Winter driving tips?

[Bacstar]

How do they compare to KO2 tires that are slightly wider?

I've had BFG' KO2's for 3 separate vehicles in Alaska, and prior to that I've been doing the swaps to studded tires or blizzaks. I haven't done the tire swaps since getting the KO2's, and I've been pretty successful keeping out of the ditches or losing control (knock on wood) over 5 seasons or so.

This is my first though in a Jeep wrangler/pickup, so I'm still feeling things out. I hope it works just as well. we just had our first major snow storm this past weekend and handled great on the drive into work this morning. I did have to go into 4wd though.

Sponsored

 

[PyrPatriot]

I have KO2s on my other two Jeeps... in the testing the Falkens our performed them. This’ll be my first winter with them... we’ll see?

Darn. I could have snagged a set off here for a good price (would have to drive 5 hours one way though) and put them on some spare wheels. I decided to get a set of KO2s on 18" wheels for about the same as it would have cost me to get the Falkens. Oh well, we'll see how it goes!

 

[PyrPatriot]

I've had BFG' KO2's for 3 separate vehicles in Alaska, and prior to that I've been doing the swaps to studded tires or blizzaks. I haven't done the tire swaps since getting the KO2's, and I've been pretty successful keeping out of the ditches or losing control (knock on wood) over 5 seasons or so.

This is my first though in a Jeep wrangler/pickup, so I'm still feeling things out. I hope it works just as well. we just had our first major snow storm this past weekend and handled great on the drive into work this morning. I did have to go into 4wd though.

As I intend to retire to Alaska with my Jeep in a few decades, I am very interested in hearing your results

 

[Bacstar]

As I intend to retire to Alaska with my Jeep in a few decades, I am very interested in hearing your results

Confidence is improving, but still cautious. The weather has been pretty wild though. last weekend we broke snowfall and high temp records on the same day. Wednesday and it's over 40 + degrees this morning, so unplowed streets are nice and slippery. Having 200+ lbs of sandbags in the rear seem to make a difference, and i shift into and out of 4wd as conditions change.

 

[Rocksalt]

Having weight (sandbags) over rear tires in bed helps 2wd traction considerably

 

[WildJD]

Big snow dump forecast for our mountains tonight... testing my JTLE tomorrow driving to Denver from Santa Fe... snow forecast for entire route! Let y’all know how it goes tomorrow night! ;{

 

[TennesseePA]

Learn by example!

 

[Trippin01]

Learn by example!

Seems reasonable..........

 

[TennesseePA]

Seems reasonable..........

I thought so

 

[MarineHawk]

Big snow dump forecast for our mountains tonight... testing my JTLE tomorrow driving to Denver from Santa Fe... snow forecast for entire route! Let y’all know how it goes tomorrow night! ;{

Promises; promises.

 

[Dagny]

I know the feeling. My Honda Element 4/AWD was a beast in snow. I made it up some heavy snowstorms in the mountains when cars were littering the ditches/banks.

Ditto this! I have a 2004 Honda Element AWD, original owner, and it is FANTASTIC in snow. Have driven in 15" of unplowed snow on steep curvy hills with ease. Love it and plan on keeping it for the rest of my life. A truly terrific utility vehicle for the city.

Though I learned to drive via a '53 Willys (outfitted with a Chevy 283) and also spent a lot of time behind the wheel of my brother's '71 Blazer, I've never owned a 4x4 and haven't been around them much in recent years. So am eager to learn when 4x4 should, and should not, be deployed.

This is a really informative thread - thanks to those who have contributed to it. I'm truck shopping because I want a 2nd vehicle with greater payload and towing capacity. I'll have to remember that 4x4 is a capability that I probably wouldn't be needing very often (but will like having available). And when DC gets snowstorms it may well be that I should be driving the Element and parking the Gladiator (which I have not yet purchased but am leaning toward).

Btw, my first car was a '69 Mustang. Was my 16th birthday present. We lived on Mt. Hood, Oregon (2200-foot elevation). Every winter, my dad switched out the rear radials for studded snow tires. Put some weight in the trunk. And I carried three tire chains -- one for a front tire for steering. Allowed me to safely (for a teenager) drive the 20 miles to my high school. Drove that thing in conditions I would not attempt going out in today -- as with age I feel less immortal.

