Best tires for snow and ice

[Catchlight]

Most tire threads here are concerned with off-road conditions, not snow and ice, and winter tire options are evolving, so I'm hoping to get up-to-date performance info from 4Runner owners who deal with winter conditions.

I need a winter-rated tire because police and insurance require them in certain weather conditions on the road to our ski mountain and over some mountain passes in our province. This will be the first winter for my '11 Trail Edition.

The choice seems to be:
1. Get a dedicated winter-rated tire, and change over to another tire for town, highway, and logging road travel in spring, summer, and fall,
2. Or get an "all-season" tire with a winter rating, such as the Nokian WR G2, and run them year-round.

If you face a lot of snow and ice in your driving, please post your experience -- good, bad, or ugly -- with the performance of your winter tires. Thanks!

 

[seahaul]

I have BFG All Terrain T/A's on my Tundra. They have the snowflake symbol and are a good comprimise for an all season. There are better tires in the winter but with 4WD they are great all year and I dont have to change them!

 

[offroadingatc]

I have BFG All Terrain T/A's on my Tundra. They have the snowflake symbol and are a good comprimise for an all season. There are better tires in the winter but with 4WD they are great all year and I dont have to change them!

+1

If you end up going for dedicated, and are on a budget get hankook iPike. I got them on my ranger for 500$ installed, they were fantastic.

 

[JB.]

If you just want to cover the insurance angle, I think any snowflake tire will do it, but don't take my word for it without verifying. If you want the best winter performance, dedicated snows work best by far. They not only work better intrinsically, but you're not wearing and hardening the rubber all summer long which impacts the performance the following winter.

 

[Lineman]

Choice 1.. Take them off in Spring put them on in Fall. Bridgestone Blizzaks for us in the north..

 

[Intruder]

Any mountain snowflake tire should satisfy your legal requirement. I bought Duratracs because a lot of the CT4WD guys here in Calgary run them as all terrain tires year round and said they're great in the winter. I haven't driven mine on snowy or icy roads yet but did use them on snow while offroading a few weeks ago and they handled extremely well.

 

[oldsweng]

I love my Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor tires. I have the 10 ply version and have run them on my FJ and now the 4R. They were on the FJ for about 30K and really showed little wear. They have been great in the ice and icy snow we get around here. They are a snowflake tire and I run them year around.

 

[msommers]

I see your location is Van Island? Do you guys even get snow and ice?!

Best snow and ice tire are Nokian Hakk's. Expensive but worth it!

 

[Chrisinvermont]

I have run BFG AT year round and they are OK. I didn't think they were as good as a set of Nokians. I used to run Hakka LT studs and they were great. I now run the SUV version of the R's and they are quieter due to not having studs. They seemed to perform great last year.

I take the approach that in the long run it is better and not really much more expensive to have an extra set of rims and snows. I put them on and off myself. The tire cost is about the same since you are only running each set 1/2 the year so they last longer. The only cost is the cost of the extra rims. I got some from Tire Rack for about $100 a piece. Not worth wrecking a $40k vehicle over $400 in rims and a set of snows.

That being said, in Vancouver I suspect you could survive on the WRs or BFG AT. It all depends on what you want for a tire the rest of the year.

 

[sandcrawler]

i'll throw a vote out there for the Duratracs year-round. we had a fairly hideous winter last year and the Duratracs were absolutely super. they can be studded too, if necessary.

i run a second, dedicated set of winter wheels (with Nokian Hakks) on my wife's 335D. it's convenient to only have to swap out tires on one vehicle—not both.

 

[Catchlight]

@msommers, here on mid-Vancouver Island we get snow a few times a winter near the coast, sometimes up to two feet. But I'm more concerned about getting up to ski on Mount Washington, which had a 20-foot snow base for most of last winter, necessitating 4WD and winter tires on several occasions.

 

[gdlaw]

Dedicated Winters: Safer, Better Performance on Ice, No Extra Cost Over Time

I'll agree with the idea to go with dedicated winter tires on another set of wheels. I have used Blizzaks on several different vehicles over the years, including the same set on my wife's Scion tC for the past three seasons. They look like they'll last at least this season plus one or two more after three seasons of use, and with those things on, her car is more mobile in the winter time than most 4X4s (unless the snow is super deep, of course).

The big difference between all seasons and dedicated winters, though, comes in ice performance. It might make the difference between sliding off the road at an icy corner or not, or sliding through a red light at an icy intersection or not.

