Tacoma very good in snow

We got 27'' were I live last week. Using 4lo with the locker was unbelievable. Gotta say I was impressed. I have some off market brand of Coopers. Just for the hell of it I shoveled out most of my driveway then decided to see what I could do. Just blasted through the snow.

 

second gen 2010 4x4 tacoma here .
I live up in Canada in the deep snow belt running studded winter tires with a topper and a concrete patio block over the rear axle . Snow drifts can be up to 3 feet deep and sometimes the road doesnt get plowed for a week .
When I drive to work , i drive on a lake in 2 wheel drive cuz it saves me 30 minutes of hiway travelling .Old news for many of the members here at Tacoma World
These trucks are fantastic on winter roads if you " use the proper tires"
10 years and counting . Never bin stuck with this truck . Pulled a lot of full size outta the snow banks . Thats about the only time I throw the switch for 4 wheel drive
Oh yah , you get a little break on insurance premiums when you tell the crooks at the insurance company that you run " dedicated winter tires " during the cold weather months so keep that in mind . That tip may be North Western Ontario, Canada only . Highly suggest contacting your crooks to see if they offer a valid discount for winter rubber

grab 4 steel rims . This will save your factory rims from the salt . Your factory rims cant handle the winter salt . Soon , the clear coat on your factory rims will chip and peel . Save the factory rims for the summer .
If you live in the salt belt ,purchase 4 black steel rims for the winter . You can wire wheel them and paint them flat black every season . Ask me why I know this ?


Picture below shows a dedicated winter tire with studs . I know they dont look like much traction but they work awesome in snow and ice . Its all about the siping !
Saved me from a few fender benders .
I beleive these are discontinued now but they are Goodyear Ultra grip Ice WRT that were rated very well 10 years ago . They are 10 years old and still function incredibly well considering I am running them 8 months outta the year . Think I paid 1200 bucks 10 years ago .
Still look new but you gotta rotate from front to back every 5k . Thats rite ,winter tires are a directional tire meaning you can only rotate from front to back or back to front on the same side . There is no X rotation pattern with these like we get to do on our 4x4 trucks with our summer rubber rotations
If I had to buy fresh winter tires now , Michelin X ice seems to get the top marks for performance . Make sure they are studded !!! That alone will get you another 5 years out of your winter rubber . If you live in an area where studs are permitted , throw the studs at it . Worth every penny . You cant stud as an afterthought . Tire shops refuse to stud a used winter tire .
Do the studs when your tires are new . Studs cost 30 bucks per tire on average and time consuming for the tire guy. I beleive thats why most tire shops hate selling people winter tires with studs as it uses up a lot of time to drill the studs into place . Fight your crooked insurance company to get studs approved where you live . Without a word of a lie , your truck becomes a traction king in winter
https://www.automoblog.net/best-winter-tires/#:~:text=The top 10 winter tires are the Michelin X-Ice,Command, and Yokohama iceGuard GO75.
I switch back to my summer tires when the weather goes above 10 degrees

 

Thank you for stating the improved engine braking/control. One front wheel and one rear wheel at a minimum will be going the same speed.

 

Just standard. I use S mode and switch gears to help engine brake it.

 

Very good in snow...I drove my 2018 sport to the Arctic Ocean in February. In -50° on the MacKenzie River you better have dedicated snow tire or something like what the flatbed was wearing.

 

Yeah.

My comment was more to question why “my Tacoma did great in the snow” seems to be a common answer. Sure if you put it in 4WD it should help get you moving, but a vehicle is a vehicle when trying to stop in snow/ice. Plus RWD is definitely a disadvantage come winter weather.

Point is I’ll take a FWD sedan with solid tires over the truck in most snow storms. If there’s a foot of snow on the ground, sure take the 4WD truck. But really shouldn’t be out in that.

 

I don't know if the sport, SR5 or base models come with m+s rated tires (mud+snow) but having tires with m+s, 3,peak rating or dedicated now tires will make the biggest difference for getting around in the snow. The rubber compound makes more difference than width or tread design in the snow.

When I got an '11 off-road it had Michelin Defender LTX m+s tires in new condition on it. They look like a low rolling resistance highway tire, so I thought they'd probably be not so good in snow. Boy, was I wrong.

I fill the bed with snow or some firewood logs to help plant the rear and drop tire pressure a bit to help with stability. My driveway is a quarter mile long and fairly gnarly. There's a valley between the house and road. You lose about 60' of elevation getting to the bottom, then climb it all back with some curves mixed in. Then it's 6 miles of hilly, curvy rods until I hit asphalt. I love it, especially with a good snowfall.

I want to get some tall skinny Nokian Hakkapeliittas (235/85r16) and see how much better they are than the Michelin tires I have on now. Undecided if going studded or not. My driveway can turn into dual bobsled tracks when the temps go over 32 during the day and refreeze at night. Seriously, I've slid about 500 feet in total in the past 10 days (lots of 15-40 foot slides in the icy ruts) so that steers me toward studs.







There's been many times if I only had 4wd or 4low, I wouldn't make it up the hills. Had to use A-Trac and finesse it up. So yes, I'd say Tacomas are awesome in the snow. The rear locker got me up the hill in the front yard after bucking logs and loading them into the bed a few days ago. A-Trac couldn't get it. Just wish I had a front locker too.

 

My stock All Weather Firestone tires are great in the rain and dry pavement. But they absolutely blow in the snow or mud. 37k mikes on them and the dang tires still show good life on them. Once are ready to go, I’ll be bumping up to a 265/70/17 General Grabbers, KOs or something that will do better in snow and mud.

