Welcome to CO! I drive 470 every day towards the foothills. The part that you drive usually gets hit worse worse than the section I drive. Yes we can get clobbered at times, but it begins melting the next day. Roads are usually clear and dry within 48 hours. We had snow the last 2 weeks. How'd you do then? It will get worse. March and April are the snowiest months here. If a bad one comes we measure in feet. You've probably got some time to make up your mind. If your going up in the hills, snow tires would be a must for you.
do I need snow tires?
- Thread starter grover
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charlier180
New member
Cannot complain about my Blizzaks at all. This will be the 6th winter I am running them and no they are not bald.
Running soft rubber tires in warm temps will shorten their life. That tends to be the BIG mistake some people make who say they don't last.
When I bought my Blizzaks I found a set of used steel wheels off of a Sequoia. Got them at a great price even with shipping.
Summer tires definitely do last longer when one also runs snow ties. Heck I am still running my original Dunlops on the original alloy wheels and they still have good tread left.
Funny how my original alloys are starting to look like crap and they only spent one winter on the 4Runner.
Can't blame that on lots of salt, chemicals & winter driving.
JB.
New member
In the traction categories they scored very high, as did Blizzaks, in the Consumer Reports recent tire tests. Blizzak was unsurpassed in snow and ice. Altimax was slightly behind in ice braking, but did a little better in wet and dry braking. Both are great winter tires. Both reasonably priced, Altimax in particular.
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Zuke
Member
What my family did in growing up in Massachusetts was to have 2 sets of tires. All seasons for spring summer fall and in December we switched to snow tires. Keep the snow tires mounted on no frills rims. We would always buy the snow tires used unless it was a new car. And if we lacked the room to store them for the summer or money to buy them we just bought 2 for the drive wheels. Even the basic cheap no named snow tire will out preform a premium all season in the snow.
You will have to learn to drive in the snow even with snow tires. Go slow and don't risk it if you are too afraid or you think its going to get worse. I am guessing CO is like Mass and you drive on snow packed roads for 2-3 months out of the year. I live in DC area now and if there is snow still on the roads here after 24 hours people go crazy and highway managers get fired.
You will have to learn to drive in the snow even with snow tires. Go slow and don't risk it if you are too afraid or you think its going to get worse. I am guessing CO is like Mass and you drive on snow packed roads for 2-3 months out of the year. I live in DC area now and if there is snow still on the roads here after 24 hours people go crazy and highway managers get fired.
Thanks for all the input, everyone.
I'll probably be going to Discount Tire unless anyone has any other suggestions.
Right now looking at the...
Cooper Discoverer M+S @ $127/tire
Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 @ $165 (but can prob get them lower)
the guy said that the General Altimax Arctic might be on backorder and he mentioned...
Falken Rocky Mountain ATS @ $127 or $147/tire (wasn't as interested in these since they're not snow tires)
Any thoughts on the 2 snow tires?
He also mentioned I could put 265 70/17's on. Is that right?
empty403
New member
I think it's pretty common to get steel rims in the snowy areas for less than $100 each (Costco, dealer, etc). You got to make sure to switch back to your all-season/AT tires when it stops snowing as snow tires are very soft and will wear out quick.
I used steel wheels before. But I prefer the ride with alloys -- less unsprung weight. So I found a used set of alloys online.
4RunnERD
New member
grover,
Have you decided whether or not you are going to put snow tires on your current wheels, or buy another set of wheels to put your snow tires on? The reason I ask is because I have a complete set of five 17" Sport rims that are just sitting in storage. I have been meaning to get around to posting them in the classifieds section, but haven't really had the time to. After reading your thread you have inspired me to get moving on this. They would be ideal for your situation as the rims are not perfect cosmetically. They have some very minor pitting in between the spokes, but are not pealing or flaking like so many of the 4th gen Sport rims do. In fact, the finish is quite nice on the rims. I doubt this is the case, but it almost appears as if they were resprayed but without smoothing out the pitting before hand. These were the wheels that came on my Sport when I bought it used back in March. Since then I have upgraded to 18" Limited wheels. My point in all of this excessive rambling is that a set of non-pristine Sport wheels would be ideal to mount you winter tires to and you could maintain a stock look. If you are seriously interested, I can get a price quote for shipping. Good luck with whatever you decide. Below is picture of the Sport rims on my 4Runner before I upgraded to Limited wheels.
