Winter Tires

Is anyone running a dedicated winter tire, either studless or studded?

I'm thinking about going this direction. Any suggestions?

 

Really liked Nokian Hakkapelitta's I have. Don't drive a ton anymore in winter so trying this winter with my AT3's so will have a better comparison after this winter. They worked quite well on snow packed streets and -40 roads, barely ever tripped the TC unless I got too throttle happy

 

These were on my list to take a close look at. Thanks.

 

I run Firestone Winterforce (LT) studded. There is a large utility co in my area that runs them on all their fleet trucks, good enough for them, good enough for me lol. This is northeastern Ontario so we get a bit of winter

 

I haven't driven on them much but no complaints about my Bridgestone Blizzak DMV2s yet. When I was shopping, they were the cheapest good winter tires I could find.

 

33" Blizzaks

 

We've been running Blizzaks on our other two vehicles for several winters and really like them. Since our Tundra isn't our DD we're going to wait and see how the stock Michelins do this winter. If they don't work out we'll get a set of winter wheels with Blizzak DMV2s that we can swap on once the snow starts to fly. We've been running the DMV2s on our SUV and they work very well (and its about that time, as my wife was asking a couple days ago when I was going to swap to the winter wheels...).

 

+1 for the Blizzaks.

 

I didn’t know what to do with my stock wheels so I custom powder coated them in a two tone and put the new Blizzaks on them. Honestly, if I could run them all year I would. Super sticky, quiet, and are shockingly good on icy roads.

 

+2 Nokian Hakkapelitta. They are pricey but worth it IMO. Blizzaks are popular where I am too but I prefer studs over studless due to the unpaved roads I live on and around (lots of ice all winter). I’m also not a fan of how quickly the Blizzaks go bald due to their softer rubber.

 

There is no better winter tire than a studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta. With these tires you truly get what you pay for.

Blizzaks, in my experience is a very good second choice. The rubber compound and sipes have excellent flex and the price point is better than the Nokian. But if you can afford the Nokian and it comes in your target size it's absolutely the best choice.

 

I was very disappointed with my Michelin Defender HTs the first half-winter (January to March) that I had the truck. Does the TRD OR have different tires?

 

OR models have the LTX/AT2 tires. Little hard for winter but ok for clearing snow. Also Alberta is by far the worst spot for driving on all season tires. Any tire that can deal with +40 C and not wear down a percent a day on our trucks is far too hard for -40 roads. Add in the severe lack of sanding/salting and wind in Alberta and anyone who daily's their vehicle needs to have winter tires on their vehicle. I don't daily mine so I'm curious how the AT3's handle snow and cold.

 

I’d also appreciate an update how the Toyo AT3’s do in winter. Sure would be nice to run one set year round.

 

They have only been available for one northern hemisphere winter season but reports have been quite positive so far.

 

My summer set is Toyo Open Country CT, they are winter rated LTs and I ran them over the winter last year due to no long trips or commuting (partly thanks to the covid of course). They were quite acceptable. My brother’s AT3s were good too with similar driving situation. The only thing with year round running is that rotating the same set around is a bit of a pain without a hoist.

 

We got some wet snow on Monday and they handled like I'm used to with an AT tire. Good forward traction, brakes were decent - took a decent amount of pressure before they locked up, turning in 2wd was ok - this was where I noticed the biggest difference from true winter tires.

I'm waiting for when it gets super cold to see how they stack up. That's where I've found winter tires to give more grip than I expect.

 

Another Blizzak DMV2 vote here (stud-less is my preferred unless your driving on an actual lake / ice rink 100% of the time)). I run 18" Blizzaks on my stock wheels (32" metric equivalent but not super wide) and they are fantastic on ice and in snow. It rivals any vehicle i've owned for winter driving when properly outfitted. (for reference last 4 vehicles were AWD + winter tires)

STI (blizzaks WS60(?))
WRX (Nokians (Hakkapelitta R2) + blizzaks(ws50?))
Honda Pilot (Blizzak DMV2)
Outback​

When running my KO2's (3Peak version) that are 285 / 75 / 17 (34 x 11.5) i'm a LOT less confident when pushing through slop (it gets pushed around a lot more) or on ice. Still gets me there but its unnerving because i know the alternative is just so much better (safer).

TL;DR Blizzak gets my vote, money, and confidence, but ANY winter tire for our trucks will be far better than all-season or all-terrains on ice.

 

I'd be happy if they salted the roads a little less. I already had one bolt fall out of the underside of my wife's Corolla.

 

Only road around here that sees any treatment is the Henday. Grew up on a sideroad in Ontario and in the spring there would be a windrow of salt on our lawn. I don't mind less salt, but then there needs to be a lot of sand. From what I'm used to Alberta does next to nothing for road sanding/salting.

 

This brine they've started using the last couple years seems to be hell on vehicles. I'm with you on doing nothing, though. I swear every truck I see driving around has its plow up and is just dumping salt right onto the snow.

 

My brother has Toyo AT2s with the mountain snowflake on them on his truck. They're good for what he does, which is mostly gravel roads, but he says he wouldn't recommend them if you're commuting on the highway and regularly get freezing rain because they're not great on ice.

He put his vote in for Hakkapeliittas.

 

I have these, very satisfied with how they perform on the windy canyon roads in the Colorado winters.

GENERAL GRABBER ARCTIC STUDDABLE

 

Point S has Nokian tires buy 3 get 1 free until November 30. Best deal I found. Probably will go this route.