new set of Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003 tires to test out on his vehicle, a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado Z71.

“They look awesome on the truck so that’s a big plus, and they ride just as well as any Toyo or Nitto I’ve had,” says Country_09 in a thread about his truck’s new rubber. “On the 15-mile trip home they had a lil’ hum to them but definitely not loud; very similar to Toyo MT. Quieter than Nitto Trail Grapplers imo and def quieter than mud grapplers.”

So far, so good. The true test of Country_09’s new Yokohamas took place on July 22 at the “Climb the Falls” event in Marble Falls, Texas. He showed up in his Silverado and went wheeling through the Hidden Falls Adventure Park with a forum user in a 2016 Ford F-150 FX4, yours truly in a 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor, and two of our colleagues in a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara. Almost everyone else there had a steroid-enhanced Wrangler with a hoss winch, a big lift, body armor, and/or 35- to 37-inch tires.

The Silverado was working hard, flexing its suspension so its virgin G003 tires could get a grip on the dry dirt, but it always made it to the top of whatever incline lay ahead.

According to Yokohama, the G003 has a wide, flat profile for longer life and a variable-pitch tread design for quiet highway cruising. Armored, multiple-ply sidewalls; steel belts; and a full nylon cap give it the structural integrity to survive off-road driving. A carefully calculated block-to-void ratio combined with mud/stone ejectors improve the G003’s connection to the road, even when it’s soaked with rain.

Once everyone arrived at the huge adult playground, we all aired our tires down to better their grip and make the rocky roads ahead of us feel as smooth as we possibly could. A team of guides from the Fort Hood Military Jeepers separated the full-size trucks into one group and the heavily-modified Jeeps into another. We joined Country_09 and our other colleagues and headed toward the park’s less extreme trails while the jacked-up JKs and tricked-out TJs drove straight for the gnarliest stretches of nature they could find.

That didn’t mean we had nothing to worry about, though. The head guide told all of the truck drivers that there would be a point or two in our drive that would make us “pucker.” Immediately, visions of loudly scraping our truck’s skid plates popped into our head. Country_09 went ahead of us and we winced at the thought of how many mini mountains could jut into the lowest-hanging hardware between the ends of his truck’s long wheelbase.

We had a little more peace of mind knowing the Raptor SuperCab we were testing had 9.3 fewer inches of wheelbase (134.2) than the four-door Chevy truck. There were some stretches where the Silverado was working hard, flexing its suspension so its virgin G003 tires could get a grip on the dry dirt under it, but it always made it over whatever hump Country_09 pointed his Bowtie at and to the top of whatever incline lay ahead.

Like the Silverado, the Wrangler Unlimited Sahara was able to get up and over the obstacles it encountered. There was a major difference between the two vehicles, though (aside from the obvious). Despite all of the rocks and branches the Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003 tires rolled over, they stayed inflated, ready to roll their way deeper into the private piece of Texas Hill Country. A combination of a little too much speed and the nub of a tree stump poking out of the dirt caused one of the Sahara’s stock non-Yokohama tires to blow out. After one of our guides swapped it out for the spare, our colleague drove the rest of the morning with the fear of popping another tire filling his mind.

In conclusion, no matter how rocky and  hardcore the trail before it was, Yokohama’s Geolandar M/T G003s stood up to the rough country of Hidden Falls with ease, strength and dependability.

Photos provided by JK-Forum editor Manuel Carrillo III.

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Derek also contributes to other outlets. He started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to get even more automotive content out to fellow enthusiasts.

He can be reached at autoeditors@internetbrands.com.

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