Plus, if you look at the dry pavement tests, the softer rubber of dedicated winter tires gives better dry pavement stopping performance as well, since the harder rubber of all season tires loses its pliability when it's cold outside, which means that less of the tire is in contact with the pavement.

I used the stock tires on my 4Runner last winter, but in a week or two I'm going to be mounting Continental ExtremeWinterContact tires on it. I chose those based on the test results of both the Tire Rack and Consumer Reports. After I've had the chance to use them in some real winter driving conditions (mix of dry, snow, wet, slush, ice, etc.) I'll post a review on here. I'm anticipating awesome winter performance having dedicated snow tires on such a capable 4X4 with great ground clearance!

 

[seahaul]

If your going to buy dedicated winters, which is the best scenario, the best winter tires hands down are Nokian Hakkapeliitta R, they are a bit harder to get and not cheap because they are from Finland but they are really the best of the best. Tirerack doesn't carry them but they are worth it.

 

[scanny]

For myself I went for Duratracs which a tire rated for extreme winter conditions (has a snowflake). It's supposed to comply to all legal winter tire requirements and based on reviews Duratracs should be quite good in snow. Last winter I had stock tires and was travelling to Vermont for skiing, not mentioning driving through snow here in Ontario. I didn't have any problems with stock tires by the way, but I wanted to have better performance for snow and mud. Besides I'm not sure how thinng are in BC, but in my experience if a minivan with all season tires can't get to the mountain base, they close mountain anyway. I'm not saying that you don't need winter tires, winter tires are great but in heavy showfall traffic tends to follow some small RWD car with summer tires and everybody afraid to pass it because that car is realy unstable on the road.

I think that there should be a special lane for 4x4 vehicles in winter, preferable not plowed : )

 

[Foques]

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/100447-winter-tires.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/100963-hakkapeliitta-7s-vs-lt-winters-coming.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/97269-solid-winter-tire.html

search works grand on this forum..Just sayin..

 

[ninoshrv]

Is anybody riding on the Cooper LTZs? How do those ride in the snow

 

[Ghost Runner]

I had nokian studded Hakka LT on my 91 toyota pickup before owning the new rig. They were unbeatable on or off road. I drive in brutal weather heading to climbs and ski tours.

I would have purchasedna set for the new runner in a heart beat but I wanted to upsize to 285's as I have big ice shelves I regularly climb up when crossing creeks in the winter.

I ordered 285 70. General altimax with carbon tipped studs. They came with 60 psi and that seemed way high. Drove to mountains last night with sheer ice on kootenay highway and tires felt excellent at 50 psi. I'm going to lower to 42 psi next to compare feel/traction. So far I'd say they are ggggreat - studded dominates on true Canadian ice conditions.

Other winters I've had: nokian RSI on Prius, blizzaks on Subaru, nokian hakkas on Subaru (much superior to blizzaks), Michelin x ice (pretty good but no nokian)

Just a side note: I drove the Hakka rsi on the Prius for 4 winters then drove them to San Diego and back on spring break - tires are still in great shape! I'm keeping them for highway trips in shoulder season and put on studded Hakka 7s...now the Prius is a machine on ice

 

[Ghost Runner]

Just to add: never let someone tell you all seasons are as good as true winters in cold conditions. Especially if it's your dad, haha.

Nokian: please make 33" studded tires!!

Btw I think I can still fit vbar style chains on my rear tires - looks to be adequate clearance

 

[gdlaw]

All seasons are just as good as winter tires on the ice and snow.

JK

I am putting Continental ExtremeWinterContact tires on Monday. Unfortunately the weather doesn't seem to be cooperating,

:violin:

so I might have to wait a while before I get to test them out in the snow/ice. Blizzaks have been great on the wife's car the past few seasons though. I'm too cheap to go with Nokians, so hopefully the good reviews on TireRack and Consumer Reports hold water with these Continentals.

Too bad they can't make a true winter tire with a more agressive look to them. I suppose the Nokians might look more agressive, and Duratracs are probably a good compromise, since they have the true mountain/snowflake symbol, and still have a decently agressive look to them. I may think about having those put on in the spring and sell the Continentals depending on how they do.

I definitely don't need studded tires though. Our Wisconsin winters aren't that bad (although I wish they were - it'd be awesome to have more snow for the winter sports scene, and I don't mind driving in it).

 

[JB.]

I am putting Continental ExtremeWinterContact tires on Monday.

Looking at the Consumer Reports test track measurements, that appears to be a fantastic winter tire and an amazing value.