Not impressed with Gladiator performance in snow

[stickshifter]

I've run the Hakka LT2's on my pickups. They were 10-ply and studded. Nokian advertises how their studs are more friendly to roads as they have a cushion of sorts. However, in my experience, the tires lost a lot of their studs in fairly short order. Also in my experience, the studless Blizzaks were superior, but it could have been just the vehicle they were on.

I had two additional thoughts...

First, did you order the LT2s studded from the factory, or did you have a local shop stud them? I have found there to be a really big difference, and now I always order the tires studded from the factory. I think Nokian does a better job than any local shop. I remember losing studs the one time I had a tire shop stud them for me.

Second thought: the LT3 is quite a bit improved over the LT2. They are using stainless steel studs, which do not rust. I have a set of LT3s on my truck right now - no rust on the studs, and I still have all my studs. I have one LT2 that I decided to keep as my spare, and the studs are rusty. Yeah, the LT2 is older, but I don't think that is the key variable. Also, the LT3 has a more robust construction than the LT2 (see review below).

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a26517205/nokian-hakkapeliitta-lt3-winter-tires/

But hey, if you like the Blizzaks, keep rolling with them

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[troverman]

I'm pretty sure the LT2's could not be studded by a tire shop - they had to be done at the factory? Anyway, mine were ordered direct. I lost so many studs the first year, the shop gave me a brand new set. Of course, the same thing happened the next year. He tried to tell me the "torque" of my diesel truck was causing the problem. I told him I surely wasn't doing burnouts in the winter with a snowplow on the front. The next set I bought I just elected to not buy them with studs. I didn't see much of a difference.

Interesting on the LT3's, I might consider them.

 

[Chestnut]

Maybe the really cheap winter tires aren't so good, but once you get into the decent brands of winter tires, I think we start splitting hairs as to which is better (one might be a little better under certain conditions, another might wear a little longer, etc.).

I'd avoid the Firestone Winterforce tires. I had those on a ford ranger both studded and plain and the traction was better than an AT but not angels playing trumpets like the other winter tires I've tried.

 

[AstroZombie]

mine did great in teh snow, i always expect truck to act that way unless we have weight in the back. I did get stuck but that's part of teh fun i guess. i did something stupid and got stuck. we got out. This was up near Purgatory CO. Lots and lots of snow that weekend.

 

[stickshifter]

I'm pretty sure the LT2's could not be studded by a tire shop - they had to be done at the factory? Anyway, mine were ordered direct. I lost so many studs the first year, the shop gave me a brand new set. Of course, the same thing happened the next year. He tried to tell me the "torque" of my diesel truck was causing the problem. I told him I surely wasn't doing burnouts in the winter with a snowplow on the front. The next set I bought I just elected to not buy them with studs. I didn't see much of a difference.

Interesting on the LT3's, I might consider them.

Come on, we all know that you are taking your diesel - with plow - to the track

But seriously, that's too bad. Maybe there's a thread on a heavy duty truck forum where people are comparing notes on winter tires. I knew a guy who ran the Nokians on his 2500 Cummins (below), and he liked em - but that was 10 years ago, and a different model tire. Sometimes its best to stick with what you know works, and it sounds like Bridgestone has addressed the problem of the Blizzak wearing really fast. That's good to know.

 

[homerun]

Didn’t read the whole text, but my complaint is the opposite from the OP. I am a child in my 40s. My vehicles have been a YJ, Ranger, XJ, and a JT. I get frustrated with the JT because I can’t get the rear end to slide around a corner the way my inner child likes. I take off traction control and am sure to leave it in 2 wheel drive, it still acts like a front wheel drive even when I step on it. Sometimes I can break it free, but it’s not easy to do without the help of the handbrake.

 

[Eeeckman]

I suspect if you put 255's on your JT you'd have similar performance to your rover pushing through the snow. Or air your larger wider JT tires down as others have said so your JT floats. ?

 

[IOS-XR]

Our HA Diesel is a beast in the snow. Our son lives in Michigan so we go up there regularly in the winter. We do swap out to Rubicon 17” wheels with 285-17/70 KO2’ for winter and when we go wheeling.

