Do Tacos hibernate in winter?

Winter is coming, and with that, snow.
Do Taco's hibernate during that time, or explore as usual?
Are winter tires worth it? Such as Nokian Hakkapeliitta or Blizzaks (studded)
I'm inclined to say they are
On one side, I want to slide the entire time to master car control
on the other side, I don't want to die. Overdo it off a cliff-side with no guard rail = sliding off of it

Besides just the joy of driving in snow,
is anything else done?
Camping in snow might be peaceful (off the floor)
I hear a Mr. Heater Buddy is needed to not freeze to death

How is exploring?
Right now, there is visibility...
various scenic mountain passes may have some snow, but I hear winter season increased snow renders them unpassable

Last time I drove in the snow, it was beautiful, but I couldn't see shit. There was water (like a narrow lake or something), a moose running through the snow, cars spun out, a road clearing truck sprinkling what looked like brown dirt ahead driving slow
but besides that, the visibility was pretty blocked
like fog, but all white
I'm not sure how it'd be possible to get good views exploring if line of sight ends at the nearest ridge...

 

Tacoma with studded snow tires I'm sure would be awesome. We did pretty good living 1.5 miles off of the main road 8,500ft up in the CO Rockies with our Lexus RX300 AWD with Cooper AT3's.

I'd say going somewhere you have been before would be an advantage. One thing that caught me out was the ditch on the side of all gravel roads, they're usually filled with snow and look like part of the road... until you drive a little too close and slide on in. Admittedly that happened to me in my little civic with studded snow tires, that thing was awesome on snow/ice packed gravel roads...

Driving in snow you have 2 options.... 1. Drive like it like a grandma.... 2. Drive it like a rally car

 

Just put new tires on my truck for the next couple of years. I put duratracs on and for the main reason of hunting in snow and just generally going up in the hills every weekend. There probably the best snow tire that does good in ticks and mud also.

 

I run studded duratracs love them in the winter

 

Cool. I’m not studing mine at all but they will be put to the test. Spent all weekend at 18-20 psi not one problem.

 

I like the clearance I get with my taco. Car gets parked when snow falls.

 

I think people wildly overestimate what they need to drive safely in snow on the tax paid roads. A good set of new-ish tires with some decent siping with front wheel drive will get you pretty much anywhere you need to go. But then again, look at the average intelligence of the person driving next to you...The bigger problem is teaching all the idiots who have AWD or 4WD that four wheel drive does not mean four wheel stop. I never worry about myself driving in the snow. I worry about the asshole in the F350 coming up behind me at 40mph thinking he can stop cause he got 4wd on his factory tires. There's a damn good reason I'm going 15mph on the downgrade off-ramp to my house. It's cause there's a cattle grate at the bottom you'll slide through into the main line of traffic.

I blow a lot of stop signs and red lights in heavy snow if I see cars coming up behind me too fast.

On a trail? There's nothing better than big meaty M/T's chucking snow going 20mph over a trail you crawl over in the summer. In the midst of a storm, it's just engine noise and slush hitting the truck. Rest of it is all quiet and solemn outside. I love off roading in the winter.

 

Do they hibernate in the snow..... if it’s a 2wd. Tacos live for the snow. At least mine does. Plus it’s always fun to park up on snow mounds where no one else can park

 

No doubt. I also think that ABS give people a false sense of confidence when there is a stop coming up. I definitely use my 4wd to get of the line promptly, but man, it always amazes me seeing how many people lose control coming to a stop on slick roads and blasting into curbs and other drivers.

I think if I remember correctly from masterdrive when I was getting a learners permit it was, what normally takes you X-distance to stop in good conditions, you should expect 4X to stop on a snow slick road. And that is with good tires.

They put tire tread laws in here in CO, idk if they actually enforce them but I know you can get a ticket if you have shit worn out tires and are driving in snowy conditions. Idk but I think that’s at least a good idea. It’s dangerous to be driving in snowy conditions without proper tire tread and people going up into the mountains in the winter with 2wd and bald tires cause they want to go skiing, causes a lot of fatal accidents in the winter in especially in the mountains.

 

Agreed. I’m a younger country kid and scares me to go to school in the snow all the kids that don’t know anything. You can safely get anywhere in something with a good tire and thought.

 

wait so instead of dedicated spare set of winter tires (+$800) you just add studs to all terrains?

never aired down last winter
I hear it helps. I wonder if it would have. And what decrease effect it may have on MPG

I need to figure out how to disable my ABS
it's so primitive it's probably worse to have it than not to
at the point of lost grip it just has a siezure and freaks out but doesn't actually help at all

 

But it does mean four wheel stop. They just use their four wheel stop too aggressively.

 

Yeah it definitely helps as it adds more area of contact to the road and. I mostly air mine down due to the ten ply rating being a little bouncy off road.

 

four wheel wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *splat*

 

I always understood with snow it's good to have skinnier tires so you get through the snow to the hard stuff? (like rally cars) I guess it depends how much snow you're dealing with?

 

Interestingly enough, if you're driving on regular streets in the snow, you generally don't want to air down. Best snow tires are tall and skinny with lots of siping for best traction. It puts the most weight down. The same is probably true offroad, but I just air down and fling shit out the sidewalls

 

I run dedicated studded duratracs in the winter months because I drive alot of icey northern highways and alot enjoy wheeling in the snow. I run stt pros not in the winter.

 

You are correct. It's about getting the most weight down to a minimum contact patch in the snow. (For street driving at least)

 

I think there's a skinny tires thread
I forget who it was here but there was a 2nd gen Tacoma on skinny tires, maybe on FJ steelies
that looked really good, almost like some sort of safari overland truck or something



this might be a good way to cheat in getting more lift; taller tire might add 1 more inch

 

Lol yeah, I’m a Brit so I dig the old school Defender look and definitely appreciate the extra clearance. I live in hawaii and the proffered look over here is the absolute opposite... crazy wide tires and crazy high too!

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