Driven: Linglong’s Leao Lion Climber Tires On an Actual Off-Road Trail

Off-road tires are expensive. SUV and truck enthusiasts can easily spend as much as a Porsche 911 owner when it comes time for new rubber. The latest tires from Leao, one of China’s largest manufacturers, are looking to eat into the competitive off-road market by offering similar performance at a remarkably lower price. I tested the Lion Climber X/T and R/T on Jeep Wranglers on a certified Honor Trail to see if they earn a badge of their own.

This tire review is focused on real-world driving impressions, feel, and feedback—vibes over VBOX numbers.

It’s rare that I can do a press event without having to get on an airplane. I was invited to test Leao Lion Climber R/T and X/T tires in my own stomping grounds of the Nevada desert, so of course, I agreed. While I’m not an off-road expert, I’ve done a few schools, had some one-on-one training, and conquered dozens of off-road courses. More importantly, I have plenty of experience with traction in my years of driving and car reviewing.

Our Leao test was a bit free-form, but gave me the opportunity to experience the tires in challenging situations. The drive was led by Las Vegas Rock Crawlers, which supplied modified Jeeps and guided the caravan. The Leao brand, as well as several others, is owned by Linglong Tire, an outfit that has not enjoyed the most prestigious reputation but is now looking to change that.

Linglong has actually been around for 50 years already, but is mostly known in the U.S. for low-cost commuter-car rubber. The company’s now looking to move upmarket just a little, and improve the quality of its tires while still undercutting other options.

Leao Lion Climber X/T and R/T: What, Why, and Who

Linglong may not be a highline brand name, but it’s a long-running tire company and, in fact, a top-12 global tire manufacturer. The company is based in Shandong, China, where it operates five factories. It also has a factory in Thailand and another in Serbia. It supplies tires as OE fitments on some VW Group products and has been making inroads in the US for a few years.

The Leao Tires subbrand has a huge range of truck, bus, and tractor tires for everything from daily driving on pavement to slow crawling through muddy farm fields. The Lion Climber X/T and R/T all-terrains are made in Thailand.

There are four basic categories, listed from most on-road focused to most off-road focused: all-terrain A/T, rugged-terrain R/T, extreme-terrain X/T, and mud-terrain M/T. The more off-road focused they are, generally means softer rubber compounds and chunkier tread blocks, which results in quicker wear, less on-road precision, lower fuel economy, and more road noise. The extreme-terrain is the newest segment. It attempts to offer the aggressive looks of the M/T, with less noise and better on-road performance. 

The Leao Team makes no bones about these tires being a value choice. Off-road tires are expensive, like any enthusiast niche tire. I’ve wasted more Z-rated rubber just commuting than I’d like to admit, and I imagine most off-road enthusiasts would begrudgingly say the same. Serious enthusiasts may feel the difference, but let’s be honest, a lot of people buying R/T and X/T tires are only doing real off-roading a couple of times a year.

Leao Lion Climber X/T and R/T: Review

The Price

Leao isn’t looking to go head-to-head on performance with the biggest and most expensive brands. Both tires I tested were 35×12.5-17s, a popular size for off-roaders. The Lion Climber R/T and X/T can be found online for roughly $230 and $250, respectively. The more popular brands like General, Nitto, Toyo, BFGoodrich, etc, are $350 to almost $500 per tire. 

The Curb Appeal

I see and hear SUVs and CUVs every day rolling through parking lots on off-road tires that have likely never seen more than a gravel road on the way to a hiking trailhead. For some, a set of knobby off-road tires is the best method to communicate their wild, off-the-beaten-path, “I have very strong feelings about energy drink brands” lifestyle. The Lion Climber R/T and, more so the X/T, deliver for those customers just as well as any other tire. The tread wraps down from the shoulders, covering nearly a third of the sidewall. While the tread is wide, flat, and looks to generously fill the rated width of the tire, the rounded sidewalls offer plenty of rim protection. Both tires use a traditional blocky tread pattern, but the 3PMSF rating means there are more sipes in the big blocks than several competitors’ tires that aren’t Severe Snow rated.

The First 100 Miles

The day was spent in a convoy, rolling out of the Red Rock Casino’s parking lot at the crack of 9 am. It’s roughly six miles to the entrance of Red Rock National Conservation Area, where we followed the Scenic Loop to Rocky Gap Trail. Red Rock’s Scenic Loop is the best, and honestly, the only good driving road within a couple of hours of Vegas. Well, it would be if it weren’t for the 15 mph speed limit and Park Rangers. We followed the speed limit with commendable diligence. 

