Just like with drivers of sedans, minivans, and crossovers, for most drivers of light trucks, vans, and SUVs, all-season tires are the best, most versatile option all the way around. Even for drivers of 4WD-equipped pickups, most of their time is spent on the pavement with little in the way of off-road excursions going on, and that’s where all-season tires deliver the best overall combination of year-round grip, a quiet and forgiving ride, great wear properties and capable handling.

Like automotive all-season tires, light truck all-season tires have had to keep pace with the latest truck technology. That means it is designed around the weight, braking properties, center of gravity, ride quality, and overall handling of today’s trucks and SUVs, and a tire like the Mastertrack M-Trac HT was designed around all of those considerations. The Mastertrack M-Trac HT is an affordable all-season tire for light trucks that regularly exceeds expectations, but don’t just take us at our word on that. Let’s go in for a closer look at this product line review:

Features and Benefits

Here are some of the features and innovations that make the Mastertrack M-Trac HT a strong performer and a great value in a light truck all-season tire:

• Non-directional all-season 5-rib tread pattern
• Circumferential and angled grooves form a complete system to route water from the tire’s contact patch and resist hydroplaning on wet roads
• Long-wearing advanced tread formulation also enhances wet-weather traction
• The dense network of sipes multiplies surface area and traction with hundreds of biting edges, easily slicing through snow, slush, standing water
• Initial tread depth 11/32” for dependable traction, long wear
• Casing and internal construction optimized for heavy loads or towing heavy trailers
• 55,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty
• Tread pitch randomized and computer-tuned to suppress certain frequencies and resonances, keeping road noise to a minimum
• Curved shoulder grooves help keep road noise muffled and enhance handling and road manners
• Internal construction includes a polyester casing with twin steel belts, full-width nylon overlay ply, 2-ply sidewall design, and reinforced bead apex for improved stability at high speed

Pros and Cons

PROS:

• Generous treadwear coverage
• Quiet and accommodating ride quality
• Great stability and sedate road manners at highway speed
• Handling is capable and predictable

CONS:

• Not good off-road
• Can be noisy on some pavement surfaces
• Not good in heavier snow or slush

SimpleTire’s view on Mastertrack M-Trac HT tires

Regarding mid-priced all-season tires for light trucks, vans, and SUVs, drivers can be downright perplexed with so many choices on the market. The Mastertrack M-Trac HT is a great value and a great performer, though – a standout tire for its price point, offering features and value you’d expect from tires that cost much more.

The all-season tread pattern of the Mastertrack M-Trac HT does just what it’s designed to do: delivering confident traction on dry pavement with short braking distances and little evidence of hydroplaning on wet roads as the groove system efficiently cuts through standing water on pavement. In light snow, the Mastertrack M-Trac HT’s sipe network carves its way through for dependable and consistent grip (although, like most all-season tires, it does fall short in several inches of snow). Ride quality is balanced and controlled even on broken or irregular pavement, with the kind of refined quality you’d expect from an automotive Grand Touring tire, and the Mastertrack M-Trac HT’s internal construction does a great job of absorbing vibrations and irregularities before they can make their way to the passenger compartment or driver. Noise levels are muted thanks to Mastetrack’s noise/vibration/harshness team.

Handling with the Mastertrack M-Trac HT is direct and accurate, with a steering response that’s light and quick without being overly sensitive or touchy. A 55,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty is pretty exceptional for a tire in this price range and is the kind of warranty you used to only see on tires costing much more.

Are you familiar with SimpleTire’s SimpleScore system? It’s the ratings method that the SimpleTire team developed to give you an at-a-glance idea of a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We look at the tire’s spec sheet, reviews, and other data points, then distill that information into a 1-10 numerical value for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity for any given tire, along with an overall average SimpleScore rating. For the Mastertrack M-Trac HT, the SimpleScore numbers shake out like this:

Traction: 7.7 Handling: 8.0 Longevity: 8.5 Overall average SimpleScore: 8.1

With its combination of ride quality, wet or dry traction, confident handling, low noise, and great, stable road manners, the Mastertrack M-Trac HT would make a great choice as an all-season highway-terrain tire for a wide range of light trucks and SUVs.

Vehicles The Mastertrack M-Trac HT is a good replacement tire for

• Chevrolet Tahoe
• Dodge Durango
• Ford Excursion
• GMC Sierra
• Honda Ridgeline
• Jeep Gladiator
• Kia Telluride
• Nissan Titan
• RAM 2500
• Toyota Tundra
• Volkswagen Atlas
• RAM 1500
• Ford Explorer
• Ford Expedition
• GMC Yukon
• Chevrolet Equinox
• Chevrolet Trailblazer