Winter Driving and tires

Fair enough.


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When I lived in Colorado I would always Sipe my tires. Discount tire did that for me
Small slits between the thread. When I went to Utah this winter to go skiing I felt pretty comfortable driving but my truck is pretty heavy being a 13 and having 5 of us and our gear. I did use sand bags in my s10.

It's great to see all of your real world reviews! I have only driven in snow with my Raptor once when it was brand new. It was really squirrely and made me pretty nervous. I went home and found out that my tires were way over inflated at 45 psi. I'm hoping that it will perform better at a lower psi.

Drove mine from Illinois to Alaska in winter 2018, stock tires did fine all the way but it’s all in what you are used to. Where I lived before (also Alaska) I could get by with Siped Toyo MTs on my old truck year round. Now that I live further south closer to the coast there is a lot more more icy conditions, freezing rain all that stuff, I’ve thought about getting winter tires. Same thing, the Nokian studded variety. As with the wife’s vehicle I’d just get a second set of wheels and swap as the season requires. Three or four swaps of tires back and forth on one set of wheels and you could have bought a second set of wheels, that’s not counting your own time sitting there why shop swaps tires over.

In short if you feel that you need dedicated tires get them. I plan to before the next winter season. The point about good grip isn’t just when you are driving or taking a corner it’s stopping also, no traction no stop. Nothing can replace a dedicated snow tire.

ME120 said:

I would put my money on the Lexus with all wheel drive and the stock 21's over the raptor with the KO2'S. I don't know how the japenese do it, but they always seem to create more with less. As A friend of mine said to me , the big 3 are about marketing and the Japanese are about engineering.

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I would respectfully disagree with you on this. We have a 17 LX570 in the family (as well as an 09) and it is beautiful inside and out and I really like driving it - but it has 21inch low profile dunlop grandtreks on it which is considered a street/sport all season tire. It very much looks like a high performance street tire. They are built for reliability through and through, there is nothing cutting edge on them but that is why people buy them. They are great vehicles, build quality is exceptional - my family happens to swear by them but at $95K the overall vehicle is very much the same from 2008 to current. They handle like shit, brake like shit and dont do anything really well, you also better hope you never need to repair it...but it will always get you where you are going and never leave you stranded..only issues we have seen is air suspension like anything else with air suspension. Your buddy's dedicated snows are the difference maker.

I have the Nokian’s studded stock size - Bend Oregon. We get plenty of snow and ice. We ski locally multiple times per week and hit other resorts occasionally. Also have a Timbersled (like snowmobile). Our driveway is steep and remains shaded most of the winter so gets prettty slick no matter how much maintenance I do on it. We dont end up in snow but seek it for our activities. See lots of crazy conditions sometimes a bit sketchy.

How do the Nokians do?

Deep snow (over 5”):
Fine. I don’t think dedicated snow tires are meant for deep snow more than any other tire really. I would take a Mud Terrain tire in this situation if your off-roading through fields of snow all the time but who really does that more than a couple times a year. They feel safe but without a real deep/paddle tread they can only move deep snow so well.

Normal Winter Conditions:
They are incredible. Extremely surefooted, can’t even compare to a normal compound tire. I have them for these conditions. The tires cost me @ $1300 installed and for that knowing the rig is planted on ice is well worth it. Have snow tires on wife’s SUV too. The difference is not debatable. On ice (especially at 30-32 degrees - warmer ice is much more slippery than “cold” ice) I see others sliding and it reminds me that it’s slippery. Ice is the killer.

Whether spending the money for your useage is worth it is up to you. There have been a couple of threads on whether snow tires are something people should get and that’s tough to answer without knowing how much you’re on it. In my experience with Nokians the performance against a KO2, Duratrack, etc isn’t even worth talking about; it’s whether you can get by on those or want the safety a dedicated tire provides.

Happy to answer any questions but will bow out of the thread takes one of those Raptor Forum juvenile turns.

NE Raptor said:

I would respectfully disagree with you on this. We have a 17 LX570 in the family (as well as an 09) and it is beautiful inside and out and I really like driving it - but it has 21inch low profile dunlop grandtreks on it which is considered a street/sport all season tire. It very much looks like a high performance street tire. They are built for reliability through and through, there is nothing cutting edge on them but that is why people buy them. They are great vehicles, build quality is exceptional - my family happens to swear by them but at $95K the overall vehicle is very much the same from 2008 to current. They handle like shit, brake like shit and dont do anything really well, you also better hope you never need to repair it...but it will always get you where you are going and never leave you stranded..only issues we have seen is air suspension like anything else with air suspension. Your buddy's dedicated snows are the difference maker.

