Firestone Transforce AT & Winter.. not a good mix

Picked up my 2022 Ram 2500 with the Firestone tires in October, first snowfall in Mich recently and I will say the tires are awful!! Couldn't even make it up my driveway without 4WD. They have to go for sure. What are you winter drivers using? I have had BFG A/T's before and had good success may head the route again, but looking for some real world applications. Thanks.

I'm all over the place on my truck(s) tires. My CJ8 has BFG AT's, My 91 Bronco has Kuhmo AT51's and my 3500 (which is 2wd) has Cooper Discovery 3's, all have worked very well in the 3-4 inches at a time we get here.

My son has a 2021 2500 Cummins with 25,000 miles on it. He went to change lanes a few days ago while coasting and hit the snow in the center of the road and it sent him sideways.

I just bought Toyo Open Country AT3's about a month ago. Been good so far but we haven't had any bad snow yet, just an inch or so.

I really liked the Cooper A/T 3's I had on my 2500. A little more aggressive than the Firestones that it came with from the factory. Not only do the Firestones not do well in snow, but they wear much faster than they should. I only got about 35k miles on them before they had to be replaced. I had 57k on the Coopers before I traded, & they were ready to be replaced.

For a winter only tire I'm using the Blizzak DM-V2's in 17" sizing (down sized from the summer 20's).

For me personally, in my 33+ year driving career, I have experienced the most sure grip and safety with these tires. Yes, they are a few dollars more, and yes, they don't have a long wear tread life expectancy compared to other winter only tire brands.

But, the grip is and tracking in snow, slush, and all the winter crap in between is worth every penny (for me, anyways). I put my baby in 4WD and can step on it and there is not a lot of spin and side stepping. Just grip, launch, and GO... straight. The stopping is also excellent, too!

My truck is a 19' and I put my set on that winter, and got three full winters, plus a little the beginning of this winter, but they were done!

I just put on another set maybe 6 weeks ago, and good for another three full years (maybe a bit more..lol)

jlsalani said:

Picked up my 2022 Ram 2500 with the Firestone tires in October, first snowfall in Mich recently and I will say the tires are awful!! Couldn't even make it up my driveway without 4WD. They have to go for sure. What are you winter drivers using? I have had BFG A/T's before and had good success may head the route again, but looking for some real world applications. Thanks.

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I have no experience with Firestone tires although the Transforce AT2 LT looks quite reasonable.
What pressure are you using? More about pressures below.

I've tried a few different dedicated winter tires & always come back to BFG KO2s. In fact, the last set of winter tires I tried out, I sold them after a couple of snowy drives, ate the loss, and replaced them with BFGs.

The same pressure on one type of tire might be fantastic and with another, a nightmare. Also, the performance of the tire could change dramatically on different trucks.

Tire pressure changes of a few PSI can transform how a tire performs in adverse conditions.

On my last truck, a Tundra, the door plate pressures were 33psi rear, 30psi front. I didn't like how the tires were wearing and experimented with higher settings. At 35psi on the rear with any amount of light snow, the rear would break free and spin. I'd get stuck on the slightest of inclines and require 4wd to get started. Those tires were BFG, KO1s, IIRC.

Now almost the same tire (BFG KO2 E-rated) on my Ram is a completely different story.
Most of my driving is highway and I usually use about 42psi rear and 44psi front and rarely have any slippage. If I were driving less highway, I'd drop those pressures a bit.
.

Something I wrote on another thread.

I like Duratracs, but I spend a lot of time off pavement. Great in Mud, snow ice, has the 3 peaks symbol and decent on pavement. Run them year round. If you don't spend a lot of time off pavement, there are better choices like the BF Goodrich All Terrain.

The Transforce that came on my 2500 were great on the highway and good gravel roads. Where is all came apart is in the mud and snow. At anything over 3 mph I could not keep them on a muddy road, no steering at all. Even in 4wd, the traction control got so messed up it shut itself off and put up the "Service TCS" sign. Tires had less than 3000 miles on them. TCS worked okay after being shutoff and back on an hour later. Went and got a set of 275=70=18 Duratracs the next day, no more problems off road. They are a bit noisier but it beats being in the ditch all the time.

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Firestone XT's
Nokian Outpost AT's
Nitto Terra Grappler G2's

Those are what I've had good luck with.

I have the Falken wildpeak at3 on my laramie and they have been pretty good on snow. have been many times on snow in new mexico, as deep as running boards with ok traction.

Second the Falken Wildpeaks AT3, great all around tire.

I have Firestone AT2s on my 1500 and they aren't great in snow either. Manageable, but not inspiring. I'll probably go with KO2s when these are worn out.

jlsalani said:

Picked up my 2022 Ram 2500 with the Firestone tires in October, first snowfall in Mich recently and I will say the tires are awful!! Couldn't even make it up my driveway without 4WD. They have to go for sure. What are you winter drivers using? I have had BFG A/T's before and had good success may head the route again, but looking for some real world applications. Thanks.

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Good thread. I've not heard much good about the stock Firestone's on these trucks, so this thread got me to doing some research. The Transforce AT is actually rated Poor over on Tirerack with a 4.1 out of 10 rating. Doesn't seem to do anything well. My 4 month old truck only has 1000 miles on it and I don't live in MN anymore, but I'm still thinking about dumping them for my tried and true Michelin LTX's.