Winter Driving and tires

Agreed 100%. KO2 suck in the snow. I’m baffled these got the nod from Ford engineers as the OEM tire. They must owe something BIG to BFG.

One day, while I was out in the snow, it felt like I was doing 216 mph down the corkscrew hot lapping Laguna Seca. Needless to say, I got stuck immediately and snapped this photo for evidence of their poor performance.

After waiting nearly 5 days, since nothing else could make it out (had to melt snow in my mouth for survival), low and behold a Lexus LX 570 showed up out of nowhere like an angel from the heavens to rescue me. Here I was, dumb founded how this stock luxury SUV on 21’s and all seasons (with grip for days), is saving my marketed off road truck from the snow hell I was stuck in.

Once all was said and done, I thanked the individual for their courage and while they drove away, I couldn’t unlock the gaze I had on that sweet piece of Japanese engineering. Problem is now, I just wish my truck had 1% of its capability.

Next modifications...Lexus emblems, 21” wheels and all seasons (might lower the truck too). I’m never getting stuck in snow again.



If you couldn’t tell already, this story may or may not be fictional and heavily sarcastic.

In all honesty, the KO2 are quite good in snow (not great on ice but they aren’t studded) and if the KO2 don’t work for you, many other tires in the stock Raptor size do just as well, if not better. As always, tires, as well as driver experience, awareness and ability are the most important.

greenraptor said:

Agreed 100%. KO2 suck in the snow. I’m baffled these got the nod from Ford engineers as the OEM tire. They must owe something BIG to BFG.

One day, while I was out in the snow, it felt like I was doing 216 mph down the corkscrew hot lapping Laguna Seca. Needless to say, I got stuck immediately and snapped this photo for evidence of their poor performance.

After waiting nearly 5 days, since nothing else could make it out (had to melt snow in my mouth for survival), low and behold a Lexus LX 570 showed up out of nowhere like an angel from the heavens to rescue me. Here I was, dumb founded how this stock luxury SUV on 21’s and all seasons (with grip for days), is saving my marketed off road truck from the snow hell I was stuck in.

Once all was said and done, I thanked the individual for their courage and while they drove away, I couldn’t unlock the gaze I had on that sweet piece of Japanese engineering. Problem is now, I just wish my truck had 1% of its capability.

Next modifications...Lexus emblems, 21” wheels and all seasons (might lower the truck too). I’m never getting stuck in snow again.

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If you couldn’t tell already, this story may or may not be fictional and heavily sarcastic.

In all honesty, the KO2 are quite good in snow (not great on ice but they aren’t studded) and if the KO2 don’t work for you, many other tires in Raptor sizes do just as well, if not better. Driver experience, awareness and ability are the most important.

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Great story !!!!!! And great picture ! which phone did you take that with ? Looks fantastic.

I hear what you are saying about driver awareness and driving in the snow. I have grew up in maine and lived in either Massachusetts or Maine all my life, so driving in the snow is not new to me. I just do think the KO2'S SUCK in the snow and are almost unbearable on ice. If I have the raptor next winter it will have studded snow tires nokkian's. If you put a LX 570 in front of me on nokkian non studded snow tires and the raptor on KO2'S, I'm taking the LX 570 every time.

I think it drives great in the snow. Very confident when I’m driving. I have had other pickups too and I put it in 4A and have 0 issues. I don’t drive like a maniac but I can always drive at a faster pace then traffic during snowy days. What more can you ask for besides some confidence and reliability in bad weather?


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6-10 inches last night depending on which area of the city you were in (closer to 10 in my area) and these supposed sh*t tires did great and I had a whole f*ckin’ lot of fun with it.

I live in northern Alberta. I drive city, rural and highway. We just go out of a cold snap -25 to -40c plus, almost 3 weeks straight. Winter is no fun here, we normally don't play in the snow with our trucks (snow is too deep), winter is a inconvenience for most people. Granted there are exceptions but I think this would apply to most people that live and work here.

We have discussions locally as well regarding snow tires, it always blows up into a big fight, the egos come out to play, there always be the guys that drove their entire life on all seasons and never had a problem, if you cant do what they can do, then you can't drive etc.

I have driven everything from a H1 Hummer to P71 cop cars with posi in the winter, I have bought 4 new sets of Hakkapeliitta 7 & 8's etc. Bottom line if you are running a rear wheeled drive car you need studded tires here, once you get them you can go anywhere a awd or 4x4 can go within reason. My Dad has a very slippery hill going to his acreage, rear wheel studded I can fly up it, a 4x4 with all seasons can be a struggle. The last two winters I tried Nokian All Weathers on a Denali Sierra, honestly not worth the money over a decent set of all seasons, alternatively light years ahead of the factory Goodyear Eagles *we call them frozen hockey pucks here! I ran the Hak 8's on a Toyota Tacoma, nice to have but possibly over kill for a 4x4, I could have gotton away with non studded winter tires.

I have not got my 19 Raptor yet but will drive gingerly and see how the tires do in the winter. If they are bad as Eagles, they will go the first day.

Ps. as a previous poster stated Driver experience, awareness and ability are the most important. That said some road conditions you simply cannot tackle without the right tires. I recall one trip home on the Yellowhead, I could not get over 60 kph on winter tires, next day I ordered studded winter tires. It is what it is...

For giggles a picture of the H1, first snow fall of September, so pretty light...

Finnster said:

Wide tires aren’t made for snow....narrow tires work best in the snow. And wide tires are better in the mud.

The Raptor tires are pretty wide in general.

If you think about it, you want the tire to get down to the pavement which is easier to do with a narrow tire. On mud.....you don’t want to “dig down” .....that’s how you sink and get stuck.

Military vehicles have exposed this for years....Korean war vehicles had narrow tires because of all the snowy conditions.
Sandbox vehicles have wider tires for mud and sand.

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I tested this theory, we are going way back in time here. I put narrow tall bfg mud tires on my bush beater and my neighbor put the same tires on his, he went wide though. We then drove into the same deep snow conditions, I promptly got stuck and he had to pull me out. He had no problems navigating in the snow, wider means more buoyancy and traction. Narrow is better on ice though !!

Ps. found a pic of the truck with the skinnies !!

Whats with the paper covering the person in the photos?? Witness protection program???? Good feedback and yes there are times the drivers experience can not make up for the conditions.

What PSI do you guys generally run in the snow? We don't get much snow where we live so I don't have much experience with this.

WRCRaptor said:

Whats with the paper covering the person in the photos?? Witness protection program???? Good feedback and yes there are times the drivers experience can not make up for the conditions.

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That’s funny, I’ve turned down wpp twice. That said there are some wierdos on here so I don’t want my picture up!!

Ronda said:

What PSI do you guys generally run in the snow? We don't get much snow where we live so I don't have much experience with this.

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A lot of factors, I’d reduce it 3 psi - 5 psi, If you run hot the pressure will go up anyway, that’s a safe number, you could go lower for certain circumstances. if you are too low damage will occur to the side wall (less then 15psi). The tire will literally self destruct from the inside out. Never run overinflated in the winter, tires will be fine but the tires will hit hard and have poor traction. I drop my drag radials on my car down to 22 psi to get traction when racing. They have good sidewalls though and a short life.