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

[Maximus Gladius]

KO2 A/T for me in the winter. I’ll air down from 35 to 32-30 throw about 200lbs in the back and drive to the conditions. For most of the winter in Calgary, AB, this has been great. Where I then switch to Nokian Hakkapeliitta’s is when the temps get to -30c and colder.

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[sdk131]

Ahhh well that explains it....you had the mud terrains. The actual KO2's with the three mountain peak snowflake rating are pretty darn good in snow. Mud terrains are downright dangerous in pretty much all snow and ice other than super deep offroading in snow. These are KO2s :

 

[npgeorgeuw]

One other option that a guy I ski with did is get the 18" overland wheels for his snows. Then he could run smaller tires and still have reasonable wheel height. Though he ended up with something like 275 / 75 R18s.

Smaller tires? Why would someone want to do that? I want the ground and snow clearance of my 34-35 inch Hakkas. Narrower, yes, although I'd argue the difference on a TRUCK of 1-2 inches in tire width is probably not massive with true dedicated winter tires. Narrower tires and higher psis are really dependent on the type of snow. Last year we got stuck on a road up by the pass here and after that happened about three times, I realized that lower psis on a 12.5 inch tire are a lot better in deep ~15-20 inches of slushy snow. At the 39-40psi the dealership had so lovingly filled them to, they dug in too much getting us bogged down and stuck. Aired down they tending to compact and float over the snow more is my guess?--They slid a bit more sideways but didn't get stuck down in the gravel and ice under the snow.

 

[dcmdon]

Smaller tires? Why would someone want to do that? I want the ground and snow clearance of my 34-35 inch Hakkas. Narrower, yes, although I'd argue the difference on a TRUCK of 1-2 inches in tire width is probably not massive with true dedicated winter tires. Narrower tires and higher psis are really dependent on the type of snow. Last year we got stuck on a road up by the pass here and after that happened about three times, I realized that lower psis on a 12.5 inch tire are a lot better in deep ~15-20 inches of slushy snow. At the 39-40psi the dealership had so lovingly filled them to, they dug in too much getting us bogged down and stuck. Aired down they tending to compact and float over the snow more is my guess?--They slid a bit more sideways but didn't get stuck down in the gravel and ice under the snow.

By smaller, I meant narrower.

285/75-18s are 35" tall.

So its an ideal setup. Tall, but narrow.

By the way, higher pressures work better than lower pressures on hard packed snow. So the dealer didn't do anything wrong.

 

[dcmdon]

aaaannndddd I wake up to find this in my email. Crap.

The tires you ordered are not in stock and a refund has been issued.

Order ID #6153258

REFUNDED TIRES Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT 3 LT315/70R-17​ REFUNDED PAYMENT METHOD Visa​

You’ll receive the refund back to your original payment method within 3-5 business days, depending on your financial institution.

 

[WXman]

Hello,

in need of winter-all season tires for my Willy’s Diesel. Love the KO2’s in general, but they have failed the first minor snowfall/compact snow of the year alarmingly here in ND.


I do no trail running, mud running, etc., and would be fine with putting on a dedicated road tire. NOT the Duellers…they too we not safe when I had on my F-150.

My brother runs Falken Wildpeaks on his Wrangler, any other recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

I've found over the years that tires with interlocked tread patterns SUCK in the snow for the same reason they suck in the mud; They can't clean themselves.

I've had excellent results from the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W and the Yokohama Geolandar X-AT in snowy and icy conditions. Both are great tires that are a step above the rest in foul weather, and I've used just about everything on the market.

Short of a dedicated winter tire, the Falken is about as good as it gets.

 

[DailyMoparGuy]

Hey OP!

im over by Williston working currently and got to see this weather first hand… the snow definitely froze too quick to the ground and then we got that drizzle that froze over everything…. Definitely not fun.

imo…all tires except dedicated snows would have issues driving around.

What do you do out there if you don’t mind me asking? I used to work Flowback and Production Testing.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

By smaller, I meant narrower.

285/75-18s are 35" tall.