Rocky Gap is a Jeep-designated Badge of Honor trail. Our trip out and back was roughly 12 miles. The trail consists mostly of broken, loose rocks with plenty of off-camber and washed-out sections. 

After Rocky Gap, we finished the Loop and headed back to base the way we came. Throughout the day, I switched between Jeeps fitted with both tires for comparison.

The Casual Drive

Jeeps, especially lifted Jeeps, are one of the few vehicles still in production that feel as though the driver is an integral part of the equation, even in a straight line. They wallow and wander around, and the suspension lift and off-road tires only amplify it. The first thing I noticed was a lack of the roar I expected from the chunky tread. Wranglers are loud, with the windows up and stereo off, there’s plenty of other noise, but it was hard to pick out just the tires.

Likewise, it was hard to say that the ponderousness was attributable to the tires. Driving keeps you busy at highway speeds with nearly constant steering inputs, but it never made me uncomfortable. I wouldn’t consider putting something like this on my SUV, but mine is more lifted-hatchback than an outdoor adventurer.

Road Driving

As mentioned, we drove the Scenic Loop around Red Rock, which I’ve been driving since I was a teenager. Every day of the week, it’s filled with cyclists, hikers, and tourists in rental cars, so the 15 MPH speed limit is appropriate. 

As you might expect from off-road tires, steering precision isn’t a priority. In a straight line, any camber in the road requires constant but not consistent steering input. There’s always a bit of sawing motion going on. Corner turn-in results in huge steering gain. Make a big initial input, let the suspension and tires load up, and readjust as needed. I may be making more of a comparison to the all-season passenger tires on my own car-based-SUV than what is fair.

Driving the X/T and R/T back to back, I can’t say there was a huge difference between the two. Leao says the X/T is designed for 40% on-road use, while the R/T is only 25% on-road. I guess that means the R/T is a full 15% more “off-roady.”

The Off-Road Run 

The majority of Rocky Gap Trail is broken rock. This is one of the hardest terrains to design for. Rocks the size of softballs and smaller act like ball bearings under your tires and offer almost no grip until they bind up together. Then, you have a surface more abrasive than concrete and sometimes as sharp as knives. The smaller rocks want to wedge themselves between tread blocks, so tires have to eject those, while also gripping them enough to propel the vehicle. This is complicated by the tread blocks needing sipes to achieve the 3PMSF rating, which are basically built-in tearpoints.

While I didn’t notice a huge difference in on-road performance, I did notice quite a difference on the trail. The R/T provided more feel for the level of grip, and I could meter torque far more effectively. It also instilled far more confidence descending on the broken rocks; it seemed to recover faster and allowed for more steering input while scrubbing speed. The R/T also felt more compliant climbing over large fixed rocks. There isn’t enough real dirt or sand on the trail to give a qualified opinion. But, based on rocky performance alone, the R/T delivered far better trail performance without giving up much on the road compared to the X/T. 

The Highway Drone Factor

Neither the Lion Climber X/T nor the R/T had road noise that seemed inappropriate for an off-road tire. After a few highway miles with the windows up and no accessories, I turned on some music and was able to hear all of Matt Freeman’s basslines and Tim Armstrong’s lyrics without interruption from tread roar. I’ve talked to several engineers and product managers at other tire companies who’ve told me there’s a segment of customers who consider obnoxious levels of road noise a feature, not a bug, for off-road tires. Those customers may be disappointed in the Lion Climbers. 

The Passenger Comments

I occasionally had a photographer or videographer sit shotgun with me throughout the drive. When one of them was in the car, I spent most of the time interrogating them on where to find the best hipster coffee and authentic tacos in their neighborhoods. If you don’t regularly interact with camera-slingers, you don’t realize these people are like walking, talking Yelps—looking through a viewfinder all day turns you into a legit food critic. Tires didn’t really come up.

The Verdict

Linglong Tire has a bit of an image issue based on its early product. One of the first passenger tires tested turned in a disappointing wet-weather braking result. Engineers went back to the drawing board, and when ADAC performed the same testing, the new tire was best in class. The company is putting in real effort to move its products up the rankings.

The Leao Lion Climber X/T and R/T give a good first impression both on and off-road. You can’t deny the value proposition of a tire that sells $230 per tire and competes with Coopers, Nittos, and Falkens that are all over $400. Both tires have a 3PMSF rating, which several top-rated competitors lack. The X/T does come with a 55,000-mile warranty compared to the R/T’s 50,000-mile warranty, but I would consider that almost negligible. If it were me, I would buy the R/T over the X/T. The Lion Climber R/T delivers better off-road performance and doesn’t give up performance in other areas, at least during my testing.

Linglong gave us a hotel room and provided us with access to loaner vehicles fitted with these tires for the purpose of testing.