Winter tires- did you downsize?

kneeler

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To my snowy northern friends.. it seems 18” steelies are fairly expensive, did you downsize to 17” or 16” snows?
Orig equip is 265/60/18’s and several tire sites say
265/65/17’s are identical and
265/70/16’s are very close.

Just wondering what size tires you’ve purchased?
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Grumpy Old Guys Ranger

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No, I just bought new rubbers for now, bought these from Kal Tire, $1300 and change for them, had the best write ups.

https://www.kaltire.com/en/tires/hakkapeliitta-r3-suv/10001020440044.html

Just a update, bought 18" OEM aluminum rims off of Kijiji, from another Ranger owner who put after market tires on his truck, now I have my 18" winters on their own rims. For those still wondering, these are amazing winter tires. People wondering if they need winter tires or not on their truck, I found them essential for braking on ice or snow, and for that extra grip when your at a red light and there is all that lovely polished ice from people spinning their tires trying to get moving. To me 4H 4x4 and winter tires = win.
 
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FULLSCALE

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To my snowy northern friends.. it seems 18” steelies are fairly expensive, did you downsize to 17” or 16” snows?
Orig equip is 265/60/18’s and several tire sites say
265/65/17’s are identical and
265/70/16’s are very close.

Just wondering what size tires you’ve purchased?
I went with 17” but went with a larger 265/70R17 tire. Check out the Cooper Discoverer M+S, I got my set of tires at Canadian Tire installed and balanced with taxes for $900 plus there is a mail-in rebate right now.
 

weasel1

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If I had 18" I would be downsizing. There's a decent selection of winters for the 17" rims. When the time comes, I'll most likely get the same Hercules Avalanche tires I have on my Colorado. Fantastic tires and they're cheap too. Not made in China either.
 

Deleted member 1634

As a person down here in the States (though not that far down), I've noticed a lot of you Canadian owners are getting a dedicated set of snow tires for your truck. Is that common practice, or is there just an inordinate amount of you on this forum? haha There's certainly the practice of getting snow tires for your car down here, but most truck/SUV owners don't as far as I've found. This is my first truck, and I've always gotten a set of dedicated snow tires for my previous cars, so I have been considering it for my Ranger as well, but every truck owner I talk to say they have never even thought about it.
 


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As a person down here in the States (though not that far down), I've noticed a lot of you Canadian owners are getting a dedicated set of snow tires for your truck. Is that common practice, or is there just an inordinate amount of you on this forum? haha There's certainly the practice of getting snow tires for your car down here, but most truck/SUV owners don't as far as I've found. This is my first truck, and I've always gotten a set of dedicated snow tires for my previous cars, so I have been considering it for my Ranger as well, but every truck owner I talk to say they have never even thought about it.
They're smarter than most Americans. They know that "all season" tires are actually no season tires. Unless you have 3 peak mountain all terrain tires I would suggest either a dedicated snow tire or at least upgrading your all terrains to 3 peak marked tires. There's no substitute for a dedicated snow tire for compact snow and ice traction. I live in Western Washington were we don't get a lot of snow but when we do it's chaos because we have steep hills and everyone with AWD and "all season" tires thinks they're unstoppable.
 

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They're smarter than most Americans. They know that "all season" tires are actually no season tires. Unless you have 3 peak mountain all terrain tires I would suggest either a dedicated snow tire or at least upgrading your all terrains to 3 peak marked tires. There's no substitute for a dedicated snow tire for compact snow and ice traction. I live in Western Washington were we don't get a lot of snow but when we do it's chaos because we have steep hills and everyone with AWD and "all season" tires thinks they're unstoppable.
Well, that and most of them don't have any idea how to drive in it.... :) 4WD (or AWD) can help you GO, but it doesn't do anything to help you STOP.

An inch or two of snow will shut down Portland - and I'm terrified to drive in it because I'm afraid someone will hit me. I don't have any problem getting around in it safely, I'm just afraid of other drivers who don't know how to drive in it.
 

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To my snowy northern friends.. it seems 18” steelies are fairly expensive, did you downsize to 17” or 16” snows?
Orig equip is 265/60/18’s and several tire sites say
265/65/17’s are identical and
265/70/16’s are very close.

