Snow/Ice rated all-season tire recommendation

[slowmachine]

Just bought a new Ranger and looking for local/regional tire experience. A few years ago, I purchased a set of Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor tires for year-round use on a 2010 Tacoma. Essentially, a winter tread design with without the softer, low temperature rubber compound. I'm tired of maintaining and storing a second set of wheels and tires for each of our three vehicles. Is anyone in the area doing this? There are a few different brands/models on TireRack. I have a Lariat with the 18" wheels, and want to stay with the factory 265/60R18 tire size. Any recommendations from personal experience?

Sponsored

 

[Rick - Saber]

I like and plan to get a set of Pirelli Scorpion AT Plus tires when the time comes. Sorry, no first hand experience with them yet. I find it a good looking tire with great specs. I have run Pirelli's on cars before and been happy with them. This is their venture into the truck tire market. They come in the size you are looking for and have the M+S 3 peak mountain snowflake rating. You mention already looking on TireRack, have you come across these yet?

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...idewall=Blackwall&partnum=67TR7SATP&tab=Sizes

 

[HarryD]

For my 2 cents worth, I would highly reccomend Yokohama Geolander AT G015. I am running these now and am very happy with them. Their sipe pattern looks to be able to handle the slippery winter conditions.
These also have the 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake Rating. This is not a new model and there are an abundance of positive reviews.

 

[HenryMac]

Just bought a new Ranger and looking for local/regional tire experience. A few years ago, I purchased a set of Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor tires for year-round use on a 2010 Tacoma. Essentially, a winter tread design with without the softer, low temperature rubber compound. I'm tired of maintaining and storing a second set of wheels and tires for each of our three vehicles. Is anyone in the area doing this? There are a few different brands/models on TireRack. I have a Lariat with the 18" wheels, and want to stay with the factory 265/60R18 tire size. Any recommendations from personal experience?

What Brand and Type of tires are on your truck right now?

 

[Michel Jeanneau]

If he has stock tires, I think Hancooks, like mine, which I noticed are no big fans of wet snow, but again, most tires aren't...dryer snow/ice they are ok. Years back I owned a first gen Hyundai Tucson and I ran General Grabber AT2's they were pretty OK, almost winter-like tires, but they were pretty loud (they look like a knock-off of KO2s)

 

[slowmachine]

My stock tires are Hankook Dynapro AT-M.

 

[weasel1]

Nothing beats a set of dedicated winter tires/rims. Your AT tires/rims will last longer because they aren't being driven half of the year. No winter damage to your nice Lariat rims. Do the math. Dedicated tires/rims almost pay for themselves and you'll have superior traction/performance in the winter.

 

[HenryMac]

My stock tires are Hankook Dynapro AT-M.

I have those on my Ranger too.

I had a set on my 02 Tacoma TRD that I ran for 57,000 miles. Snow, hail, ice, rain I never had any problems. And we get a bunch of all of that here. Rotate them every 4,000 miles and you'll have similar results.

 

[TylerV76]

Weasel1’s right about the dedicated winter tires. However if you want a good all year, and great winter tire Look at the BFG KO2’s.

I tried to run the stock Dynapros and couldnt stand them. Any tiny incline with snow required 4hi. They felt slick on water and overall I just didnt trust them. Put on the KO2’s and my snow issues went away.

 

[y2krtaf]

General Grabber ATx tires

 

[slowmachine]

I do understand the difference in performance between real snow tires and the in-between snow-rated all-season tires. We have two other cars with dedicated winter wheels and tires. Storing, mounting/dismounting, and the cost of another set of wheels/tires are a hassle. I have a bit of time to decide, and may go ahead and buy yet another set of Blizzaks with some inexpensive wheels. Thanks for the input.

 

[weasel1]

I do understand the difference in performance between real snow tires and the in-between snow-rated all-season tires. We have two other cars with dedicated winter wheels and tires. Storing, mounting/dismounting, and the cost of another set of wheels/tires are a hassle. I have a bit of time to decide, and may go ahead and buy yet another set of Blizzaks with some inexpensive wheels. Thanks for the input.

The way I figured it, tires should be rotated anyway, so grabbing the winters and putting them on in the fall is a minor inconvenience. Now storing for multiple vehicle can be a real pain.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

This perfect, or at least perfectly adequate, tire for all instances (summer freeway driving, winter commuting in Great Lakes snow and Minnesota cold and ice, and minor off-roading while still getting good mileage and not being so loud I can't hear the radio) has been a search for me as well. After one winter with the stock Hankooks on 18s, I'll say that they were okay. Once or twice I got actually scared driving on the ice, and they don't like churned up snow/slush. But they do really well in snow. If I still lived in the UP or someplace that really saw huge amounts of snow and not much else I'd probably stick with them. But we get so much ice and not much snow (relatively speaking) here in Northern Minnesota that I have to make a change. I just haven't found an AT tire that would be enough better in the ice, in my opinion, and still be good off-road and not wear, lug, and make so much noise on the many highway trips we make in the few summer months. In the end, as much as it sucks paying the extra money, or at least seemingly extra, for a second set of everything, that's ultimately what I'm going to do this winter. I haven't decided which type yet, that'll require more intensive research. haha

Good luck finding your Goldilocks tire! There might be one out there that meets your wants and needs, but I'm pretty sure there isn't one that meets mine. But I look forward to hearing what you choose and how it performs!

 

[slowmachine]

As I was going to bed last night, a set of 17” alloy take-offs popped up on Crailglist only 20 miles from my house. They are two weeks old, and now in my garage. I will be having two sets of wheels this winter. Tire selection is still undecided.

 

[HarryD]

While I originally put the Yokohama Geolander A/Ts on intending to run them through the New England winters, I am now putting them on a set of Ranger Raptor wheels.
From reading a lot of reviews, I will be putting Hankook i-Pike RW11s on my original wheels for winter. They rate quite well, and are reasonably inexpensive.
I was originally looking for Dunlop WinterMax (formerly called Graspic) because I had extremely good results previously but they don't make them in 265/65R17.

Sponsored