Winter Tires.

Winter will be here soon enough.

 

It snowed here yesterday. I was just in the middle of washing my truck and it started snowing on me just barely. I think I'll wait until it's above 30 to finish that job. Think it might be time to get my Cooper Discoverer M+S mounted.

 

yo better go out and but some BLIZZAKS those tractor tires cant get a grip on wet grass

 

The ones on it currently sure as hell can't, they spin on wet pavement. I've had great luck with the coopers though. Got me through last winter at 35% tread. Wasn't great, but made it. Got a brand new set this year so should work a hell of a lot better. Was gonna get Nokians but they were $140 bucks more.

 

Just went through the same decision: narrowed my choices down to Blizzaks, Michelin LTX or Nokian. In the end I went with Blizzaks due to tire sizes available (I wanted to stay with 265/75 on my winter rims) and their more aggressive edge tread for better grip in case I need to air down.
As another point of reference I have Michelin X-Ice tires on our Outback and they are outstanding.

 

Are the Blizzaks truly that good? Of all the people I know with trucks and SUVs around here I've never seen anyone with them, don't even think my local warehouse carries them. If they're that good I'll look into em and just sell my coopers.

 

Nokian WR or Michelin LTX MS2 pick your poisin if you don't live on a gravel road that is

 

some dudes in the 2wd 5 lugger threads use them and are great they say but its a 2wd truck so I guess then its good with 300lbs in the bed. I would do some research before dropping the money on them tho you might be just as well with a good AT and some weight and can use them year round

 

problem is that if you get dedicated snows youll need to remove and replace every season and need 2-4 new rims to mount them on plus storage in off season. If that's no problem then getting snows is ok I think a above average AT or MS can do the job with a 4wd truck. Nokian or Michelin

 

yes, they are.

 

thisthats all I am saying

 

http://www.nokiantires.com/all-weather-tires/nokian-rotiiva-at-plus/

 

If we are talking about Tacomas, there are a plethora of good deals on six lug steel rims for Toypta trucks...you DONOT need new alloys. Once you buy them and mount the snow tires, you get free rotations from the dealers who sell the tires. ( at least I do) these are your rotations so you can subtract that cost. If you keep just all season tires on all year, you need to change them at earlier 5/32 inch for winter traction.

Now, all seasons usually come at 9/32 or less while winter tires are as high as 13/32 inch. AT can very. When you buy two sets of tires, it cost you no more other then the rims, minus the cost of the rotation. That savings more then ads up to these cheap rims over the years. For All seasons, you buy them quicker then your summer tires and for AT, about the same time. You don't save money by running one set year round. I have been doing this for decades and have owned three cars where often the third did not have winter tires.mwe kept meticulous records of the cost. We saved more with two sets.

Btw, my winter rims came off an 03 Tundra, went 10 years on my 4 Runner and are now my winter rims for my 2015 Taco. It's a no brainier.

 

ok that sounds like fuzzy math, all im saying is to look at the cost of one set of tires that can be used year round

 

I think you missed the key point or I wasn't good enough at explaining. When you rotate two tires, you run your Summer's to the wear bars because you don't need them for winter traction. Winter tires come with the deepest treads and give you much longer life. With one set, you start off with a shallower tread in most cases, then have to change them earlier at 5/32 for acceptable winter traction You change tires too early. You call it fuzzy math, but I have master's in mathematics so I don't fudge. Once you have the rims, you pay less for tires over the life of the truck...easily. The steel rims for Tacos are cheeeeeeep. You can keep summer tires long with two sets, you can't with one set......remeber...YOU ARE NOT WEARING THE OTHER SET WHEN ONE IS ON. SO at the very least, it is a savings in tires.

 

calculate this 1 set of tires that can be used all year around what is the cost factor versus 2 set of season specific tires that need to be removed based on season use=?

 

1 tire all year rond

 

Snow tires like Altimax cost less then a high rated AT tire for winter. Your ATtire must be changed at 5/32 ( winter traction depth requirement) instead of 2/32 inch ( legal wear bars). Assuming you wear tires at 1/32 per year, you have just lost 3 years of use. Winter tires, if put on in cool weather and taken off before warm, can easily wear at a similar rate, 1/32 per year. They start at 13/32 and change at 5/32 which is 8 years. The key is, you are wearing your winters at the same rate ( softer) but your summers are wearing at half that rate or .5/32 ( less use) per year. You also change them at 2/32 (wear bars with unnecessary winter traction) instead of 5/32.