Winter Tire Test: Toyo Observe GS-i 6 Story and photos by Russell Purcell
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ast winter, I had the opportunity to evaluate one of Toyo’s latest winter tire offerings. The Toyo Observe GS-i 6 is a stud-less performance tire that has been designed and engineered to provide light trucks and sport utility vehicles with surefooted traction and ride comfort. After spending a little more than four months with these fitted to my truck, I came away feeling that this tire is perfectly suited for the ever changing weather and road conditions that characterize a Canadian winter. The tires were fitted to a low-mile, first generation Honda Ridgeline by professional installers. The truck had recently been given a new suspension and brakes, and a four-wheel alignment was performed shortly after the new tires were fitted. I live in British Columbia, and our regulations require that you operate your vehicles with a proper winter tire (or chains) from October 1 to March 31, but many highways through mountain passes and or high snowfall areas extend this period to April 30. Due to complications related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tires went on a little later than expected, but I did manage to run them for a period of time beginning in late December until the end of April. During this test period I managed to put 4,000 kilometres on the tires in a wide variety of road, weather and terrain conditions. The first thing I noticed about the Observe GS-i 6 is that they were really smooth running and quiet. Prior to these I was running a set of Cooper Discoverer A/TW tires that had served me well for a number of years, but that model has a much more aggressive all-terrain tread design which tends to create a substantial amount of road chatter at speed. In fact, the Toyo Observe GSi-6 may be the quietest dedicated winter tire that I have experienced, and given the number of press vehicles (of all shapes and sizes) that I have had the opportunity to test on winter rubber, this is a pretty impressive claim for the Toyos.
Confident Traction When It Counts
I like to begin a tire test with a long distance run of at least 500 kilometres, and my recent pattern has been to make the journey up the twisty Fraser Canyon to Spence’s Bridge followed by a 60-kilometre sprint along Highway 8 as it undulates beside the Nicola River through rolling hills and past scenic hoodoos. From Merritt I take Highway 5A to Princeton, before following the Crowsnest Highway back to Hope and then finally using Highway 7 to make my way home to the Fraser Valley. This trip can be a challenge for a tire any time of the year as the road surfaces are irregular and get beaten up by heavy truck traffic and plows. Add to this the fact that the sudden elevation and weather changes typical of mountain passes can wreak havoc on both traction and braking abilities. During the course of my day-long journey, the Toyo Observe GSi-6 tires performed flawlessly despite being asked to navigate over rough roads at highway speeds. They faced a deluge of rain between Agassiz and Hope but the GSi-6’s tread pattern proved very adept at evacuating standing water away from beneath the tire. This is accomplished through the use of a combination of wide grooves and sipes that provide an efficient means for excess water and slush to be cleared away so that the tire can retain grip with the road surface. I like to use this route to evaluate performance cars as it offers an incredible mix of twists, turns, dips and dives, and in the winter these conditions will quickly reveal the inherent strengths and weaknesses of a tire. The Fraser Canyon was slick and icy in areas where the road was sheltered from sunlight, and some areas beyond the tunnels had obviously been neglected by the road crews as a deep blanket of fresh snow was beginning to obscure the highway. The Toyos relentlessly pushed forward and I found that they climbed and cornered with confidence, and managed to maintain traction with relative ease. The journey from Spences Bridge to Merritt was harrowing at times due to tremendous crosswinds that seemed to surge through OCT/NOV 2021 Trucks Plus MAGAZINE 29
