Snow Tire debate

Blizzaks suck because they're a winter tire for a little bit, and then they become an all terrain. Firestone winterforce are great if you want a straight snow tire, and you can even get them in 285/75r16 size...

But- Goodyear Duratracs are the best tire I've run.

 

I wouldn't say Blizzaks suck . Consider where you live and where the OP lives .
He may get more snow than you and the Blizzak is a temperature rated snow tire . If you drive in warm weather , they will wear out quickly . This is a specific question regarding snow tires . It,s up to the OP to figure out what will suit his weather conditions the best .
I have snow 8 months out of the year and drive over frozen lakes to get to work . With this said , it makes perfect sense to run a dedicated studded snow tire for 8 months and run a summer tire for the remaining 4 months when it doesn't snow .

 

Sounds like BS to me. if 16”s can fit no reason 17”s can’t as long as you get the right back spacing/off set. Tons of guys on here have 17” wheels, heck the TRD sports some stock with 17” wheels.

 

That is BS. I have an 09 sport and it came with 17" wheels. I know that 15" are too small to clear the brakes.

I'd like to know the tire shops reasoning behind 16" and 18" could fit but 17" can't. That doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Lol

 

I took my snows off last night. This morning we got a dusting here, but it was about an inch in the higher elevations. I drove up there and that justified snow tires for me. Night and day difference.

 

I live in Maine and I have had great luck with Cooper Discover M/S with studs. Sadly it's hard to pick a proper snow tire depending on who you are and what you drive and how you want to drive it. Some snow tires are absolutely fantastic on slightly snowy and icy roads, but are worthless when the snow gets over 2 inches. And the same story goes for the other end. You can get a snow tire with the ability to paddle through deep snow after going off the road, but they're probably the reason you went off in the first place on ice. Just gotta find that happy medium. The best tire for you would be something with large aggressive lugs but those lugs need to have all the tiny little traction grooves in them or they will be worthless on the hard stuff.

Hope this helps.

 

Awesome winter/ice tire!
A dedicated snow tire will handle the best in winter (obviously)
BFG TA KO's suck balls in the snow. Had them and hated them. I have the ST Maxx and they are great in all conditions. But a soft rubber and lots of siping are what you want for winter.

 

I ran Nokian Hakkapeliitta's on my car, they did really well as long as it wasn't overly deep snow... The car had maybe 4 inches of ground clearance and the tires could do about 2 inches of snow before spinning... Those were not studded but they held like studded tires on the ice... The Hakkapeliitta LT2 are what I'll be looking at if I decide the Duratrac don't suit me next winter

 

I currently am running General Artic max 265/75-16 studded. They are really good on ice and frozen packed snow but not good at all in deep stuff. My last truck ran cooper m/t studded and they were much better but that may have had more to do with the 255/85-16 size with a Cummins weight vs the tire itself. Going wider will only make on road traction worse in the snow. Next time, I'll be getting a tire more like the Cooper M/T or Duratracs and again with studs.

 

Who makes the ST Maxx?

 

We have gone through a three sets of blizzaks in the last few years, and still use them on the WRX. On the wrangler sahara and the taco, Firestone Winterforce UV studded snow tires with the mountain symbol.

If you really want to move in winter conditions, dedicated snows are the way to go...unless you use chains.

 

Cooper does. It will get you through deep snow well, but it will suck ass on ice, even with studs.

 

On an ice rink yes, on normal road snow/ice no

 

have you had them in packed snow/ice? what about heavy wet or slushy snow?



I have nitto terra graps now and love them in everything i have had them in. wet roads, 2+ feet of snow, heavy wet and or slushy snow, hard packed icy snow and mud. but starting to look at what i want next, will probably get new tires come fall of this year. I like the looks of the ST maxx.

 

I saw it all this winter, they were excellent in the slush and snow. We got some snow and then some rain early in the winter so there was about 3"-5" of slush. They handled it excellent, they were awesome in all types of snow and depths. Great on hard packed snow and as good as any non-studded tire is on ice.

 

glad to hear! we get a lot of heavy wet snow here or slush. but i see nice light kinda powder snow and deep in NY when i go up.

 

I saw a late model Taco with Blizzaks on all four corners at the grocery store just today.

My opinion, having run them on my wife's cars for years:

With Blizzaks, I want a spare set of rims. I'll mount the Blizzaks on the spare set, mount them after we get some hard pack snow down on the roads and dismount them before bare pavement shows.

Once Blizzaks get run on bare pavement for not very long the factory siping gets worn away and you have a pretty good year round tire that is decent in snow. With full height tread blocks and the factory siping working for you Blizzaks are an excellent winter tire, head and shoulders above any non-studded tire in my experience, but not as good as studs.

If you are going to run a two sets of rims anyway, you can get studded tires cheaper than Blizzaks, but maybe have to replace them more often.

On the Camry's we have owned and the AWD Matrix currently in the garage Blizzaks are AWESOME - never ran them on our light trucks here before.

FWIW I will probably got to Toyo OC AT 2s once the stockers are worn down, with some kind of compatible not chain traction device for all four corners of my 4x4 Taco. Maybe the Hankooks. With 4WD and the 6 months of practice I get every winter I am OK on snow with 3 season tires and 4WD for all but maybe 3-4 days of the year.

If you are thinking Blizzaks, do check the load rating on those, I bet mounting those will really cut into your hauling and toting capacity, should be fine for a grocery getter.

 

We are getting three seasons from the Blizzaks on the Jeep Wrangler, per set, and on the third season, we run them to fall, for a new set of Blizzaks. They are wonderful tires, but maybe not for you...

 

Yup, They ripped up this NY winter... And it was a good one