Need a snow tire recommendation

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dagoof

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I put Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my Ram last summer, and I like them, but I've been stuck in the snow twice now, and it's not acceptable.

I drive a truck specifically so that I can play in the snow drifts and have the ability to push through.

The Ridge Grappler seems to have zero bite when it gets cold.
 

danielmid

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Depends on if you are looking for a dedicated snow tire to run in the winter or an all-weather tire to run year round. If you're in ID as your profile suggests, I'd likely skew towards dedicated snow tires as they'll outperform the best all weather in the snow.

What size tires are you running?
 

Jeepwalker

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The Nittos look like a good tire but yeah, big tread blocks and not too many sipes are better on the road & dry trails than snow. Esp wet-ish snow.

1) what size? Many companies make tires with good snow tread but only up to a certain size.

2) are you looking to off-road in the snow? Or are you talking about DD tires that can also perform well in the snow you get?



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Wild one

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I put Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my Ram last summer, and I like them, but I've been stuck in the snow twice now, and it's not acceptable.

I drive a truck specifically so that I can play in the snow drifts and have the ability to push through.

The Ridge Grappler seems to have zero bite when it gets cold.
If your truck has the "auto" 4X4 ,you might be better off seeing if Brandon-W has any of his transfer case switches in stock.The 44-44 t-case leaves alot to be desired as a transfer case in the snow
 

CanuckRam1313

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Hands down, the most incredible dedicated snow & ice tire I have ever used to date in my 34 year driving career.

I downsize to the 17" steel wheel and tire for my winters, and then back to my 20" set for the summers.

Albeit, yes, they have a reputation for greater wear rates due to their very gummy winter rubber compounds, but their grip and capabilities in snow, slush, rain, and braking in all scenarios are fantastic. An easy sacrifice, for me anyways, to ensure I have excellent winters keeping me on the road.

I got three full winters out of my last set, and just put a new set on my truck this winter, and I drive a lot for my career.
 

danielmid

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Hands down, the most incredible dedicated snow & ice tire I have ever used to date in my 34 year driving career.

I downsize to the 17" steel wheel and tire for my winters, and then back to my 20" set for the summers.

Albeit, yes, they have a reputation for greater wear rates due to their very gummy winter rubber compounds, but their grip and capabilities in snow, slush, rain, and braking in all scenarios are fantastic. An easy sacrifice, for me anyways, to ensure I have excellent winters keeping me on the road.

I got three full winters out of my last set, and just put a new set on my truck this winter, and I drive a lot for my career.
That's the tires we put on my wife's 2wd Durango and they've been fantastic in the snowy roads.
 

HEMIMANN

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For many of us a dedicated snow tire is too expensive because a second of 3 season tires and rims is also needed.
Hence my suggestion of a good compromise AT tire that is snow rated with snowflake symbol. Fyi only, dedicated snow tires are without a doubt the best available for snow. Wear fast on summer dry pavement.
 

CanuckRam1313

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That's the tires we put on my wife's 2wd Durango and they've been fantastic in the snowy roads.
If one wants to push through snow with no issues, these are the ones.
I put my truck in 4WD high and it launches from a dead stop. My truck doesn't get all slideways and out of control either. It just pulls hard and straight with excellent road feel and predictability.

They're not the least expensive, and again, their wear rates are higher, but if a dedicated high performance and dependable winter tire is what you're after, these are the ones, in my opinion.
 

CanuckRam1313

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For many of us a dedicated snow tire is too expensive because a second of 3 season tires and rims is also needed.
Hence my suggestion of a good compromise AT tire that is snow rated with snowflake symbol. Fyi only, dedicated snow tires are without a doubt the best available for snow. Wear fast on summer dry pavement.
I don't disagree, Brother. It can be somewhat prohibitive to have two sets of rims/tires.
In the cases where it's one set all year, one can look for a tire like the BFG K02 as it's also got the winter rating on it, and yet a fantastic summer tire as well.
I run them on my 20's in the summer in LT285/65R20 and they are amazing tires.
 

Jeepwalker

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There are a lot of factors how tires perform better in snow. Snow isn't just snow, you have wet snow, dry snow, slush, braking ...etc. All these tire reviews are testing brand new tires. Well, how do the tires perform when they're half worn out ..and many of the sipes were just 'surface sipes'? Most snow tires have many sipes and edges which help trap snow and that's how they get better at snow traction. It is counter-intuitive, but trapping a little snow between the tread and sipes get you the 'snow-on-snow' effect. Because the actual good traction on snow is when the ice crystals on snow below the tires "interlocks" with the ice crystals trapped in the tire tread. Also many edges of a tire can help 'catch' the snow and can flex and their edges can 'bite' into the snow upon acceleration and braking. A softer compound is more 'sticky' than a harder compound. But it wears out quicker too.

