Nokian LT3 Size? (285/70/17 D or 235/80/17 E)

[YYC Gladiator]

I’m shopping for winter tires. I know it feels early, but they tend to sell out early.

I’m pretty committed to the studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3, but I’m curious about everyone’s thoughts on sizing.

I’m located in Alberta Canada where we get frequent snow/melt/freeze/snow cycles.

I won’t be doing any winter off-roading, but I drive weekly on mountain highway, mountain town and gravel roads up to the ski hills.

285 width seems pretty wide for a winter tire. The widest winter tire I’ve run was a 255 on a much heavier Land Rover LR4.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these tire sizes in comparable conditions? How did they do? If you could do it again, would you have bought the same size or gone narrower/wider?

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[YYC Gladiator]

I thought I would follow up on my prior post for anyone that might be interested. I opted for the 285/70/17D and put a winter driving season on them. I’m mostly on ice covered highways, ice/snow covered city roads and gravel mountain roads up to ski hills.

A couple of observations:
1) I was worried about the width; however, the issuable contact patch of the 285 in the LT3 is about the same as the 255 Hakk 8 I had on the LR4. I hindsight I probably would have gone for even narrower tires.

2) After just one season 7,000km. The studs seem pretty worn down. Unlike there Hakk 8s, which have much more km and studs that still protrude from the tire surface.

The winter/ice grip is pretty good. But the truck had less traction than some of my other recent vehicles with studded winter tires. I’m not sure if this is specific to the LT3 making compromises for commercial wear or the truck’s weight, weight distribution or the 4x4 system (selec
trac).

In order of winter road snow/ice traction combinations on recent cars.

2012 LR LR4 w/Hakk 8s (it was amazing).

2021 Honda Ridgeline w/ Michelin North 4 Studded (very very good)

2022 Gladiator w/ LT3 Studded (pretty good).

2019 Honda Odyssey w/ Hakk 9 (it still felt pretty slick).

 

[Sting-Gray Neutral Pres.]

How noticeable was the stud noise? Haven't really found any feedback on that from Gladiator owners, and I've got an opportunity to buy Hakka 9 SUV studded at a very good price. I currently have and have had low to the ground 2wd commuter cars with studs where the stud noise is pretty bad, which is why I'm concerned.

Also, as a little musing on your observations, I have similarly found Nokian commercial van hakkapellita traction to be a bit worse than I was expecting. Playing around with Hakka 9 car tires right next the commercial van tires this summer, I observed the rubber compounds have a VERY different durometer. I suspect as the load rating goes up, the durometer goes up, so that the pliability is the right amount of "soft" for a given tread pressure/load rating. If the real weight is much less than the load rating they might not be "soft" enough to perform ideally. No idea if this is true or not and can't find any information from tire MFRs, just my observation and hunch.

 

[YYC Gladiator]

I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up Hak9s.

The LT3s are not significantly louder that the Falken AT3s I run in the summer.

In the Hakka lineup, the studs fit slightly into little pockets that I think help alleviate some of the noise. In contrast the Michelin studs were noticeably louder.

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