So its an ideal setup. Tall, but narrow.

By the way, higher pressures work better than lower pressures on hard packed snow. So the dealer didn't do anything wrong.

I'd say running the AT3Ws at 40 psi is only right for the stock tires, definitely far from right for a 35x12.5 a/t. They did right for a stock Jeep running stock tires. I assumed narrower but the 18 inch comment about higher tires confused me.

Hard packed snow, yes, narrower is better but in practice I have found it's not night and day for either my truck or outback but I run quality snow tires. With some exceptions I'd say it probably more crucial for lighter vehicles and cars. For ice and slush and anything melty I think it's on a case by case basis. On every forest service road we went on last year whether it was powder or slush, being aired up didn't help, which truly surprised me. We didn't get into much crusty hard pack or packed on the freeway stuff so, ymmv.

 

[legacy_etu]

I didn't know this service existed.

yeah, I’ve never heard of anyone in the New England area offering this service .
On another note, folks should be aware that Tire rack will sell you a tire and shave it down to whatever tread depth you need. Saves you from buying 4 new tires when you lose one to a nail, blowout, whatever.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I didn't know this service existed.

Discount Tire used to do it back in the day for $10/tire.

They no longer do it or recommend it.

 

[FREEZE451]

70 mph on roads in that condition???

Living in these conditions my entire life and not once have I been in a ditch in the winter, I feel confident in knowing when I can go fast or slow.

With my short response, it seems I should elaborate:

If traffic is slow I'll go slow, I was not flying by people. The truck in front of me, pulling a trailer, was pulling away from me in fact. I was confident at that time to go that fast without causing an accident.

 

[dcmdon]

I'd say running the AT3Ws at 40 psi is only right for the stock tires, definitely far from right for a 35x12.5 a/t. They did right for a stock Jeep running stock tires. I assumed narrower but the 18 inch comment about higher tires confused me.

Hard packed snow, yes, narrower is better but in practice I have found it's not night and day for either my truck or outback but I run quality snow tires. With some exceptions I'd say it probably more crucial for lighter vehicles and cars. For ice and slush and anything melty I think it's on a case by case basis. On every forest service road we went on last year whether it was powder or slush, being aired up didn't help, which truly surprised me. We didn't get into much crusty hard pack or packed on the freeway stuff so, ymmv.

I've never actually played around with airing up or airing down. Like you said, the most important thing is to have good snow tires.

I've never felt I needed to add or drop pressure in an effort to get just a bit more traction.

With snows on an AWD or 4wd vehicle your limiting factor is ground clearance, not traction.

 

[dcmdon]

yeah, I’ve never heard of anyone in the New England area offering this service .
On another note, folks should be aware that Tire rack will sell you a tire and shave it down to whatever tread depth you need. Saves you from buying 4 new tires when you lose one to a nail, blowout, whatever.

I'd never thought of using this service for that purpose. My dad and I have used it when buying race tires. That what its original purpose is. But your idea is pretty smart.

I hit a chunk of something at night on the highway with my wife's Volvo last year. I measured the tread depth and was able to find one with the same amount of tread used on ebay. I got lucky.

 

[Mac]

I have never heard that a few 32nds of an inch could actually cause a problem, I understand the theory of how it could but hard to believe it actually would even with true awd like in a Subaru.

 

[Dakota Kid]

Sooooo, one last THANK YOU to you all for all the answers and new knowledge!

I did come to a decision and had the BFG’s swapped out today for Falken AT3’s based on recommendations/research/and being able to get them locally from a family owned business that did business with my company this summer (Golden Business Rule #1 purchases are my favorite kind to make).

I did try and find the Kendras, but was unable to source those in right sizes.

In point of fact, Falken doesn’t make the Wildpeak AT3 in the 255/75/R17 size that came on the Willy’s (maybe why Wildpeak isn’t standard OEM on it?). I had to go to 265/70/R17 to get them on my ride (and be in stock).

As this is ND, I’m sure I won’t have to wait long to find out if you all pointed my in the right direction?!

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