Worth it to get dedicated snow tires?

Thanks in advance for some advice. I’ve always run Goodyear Wranglers on previous trucks. Good enough in most conditions, not excellent in any of them. As would be expected from that tire!

Here’s my dilemma: I tow snowmobiles and a trailer nearly every week or two in winter. Often through some pretty bad lake effect snow. So it would be nice to get something like the Nokian Hallapeliitta’s or a similar excellent snow tire for those snow driving days. We also tow sleds to a remote cabin a 14 hour drive north of me. Much of which is highway, but it always gets snow covered for the last two hours.

problem is, I also drive dry highway for work and family. So between those very snowy drives, there will also be many long highway trips, likely lacking snow.

Anyone walk this type of balance before? I’m debating whether I should go for an all around tire again (18 rims) or take the plunge and add a snow tire for a few months, then put the factory tires back on in spring.

what do you think? Will the dedicated snow tire get worn out if the truck also does a lot of dry highway?

 

I also live in a lake effect snow area and haven’t had any issues with ATs and 4wd. Some swear any car would be fine if it had winter tires, but I lean more towards having 4wd. I think 4wd is better for deep snow too. With a heavy truck you still have to worry about stopping distance with a possible sheet of ice under the snow no matter what tires you have.

Have you looked at ATs with the 3 peak mountain snowflake? Does the drive to your cabin allow studded tires?

 

I agree with you - I still stick to 4WD. It can be that extra bit that helps you out of a bad situation

Studs are allowed seasonally in my state, good question though, I’d have to check for the whole route!

Some folks in my snowmobile circle are very pro winter tire. I’m starting to lean that way as long as I keep my stock Yokohamas to throw on in Spring

 

A dedicated snow tire will be noticeably better in snow/ice conditions; you'll still have to drive at a reasonable speed, but you'll have much better traction and reduced stopping distance with them. Nokians are good and another one to consider would be the Blizzaks (Bridgestone) depending on where you live and access to vendors. Many tire shops that sell a lot of winter tires are used to swapping them out and some will do so w/minimal or no expense if purchased from them (complete mount and dismount each season)...

Something to keep in mind w/winter tires... their service life is generally much shorter than a standard set of ATs or hwy tires. This is primarily because the winter tire needs deep tread and siping to be effective, so most winter tire mfrs will recommend replacing at about 50% tread used or when the smaller siping is no longer visible (about 30k on a set); the sipes kinda open and close as the rubber flexes over the surface, which give the tire bite. The rubber compound used in dedicated winter tires is also softer (which helps the siping, etc.), but this also results in faster wear...

Anyhow, something to consider if you're only need them a week here or a week there during the winter is to try a pick up a set of take off wheels from marketplace and mount a dedicated set of winter tires on the spare wheels. Then just swap them out real quick prior to your trip(s) and swap them back to regular tires when you're done... You'll get many seasons out of a single set this way , and it'll only take you about 30 minutes to swap them each way if you've got a decent floor jack and some jack stands.

 

If you don't have grip then 2wd 4wd doesn't matter.

For stopping, 4wd does nothing.

 

one of the most common reasons why I see a ton of big lifted Jeeps and similar vehicles stuck. Dude buys a big 4WD and feels confident when accelerating. But never thinks about the subsequent stop

 

Exactly...and don't get me wrong, 4wd can help getting going, especially with some snow tires. But it's usually the stopping that gets people into bad situation.

 

Get Pinza AT, it is darn close to General Altimax Artic (which is an older licensed Gislaved Nordfrost, I think). Any Vredestein Quatrac is good enough in snow, so I got rid of dedicated winter tires. Pinza AT is very good in summer and is reasonably good on a packed snow. Better than any real AT I've had (KO2-like). I don't know what kind of compound those Dutch came up with, but it's awesome. Stays soft in winter and is not squishy in summer.

 

Falken Wildpeaks AT3’s are a great all around tire and are excellent in the snowy/wet/icey conditions. I also tow snowmobiles from Massachusetts to Northern Maine. I love them

 

Wildpeak AT4's

 

Snow tires cannot be beat on compact snow and ice, no debate. my Camry with blizzaks out performs my 4wd trucks with 3-peak ATs in most winter driving conditions. The exception would be deeper snow and uphill starts.

Of course there are lots of other considerations, like cost and changeover hassle (tpms...). I don't run snow tires on my 4wds for these reasons, but the fact is snow tires are hands down better in winter.

 

Until they harden, like in 4 years Plenty of thread left, but no traction.

 

I see a good number of posts on this form for this tire as well: https://na.nokiantyres.com/snow-winter-tires/nokian-tyres-hakkapeliitta-lt3/

 

The softer rubber is definitely one of the main reasons they perform better. I haven't had a set noticeably "harden", Even after 5 or 6 seasons.

Have you experienced that before? What brand?

I'm on my second set of blizzaks. Run them 4 months and store them in the basement rest of the year. They still look and feel pretty soft (my very unscientific analysis).

 

In US I had only General Grabber Altimax Arctic. I think they were a licensed copy of Gislaved Nordfrost. I used it 1.5 winters and then it spent another few years in unheated but cooled garage. After 4 or 5 years the compound was considerably more harder than when they were new.

