Your perfect snow build?

Being that you will be commuting to Anchorage everyday, I am thinking that you would be better off getting some really good all season tires.

Blizzaks would be the best winter tire, but you may only get one or two winters out of them. (If you can afford it, this would be the best option)

Same with studded tires.

Either way, you should carry tire cables, sandbags, shovel, and a tow strap. I would also keep some winter gear, ie boots, gloves, hat, etc. in the truck.

Leave early, drive slow during bad road conditions.

 

Perhaps your winters aren't as cold as ours, but 1 or 2 seasons only? You been makin Smoke-shows on Main St.?

 

I am just guessing, based off of 90 miles round trip daily. Some times there will be snow/ice, sometimes it will be bare pavement. When I used studs here in town, I averaged three winters before my tires were showing wear, ie studs worn/sideways, etc. I haven't used Blizzaks, yet.

I stopped changing tires every season about six years ago, too much hassle. I only have to drive seven miles to work now, so I just use the best all season tires I can afford.

 

My 4runner IS my dream snow build. And that has been the direction of the build from day 1.

-Selectable All wheel drive
-Traction control and stability control that can be disabled at the flick of a switch.
-Duratracs! Studded in the winter and some chains in are always on hand.
-Supercharger.
-Snowboard rack.
-Room to camp out in the back of the truck (room for a few ladies back there as well )


What more could you ask for?

 

Pics?

 

I run 235/85-16 and carry these:

http://tirechaindealer.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=74_84&products_id=557

Any day where that doesn't work is good day to stay home.

 

Also forgot to mention the CB w/ PA speaker and the VHF/UHF Ham radio. in case of emergencies.

I dont have a lot of pics of her in the snow. But I live in a ski town every winter and she feels right at home! Not too bad on the rocks either.

My build is linked in my sig if anyone is interested.



Back before the bumper:


Cargo box comes in handy, its built to hold a CV axle, air compressor, road emergency kit, and chains.
anyone up to 6' tall can sleep strait when the seats are folded down.


POWAH!

 

I to live in Alaska and agree that last winter was nuts. I live in Seward ak and drive back to anchorage every weekend with studless snow tires an d never once was I worried. I even go do some moderate offroading with them and they did pretty well. Ive had my winter tires for two winters and there holding up fine. No needto go out and buy the biggest tire out there especially when the road to wasilla is usually plowed pretty quick

 

how about this:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eeb_1345418975

 

I'd go studded and keep a set of chains with you (and know how to install them). I also carry some tube sand (or a 5 gal bucket of sand), a good shovel (I carry a big, flimsy snow shovel and also one that can break up ice if need be) and, depending on how desolate the roads are, an emergency pack. Your emergency pack would depend on where you are. If there's a possibility of being stranded for days, it'd better include a little stove, water, food blankets, first aid, etc. Since I'm usually on main roads and worst case I would only get stranded for a few hours, mine only has water, heavy gloves, boots, a hat and a blanket (plus tools, basic recovery gear and jumper cables). I always have a heavy coat in the truck when traveling during the winter.

 

Unless you're aiming for the full antarctic expedition build with massive tires that look like they came from a siberian military dump truck, you're going to want to go for penetration. Tall skinny. Your objective here is to maximize the contact pressure (psi) exerted on the ground by the tire.

 

Man...I have to say that orange actually does not look half bad on the Tacoma...especially if it had more black accents.

 

Tall and skinny is complete BS. As soon as you hit any amount of ice with out the studs you are f..ed. As soon as you hit more then few inches of snow you are f...ed.

I am running 33X 13.5 KM2 on my LC and that thing does not care if its 2 inches or 6 feet of snow or its standing on pure ice.

 

uh I dont need explanation I know the difference (have multiple sets of tires).
Tall and skinny is if you are running studded tires. With out studs skinny tires are worth sh...t in winter. Whats interesting this BS still gets repeated.
The bigger the tires the more they float and act more like tracks on snowcat machine.
Tall and skinny act like Ice skates.
Simple,...

