Winter Tires.

Studded Tires are old school, as are luggy snow tires.
Current studless winter tires like Blizzak/Michelin/Nokian meet or exceed studded tires in almost all cases.

Pros are ultimate grip if you have enough ice to bite into. Look at moto ice racers or rally ice tires;


Note how skinny these rally tires are;



Cons?
They are loud.
Most Municipalities/Hwy/Gov't do not appreciate them chewing up the road when there isn't any ice. - they are illegal in most places.
They are loud.
Dry pavement they don't grip well - you are driving on the pins of the stud and not the rubber.
At speed studs can fly out.
Also they are pretty loud.

 

Got my blizzaks on...245s...love them

 

Just use any All season radial tire and back the air pressure off maybe 3-4 psi and you will be good to go

 

Good to go in the ditch lol

 

or into the back of the car on front of you..

 

I couldnt find 245 blizzaks this year, ended up with Yokohama Ice guards, 245/75R16

I had a buddy install 245 70 17 blizzaks on his sport and he loved it.

You lose cornering a bit, but it makes up for it on ice. I rarely use 4wd now.

 

Trying out the new Cooper Snow Claws. They are supposed to replace the tried and true Cooper M+S.
Time will tell, but so far they are way better than my Grapplers or STMaxx in the snow, slush and ice we've had.

 

In Canada you shuld check with the government to see which tire they will allow you to buy.

 

Mounted Nokian Nordsman 7's w/o studs on my Taco recently and have driven around in icy/snowy conditions. I have had KO2's for many years on tacos and an F150 and they did pretty well. The Nokians definitely grip better though. I'm finding myself leaving it in 2wd more now than I would have. I have slid through a stop sign but was able to steer with the ABS going. If it had studs I probably would have stopped earlier.

 

My Ltd. came with Michelin LTX MS/2's in good shape. After months of agonizing AT tire search, I just couldn't justify getting rid of the Michelins. So, I finally went with the dedicated winter approach and got Blizzak DM-V2's in the stock 265/60/18. They look great and function well so far.

 

Hakka R9 SUVs, studded. No trouble even in ~16in of fresh stuff today. Studless is better for most people but we get a lot of freeze/thaw out my way and our roads are very icy a lot of the winter.

 

I have run Blizzaks on steel rims on my prior 2 cars (Mazda CX-4, Nissan Xterra) for winters. *Just* got my 2021 Off Road with stock rims and tires. I am struggling to make a plan for tires between summer/winter now - and since it's Dec I'm torn between trying to get a winter set up now vs. suffering through a winter with stocks to learn more first and buying in the spring/summer. Winter needs: as best-as-possible New England ice/slush handling (without studs). Will generally be on roadways, but need to get through snow / snowbanks / unplowed parking lots. Given COVID I'm basically home, but hoping to keep driving up for skiing/hiking. Since I ideally want black rims, my thought was to dedicate my stock rims as my "winter" rims and put Blizzaks or similar on, and just buy a new full set (rims+tires) for the rest of the year. I guess the question here would be - is it worth it to replace now and try to offload the brand-new stock tires (no wheels), or should I be ok on the stock tires for a winter to get every penny out of my purchase? How *bad* are they? Do people even buy stock tires?

 

The stock tires are ok, try them out, but for black ice nothing compares to winters.

Consider skinnier winters 245/75R16 they are cheaper and bite better. Same diameter as the offroad model.

 

The stock tires are terrible for real winter. You will fishtail on anything remotely icy and weight in the back can only help you so much. They're not terrible tires, they just aren't good for real winter. I regret going through one winter in Minneapolis with the stock Goodyears.

My vote is get the winters now and decide by the summer if you'll keep the stock tires as summers or sell them.

 

Had Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 SUVs on my Tacoma in stock size last winter and they performed extremely well. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again. This year I bought some General Grabber Arctic LTs as the Nokians were going to go on our other vehicle, though we've now decided we'll just be selling it. I don't buy studded tires as our winter season including snow and ice frequently extends past our allotted studded tire time-frame.

Nokians are awesome on ice, in snow shallow and deep, great in slush and wet snow and they are incredibly quiet, the only thing I disliked was how they felt very soft and "floaty" as an SL ply tire. Going from e-ply summer Coopers to SL winters was unnerving and my vehicle did not feel stable on roads despite performing well.

Generals are great in sugary snow however we've only had 8 inches at the most and it's melted. We also haven't had a proper ice cycle yet so I can't report on constant ice however the little patches we have they were pretty good. The Grabbers are super noisy on dry ground and I wouldn't hesitate to say they're actually getting up to the noise level of my slightly worn Cooper ST Maxx. Not quite as droning but very loud.

 

I’ve been running them for a few months now and seem to like them, I went through some heavy snow with no issues, they’re even quiet on the highways, I’d recommend them to anyone.
What size are you running? I stuck with the stock size 265/70 16s on steelies.

 

I'm running 285/75/16 on SCS F5s with 0 offset.
They did well this year in the snow and ice we had. Smooth and quiet on the highway and didn't look like they wore much.
I'm taking them off tomorrow since it's warming up here quickly these days and will definitely be using them again next year.
I'd recommend them

 

Bridgestone blizzaks have never let me down!

 

what pressure were you running, and did you have any issues getting stuck in the stuff that deep?

 

Will you get steel wheels for a quick swap?