As a kid in California we lived down by the Mexico border in a small farming city called Holtville. My Dad an industrial mechanic had a number of very large steel ball bearings he took home among other stuff those things sat open to the air for 10 years with not one spot of rust. Then we all moved to Orange county CA and in one day they rusted up why we moved to the beach but in general rust is not common in this side of the USA even though Orange county gets a lot of rain.

AZ not much rain but it does rain

Well we didn't hit the 77 but 71 clouds came in

 

Great tires. I had a set of LTX on my 03 Highlander and ran them 108k, and they had good life on them when I replaced them...with LTX 2s. 75k later, guy in a truck pulls out in front of me and it totaled my Highlander.

Tried to get a set of LTX 2 for my Dakota, but they didn't make them in the size I needed. So I bought the Laredos, and they've been fine.

 

Cooper at3 are a amazing all terrain tire, usually get 75k on the ram and had 45k and 50% tread on my 99 dak before i killed it.

 

I guess its a little late but I put Falken Wildpeak A/T's on my 03 QC 4wd and love them so far. I have only put about 1000 miles on them but they are awesome. Got caught in 5 inches of snow and never had any problems.