Need WINTER Tire recommendations for 2021 Willy’s Diesel—KM2’s NOT cutting it!!

[Dakota Kid]

Hi,

What size are you looking to buy? I might have a couple of recommendations.

It’s either need to stay with stock Willy’s rims or if going dedicated winter I’d probably go steel rims (got nacho color so solid black steelies might have a nice retro look).

When my brother said JEEP=Just Empty Every Pocket he wasn’t kidding?

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[npgeorgeuw]

Hakkapeliitta LT3. Best snow tire hands down. Studded if possible.

I'm not big on the studs unless you know for a fact you will be on actual ice A LOT in winter, the Hakkas perform quite well even without them in both my other SUVs. There's a place for both studded and not studded.

 

[Rocksalt]

short of going with a true snow tire, the already mentioned AT tires with the moiuntain/ snow ratings are supposed to be good. My BFG KO2 are ok in snow. I havent tried Duratracs or Falkens but they get good ratings. I did have General Grabber AT2s on my JKU and they did well, but the JT has a longer wheel base, so that makes a difference. I usually have 120# of sand bags in bed for winter.

 

[sass JT]

You know looking at this thread… one a/t tire that has a 3 peak rating is the new Mickey Thompson Baja boss a/t.

 

[Tribute2Troops]

I just order Kenda Klever R/T 285/70r/17 to replace my BFG MT. I’m also located in North Dakota and was shocked how bad the mt’s were in our 1st winter storm. Got my Willys in May. It’s my 1st jeep and 1st set of mt’s. Ordered the Kenda’s from Walmart 5 tires for just under $1000

 

[gt3mike]

Studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas on all our cars. We have pretty extreme winter conditions up here though. They come in 35"s now.

Studded Hakkas here as well. They are awesome.

 

[MKC JT]

Living in the mountains (ski resort) I run the AT3s on my trucks & have never had a problem. Great on dry/wet & snowy roads even without weight in the bed.

 

[s alex]

Duratracs love the snow

 

[dcmdon]

Dedicated snow tires. You won’t find a better AT in the winter. Stop looking, you’re just going to spend money uselessly.

Absolutely, there is nothing better in the snow, any snow, than actual snow tires.

To the OP, if you are willing to buy another set of wheels, I'd suggest getting:

Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3 265/70-17 or 285/70-17. I have not owned these Nokian tires before but I have owned Nokian snows before and they are top notch.

I'd also get one set of regular day to day tires. Others can chime in here better than I can. But the General Grabber ATx that ShadowPapa mentioned has like a 4.8 star rating and excellent reviews on Tire Rack as an all around tire. I plan to buy a set of those for my non-winter tires.

Either way that is my plan. My usage is heavy snow and winter usage but relatively tame off road usage with a fair amount of highway.

I ended up getting these. They are in 315/70-17 size. I've got a Mojave on order so they will fit with no changes.

I got them here. They are showing as out of stock, but come into stock every few days and then sell out within a day.

https://simpletire.com/brands/nokian-tires/hakkapeliitta-lt-3#curationPos=none&curationSeq=none&curationSource=none&itemId=190856&mpn=T430957&oem=124885&pageSource=PDP&productPos=none&tireSize=lt315-70r17&userRegion=1&userZip=02474&vehicleMake=Ford&vehicleModel=F-150 SVT Raptor&vehicleTrim=Base&vehicleYear=2014

 

[Rocksalt]

Studded Hakkas here as well. They are awesome.

many states do not allow studded tires

 

[dcmdon]

many states do not allow studded tires

The OP is in North Dakota. I don't think that will be an issue. I have been in Bismarck and points west along 94 bird hunting in Oct/Nov. Boy it gets cold fast there.

There have been years where at the beginning of our trip it was in the 50s and sunny and 10 days later its snowing and 20 deg and blowing 30 kts.

 

[Mac]

Absolutely, there is nothing better in the snow, any snow, than actual snow tires.

To the OP, if you are willing to buy another set of wheels, I'd suggest getting:

Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3 265/70-17 or 285/70-17. I have not owned these Nokian tires before but I have owned Nokian snows before and they are top notch.

I'd also get one set of regular day to day tires. Others can chime in here better than I can. But the General Grabber ATx that ShadowPapa mentioned has like a 4.8 star rating and excellent reviews on Tire Rack as an all around tire. I plan to buy a set of those for my non-winter tires.

Either way that is my plan. My usage is heavy snow and winter usage but relatively tame off road usage with a fair amount of highway.

I ended up getting these. They are in 315/70-17 size. I've got a Mojave on order so they will fit with no changes.

I got them here. They are showing as out of stock, but come into stock every few days and then sell out within a day.

https://simpletire.com/brands/nokian-tires/hakkapeliitta-lt-3#curationPos=none&curationSeq=none&curationSource=none&itemId=190856&mpn=T430957&oem=124885&pageSource=PDP&productPos=none&tireSize=lt315-70r17&userRegion=1&userZip=02474&vehicleMake=Ford&vehicleModel=F-150 SVT Raptor&vehicleTrim=Base&vehicleYear=2014

How much do they weigh, what rims will you run them on? I have run various ATs on Jeeps in 315 and 285 width, generally the 315s don’t grip as well as 285s, big footprint for a lighter truck like the JT.

 

[dcmdon]

How much do they weigh, what rims will you run them on? I have run various ATs on Jeeps in 315 and 285 width, generally the 315s don’t grip as well as 285s, big footprint for a lighter truck like the JT.

I'm on the fence about running the snows on the stock rims. I'm not worried about wear. The snows are only on for 4 months per year and I was thinking that it really doesn't matter if I get 40k miles out of them rather than 30 k miles.

But then I started thinking that if I buy some relatively inexpensive rims for about $700, it lets me sell the OEM rims and tires complete, which will definitely get me more money. So it might actually cost less.

I've got a month to figure things out. The tires arrive tomorrow but I won't have the truck for another month.

Yes, I agree with you that purely on function 285s would be better. Or even narrower. The narrower a snow tire is the better it digs. Way back when, I had a Saab 900 turbo with 215 summer tires and 165 Vredestein snows. That thing was far far better than you could ever imagine an 80s FWD car would be in the snow.

 

[Rocksalt]

The OP is in North Dakota. I don't think that will be an issue. I have been in Bismarck and points west along 94 bird hunting in Oct/Nov. Boy it gets cold fast there.

There have been years where at the beginning of our trip it was in the 50s and sunny and 10 days later its snowing and 20 deg and blowing 30 kts.

I grew up in Northern MN and still own oriprty up there. I understand cold. I have been in temps -42 (actual not wind chill)
MN does not allow studded tires. Notsure about N Dakota.

 

[Dakota Kid]

With a Willy's Edition, I think you might have KM2s(M/T) and not KO2s(A/T)
If so, the KM2s aren't great in snow. Going to an A/T like the Wildpeaks, KO2, etc... should improve snow traction. If you are already on KO2s and aren't happy with them in snow, you should just go to a snow tire for winter.

So I actually stopped to take a picture as I’m starting to get a little confused and the BFG’s say “Mud/Terrain …but then TA KM2… not MT KM2.

They did much better in actual snow than bladed roads/intersections…. Got 5” yesterday on the Northern end of the Valley to play in. But, as I live in a city, I’ll be on bladed road more than rural roads blowing up snow drifts for fun.


Tire Rack reviews say these tires are supposed to be fantastic on snow and almost 7 of 10 on ice. I’ma little skeptical after this weekend.

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