First Snow In The 4x4 DC ... Holy $#%!

Man...Born and raised in MN (outside of a few years living in Vegas) so Im no stranger to winter driving. But damn. I dont know if its a layer of ice combined with my first truck or what, but what an eye-opener lol! I was all over the place!

First of all, I think the BFG Rugged Trail stock tires are garbage in the snow. Stopped in at DTire and they want $900 for some BFG AT KOs installed. Ouch. Local Firestone wants $700 for the Destination ATs which get better reviews, however (sadly) I really love the look of the BFGs. I want something that looks mean as well as having white lettering (love the look with my Super White).

I think its time I consider running some sand in the bed as well. Maybe about 60lbs a side? What has everyone else been running? Also, for those of you who dropped the Rugged Trails for snow, what did you go to and what did you think of the change?

Ugh...winter.

 

get the goodyear wrangler duratrac's. Nuff said.

 

Snow...Mud...Sometimes it's worth it to endure all that weather for a little fun. Oh well,

 

Those look sick too. If I was to go buy tires today, that would be my pick. I have to run my stockers for a while though. I just spent a fair amount on upgrades for the truck and my wife would most certainly have a shit fit if I went and got tires too.

 

Coming from an 05, put my buddy's 09' w/ stock Dunflops thru its paces on snow, I was surprised how well VSC and TRAC kept it in line.

You driving w/ them shut off?

Your call in MN, but true winter tires aren't a bad investment. You'll have a different truck and forget you ever posted this.

 

No snow near Chicago yet. (*) I went with a separate set of wheels and Hankook Icebear W300 snow tires. A purpose built snow tire will provide much better traction on ice and hard pack due to the tread compound. You can't run them year round because of this. This particular tire sacrifices some snow/ice competence to provide better manners on dry pavement. If the ultimate snow/ice tire is what you need, I hear the Nokian Hakkapalita (sp?) is pretty good.

The other tires proposed have a great looking tread but have to be a compromise for ice traction to provide year 'round durability.

(*) We've had these on our Matrix for a couple years and they worked great in all the snow we got last year.

-hank

 

I like my General Grabber AT2's. Nuff said.

 

Just woke up to our first snow too and the roads are defenitely slick. Been driving pickups most of my life in northern Mich so I can feel your pain. Best advice is put about 100-150 lbs in the bed directly over each tire. Bagged snow melter is a ggod way to go because about 5 bags will get you there and if you just line them up between the wheel wells it will pretty much stay in place. About 250 lbs or so does the trick. Plus it is better than sand because unlike sand it will not freeze rock hard and be useless if you need it. Remember that anything in the back is a potential projectile so try to wedge it in so it can't move around. Also it has been my experience that you want just the right amount of weight. To little it does nothing, to much and you create momentum if the back end fish tails around on you. And of course any snow tires will be a big help but with new tires you should be fine. No snow tire in the world will help much when your on ice or greasy snow. Just keep it slow and you'll be cool.

 

Not my experience at all. I've had various tires from high performance to several brands of snow tires on our vehicles and when our drive gets slick, having the right tire means the difference between not being able to make it up the slope on the drive (about 1 foot in a hundred - barely sloped at all) and getting out on the road and having decent traction. When you're on ice is when they make the biggest difference.

 

Yeah they were on, and they were BUSY lol.

 

i haven't driven it snow yet with my taco

 

I talked to Discount Tire once about switching tires right off the lot on a new Taco and they said they would give like 80% credit for the Rugged Trails to upgrade. That would help offset the cost to upgrade to BFG AT's or the DuraTrac's. I have run the BFG AT's and they never let me down in the snow. My next tire will be the Duratrac's. Both have the snow rated symbol

 

Maybe you should slow down instead of relying on the truck to keep you on the road. Very few things bother me more in the winter than people who claim they know how to drive on ice. If you did, you'd have no need for traction control. ATRAC if I remember correctly was designed for if one wheel came off the ground, NOT for ice. Sounds like a recipe for distaster

Now keeping in mind that if you're driving in 2WD, the ass end of the truck is extrememly light, this is typical for most trucks. Throw a couple sacks of concrete in the back and you'll be fine. Just drive safe, you can get the most expensive tires on the market today and they will perform the same on ice. I've driven in MN before, you boys dont even have much to worry about, the ice turns solid because its so damn cold. Only when it warms up to the 30's was I bothered.

 

discount tire bought my dunlops with 7K miles on them for 200 dollars. then i bought some bfg at's

 

+1

 

I also grew up in MN, and have come to the opposite opinion of the DC LB. I changed my tires to Michelin's Alpin in 265/70/16, and this combo is bomber. I should also mention that I have ~300lbs on the rear axle between my topper and 150lbs of sand.

For midwestern, flatland, use, this thing would be unstoppable. In the mountains of Oregon, my caution prevents me from going nuts, but for the times I have purposefully tried to make the tires lose traction, they were barely coaxed into it. On a snowy parking lot, I flat out mashed it using a torque stand and only got about a half second of tire spin in 4-Hi. Braking was a similar story.

In summary, tires matter. Those four little patches of tire in contact with the ground are the only thing that matter on your truck. The ATs don't have the compounds and siping needed to be completely bomber in snow and ice. They are too hard and have tread blocks that are too large.

 

x2

 

I love my bfg a/t's even in the snow, they do fine.
I usually run 200lbs in the back for winter

 

yeah, were you in 4x4???

What was the last vehicle you drove in the snow??

 

Yeah ain't Vegas fun. Snow and rain, not something you see a whole lot of in that valley. Also, where you came from the snow was like powder. Vegas temp's are just warm enough to create a nice slippery surface when it snows. Watch out for the rain too. All the oils on the road seem to creep to the surface when it rains. Slick as snot. Not that I ever tried to slide on snot. Anyway, I bought Yokohama Geolander AT/S tires. Seem to work pretty well in both those conditions. Available in raised white lettering or you can turn them inside out. Pretty reasonable prices and mine currently have about 10,000 miles with no visible wear. Tread looks pretty good on 265/17's. K