My Experience With the Toyota RAV4’s Original Tires

I bought my 2021 Toyota RAV4 LE FWD in October of 2021. Since this was my first new car, I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

After owning the car for a few days, I realized I did not check to see which tires were fitted from the dealership.

Although I thought the original Michelin tires would perform well, I actually ended up swapping them out for something new because I had issues getting proper traction. Since my RAV4 is front-wheel drive, this made the problem even worse.

In this article, I’ll discuss how my factory tires performed, as well as what I ended up replacing them with.

Spoiler: The new tires I bought were around the same price and performed much better.

What Tires Come Standard

If you’re buying a new RAV4, you may be wondering what tires will be fitted on your vehicle.

In my case, my new Toyota RAV4 came standard with Michelin Primacy A/S tires. However, I asked RAV4 owners and got a wide variety of responses.

So, unfortunately, I can’t tell you exactly what tires you’ll end up with when purchasing a new Toyota RAV4, since it varies widely based on the dealership. However, you can expect one of these tires (or something similar) to be fitted on your new RAV4.

Overall Performance

Outside of bad weather, how did my tires perform?

When the weather was good the tires performed okay, but they did not make me feel confident in the vehicle.

My tires would still slip occasionally when starting from a stop on a hill. Driving at high speeds did not always feel safe, especially around turns.

Overall, these tires would have been sufficient if I was living in an area with minimal bad weather, but I still was not impressed with their overall performance in all conditions.

Bad Weather Performance

It’s most important to know how tires perform in bad weather. Although many tires perform well in optimal conditions, their performance in inclement weather makes the most difference.

Unfortunately, my stock RAV4 tires did not perform well in rain or snow.

Since my RAV4 is front-wheel drive, my tires would lose traction and spin when accelerating from a stop in the rain, most commonly when I was on a hill. Although I don’t have all-wheel drive, the slippage was still too excessive.

Of course, the snow was even worse. I live in Pennsylvania which occasionally experiences heavy snowfall.

Shortly after purchasing my RAV4, we experienced significant snowfall in my area. There were several times where I almost slid off the road with my stock RAV4 tires during the snow, even at very slow speeds.

How I Got Rid of My Original Tires

Once I decided to switch away from my RAV4’s original tires, I wasn’t sure of the best way to get rid of my old tires (and earn some money for them).

After some research, I decided that selling my old tires on Facebook Marketplace was the best option. It was easy and did not take long to sell.

You’ll want to get your new tires first, then list your old ones for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

Since the RAV4’s tire size is pretty common, it shouldn’t take long for you to find a buyer. Keep lowering the price every few days until someone buys them.

Be sure to include many photos of the tires, including close-ups of the tread and sidewall.

Next, I’ll talk about what tires I bought to replace my original tires.

Replacement Tires

I did lots of research on tires to replace my original tires. After lots of consideration, I chose the Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail tires.

These tires are more aggressive but do not affect road noise or fuel economy. Toyota equips these tires on the TRD Off-Road and Woodland trims of the RAV4.

The performance was improved in both good and bad weather. The difference was clearly noticeable. The vehicle also felt more confident around turns.

I’ve tested these in all sorts of bad weather at this point and these tires have not failed me.

Summary

Overall, I highly recommend swapping out the original RAV4 tires for something better.

However, if you live in a nice climate that does not experience heavy rain or snow, you may want to wear down the original tires before upgrading. If you have AWD, that will also help improve your traction.

What tires did your RAV4 come with? Leave it in the comments below!