 

I couldn't disagree with you more... the tall and skinny thing is far from BS. The tires you mentioned are the complete opposite end of the spectrum and, as many people have mentioned, if you aren't going to go tall and skinny, get fat. If that works, great but your argument against skinny tires is incorrect. Hit ice with any tires without studs or those studless ice tires and you're f-d. I don't care how wide the tire is, if all 4 tires are on ice, it's going to slip, it's a result of the physical properties of ice. With skinny tires, you're also only screwed when the snow gets soo deep that you can't penetrate down to the solid ground below the snow. A tall and skinny tire is very suitable for snow up to a few feet deep. They start letting you down when you need floatation because you high center before you hit solid ground or you're plowing in too much. I don't doubt that your wide tires serve you well but you simply can't knock the effectiveness of tall skinny tires in the snow.

 

Sorry "tall and skinny" theory is BS.
But... I let you prove it otherwise.
Show me one extreme implementation of tall and skinny for winter ?
Ice WRC racing is not it...
I will give you many implementations of fat and big...
Arctic Trucks (video somebody else included_
Snowcat machines ( snow tracks are nothing more then very large tire deflated to increse surface area.
Snowmobiles again big deflated tire.
If what you sayign is true DOT snowplows would be running bicycle tires

Yes for the same reason why snowmobile has big track (one very big deflated tire) and can easily travel on frozen lake or river going over pure ice. So you dont believe snowmobile can travel over ice either ?

 

The vast majority of problems in snow occur in a foot of snow, not in 4 feet of snow. People get stuck either because they loose traction or because they cannot overcome the wall of snow pushed ahead of a wide tire. Narrow tall tires rule in that environment. Siping is a big help. Machine siping is much more effective than molded in siping. All my tires get machine center siped. Chains on a moderately aired down narrow tire are as unstoppable as any street driven wheeled vehicle will ever be. I usually run 15 to 18 psi with chains. Very low pressures tend to lose chains. Arctic trucks are specialized rigs for deep powder. Most of them are gutted for light weight and run tires that require a 300 foot turning radius. That is the only way a truck will ever "float". Aside from all the mentioned issues with wide tires, having wide tires on the front significantly hinders steering control on soft surfaces. I didn't read any of this anywhere. It's from 35+ years of doing it. I have to deal with whatever nature throws at me. Often I am fighting it with a 2300lb trailer in tow. Last spring I had to get into a camp at 6500ft in Wyoming during a driving snow storm. The road was just a jeep trail for several miles. No help anywhere if things went wrong. 235/85-16s with machine center sipe, ARB air lockers at both ends, and good quality chains as a back-up have been the most realible combination I have ever found. FYI, I choose 235/85-16 because I can still run chains over them without clearance issues. That is why I did not step up to 255/85-16.

 

Once again, you couldn't be further from the truth... Artic trucks, snow cats and snowmobiles disperse their weight so they're actually floating on the snow (your LC tires are a far cry from either). Plow trucks and WRC cars are not. Plow trucks do run tall and skinny tires but it's irrelevant because they're not driving on unbroken trail, they're usually traveling on the freshly plowed surface since the tires are behind the plow. There obviously becomes a threshold where the tire gets too skinny to support the vehicles weight so your jab with the bicycle tires is just ridiculous... There's usually snow on an iced over lake which gives the track traction. Put a snowmobile on glare ice and it'll spin like crazy. Frozen lakes and ponds without snow usually don't have snow because of high winds, in which case the ice surface will be rough, again providing traction.

Once again, there are 2 schools of thought, neither are incorrect. If you want to try and float on the surface, then you need a fat tire. If you know you can dig down to something solid, then you want something that exerts higher pressure on the ground and enough height to reach that hard surface which is a tall, skinny tire. So, once again, it's not BS and you haven't given me one shred of evidence to prove otherwise.

FWIW, a car racing on an ice track will have a skinny, studded tire...

 

Are we, lets quote OP.

I know some places in Alaska got over 20 feet of snow. So how "tall" those tires should be? 21 feet?... or is that 3 feet tall tire with 20 feet lift