Kumho Road Venture Rough Terrain Tire Review

As I enter a wet, sloppy, dirt lane and sink in a foot of mud, I roll onto the throttle. The Kumho Road Venture rugged-terrain (RT) tires spin up and claw in, and the rear-wheel-drive Tacoma walks out of the 100-foot–long muddy expanse with little trouble. But, in desperate need of a bath.

This new tire from Kumho claims all-terrain levels of quiet on the road, but much improved traction off of it. To test it out, I trekked to the Hyundai Proving Grounds, sitting on the west side of the Mojave Desert in California, and drove this tire through a series of tests. Two of them involved pavement, and another two avoided it.

Ambient temperatures rested in the triple digits, adding a bit of spice to this particular bit of rugged terrain. Worth it. After all, I wanted to see how this tweener tire behaved in a variety of circumstances. 

In short: Utilizing a compound, which includes highly dispersible micro silica, Kumho attached a 50,000-mile tread warranty to its new Road Venture rugged-terrain tire. If it indeed holds up for that distance, you get a durable tire that handles a variety of surfaces with little trouble. And yet, it handles on-road duties with competence and relative quiet. As long as you do not mind giving up a bit of fuel efficiency, the Road Venture RT otherwise offers little compromise from traditionally more on-road–friendly all-terrain tires.

What Is a Rugged-Terrain Tire?

To start, just what is a rugged-terrain tire? I asked Al Henderson, Senior Engineer at Kumho Tires. He responded, “Simply put, a rugged-terrain tire splits the difference between your off-road, purely aggressive mud (terrain) tire and your more on-road gauged all-terrain tire.”

As off-roading and overlanding exploded in popularity, manufacturers quickly built more off-road–friendly versions of family SUVs. Look no further than the recently reviewed 2026 Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro. These vehicles often include all-terrain tires. But manufacturers continue to put fuel efficiency and on-road behavior incredibly high on their priorities list — as they should.

As a result, many all-terrain tires actually drift toward all-season construction and behavior. Yet mud-terrain tires remain a step too — well — loud for many folks. Altogether, demand for a tweener tire increased. And Kumho — like many others — is happy to oblige.

That said, Kumho feels strongly that their tire maintains modern all-terrain tire levels of road noise. But admits that, due to a thicker sidewall, deeper tread depth, and other factors, you do indeed lose fuel efficiency.

Kumho Road Venture RT: Technologies

To make the Road Venture tire handle on road duties without fuss, Kumho put a lot of work into the construction, specifically the tread. To start, using interlocking center tread blocks, which help the blocks deform less on pavement, keeps the tire stable at higher speeds.

To keep road noise down, Kumho used variable pitch design to mitigate tread block slapping against the pavement as it rolls down the road. That pairs well with what Kumho calls a secured flexible zone. In other words, the shoulder of the tire (the part between the tread and the sidewall) flexes to more easily roll over bumps. Kind of like adding softer springs to your suspension.

Changes to the compound helped durability and wet performance on the road, while keeping good bite off of it. Kumho calls it high-dispersible micro silica. Adding silica helps the rubber last longer, hence the 50K-mile tread warranty. Making it “high dispersible” means it mixes with the rubber more completely and helps maintain the rubber’s inherent strengths.

Finally, one bit of tech I found cool: stone ejector technology. Here’s how Al Henderson described it: “Inside of the grooves, the channels of the tires, there’s these raised edges. Those raised edges help when there’s material worked against it, it helps allow it to get unstuck, Henderson said. “If there’s smooth grooves in there, mud would just get caked in and not want to come out, with the extra ridges, it helps work its way out.”

They look like raised lines woven into the grooves of the tread block. And they also look cool.

Road Venture RT On-Road Performance

To showcase the merits of the Road Venture RT on the road, Kumho set up a wet/dry autocross course, replete with a water tank truck to keep the wet spots wet in the hot desert sun. This course offered the chance to see how the Kumho handled lateral load, as well as how well it maintained traction in the wet. It included slalom courses, a few tight corners, and an emergency lane change.

It also included a competitor tire, the Nitto Ridge Grappler. Both were mounted on Ford Broncos with the same traction control settings and tire pressures. Two things stood out immediately. 

First, off-road–friendly tires make for terrible autocross tires. Both wailed in agony as the Bronco slid across the hot pavement, rolled onto the sidewall considerably, and didn’t provide much grip.

But second, the Kumho proved less bad than the Nitto. The Road Venture RT more quickly and easily recovered from a slide and felt a tad more composed running around corners, especially in the wet. Ironically enough, that made the Nitto more fun. I — several times — lazily slid the Bronco’s rear end out in the slalom and when exiting a corner, both in the wet and dry.

Later on, I got the chance to run the Road Venture RT down a straight path at sustained higher speeds, 50-60 mph. Kumho mounted its tire on Ford Broncos again. Here the tire rolled down the road remarkably normally, not too different from a standard all-season tire, let alone an all-terrain. The straight road included various bumps and expansion joints. The Bronco/tire combo took it all with ease.

Kumho RT Performance Dirt, Sand, and Mud Performance

Kumho set up two courses to test the Road Venture RT’s off-road chops. Both of these tests used rear-wheel-drive Toyota Tacomas with their tires mounted.

I first set off on a narrow off-road trail that wound around cactus and dry bush. One of those places that looked endless and mildly dystopian.

The trail started with packed dirt with a few small rocks poking out of the surface and then transitioned to a deep loose sand. It also included a few obstacles and uneven dips to exercise the axles, but little elevation change. That said, the Road Venture gripped the loose sand well, even with sharp steering inputs and occasional stabs of the throttle.

But then we headed to the mud pit. A 100-foot–long, tire-grooved lane filled with loose, sticky mud. Kumho kept it nice and consistent courtesy of another water tank truck parked adjacent to it.

Alongside the Kumho-equipped Tacomas, I also tried the same pit with the Nitto tire. Testing the tire here, however, really makes you think of comparing it to a mud-terrain tire. As it exposes the compromises made.

Al Henderson saw it this way, “Mud (terrain) tires have very big grooves for evacuating materials. The rugged terrain tire’s grooves aren’t as big, so it doesn’t have all those biting edges to plow through the mud. But it’s much more mud-capable than your typical all-terrain tire.”

And, sure enough, even after deliberately stopping in the middle of the pit, with a full turn of steering, the Road Venture digs in and walks the rear-wheel-drive truck right out of the mess. Now, the Nitto tire also walked out and without much trouble. But the Ridge Grappler took a bit more throttle, steering input, and time.

Kumho Road Venture RT Review: Summary

Altogether, Kumho will build the Road Venture RT in 27 different sizes, most of them meant for trucks. In fact, SUVs only choose between six sizes, according to Kumho: one for 17-inch wheels, three for 18s, two for 20s. 

Price varies by tire size, of course, but at TireRack, the smallest light truck tire (255/80R17) goes for $269. That undercuts the next cheapest Nitto Ridge Grappler by $32 per tire. Kumho continues to play the value card in the tire world.

But critically, the Road Venture RT behaved itself on pavement and allowed the driver to play off of it. I agree that road noise stayed low, elevated compared to an all-season tire, for sure, but similar to an all-terrain. Then, when the going gets loose and uneven, the Road Venture bites down and keeps up the momentum.

That said, were it all up to me, I’d take a touch more off-road bite and accept a louder tire.

Tire sizes are limited. And expect to lose at least 2 mpg off of official EPA fuel economy ratings. Otherwise, enjoy flinging some mud by day and quietly driving home at night. And maybe stop at the car wash on the way home.