Worth it to get dedicated snow tires?

I Run Blizzak DMV4 on my Tundra in OEM size and they are PHENOMENAL on the Tundra in the winter ! I live in Qc and do lots of sled trip in remote areas and not maintenain Road ...but sometimes acces to these places means driving 8 Hours + on dry highways to gets there too ! I would NEVER ever drive AT in the winter here, even if a lots of folks do !

I had tons of cool AWD cars in the past and still drive cool cars ( Subarus wrx and Sti's , Golf R 4 motions etc ) Always on Hakkas Studded or R studded less ( Who are also doing GREAT on those cars ) and for some odds reasons, i always been AMAZED how well the Tundra drives on those Blizzak , its just phenomenal how much grip this truck have and feel planted on the road no matter how nasty it can gets up here sometimes !

Last spring my buddy an I went for a trip to the cottage , He have a '24 TRD offroad with Toyo AT , he haul about 3000 pound of construction material in a trailer , i have my SR5 DC with the blizzak , i hauled about 5000 pound + of construction material on the trailer and almost no bed weight .

The last steep hill before arrival was Plain BLUE ice , i didnt have time to really accelerated before, so i arrived at the bottom pretty slow... the rig just whent on top of the hill , only with the trac light blip a few times ! OMG it nails it and i had that huge grin in my face !!!

My buddy jack Knife about mid hill, and we spend about 2 hours getting him out of there... those AT and crawl mode where about useless... fortunatly i had some recovery gear and we took time to not damage his truck !

It was a very Good exemple of AT vs Winter tire and why dedicated Winter tire are SO much better in the winter , as weather and road condition can never be predictable ( up here at least...) !

 

Hey @QCTundra I always would trust a Quebec’er who actually drives in winter, you guys get
some of the worst! Towing a sled trailer too. So what model of Blizzaks do you have on your Tundra?
I just read up on those Nokian’s, pretty impressed. I plan on a dedicated winters so I can run up
into the interior fearlessly any time. BC interior.

 

I drive in snow all winter…
Snow tires softer rubber lets them grip compact snow and ice better than all season or AT tires…
I have Michelin X-Ice which are good and carry a warranty, but they aren’t as sticky as Bridgestone Blizzaks (my kid runs these in snow country, they are the best IMHO)

If your gonna be in snow, and mostly on road, I think it’s worth it to have a dedicated set of winter tires

 

I’m in and out of BC during winter, and many BC highways where I go have a requirement for 3-peak tires, or you can be fined. A set of chains also useful, but there’s really no comparison between AT or AS tires and dedicated snow tires

 

For your use context @FoopaKing I would get a set of dedicated snow tires (probably studded) for your “14 hr trip north to a remote cabin to sled” or whatever, and run the AT’s the rest of the time.
The remaining use cases for you will likely have you in and out of deep snow and clear roads in a span of as little as 10 miles in some cases (if you’re a true lake effect-r). The performance benefit between a snow tire and an AT in 16+ inches of snow is negligible and I’d slightly favor the all terrains in that case. And with the rest of your driving being mostly clear highway, the snow sets aren’t worth it as they will wear quicker.
If money and the relative “hassle” of swapping them are of minimal consequence to you, then put on a set from December to March and let them eat.

But as a few (sadly) have mentioned already, the best set of dedicated snow/ winter tires are the ones between your ears.

 

KO2 vs Blizzak Snow then Ice stopping :

 

DM v2 ! i'm a huge Nokian fan, but i really really find those Blizzak DM v2 suits our tundra very well ; i will run them till they make them !! I dont load or tow very Heavy in the winter and didnt like the Nokian LT , so i went with the regular passenger Blizzak and could not be happier from a tire !

i'm on my second sets in 5 years, going on my 6 winter's on Blizzaks , and 3rd winter on my second sets . They are soft and WILL melt in warm weather ; i tipically put them on as late as i can ( and my AT3 are good enough for the few first warm and wet fall snow storm ) , usually around after November deer hunting seasons i put them on , and tipically remove them sometime in march before the weather turn Warm , so i get good millage out of them , then again My AT will be good enough for the few last snow storm if there is any ! Also i dont really daily drive the truck, so i always have an AWD car on Nokian Hakkapellita at hand if needed , i usually put my car winter tire early on and later off .

Lots of dry highway miles in cold winter wont put much wear on them , but warm spring and warm fall will !

My Big ''winter'' load would be a sled in the bed , and 1 or 2 sled in my 14 footer trailer and some gears , and the regular load winter tires are more then good for that , no need for LT's or E loads in the winter !

BC have some serious nasty winter roads too ! Many moons ago , i used to spend some times in BC and Alberta to go snowboard in Fernie , Marmot , and spend time in the Crowsness pass... drove the Coquihalla a couple times too , things can get nasty there real quick !!

I remember shopping for studded tire's back then in Alberta, and folks where making fun of me haha Back then , people where running on 4 seasons year round in BC and Alberta sometimes very Harsh winter... my young Quebecer ass at that time could not beleive that , Lol Summer tires in the rockies in the winter was not making sens AT ALL !

 

Great choice, I'm confident you will be satisfied with this investment.

 

Sled is ready, now just to install tires and get some snow ❄️

 

You guys. These Nokians are ridiculous! Drove in roads covered with 2-8 inches of snow depending on where I was at for two hours this morning. And I have never had so much traction in absolute awful conditions. Given, I had about 450 pounds of weight in the truck bed, which helps. But I drive with weight like that on non-snow tires and it was night and day different with the Nokians.

thanks to everyone here for the advice.

 

The only downside to snow driving was the every .5 second reminder that a sensor is blocked. Guess I’ve gotta turn off all those features before every ride, which is deeply annoying