Tires Falken or Continental

I recently switched from LT Toyo at3s to "SL" Falken at4ws. IMO the xterra is not heavy enough for the LT tires, it rides and drives so much better with the lighter sidewalls of the falkens, as well as feeling more responsive from less rotating mass.

Go for the Continentals.  I’ve done the research for you, and lived it.  These tires will take anything perfectly unless you decide to hit your breaks going down hill….gravity was the only thing I found wrong, but what would any other tire do.  I’ve had these tires for 4 + years.  I swapped them the first 2 years, and ran them straight the last two years, and there’s still .8 tread left from the original . 10.  I’m actually trying to wreck these tires so I can buy a new set, but they’re hanging on.  My next set will be these tires.  I even passed up those famous Finish tire brands nobody can pronounce for these, and glad l did.

I have the LT version in that exact size. They are surprisingly great on bitumen with hardly any road noise which is great for your use case. Currently at 35k and no noticeable wear at all with mostly bitumen use. They seem like new.

I switched to Continentials 2 yrs ago and haven't had a single flat since.

I was in the same boat as the OP, and went with RT660s.

660 is good bang for the buck. Not as fast as the top tier tires but two or three times the lifespan.

I went with fallen 615+ not the fastest but should last a good number of runs

I'm in a similar boat as you I did the 615k's last season. Personally I am overly pleased with these tires they have been everything I've wanted them to be. And I'll probably get another set of them this year.

My RT615K lasted like 8000 miles on a Honda Fit with 50:50 miles.

On a totally non-Mazda related note I put Falken Wildpeak AT Trails on my Jeep just over a year and half ago. All four of them already have weather cracking. And Falken doesn’t have a specific warranty for that, you simply have to claim the warranty under their general six year manufacturing defects and materials and hope they give you some help. They start at 11/32, rated for 65,000 miles and after 20,000 miles they are already down to 6.5/32