What’s the story on highway-terrain tires for light trucks and SUVs? Highway-terrain (HT) tires can be thought of much the same way as their all-season tire counterparts for sedans, minivans, coupes and crossovers. They’re designed for dependable performance year-round, excellent wear properties with a good manufacturer’s limited tread life warranty, a ride that’s controlled and accommodating, low noise, and handling that’s predictable and consistent. The big difference between HT and automotive all-season tires is that HT tires are designed to handle the extra weight, torque, and power of trucks and SUVs, usually with an enhanced load rating to be able to deal with a bed full of cargo or towing duties. And like with all-season tires, HT tires are the most popular, biggest-selling category of tires for light trucks and SUVs, at every price point you can think of.

The Terreno HT is a great example of an HT tire at the budget-priced end of the spectrum. At one time, a low price also meant questionable quality and performance, but in the last ten years or so the affordable HT tires have come way, way up in terms of what they can deliver and the value they offer. Let’s go in for a closer look with this Finalist Terreno HT review:

Features and Benefits

Here are some of the innovations and design features that make the Terreno HT from Finalist a great value and great performer in the world of affordable HT tires for light trucks:

• Next-generation tread compound is engineered for long wear, enhanced traction on wet pavement
• All-season tread design includes circumferential and angled grooves that evacuate water from the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning
• Dense network of sipes multiplies traction and surface area with hundreds of hair-thin slits that dig in and chew through slush and snow
• Open shoulder grooves for enhanced handling properties and good water evacuation
• Jointless nylon band cap ply construction adds to the tire’s rigidity and stability at high speeds
• Continuous center rib is designed for solid straight-line tracking, sharp steering response
• Tread pitch is randomized and computer tuned to help neutralize certain frequencies and overtones, keeping road noise to a minimum
• M+S rated for mud/snow traction
• Wide, flat footprint helps with shorter braking distances, even wear, enhanced handling and traction
• Covered from the factory with a 50,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty

Pros and Cons

When it comes to the Terreno HT from Finalist, this is a tire where the Cons are outweighed by the Pros:

PROS:

• Generous limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage
• Affordable price point
• Ride is refined and quiet
• Suitable for limited off-road use
• Traction in wet, dry or light winter conditions is dependable and confident

CONS:

• Can be noisier on some pavement surfaces
• Not suitable for rough or very muddy off-road conditions

SimpleTire’s view on Finalist Terreno HT tires

Are you familiar with SimpleTire’s SimpleScore system? SimpleScore is the ratings method that the SimpleTire team devised to give you a quick, easy reference to a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We take into account the tire’s specs, info from the manufacturer, customer reviews and other data points, then process that into a 1-10 rating for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, along with an overall average SimpleScore number. In the case of the Finalist Terreno HT, the SimpleScore numbers shake out like this:

Finalist Terreno HT

• Traction: 7.7
• Handling: 8.0
• Longevity: 8.3
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.0

Regardless of whether you’re talking about bowling shoes, saucepans or tires, , those are some pretty impressive numbers on any scale of 1-10, and those scores carry even more weight when you remember that the Finalist Terreno HT is a tire that starts at $104.96 each.

In the handling category, the Finalist Terreno HT delivers cornering ability, steering response and maneuverability that are all consistent and a great complement to the vehicle’s overall driving dynamics, if maybe not up to the kind of nimble standards you’d expect from a summer or ultra-high-performance tire. The reinforced, stiffer tread face and shoulder are there to help prevent “tread squirm,” which happens when you push a vehicle hard into a corner and the tread actually deforms (sometimes with the inboard side leaving the pavement) as the vehicle’s momentum tries to keep the car moving in a straight line. The continuous center rib helps the Terreno HT track like it’s on rails at highway speed, along with confident, solid stability and steering response that’s light and immediate.

On wet or dry pavement, the Finalist Terreno HT performs superbly with short stopping distances as the system of circumferential and angled grooves whisks water away from the tire’s contact patch to avoid hydroplaning or understeer. The ride is controlled and compliant, if a little firm at times, with the Terreno HT never losing its cool over rough and uneven pavement surfaces. At highway speed, the ride is serene and muted (if not quite as quiet as you'd expect from a luxury Grand Touring tire).

Fuel economy is up toward the top of everyone’s lists these days, and the reduced rolling resistance of the Finalist Terreno HT means good heat dispersal (heat being the enemy of any tire), and helps drivers save at the gas pump at the same time. Silica-based tread compounds like the Finalist Terreno HT are also designed for added value like great wear properties and enhanced wet-weather grip and braking. On the subject of wear properties, Finalist stands by the UN-CUV with a 50,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty, which is the kind of warranty coverage that was once only offered on far more expensive tires.

The optimized tread pitch of the Finalist actually cancels certain frequencies and overtones to keep road noise to a minimum, which is the kind of thing that people love on long road trips, and the solid road manners make it a great choice for daily drivers or service trucks that see a lot of time on the interstate. All in all, it’s our take here at the SimpleTire team that the Finalist Terreno HT is an excellent value in a highway-terrain tire for light trucks, and one that can beat expectations and deliver value far beyond its price point.

Vehicles Finalist Terreno HT is a good replacement tire for

While the Finalist UN-CUV isn’t featured as the OEM tire on any vehicles, it would make a great replacement tire for makes and models like these:

• Dodge Durango
• Ford Excursion
• GMC Sierra
• Honda Ridgeline
• Jeep Gladiator
• Nissan Titan
• RAM 2500
• Toyota 4Runner
• Chevrolet Silverado 2500
• Ford Expedition
• Honda CR-V
• Kia Sportage
• Mitsubishi Montero
• Kia Sorento
• Hyundai Palisade