Thread: New Tires for a 4wd truck... snows or AT's

Originally Posted by PlayHarder

Actual quote from about 10 days ago as I was attaching a tow rope to a guys Civic,
"I don't what happened, the Honda's been great since I put the new winter tires on."

It'll take a lot of convincing to get me to agree that there's a front wheel drive car in production that'll make it to the same place as a truck with those crappy AT tires on it.

Having read to the end, I think we're actually in agreement. I'm driving a 4runner on ATs for reference.

In deep snow, you can't beat 4wd and clearance, so yes you are less likely to get stuck in a 4wd with ATs than in a Civic with snows. But that's getting stuck, not losing control of the vehicle.

On ice and packed snow, you can't beat true ice and snow tires. Since it's higher speeds (or 5 measly MPH for me) and icy roads that tend to cause the accidents, you are way less likely to lose control of your vehicle on snow tires than on ATs.

So as far as I'm concerned 4WD and clearance provides no additional safety over FWD. Not that getting stuck doesn't suck...

(stuck AND stranded overnight being the obvious exception to my definition of safety).

Also, I suspect dude in Civic didn't have real snow tires. Chick in my cabin shows up in a saab on summer tires (all weathers, not even all season). I take a look and say "I hope you have chains for those summer tires." She says "these are snow tires. I just had them mounted. They're AWESOME." Later that night she comes back into the cabin swearing like a sailor... slid down the hill and off the road trying to repark.

^^^ Dude had Blizzaks, but that was just example of many - lot's of instances where I've pulled out cars with snow tires and there's also lots of instances when I've driven my little CRX with snow tires by countless trucks and SUVs in the ditch. A shitty driver is in trouble no matter they've got for tires or vehicle.
All I'm saying is that if you factor in the type of vehicle, and maybe assume a little in regards to its usage, dedicated winter tires might not be the best choice. Personally, driving what sounds to be the same truck as the OP, I didn't feel any loss in snow and ice performance with the Toyo's vs highly regarded winter tires and a huge improvement in all other conditions that a truck tends to find itself in.

Figured I'd better post my experiences with about 1,500 winter miles on a fresh set of Blizzaks.

thanks to eveyone who contributed their input to this thread.
I eventually found a set of cheap factory take off rims for my Tacoma and went with a set of studless blizzaks.

These tires are great! i've now had them in 6-8" of snow on unplowed roads, ice, rain, slop, you name it. They've done really dam well. acceleration (like out of a parking lot onto a road) is dramatically improved as are turning and stopping.... all fairly important to diriving a vehicle! Granted some of the imporvement i've seen is strictly due to having brand new tires with nice deep tread, but i think the siping and soft compound really does a lot as well. I would say that my truck is now better in 2WD than it was in the past in 4WD (the factory tires on the truck really suck!). I have noticed a slight decrease in fuel economy, but it's only 1-2mpg.... completly worth it to me for the added safety.

-Tick

What do you guys recommend for the 3 hour drive from SF to Tahoe (roughly 2 hours dry, 1 hour potential snow covered roads)? I make the drive up pretty much every weekend in the winter, but that's still a lot of dry road driving. How much will it wear on snow tires and is it worth it? Or is it a better call to just chain up on storm days? I've had no problems in the past on i-80 but 88 up to Kirkwood is another story. Definitely want to pull the trigger on snow tires just not sure given the amount of dry road driving that I do