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I will have to disrespectfully disagree with you on this. And I say that very respectfully because it is obvious you know what you are talking about having both a raptor and a LX 570 in your family. The only reason why I do not agree with everything you are saying is because I had a LX 570 demo last October for 3 days. I did a bunch of different activities with the LX, including some light off roading in a gravel pit and taking down some wet rocky woods trails( the dealer was ok with it). I have to tell you that I was impressed how capable the LX is on stock tires and all wheel drive. I did not even need to engage crawl control. I took the LX on one of my shooting sessions getting ready for deer hunting season. And speaking of brakes, I had a deer run in front of me about 1/4 mile from my driveway and the brakes worked phenomenal.

I know with dedicated snow tires the LX will outperform the raptor, and the build quality is far superior. I do respect your opinion, but I think some of this comes down to personal preference. As far as handling goes in my opinion the LX handles quite well for a 6000 lbs. SUV. I think one of the things that hurts the raptors handling on snow and ice is center of gravity. It sits to high to feel secure on ice and the fact that a crew cab weighs 5800 pounds does not help and its brakes do not come close to the brakes on a LX 570.

If I still have the raptor next winter, I will definitely own Nokkian studded snow tires to help equalize the high center of gravity and poor brakes.

BendSprinter said:

I have the Nokian’s studded stock size - Bend Oregon. We get plenty of snow and ice. We ski locally multiple times per week and hit other resorts occasionally. Also have a Timbersled (like snowmobile). Our driveway is steep and remains shaded most of the winter so gets prettty slick no matter how much maintenance I do on it. We dont end up in snow but seek it for our activities. See lots of crazy conditions sometimes a bit sketchy.

How do the Nokians do?

Deep snow (over 5”):
Fine. I don’t think dedicated snow tires are meant for deep snow more than any other tire really. I would take a Mud Terrain tire in this situation if your off-roading through fields of snow all the time but who really does that more than a couple times a year. They feel safe but without a real deep/paddle tread they can only move deep snow so well.

Normal Winter Conditions:
They are incredible. Extremely surefooted, can’t even compare to a normal compound tire. I have them for these conditions. The tires cost me @ $1300 installed and for that knowing the rig is planted on ice is well worth it. Have snow tires on wife’s SUV too. The difference is not debatable. On ice (especially at 30-32 degrees - warmer ice is much more slippery than “cold” ice) I see others sliding and it reminds me that it’s slippery. Ice is the killer.

Whether spending the money for your useage is worth it is up to you. There have been a couple of threads on whether snow tires are something people should get and that’s tough to answer without knowing how much you’re on it. In my experience with Nokians the performance against a KO2, Duratrack, etc isn’t even worth talking about; it’s whether you can get by on those or want the safety a dedicated tire provides.

Happy to answer any questions but will bow out of the thread takes one of those Raptor Forum juvenile turns.

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Excellent response coming from somebody who lives in a very harsh environment. I agree with everything you said. Where I live we get a lot of ice mixed in with snow because I live on the coast. So in my opinion studded snow tires are a must to help deal with the bad brakes and high center of gravity.

Oh my god ME120, you have zero clue what you are talking, but please don't let that stop you from pretending like you know everything. Are you a lawyer? Maybe a doctor? You are definitely not an engineer given your ridiculous assertions that completely ignore elementary physics. Just go buy a Lexus. But when you do, be sure to let us know when you are going out so the rest of us can make remain a safe distance away.

jaz13 said:

Oh my god ME120, you have zero clue what you are talking, but please don't let that stop you from pretending like you know everything. Are you a lawyer? Maybe a doctor? You are definitely not an engineer given your ridiculous assertions that completely ignore elementary physics. Just go buy a Lexus. But when you do, be sure to let us know when you are going out so the rest of us can make remain a safe distance away.

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Sorry to hurt your ego and feelings, I didn't mean to. I believe we have not turned into a socialistic country yet, at least until 2020, so being this is the United States of America for the time being we are all entitled to our own opinions. It's kinda like politics, everybody has a right.