Driving Snowy Environment

[SDHNTR]

Duratracs do great on fresh snow and off road (for a crossover tire), and ok on packed snow/ice when they are new. Put 25k+ on them and they suck on hard pack. This is my experience on Toyotas, not big trucks.

Put me in the no locker and traction control left on camp. With tall and narrow 3pms rated tires for all around use.

 

[Ralphie]

Paved roads that have been plowed? A front wheel drive car with straight up snow tires will outperform anything else with regular or mud or all terrain tires. Put real snow tires on an awd car and its unbeatable.

 

[schmalzy]

Appreciate all the responses. Don’t know if a true dedicated snow tire the right application.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[logem]

I didn't read all of the responses, but my basic method is:

Run year-round with premium all season tires which perform well in snow and rain, such as Michelin Agilis, and additionally carry chains in case they are needed.

In snow conditions up to 6" deep, the Agilis work well year round, if you take it reasonably slow in 4X4.

If you are dedicated to deeper snow travel then have studded snow tires, winch, chains, and luck. I personally wouldn't venture out on a forest road covered in heavy snow alone, even with good studded tires, and winch.

 

[logem]

Edited to add.

Be careful running on the highway with a locker set-up, particularly if the locker is only on the rear wheel. It can spin you around quickly on slick roads when one of the front tires start slipping. Highway driving with all four wheels locked may be safer but the road must be slick enough to allow all tires to slip occasionally in order to avoid stress on the differential gears. Yet best practice, IMO, is to drive frozen roads in limited slip 4x4 cautiously, then shift to front and rear locked 4x4 when truly off-road at lower speeds.

 

[49ereric]

Edited to add.

Be careful running on the highway with a locker set-up, particularly if the locker is only on the rear wheel. It can spin you around quickly on slick roads when one of the front tires start slipping. Highway driving with all four wheels locked may be safer but the road must be slick enough to allow all tires to slip occasionally in order to avoid stress on the differential gears. Yet best practice, IMO, is to drive frozen roads in limited slip 4x4 cautiously, then shift to front and rear locked 4x4 when truly off-road at lower speeds.

You guys must drive fast on poor roads. Been driving an old bronco ( long ago not now) and K20 for 35+ years with a Detroit locker in the rear diff and never had an issue cuz I drive slow on bad roads. Put a lock rite in my brother‘s Ranger when new in 95 and he never had an issue either.

 

[logem]

You guys must drive fast on poor roads. Been driving an old bronco ( long ago not now) and K20 for 35+ years with a Detroit locker in the rear diff and never had an issue cuz I drive slow on bad roads. Put a lock rite in my brother‘s Ranger when new in 95 and he never had an issue either.

Don't drive faster than the conditions. But I hope to believe that I understand the conditions and the vehicle that I am driving.

As I said, I believe that limited slip is good on the highway, if venturing offroad into unknown upstream conditions, than one should be prepared with front and rear lockers, chains, lockers, winch, shovels, etc.

 

[49ereric]

Don't drive faster than the conditions. But I hope to believe that I understand the conditions and the vehicle that I am driving.

As I said, I believe that limited slip is good on the highway, if venturing offroad into unknown upstream conditions, than one should be prepared with front and rear lockers, chains, lockers, winch, shovels, etc.

Depends on the limited slip some are not worth a damn And by that I mean one tire has to spin before it locks up and then often both tires spin.
UPS delivery trucks jere have been running Lock Rite diffs for years And they fly down the bad roads.

 

[WalterH]

Have put thousands of miles on packed snow / ice roads and haven’t found anything close to Nokian Hakkapeliitta tires. Not much lug at all on them, so if you’re going to be in bad mud part of the time you’ll probably want to go a different direction, or look at pairing them with a good set of off road chains. But on icy paved roads they are the bee’s knees.

Agreed. I drive on snow and ice from October to April and have tried most every snow and all season tire out there. The studded Nokian hakkapelittas are the best. No contest.

Their curb appeal sucks, but when it comes to snow and ice, they are unmatched.

 

[Snowhunter11]

My next tires will be nokian outpost nat.. all terrain, snowflake, etc. We only have one in service so small sample size. However they look promising!

 

[Pdzoller]

I buy my tires from Amazon. Typically save $500-$1000. Most non chain store tire shops will mount and balance for a good price.