Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Ok, thanks. Here in progressive Dane county, we only have a handful of days per season where there is significant snow on the roads. For my passenger cars, I’ve never used anything beyond all seasons, but I know how to drive snow. Whenever I’ve owned 4x4s, ATs have always been more than sufficient. If I lived up in Tundraland, I might think differently. Cheers!

 

But how are they at cutting donuts in a snowy parking lot??

 

I've driven through many winters on all seasons without any major problems. However, after driving on real winter tires, I will use them on anything that's not 4WD and I would consider them on the 4runner as well if I was further north. They are night and day better than all seasons.

 

Is there any compelling reason to visit Houghton Michigan? Just curious, I’m into exploring, but it’s a bit of a drive for me.

 

Yes they are! When we decided to put snow tires on the TC, I started calling around for prices (not sure why I didn't just use the internet ) and several places recommended them. So I googled them and decided to go with them.

Toyo is an excellent brand, so I assume their winter tires are fantastic as well.

Yeah, they're definitely more important in areas where the roads don't get plowed and salted. I'll bet that Nissan is a beast in 4wd with those Toyos!

 

Ok, so yet another dumb question. Is all of that better handling and braking only happening when the tread is able to get contact with pavement by digging through the snow? Does that go away when it’s deep?

 

No. Snow tires use soft rubber and tons of siping to grip the snow. The sipes act as biting edges as the rubber flexes.

 

Ok, thanks.
Btw, the Wildpeaks are also good for practicing donuts, not that I’d ever admit to such frivolity.

 

Lol, nice! The Wildpeaks are 3 peak mountain snowflake tires, so they're considered severe snow service tires. I've been using AT's with this rating for years now with good luck. They're still not as good as real winter tires, though.

This video has a nice graphic that shows how the siping and softer rubber create all of the little biting edges. It's pretty cool stuff! Although, I'm a bit of a tire nerd, so it might not be as fascinating to you.

https://youtu.be/zLMwF5WR-us

 

They should have used a BMW X-drive for that video...

 

I'm planning on taking a 3 or 4 day weekend to check out the UP this year. I might have to pick your brain a bit before I go for ideas. That rock formation sounds quite interesting!

 

Keep going at the end of US41 to see the old NASA launch site.

I essentially grew up in the UP (the house I grew up was 0.25 miles from the border) in Vilas County.

 

What the heck did they launch from there? It’s not exactly a prime spot for launching orbital vehicles.

 

Thank, Tyler! I will for sure be in touch before I head up there!

Very cool! I'll have to check this out as well!

 

I grew up in southern u.p., we called that skitchen, when you would stand at a stop sign and as a car came by you'd grab the bumper and ride it out for as long as you could. This was when cars still had real bumpers not all that plastic shit.

Don't know what it is now but back in the late 70's early 80's Houghton averaged 300in per year of snow; divide that by 12 haha.