Snow Tires

I have to agree with this one. I had Duratracs for a couple seasons in Denver and really wasn't impressed with them as snow tires. The dedicated snows on my wife's car (blizzacks) out did them every time.

 

I had Duratracks on for exactly one day in the snow where I live at 9,500’ west of Denver. Took them off and went with Blizzaks.

 

I've used these for years in the winter. They are alright but not the best tire. Only reason I use them is they are predictable to me in the winter with when they break free/etc. Really get a set of dedicated winter tires to use and switch them out. Tall and skinny is the way to go, do not be an idiot and get fat and tall, you will be all over the road.

Weighting down the back of the pickup works for traction as well, I normally just run 4wd in spots in the winter and stick to 2wd normally, the weight is not needed, but it does help somewhat. If you do make sure it is a secure load, otherwise it becomes a projectile.

Steve

 

In my observations the k02s are worse than the stock wranglers.

The fact they carry a “mountain snowflake” rating is akin to fraud IMHO. Total BS. They are a good durable all terrain / all season tire with many stellar attributes, but downright dangerous in snow and ice. No one should buy K02s as a Winter tire, ever.

 

I have not had this experience living in MT on KO2’s. Three years ago on a 3k road trip south in Dec. we drove about 15 hours on snow pack and icy roads and was the only rig passing others. Two winters ago was Canada trip in January, 1,500 miles and not one issue and I like to push it for some reason. Last year I threw on Blizzak for the first time and had some buyers remorse knowing that the KO2 would have been just fine. BUT, if you have the money, it is sure nice have a dedicated snow tire. In one word Confidence. I feel there is about 30% more traction available vs the KO2.

 

I ran mine last winter in NE Washington and they did pretty good around town, great in the deep stuff but marginal at best on slick highways. This year I’ll be running back and forth to Seattle (about 600 mile round trip) once a month. I’m thinking about getting some Blizzaks just for the drives.

 

I ran artic grabbers last year and wasn't impressed . I sold them in the summer and just picked up a set of ipikes studded .. I didn't have the grabbers studded which I regerted. I use ko2 during the off season .

 

I regularly drive a road that instead of snow, we get a shit load of ice. The road name has the word freeze in it. So, Ive tested a few tires in it over the years. The factory 3rd gen tires actually did ok. Maxxis bighorns almost killed me (literally) due to loss of traction. Ive had 1 set of cooper st maxx in 255 85 16, and those tires were very well adaptive. Ill say that I did have an issue on ice a few times with them, but I was able to stop sliding and get to a safe location. Now with the new tire ( 315s) hopefully they will still perform as well as the 255 stmaxx, or ill have to take the commuter car and put blizzaks on it.

 

Were your Arctic Grabbers the Arctic LT Version or the normal Arctic Grabber?

 

Get a dedicated snow, blizzaks and stud them are awesome in snowy/icy areas. They'll wear faster than the general, softer compound. But nice tire. Duratracs, decent but hydroplane in rain/slush. Deep snow they gum up. I've had good luck with falken wildpeak at3, Cooper stt pro. Not a dedicated snow, But wheel the shit out of them in the snow/mud

 

Blizzaks are a studless tire and have been tested to actually outperform studded tires. Studs are old school and not really needed any more.

 

Studs are still better on hardpack and ice, but worse on everything else. Also in my state you have to pull them by april 15.

 

Same here, you have to have them off in April. You’re correct about the ice/hard pack, kinda. Here’s an interesting article that discusses how limited the usefulness of studs actually is. I was surprised. Looks like they are better about 1% of the time here in WA.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2359001/studded-tires-winter-car-prep

 

The use of walnut shell in newer generation snow tires have improved traction to the point of making studded tire almost obsolete, but if you are in the Arctic or Alaska I bet they are still common. I bought the Nokian Hakkapeliitta r2 SUV because they came highly rated. With the dumps of snow we get here that start dry and quickly turn to slush, then freeze again they are perfect for the multiple conditions. Blizzaks would be another great choice, but a dedicated snow tire is my preference for around town and road trips.

 

I’m not saying your experience/opinion is wrong, but I think a lot of people don’t realize that it’s better to switch to tall, skinny tires for snows. I’ve pulled a lot of vehicles out of the ditch and some people would complain about their shitty snow tires but they were usually huge, wide tires on a truck or SUV (stock size or larger) I’d bet that some K02’s in the tall and skinny sizes legitimately earn their ‘mountain-snowflake’ and do well in the snow.

 

That claim is how you can tell a tire ISNT a winter tire.

Maybe in PA. But when the ice is frikkin Hard, studs are almost useless and blizzaks are just unbelievably amazing. I'm talking like you have as much traction as driving in sunny LA yet when you get out of your car, you immediately fall down. PA just doesn't get cold enough that studs are fine.

Edit: lol, I just read that article linked above. Says studs are useless below 0, quick Google search says PA hardly ever goes below 0. And useless where I've personally experienced them being useless (Alaska). That being said, when I didn't know any better I had studded tires on my fwd Jetta and I drove it up the Alcan in January, had it for 3 years in AK including a couple trips to Fairbanks in March. I've run the whole gamut in ice/slush/snow with KO's (not 2), studded winter tires and blizzacks. KO's were great in snow, wanted to kill you on ice (same with studded KM's). But the blizzacks comparatively sucked in snow but MORE than made up for it in ice.

As an all around, that new LT tire looks amazing.

 

I agree with you, but I don’t think you can get tall skinny K02, but I could be wrong. Pretty sure 265’s are the narrowest version, which are the ones I have.

 

Here you go....

 

There is a balance in width that needs to be had to make an effective tire on slick surfaces. Too narrow and you don’t have enough surface area to actually gain traction(think ice skates). Too wide and you don’t have enough ground pressure to gain traction.

I think tread pattern would come into play long before width. Winter tires work by collecting snow in the tread and it then sticks to the slick surface. Not arguing your logic or experience but just pointing out that we can’t really use generalities when talking winter driving because there are so many variations of tires.