Anyways. In Boston we don't get snow coverage that lasts more than a few days. For a few winter trips in upstate Maine or Canada my AT tires are sufficient.

 

Safety and Performance for me is no compromise. For your type of driving, I would go dedicated Snows without hesitation. You got to pay to play. Tires are things I never cheap out on and I want full maximum performance for what I do for safety. Obviously how you drive matters, if you're reckless, nothing will save you.

 

Anyone saying that AT tires are as good, has never used a snow tire, or just wants to make themselves feel better for not having snows. It's just facts. It costs more for sure, but if you really are worried, pay the price. I use AT tires all year on my truck, wife who drives my children gets dedicated snows.

 

She's not driving on unplowed log roads, the ones that never plowed. Winter tires are as bad in deep snow as any other tire not built for that.

 

I've run Blizzaks on my truck for 4 winters now and I won't go back to AT's during the winter. The confidence and grip is night and day difference. I live in the CO mountains around 8,000' so it's consistently cold. I put them on the 1st of December and take them off early April to avoid excessive wear in shoulder seasons.

 

I gave up on snow tires. They wear out very quickly and Big-O now charges nearly $30 apiece to mount and balance them each season. Screw that. As they mentioned above, if you have 4X4 you're in pretty good shape, minus stopping distance obviously. Get some good all seasons and you'll be fine. And like @vtl mentioned, snow tires eventually harden and are pretty much useless at that point.

If the snow is up to your hubs you're either delaying the trip or chaining up anyway.

 

I do the exact same thing into Quebec and have never had dedicated snow tires on my truck. They certainly would be superior but I’ve always ran 3 peak rated AT’s

 

This. A good snow tire combined with 4x4 is superior to an AT tire and 4x4 combination, especially when it comes to stopping distance. I’ve been able to take small FWD Mazdas up some fairly treacherous terrain with a good set of snow tires.

That said, snow tires are expensive and wear out fast. You have to balance if the extra utility is worth the cost. If you’re driving unplowed roads regularly, they’re probably worth it. If 90% of your driving is on plowed highways and the other 10% is on unplowed service roads or things like that, you’re probably better off with a good AT tire and 4x4 coupled with brains to know that stopping distance is not going to be great.

 

Only true for AWD vehicles. False for 4WD vehicles. The reason is the heavy brake proportioning biased to the front brakes to prevent rear wheel skid during hard braking on dry pavement. On snow or ice that bias is so strong that most vehicles with all season tires will lock the front brakes before the rear brake pads ever start to push. When in 4WD the front brakes act directly on the rear axle which almost doubles braking ability in slippery conditions, but it also increases the chances of losing stability by skidding the rear wheels.

 

I averaged 40 ski days per year for close to 10 yrs running on ATs, and they got the job done. The worst being the KO and KO2 as their hard compound has poor ice traction (but they are decent in non-icy snow). The best were Duratracs and Wildpeaks.

That said, I purchased a 2nd set of wheels and Haakas for the winter, and the difference is night and day to the Falken Wildpeaks I run normally (and they are good in snow for an AT).

My wife ran Blizzaks and switched to Haakas while the Blizzaks still had some of their magic softer compound layer left, and she noted how much better they are

 

I've got a set of studded Hakka's on separate OEM rims with TPMS and I switch them out at home myself.

The tires are incredible in the winter in any condition and superior to the AT snow-rated tires I run the rest of the year in all respects aside from noise/mileage (which is marginal in my experience). IMO the only reason someone would not go that way (separate dedicated winter tires either studded or not) is money (admittedly not a small factor for some) because the difference in performance is night/day between studded winter and all-season in my experience. My personal safety and the safety of my family/friends in the vehicle with me makes the added cost of running the winter tires negligible for the safety/peace of mind they provide.

Some considerations for running studded winters I've found are:
-you need somewhere to store them when not in use (may/may not be a factor for you)
-you need somewhere to change the tires at home and/or pay someone to do it for you (yes, I know for some people time is money)
-the dealer told me that every time I want to change the tires from summer/winter I need to come in and have the TPMS 're-flashed' which I've since been told by members of this forum is BS so I'm looking into that.
-the studded Hakka's have done a number on my concrete driveway and that'll only get worse, not better unfortunately (may/may not be a factor for you).

 

great to hear your feedback on them. I did end up going with the Hakka’s. Money was indeed the holdup, but I drive enough in lake effect snow bands that it’s worth it for safety. I’m excited to try them!

 

it sucks to buy them, but when you are cruising through a storm and you feel very planted and safe, you'll start smiling and thank yourself.

 

It doesn’t have to be snow and ice. Even cold will make an all season tire have less traction.

the 4 contact points your vehicle has to the road are the most important. Nothing beats a winter tire for the winter

 

Spot the difference between the two

 

Dedicated snow tires would be cool and I have seen them work wonders as long as you don't drive in off pavement situations where you need a more aggressive tread pattern in the winter and aren't rocking so many miles that you'd have to replace them every year (I guess this second part would actually depend on disposable income).

Anyway, if it were me and I fit the criteria to have dedicated snow tires I'd get some cheap used wheels to mount them on to avoid the whole mounting/balancing thing twice a year. As it stands I simply run 3peak rated AT's and have full tire chains for the rear and lower profile cable tire chains for the front for when I absolutely have to be somewhere and it's stupid bad out.