During its second round of Falken Academy last week, Falken Tire gave dealers a sneak peek of what’s in the pipeline for this fall: an upgrade that will build on and replace the Wildpeak H/T HT01 for pickups.
Falken’s Wildpeak H/T HT02 features more rugged aesthetics, enhanced performance characteristics and a new HD tire construction, the company said. The HT02 is engineered to meet the demand of high powered trucks with its design catering to trucks with high torque, diesel towing and hauling applications. Falken said it was tested and developed using a late model Ford Superduty.
The tire features dual sidewall designs to customize the look of the truck: one with bold, thick-outlined lettering on one side and a refined serration band with solid letters on the other side. The raised black letters mimic that of its all-terrain and mud-terrain products, the Wildpeak A/T A/T3W and the Wildpeak M/T MT01.
Its HD construction features 2 steel belts and a rugged 2-ply carcass with high-ply turn-ups to protect the tire and provide better handling. it also features a secondary outer bead apex that acts as a heat shield and increases sidewall strength to provide better handling with towing or handling. Its tread features 3-D canyon sipes that help resist wear from high torque; four wide, circumferential grooves to evacuate water; rigid trad blocks; and an optimized tread pattern for a quiet ride.
The tire will be carried in 38 sizes with a complete line of load range E sizes for 3/4T and 1T truck applications. LT sizes will be denoted with “HD” for heavy duty. Falken has added 10 new sizes for the HT02 that weren’t available in the HT01. The size range for the HT02 will cover 96% of original equipment sizes for light trucks in the market.
