School me on snow tires....Blizzak?

[go4thegusto]

Was thinking about winter tires for my F150. My neighbor swears by Blizzaks but I am sure many companies are doing them. looking for soft compound quiet highway winter tires not lugs. Any intel?

 

[SWOHTR]

BFG All terrains. Buy one nice set of tires and laugh at everyone who has to go to the local tire shop twice a year and have their tires changed.

If you need more traction, get chains.


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[EastMT]

Blizzaks great tires, and the traction is unreal. Also really good are hankook Ipikes and cheaper, most important is just to get them off when it warms up as soft compounds and warm temps wear fast. You can get 4-5 winters out of a set. I worked for Bridgestone and no one had studs, blizzaks studless design is so good you don't need them, but I run the Ipikes due to lower prices.

 

[ljalberta]

BFG All terrains. Buy one nice set of tires and laugh at everyone who has to go to the local tire shop twice a year and have their tires changed.

If you live in a climate where icy/snowy/unplowed roads are a daily part of life for large portions of the year there is simply no comparison between all terrain and winter tires. It takes me 20 minutes to swap the tires over myself, and no laughs at anyone with winter tires here - it's quite often the opposite.

No personal brand recommendation though as I've been happy with all brands I've tried thus far.

 

[Fjelljeger]

Blizzaks are awesome. I drive on snow/ice packed roads for 6-7 months of the year and they grip very well. I have also heard great things about Nokian Hakkapeliitta as well but have not used them. Once the temps warm up then I switch out the Blizzaks as they are cold winter snow/ice tire only.

 

[wapitibob]

The younger guys here that actually get out and Rat Patrol with their rigs use blizzaks.

 

[Owenst7]

If you live in a climate where icy/snowy/unplowed roads are a daily part of life for large portions of the year there is simply no comparison between all terrain and winter tires. It takes me 20 minutes to swap the tires over myself, and no laughs at anyone with winter tires here - it's quite often the opposite.

No personal brand recommendation though as I've been happy with all brands I've tried thus far.

I think it depends on the snow/ice type.

Growing up in Alaska with a construction business with dozens of trucks, the best tires I ever ran in winter were studded Cooper snow tires.

I drove that truck down to Reno, and the tread on those tires (and BFG ATs) would plug up with the wet snow we have around here. I left my Super Swamper LTBs on one winter, and discovered they were incredible on the roads because the tread cleaned so well. Any large-lugged Chevron tread mud tire was flat out stupid to try to run in the winter in Alaska, but they were like having chains on in the Sierra Cement we have down here.

BFG Commercials are great winter tires if they come in the size you want. Ran them on my plow truck for several years and with a couple other rigs.

I remember learning the Alaska Natives have like 50 words to describe snow.

My experience is if you are in a climate with constant temps below freezing where the roads are super dry and the snow packs in to dense ice, you want a "snow" tire with many biting edges and as much flex in the tread as possible.

If you get heavy, wet snow that clears from the road within several days, you want an aggressive tire that will clean readily and will push wet snow out of the way so the tread blocks can reach asphalt. If your snow makes good snowballs, it will plug up tread just like mud.

If you're off road in snow deep enough to get high centered, you want a tire that offers high floatation. Tread that works well in sand seems to do well, although you sacrifice some sure-footedness in off-camber situations. My Pitbull Rockers on my crawler killed it in deep snow, and frequently outperformed tires several inches taller (mine were 39.5s and most of my friends ran 42s).

 

[fatbacks]

I️ have Blizzaks in both of our cars here in interior Alaska. Had studded tires in the past. blizzaks blow all others out of the water.


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[Yellowknife]

Using Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT's on my truck. They are soft, heavily siped AND studded. Not so hot on dry pavement (kind of squirrelly), but are pretty darn good on a mix of snow and ice so far.

One of the very few snow tires that comes in larger sizes and E rated.

 

[wytx]

We run Goodyear Duratacs on our F250 year round. Great off road traction and great in deep snow.

 

[Muleys32]

Blizzaks are awesome. I drive on snow/ice packed roads for 6-7 months of the year and they grip very well. I have also heard great things about Nokian Hakkapeliitta as well but have not used them. Once the temps warm up then I switch out the Blizzaks as they are cold winter snow/ice tire only.

Just giving these Nokians a shot on my wifes car. I have heard they are amazing.

 

[duchntr]

Pretty sure blizzaks are the gold standard for studless tires. Other great options id look at are the Nokian hakkapaleta LT2's, hankook ipike rw11 and the Yokohama iceguards. There is no question dedicated winter tires will perform better on ice and hwy snow then ANY dedicated a/t or mud tire, just as a good studded tire will outperform all the above UNstuded options on ICE. Owens is right on those bfg commercial t/a's are great tires too that I have used as a dedicated winter tire for many seasons, might be worth checking out for a less expensive option.

 

[huntcoop]

I use Pirelli scorpion winter tires, they are VERY good in our cold Canadian climates.

 

[icb12]

Nokian Hakkapelitta studded.

I've run Blizzaks, BFG ATs, General AT2s, Pirelli Scorpions studded, Hankook Ipikes studded and unstudded, as well as mudders siped and studded.

Hakkapelitta's are better performing than all of those.

I like studded on my truck, and studless on wifes car (F150 & Audi Q5)

 

[Boreal]

BFG All terrains. Buy one nice set of tires and laugh at everyone who has to go to the local tire shop twice a year and have their tires changed. If you need more traction, get chains. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HIGHLY recommend that you don't go this route. The mistake people make is thinking that the snow tires are to help you go. ATs will do a decent job of making you go, where they will fail is when you have to steer or stop. We see it all the time here in Southcentral Alaska, the first snowfall and all the big SUVs with their all terrain tires are filling the ditches while the guys (it's always guys) driving them stand around with befuddled expressions like "But I have four wheel drive, I can go anywhere!"

I ran Cooper studded, Ipikes studded, Haakapelita, and Blizzaks. For glare ice, the studded are better, but for general mixed driving, the Blizzaks are awesome. I now run Blizzaks on cheap steel wheels I change myself on my Ram 1500.

 

[BCsteve]

Some winter tires are better than others but the BFG A/T K2 do have the mountain/snowflake winter rating.

 

[BCSteel]

I had Nokian Hakkapelitta for 4 years, they were amazing the first year, OK for the next 3 years. My wife is going on 4 years on Blizzzaks. IMO, the Blizzaks were better from day one and stay better longer.

 

[Obi-wanshinobi]

Vote for the Michelin X Ice. I used to just run A/T tires on my 4Runner but will use dedicated snow tires from now on. I never worry about going, I worry about slowing down and stopping on ice.

 

[Muleys32]

I had Nokian Hakkapelitta for 4 years, they were amazing the first year, OK for the next 3 years. My wife is going on 4 years on Blizzzaks. IMO, the Blizzaks were better from day one and stay better longer.

Just curious if you removed them for the summer months? Just bought them so simply curious what I might expect for the following years.

 

[BCSteel]

Just curious if you removed them for the summer months? Just bought them so simply curious what I might expect for the following years.

They were on for about 6 months of each year, mid October through April, basically from first to last snowfall. Don't get me wrong they're not bad tires, I just found the Bridgestones to be a little better. The Hakka's would start to get a little squirrely around 160 km/h where as the Blizzaks hold strong to at least 190. Comfort wise the blizzaks are somewhat better. And traction on wearing tread seems much better on the Blizzak.

I'm running Michelin x ice now so we'll see how they hold up.