 

We want to do this during spring or fall sometime, probably will have to pack an extra windshield or two also! Do you have any good recommendations on up-to-date info on it? I’ve seen the official Maps and website..

 

The trouble with spring and fall is the MacKenzie River has to be crossed at Tsiigehtchic. In winter you drive across...in summer there is a barge that takes you across. In spring when the ice breaks up and they haven't put the barge in yet you can have delays of weeks potentially. Similarly in fall when they take the barge out the ice bridge is not instantly available. They aren't able to predict either of these events with reliability as they are completely weather dependent. I like winter because the Dempster Highway can be driven at speed when the hard pack snow and ice smooths out its surface. Summer on the Dempster shreds tires and it is a longer trip.

 

We just had a 20" dumping of snow, and my Duratracs have been great, txs to the 3 peak snow rating. It really is all I need, since I don't do much Highway driving. But I think I would have dedicated winter tires if I did a lot of Highway driving, just because you would stop faster than with an A/T tire.

Regardless, with 20" on the ground, cars & some SUVs could not drive down my road, until it was plowed. The Taco made it look easy, txs to more ground clearance, and more weight than a standard car.

 

Did someone say river crossing? No prob, I have a snorkel!

You made a great point about that, and no, I really don’t have a snorkel. I was hoping to maybe do the trip when we could hit fall colors and do some wildlife photography along the way, have lots of time as I’m off summers as a teacher. Guess we are looking at timing it when the barge is running. I’m just researching it now probably won’t happen until next year.

 

Almost make me want to drive north just play in the snow.....nah, I'll stick with my mud and sand here in balmy Florida.
Would love to see some snowy donut videos etc.

 

The whole 3 peak, M+S is largely meaningless just like all season tire designation is. If you want the best traction, you should get actual snow/winter tires. Yes, those will have the symbol too, but the 3 peak symbol rating is pretty easy to achieve and and all season tires can have that symbol.

The 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake Symbol is a six-pointed snowflake inside a three-peak mountain, found on tires that meet specific standards. They signify the tire has been tested for acceleration on medium-packed snow. Braking and turning don’t factor into the testing.

Tires with the 3PMS symbol have scored at least 110 on the traction index. This means they accelerate at least 10 percent faster than a typical all-season tire that isn’t 3PMS rated. (There are all-season tires that have the 3PMS designation.)

Of course this doesn't mean you'll automatically crash if you drive on all seasons, or any other tire, but I find people don't really understand what the 3 peak thing means generally.

 

I've got the same Sport you do with stock tires as yours!

Have not tried it in a foot of snow but the frozen black road caused my Sport to slide at low speed and the ABS kicked in...I let off the brake and all was good.

We've got freezing temps at the moment but the rain two days ago melted all the snow.

Ed

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I do need a tonneau cover...

 

Good post

I am running Defender LTX m+s tires practically new. With all the siping they have, I am impressed with their ice and snow ability. I was exploring 45 miles of gravel roads through a National Forest, going through mountains just yesterday. The main Ridgeline roads were plowed, but the Backcountry roads were not. Some areas had melted all the snow out, but probably only 30% of Backcountry roads were clear. The rest was packed icy, with some slush around. It was just above freezing and I got pretty good traction up hills that were longer and steeper than I had anticipated. As it got closer to dusk, it got more slippery. I didn't mess with pictures or phone videos on the big hills because I didn't want to lose my momentum, focus, and have full attention on my line and traction. I'm pleased and impressed with what these tires can do. I was planning on going Hakkapeliittas on my extra rims for winter trails, but I hit some mud from melting snow and the traction immediately fell off. It wasn't deeper than 3 or 4 inches. That really got me reconsidering my winter tire choice.

Is there a snow specific tire that has decent tread blocks that can clear and dig through some (not lots) mud? The Hakkapeliittas don't look much better than the tires I have now. I've been watching some YouTube videos for a beefier snow rated tire, but haven't found much. My current tire:



At the moment, I'm considering changing from the Hakk's to DuraTrac's. I'm also wondering if I could get a little more siping on the Dura Trac's for the extra bite on snow and especially ice. Maybe even a studded Dura Trac. Any recommendations appreciated.

I'm not big into documenting my trips although I do wish I had pics and video of some of the big, steep icy hills. No one around for miles, little to no phone signal, lows in the teens overnight, no winch or recovery gear other than a tow strap. (I did order some US Action Trax traction boards tonight) So yeah, I haven't had pucker factor like that in a long time.

Few shots I took:



Somebody added some pinstriping to their doors from this ditch run:







I wish I had brought my chainsaw. Could've bucked some logs for the wood burning stove and cleared the road. Next time.



Anybody got good recommendations for a winter tire with decent or better mud lugs, I'm all ears. I suppose chains are an option, but would rather not mess with them.

 

^ Potomac Horseshoe?

 

Good eye. That very well may be the name, but I'm not sure. It is the Potomac River, just down stream from Paw Paw, as seen from the Green Ridge State Forest.

 

No big snowfalls in Calgary? Surely a mistake! Don't those happen September to June? I'm from northern BC and we tend to laugh at the shit storms Calgary gets, mostly because my uncle lives there and hates driving in it. We usually just get snow - melt - ice cycles, but it's been a dry month and a half thus far.

 

This winter has been strange, very dry but cold and windy. Last year we had a massive dump of snow so I was hoping for the same to test out my new tires. We still have lots of time for a dump though haha