It has clawed through some truly nasty roads in the hinterlands of Michigan coming home at night. It’s very well balanced and tracks very well overall. Our HA has a factory LSD in the back and an open diff in the front. We have the “standard” transfer case as the “full time” transfer case was not an option on the diesel.

 

[troverman]

Took the Gladiator for another drive in the snow last night, did about 300 miles up into northern NH during a snowstorm. The only thing I did differently was throw an old tire an rim from my F-550 into the bed of the Jeep; the tire and rim weigh about 125 lbs or so. I did not lower air pressures. Temp was about a steady 30F and this time the Jeep seemed to be quite a bit better. I kind of doubt the added 125lbs made much of a difference - perhaps a little - but I think the type snow was just less slippery if that makes sense. There was probably anywhere from a packed inch or two on the road (plowing operations were ongoing) up to 4-5".

 

[MPMB]

Didn’t read the whole text, but my complaint is the opposite from the OP. I am a child in my 40s. My vehicles have been a YJ, Ranger, XJ, and a JT. I get frustrated with the JT because I can’t get the rear end to slide around a corner the way my inner child likes. I take off traction control and am sure to leave it in 2 wheel drive, it still acts like a front wheel drive even when I step on it. Sometimes I can break it free, but it’s not easy to do without the help of the handbrake.

you gotta wind the f out of the engine and keep it there. I was able to do doughnuts on wet sand, it just took more throttle than expected.

 

[troverman]

^^Also, turning off traction control doesn't fully inhibit stability control, which is what is preventing the rear end from sliding out.

 

[homerun]

you gotta wind the f out of the engine and keep it there. I was able to do doughnuts on wet sand, it just took more throttle than expected.

I’ll give it another go, I have the 6 speed so it revs up a bit differently, goes through 1st real quick and then 2nd has a large gap. I am usually close to red line in 1st, but 2nd is hard to rev high while turning in circles.

 

[Rusty PW]

Couple of thoughts on this.

Been told. Skinny tires to dig down to the hard stuff. Wide tires to float on top. Think this has to do with how heavy your vehicle is.

Type of snow. The dry, powdery kind, the wet easy to pack, or somewhere in between.

 

[Doum]

Interesting responses. I'm very familiar with the 4x4 system in the Jeep, the Rover, and many other rigs out there (I said I was an experienced off-road enthusiast). The road was snow-covered with probably 3-4 inches of snow with maybe one set of tire tracks. No, I was not in 4-low. I can't think of any reason to use gear reduction on-road. As for people commenting about Select-Trac or whatever Jeep calls their automated 4x4 system vs the basic part-time system I have, its nonsense that Select-Trac would outperform Command-Trac on snow covered roads. After all, consider what the automatic system does...it supplies power to the front axle automatically when slip occurs using a clutch and sensors, up to 50-50 split front to rear. The Command-Trac part-time supplies 50-50 front to rear any time 4H or 4L is selected. The beauty of the Select-Trac is that it can be used seamlessly in changing conditions, and be left engaged on dry roads. Obviously Command-Trac is part time and needs to be disengaged on dry road. The old Range Rover has true permanent 4x4, using a geared center differential to send power to the front and rear 50-50 at all times; however that center diff is open and relies on a viscous coupling to control front-to-rear slip. It can apportion up to a 50-50 split as well, and it does so mechanically without the use of clutches or sensors. The thing is, I was on snow covered roads. I don't believe for a second "Select-Trac" would have performed any better, and frankly in these conditions I would have manually selected 4H "locked" anyway.

As for weight distribution, I did think the Gladiator probably had fairly good ratios. I've had (and still have) a heavy-duty pickup and in 2WD even with studded snows they are helpless. 4x4 is needed in snow basically all the time. But your typical half-ton crew cab short bed has pretty good weight distribution as well and they go much better in 2WD than the HD's.

I'm thinking its either my 10-ply Wildpeaks, possibly in combination with the wide footprint which might make the Jeep float on top of the snow vs dig into it.

My feel is like the grand cherokee snow mode is great for family ride on hard snow covered road. As soon there is to much engin cut off and stability control works againts you. you need spins so sand or mud mode. In this scenario all system worked against you at the point where maybe you needed the one press stability control off.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

You need to press and hold the traction control disable button for a few seconds for the stability control to disengage as well...

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