Have you decided whether or not you are going to put snow tires on your current wheels, or buy another set of wheels to put your snow tires on? The reason I ask is because I have a complete set of five 17" Sport rims that are just sitting in storage. I have been meaning to get around to posting them in the classifieds section, but haven't really had the time to. After reading your thread you have inspired me to get moving on this. They would be ideal for your situation as the rims are not perfect cosmetically. They have some very minor pitting in between the spokes, but are not pealing or flaking like so many of the 4th gen Sport rims do. In fact, the finish is quite nice on the rims. I doubt this is the case, but it almost appears as if they were resprayed but without smoothing out the pitting before hand. These were the wheels that came on my Sport when I bought it used back in March. Since then I have upgraded to 18" Limited wheels. My point in all of this excessive rambling is that a set of non-pristine Sport wheels would be ideal to mount you winter tires to and you could maintain a stock look. If you are seriously interested, I can get a price quote for shipping. Good luck with whatever you decide. Below is picture of the Sport rims on my 4Runner before I upgraded to Limited wheels.
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scottm
New member
We get a decent amount of snow here, probably more than Denver, and far less days of dry pavement. But still I spend a fair amount of time on dry pavement with my dedicated Winter tires, wearing them down. This year I'm going with Nokian WRG2 on both trucks, supposed to be the best all-season for snow and ice. If you're considering all-seasons, these would be the ones, the Finnish know snow. I'll soon be able to compare them in snow to the Blizzaks I had on the Land Cruiser, and the all-seasons I have on the 4R. I'm very impressed with them on dry pavement.
So I put the Blizzak DM-V1's on this past Friday, so we'll see how they go.
I opted not to get new rims yet. The guy at the shop brought up a good point, saying that he puts his snow tires on wheels that he doesn't care about as much due to the mag chloride they put on the roads sometimes. Seems like a good point to me. That and the fact that I'll have my summer tires on a bit more out of the year than the winter tires, so I'd rather have the nicer wheels to go with the summer tires. Also, now I can spend a little more time looking for some nicer wheels to get when I switch the tires this spring/summer.
Thanks for all the help!
I opted not to get new rims yet. The guy at the shop brought up a good point, saying that he puts his snow tires on wheels that he doesn't care about as much due to the mag chloride they put on the roads sometimes. Seems like a good point to me. That and the fact that I'll have my summer tires on a bit more out of the year than the winter tires, so I'd rather have the nicer wheels to go with the summer tires. Also, now I can spend a little more time looking for some nicer wheels to get when I switch the tires this spring/summer.
Thanks for all the help!
8+ years on my 4Runner in Colorado and the mag chloride has done nothing to the rims. Same with my maxima. However anything chromed, like the center caps, side emblems, etc looks like garbage. Those I either need to replace or plasti-dip.
TSO
New member
I didn't read through the entire thread yet, but here's my post from a similar thread:
Winter tires are the BOMB. I just installed a set on mine today - Hankook I-Pike RW11 275/65/17. When I bought the truck, it came with a fresh set of General Grabber AW's, which is a decent 3-season tire, but too stiff & not enough siping for winter conditions. We put a set of the Hankook I-Pike's on my wife's Cr-V last year, which is also AWD... and the tires made a WORLD of a difference. It's definitely worth having 2 sets around (Winter/Summer) and as long as you change them out, you should have 2 sets of tires that will last a long time.
FYI - Winter tires have a softer compound, and more/finer sipes... because of this, driving them in warm conditions will cause premature wear. They'll give you great traction in dry conditions, but you'll just chew through them much faster.