The lack of snow interlocking is why most off-road tires with big lugs or large tread blocks (but few sipes and edges), look 'cool' and are decent in mud and on/off-road, but perform horrible in snow: big lugs or tread-blocks don't hold as much snow or have nearly as many 'biting' edges as do tires with many smaller biting edges. A good example is a typical dirt skid steer tire. They have big biting lugs with large spaces between and no sipes. Those are the WORST in snow! That's why you see guys put street-looking tires on them. LOL. And then, IMO, from my snow experience plowing snow, etc, you also want tread blocks which give you some off-axis (90-ish degree from direction of travel) blocks, like the list below. And if you run your hand over a new tire and it feels 'smooth' ...move on, it's probably going to suck in snow. Because when you get into slush you need some space between the tread blocks. That's the problem, there's many different types of snow. What is good on dry snow isn't always good in wet snow. I'm sure you know all that... But it makes selecting a snow tire really difficult.

A good all-around tire is like a Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain w/Kevlar. I had a set like these on a plow truck that were great with all-around snow grip. The Yokahama Geolander, BFG KO2 have what many think are good in the snow. I bought a set of Hankook Dynapro AT2 LT285's, last fall (for my hummer) because they had a rim-protecting bead (not super deep though), tread that looked like it would be a good balance between DD and snow. They haven't disappointed me so far. Cooper has a good looking all-around tire with a lot of sipes. But like I said before, when you get to larger tires, if that's what yours are, selection becomes limited.

You could go with a snow-only tire, but the soft tread, you don't get as many miles out of them on the dry. But they do work great in snow and ice. Maybe buy a set of take-off wheels of facebook for winter driving.
 
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danielmid

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For many of us a dedicated snow tire is too expensive because a second of 3 season tires and rims is also needed.
Hence my suggestion of a good compromise AT tire that is snow rated with snowflake symbol. Fyi only, dedicated snow tires are without a doubt the best available for snow. Wear fast on summer dry pavement.
We're deciding that now, we ran the numbers and it will be several years of paying for the twice a year tire change before we'd break even on buying a second set of rims. So unless we find a take off oem set for cheap we're rocking the winter/summer tire swap for the foreseeable future.
 

CanuckRam1313

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We're deciding that now, we ran the numbers and it will be several years of paying for the twice a year tire change before we'd break even on buying a second set of rims. So unless we find a take off oem set for cheap we're rocking the winter/summer tire swap for the foreseeable future.
What size winters are you looking at?

If you're going with say, new 17's for the winter tires... steel 17" hubcentric (don't get multi-fit rims, you want the vehicle load on the hubs and not the studs) rims are cheap, and finding take offs / used could be even cheaper.

If you're breaking tires on and off the same rims twice a year, that's costly not only in monetary ways, but it also reduces the bead integrity of the tire itself because it's peeled on and off so many times in its life cycle.

I have a jack and do the swap out myself in the driveway. If I need them rebalanced, I just drive to the shop and get them to do it. If you can do the seasonal swaps yourself, then perhaps it might be a cost saver too.
 

IDSandman

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Nokian Hakkapaliita studded with a set of extra wheels. The Hakks are the the cream of the crop when it comes to snow tires. I run two sets, summer and winter. I picked up a set of extra wheels on craigslist with winter tires for my 1500 for $750, 20” fuel aluminums, freakin steal. I see them pop up all the time.
But for true off road snow travel, chains are the best option.
 

danielmid

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What size winters are you looking at?

If you're going with say, new 17's for the winter tires... steel 17" hubcentric (don't get multi-fit rims, you want the vehicle load on the hubs and not the studs) rims are cheap, and finding take offs / used could be even cheaper.

If you're breaking tires on and off the same rims twice a year, that's costly not only in monetary ways, but it also reduces the bead integrity of the tire itself because it's peeled on and off so many times in its life cycle.

I have a jack and do the swap out myself in the driveway. If I need them rebalanced, I just drive to the shop and get them to do it. If you can do the seasonal swaps yourself, then perhaps it might be a cost saver too.
We are running 265/50r20 both winter and summer on the stock Durango blackout rims. Not going to be spouse approved to do steelies/winter rims, and would likely involve a change in tire size unfortunately.