Just wondering what size tires you’ve purchased?
I downsized from 265/60/r18 to 255/70/r16, at least for this first set of tires, the narrower tread width should bite a little deeper in deep snow and give a better chance of finding some pavement. WHile the bigger side wall should help prevent nova scotian pothole syndrome... if im not happy ill go up to 265/70/r16 which have an identical diameter to my stocks.

As a person down here in the States (though not that far down), I've noticed a lot of you Canadian owners are getting a dedicated set of snow tires for your truck. Is that common practice, or is there just an inordinate amount of you on this forum? haha There's certainly the practice of getting snow tires for your car down here, but most truck/SUV owners don't as far as I've found. This is my first truck, and I've always gotten a set of dedicated snow tires for my previous cars, so I have been considering it for my Ranger as well, but every truck owner I talk to say they have never even thought about it.
In Quebec its actually law for them to have the second set. for the rest of us its just sound thought. if you get rims at the same time it can save you paying for the rim switch twice a year. which pays for itself in very short order. also with the second set of rims you save the cost of the tire change itself twice a year... which pays for the breaker bar, jack and torque wrench in 2-3 years, not to mention the peace of mind of not being in the swarm of gulls who overwhelm every tire shop in the city for the week leading up to and following the first snow fall.
 

PNW_Ranger87

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Well, that and most of them don't have any idea how to drive in it.... :) 4WD (or AWD) can help you GO, but it doesn't do anything to help you STOP.
Also this! This is very important to understand especially when it comes to dealing with the hills I mentioned. :like:
 

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Also this! This is very important to understand especially when it comes to dealing with the hills I mentioned. :like:
A story to illustrate - in 2005, we had just purchased a brand new Explorer - we bought it right after Thanksgiving. We decided it would be fun to go up into the woods (on Forest Service roads that are unplowed in the winter) to get a Christmas tree. I didn't have chains specifically for the Explorer, but I brought along the chains for my truck which were slightly larger - I figured I could use them in a pinch. Once we got to the snowy/icy spots, I put the Explorer in 4WD and had NO trouble ascending the icy roads - we found a tree, cut it and put it on top of the Explorer and headed down. I was a bit worried about heading down (some of the forest service roads can be kind of steep) - I took it slow - VERY slow. I got to a point where I was unable to apply the brakes lightly enough to not skid on the ice, even with ABS. After several terrifying minutes of sliding down the road (I kept envisioning our brand new Explorer sliding off the side of the road and down the hill), I was finally able to bring the Explorer to a stop. I got out VERY CAREFULLY, and put the chains on the front tires. They slapped around a bit because they weren't the right size but they gave me the bite I needed to be able to creep down the hill safely. Once we were past the icy spots, I removed them.

Stopping is just as important as being able to get going - maybe more so.
 
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kneeler

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As a person down here in the States (though not that far down), I've noticed a lot of you Canadian owners are getting a dedicated set of snow tires .
Common for sure in my area(eastern Ontario) with most cars/suv/trucks sporting steelies for the winter. Very few with alloy rims as a pothole will shatter them at -30c :)
 

PNW_Ranger87

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Stopping is just as important as being able to get going - maybe more so.
Definitely more so! Great story about having the correct equipment for the job!
 

Deleted member 1634

In Quebec its actually law for them to have the second set. for the rest of us its just sound thought. if you get rims at the same time it can save you paying for the rim switch twice a year. which pays for itself in very short order. also with the second set of rims you save the cost of the tire change itself twice a year... which pays for the breaker bar, jack and torque wrench in 2-3 years, not to mention the peace of mind of not being in the swarm of gulls who overwhelm every tire shop in the city for the week leading up to and following the first snow fall.
That's interesting that it's law to have a second set. Always cool to hear the different laws and customary things from other places, even places not too far from where I am.

I'll definitely get a separate set of wheels as I have always had for my snow tires in the past. Definitely pays for itself quickly. Plus I don't like paying someone to do something I can very easily do myself, like changing a tire.

Thanks for the info!
 

Deleted member 1634

Common for sure in my area (eastern Ontario) with most cars/suv/trucks sporting steelies for the winter. Very few with alloy rims as a pothole will shatter them at -30c :)
I like, or rather don't mind, the look of basic steel wheels on some vehicles (they're what I always had for snow tires on my previous vehicles), but I'm just not sure they'll look as good on the Ranger. So we'll see if I go with those or a simple black rim of some other kind.

Thanks for the info!
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