 

[TennesseePA]

When I was a kid my dad taught me a few things about racing motorcycles that is a very effective way to approach driving in less than favorable conditions. The context at the time was how to ride as fast as possible down hill. He described it as thinking like you you are navigating an airplane, you can’t exactly stop to avoid obstacles but you can maneuver around them. In snow and ice it is the same concept, you have to change your focus to much farther out in front of the truck to recognize obstacles and maneuver around them...or through them like some of the clowns on YouTube like to do. Enjoy the carnage in the attached video but take not of how many of the cars are totally locked up and out of control. You can’t make the maneuvers when you cannot steer. Seems counterintuitive but while in 4wd and out of control the throttle is your best friend. Compare the racing footage above to the clowns and decide what is best for you.

 

[WildJD]

Promises; promises.

Sorry to take so long to post about my blizzard trip to Denver and Colorado Springs... I was busy being the designated driver all around CS after I got there.
The storm was worse than I expected... left our off-grid log Cabin, at 8500ft in the top of the Jemez Mountains... Santa Fe National Forest... southern tip of the Rockies... northern New Mexico, about 7am, in a blizzard. Miles of unplowed, 6 to 8 inch snow, still piling up. Buck plowed right through! Big Buck, the Jeep Truck! Then I got to the pavement, also, for the most part, unplowed... headed down the mountain to Santa Fe, debated about heading up through Taos, but as bad as the storm was figured the passes might be closed, opted for I-25. Slow going, white out blizzard, unplowed freeways, still Buck cruised smoothly along in 4Hi at around 60... had one little blue Audi whip around me, doing 70, 75!
I passed a semi and its trailer, on its side in the median. Several cars and trucks, sideways, stuck in the snow banks on both sides of the interstate. Then saw a Power Wagon with a camper shell, also on its side in the median.
Buck kept plowing ahead. Just before I got to Cimmaron, came up on cops and an ambulance just arriving at a little blue Audi wrapped around a tree, about 10 yards off the side of the highway. Looked really bad. Don’t know if it was the same one, but it made me sick to my stomach!
Kept forging ahead, until I got to Raton Pass, where me and the convoy of semis following me, got stopped for 45 minutes on top of the pass, while they cleaned up another crash. While we were waiting, I told the truck driver behind me, if I was slowing them down, I’d be happy to pull over and let them by! He laughed, and said, “No, no, no... you’re doin’ fine! Hell, in this white out, up in this cab I can’t see anything but a wall of snow... and your tail lights! No... your fine right where you are!”
The blizzard increased, just as we started down the icy back side of the pass. Got to Colorado Springs about 5pm. 10 hours for a 5 hour drive. Then fought my way through bumper to bumper commuter traffic all the way to Denver International Airport. Picked up my Brother and Father, and headed back (in more heavy commuter morass) to Colorado Springs. Only to hear on the radio, about a 50 car pile up, on the black ice, right behind us!
Buck, however, handled like a champ! The steering thing doesn’t bother me at all! Did notice one thing about the JTLE... the LED Lights, don’t generate any heat... so, in a white-out blizzard, the snow builds up and packs into, the headlight recesses, and freezes solid! Have to stop periodically, and break/chip it out!
Made it back to my Cabin today (in clear weather) in 4 and a half hours, via the Taos route! The solid (un breakable) ice build up on the JT (in pics at Trinidad, where it wasn’t snowing yet), was still left, after I had brushed all the snowpack off! The pic of Pikes Peak was taken from my uncle’s front porch! ;{

 

[Mightytalldude]

Having a blast in the recent Denver snow. Had to turn off TC to throw it around doing donuts as it was working hard to correct and killing throttle.

 

[Up venture]

Having a blast in the recent Denver snow. Had to turn off TC to throw it around doing donuts as it was working hard to correct and killing throttle.

Was playing out at camp and there still seems to be some driving aid on with traction control off. Is there a way to turn it all off?

Sponsored