Discount Tire will do the balance and swap free if they are on other rims, but like you said, easy enough to do.
 

ppine

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I had a logging company in Colorado for awhile and ran studded winter snow tires with the little spikes on them on a Jeep Waggoneer. I ran them on all four wheels. It required two sets of tires, but I took that truck everywhere including old skid trails in the woods at 10,000 feet. Studded tires are the only thing that works on ice.

Today's tires are much better, and an aggressive tread without studs will work for most applications.
 

RamDiver

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I've always used dedicated summer & winter tires.

Whatever floats your boat but where I live, often the streets don't get plowed until 36 hours after a big snow dump. I don't care how great you think your all-season tires are with a snowflake and how well they perform, you're not likely going to have much fun here. Definitely, not even close to a fraction of the fun factor I get almost every winter day.

In fact, I'm headed out for supplies soon and we've had a fresh snow dump. :cool:

I just chuckle at some of my nearby neighbors, fighting to get out of the area with their SUV wannabes and crappy tires.

It's all about fun and safety and FUN.

I bought 17" OEM steel, brand new at the Ram dealer where I bought my truck. At $60 CDN each, I didn't require to look anywhere else. The OEM steel winter rims I had for my Tundra lasted about 11 years with zero maintenance effort. If you're so motivated, a bit of effort should make them last much longer.

Plus, if you mind your tire pressures and rotate regularly, tires could last for many years when you have 2 sets. If you're happy with the odd white-knuckle drive, best of luck to you. Living in a big city would likely change my choice of tires but I would still have summer & winter wheels for anywhere around this part of the world.

Wait, it didn't. I used the same tires on my Tundra since 2008. My first proper winter drive in the Tundra was in February 2008. About 21 hours to drive to North Florida and the first 4-6 hours of travel were in 4WD looking at cars, trucks, and transports in the ditch everywhere.

I was very happy with my new truck and quite satisfied to have invested in dedicated winter tires.

I've swapped out my summer/winter wheels for years and now getting a bit lazy as I age.
Last October, I used a special at the local Dodge dealer that included my maintenance inspection, synthetic oil change and swap to the winter wheels.

A seasonal wheel change around here is about $45 CDN, IIRC. If I'm feeling lazy, I might pay for the service when in for an oil change.

I use BFG All-terrain KO2s and not big fat tires but that's for another thread :cool:, 245/75R17.

If you're comfy driving in your area with all-season tires, have fun with that. And think of me who gets all excited about the idea of driving up the road every time it snows. :cool:

YMMV
.
 
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Jeepwalker

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Overall I would get something with more knobs (knobs with sipes). Something balanced between good on-road performance and snow. If you get into wet snow, closely spaced tread won't do you any good. You'll just sit there and spin. Closely spaced is terrible in slush too. You also want to have plenty of vertical tread biting surfaces (lateral to the direction of tire travel). The space between the tread blocks needs to be wide enough to trap snow, and dig into snow, but not TOO wide. That's what makes those Goodyear Kevlars great.

I put a set of these Wild Country 4SX tires (below) on my latest snow plow Jeep. I need good snow traction because we get deep snow sometimes, and I can't be spinning my tires. Need to keep that snow rolling! :D I evaluated a lot of tires before I settled on them. After 3 plow seasons they haven't disappointed. I can personally vouch they are excellent in deep snow, wet & dry snow, and slush. So far I've been tickled with them. Here's what's good:

1) Individual tread blocks that are spaced the 'right' distance apart
2) Plenty of sipes (good in dirt, turf & mud too)
3) Fairly inexpensive
4) Seems like good quality rubber
5) Tread blocks go ALL THE WAY TO THE CARCASS (so they won't seem 'worn-out' when they get down to 30% tread like some tire Co's sneakily do)
6) Lateral edges
7) Not noisy on the hwy
8) Come in a lot of sizes & E Load-Range (if needed)
9) Raised White Letter (a must for some of us!!)
10) FL-based company, I guess (mine were made in VietNam). They produce many of the generic-sounding tire brands.
11) Available at Walmart.com ...sometimes at quite a discount. Keep yer eyes open for sales.


Wild Country 4SX Close Up_1.jpg

Wild Country 4SX Tires.jpg
 
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Jeepwalker

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Those Nokians look like a decent all-around tire. But they don't look like they'd be all that great in the snow ....w/o the studs. Yeah, studs make all the difference in certain circumstances (but not all).

You guys can run studs in NY!??? (what are the rules for that?)

So do you use a fork lift to put truck tires on? LOL :D
 
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