Winter Driving and tires

Kraftei said:

What is it like with the factory tires in the Edmonton area ? My Raptor is on order so I am curious. I thought studded might be overkill vs winter tires. Whats your thoughts?

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My opinion is that if you drive a lot in the winter you should have the best tires for the conditions. I’ve run all sorts of different tires in the winter and the studded LT2 Hakkapalitas are the best I’ve had yet. M/T and A/T tires are always ****** on icy roads in really cold conditions. Tires turn to rocks and not near enough siping. I’ve had Wrangler duratracs , Custom siped Toyo M/T’s, and many others. Nothing performs better on icy roads in my experience.

Brandin10 said:

My opinion is that if you drive a lot in the winter you should have the best tires for the conditions. I’ve run all sorts of different tires in the winter and the studded LT2 Hakkapalitas are the best I’ve had yet. M/T and A/T tires are always ****** on icy roads in really cold conditions. Tires turn to rocks and not near enough siping. I’ve had Wrangler duratracs , Custom siped Toyo M/T’s, and many others. Nothing performs better on icy roads in my experience.

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I could not agree more. In our constant <10 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures and packed snow with ice covering all the roads the majority of winter a dedicated winter tire is hands down the best option for optimum stopping and turning capabilities. I run non-studded (studded illegal in MN) LT2 Hakkapalitas and they are light-years better than Goodyear Duratracs, which were miles better than the BFG KO2's I used. The Raptor is a mountain goat with the Nokians.

In the soft powdery snow the BFG's and Goodyear's due just fine. They become rock hard in the really cold temperatures and are barely adequate on ice/packed snow (Duractracs >>> BFG).

I run Duratracs on after market wheels April - November and Nokians on the factory wheels December - March.


This is the Raptor on Nokians after navigating 4+ feet snow drifts on my way home after being on call all night during our most recent blizzard in MN. The picture below is me pulling out 2 4wd Ford Explorers (the police crusier had BFG KO2's) during the blizzard on my way to the hospital for a call case the night before.

smgilles, what size are you running? I only see them studded.

Bluehinder said:

smgilles, what size are you running? I only see them studded.

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https://www.tires-easy.com/tires/nokian-tires/s/hakkapeliitta-lt2-non-studded/315-70-17

I bought mine through Discount Tire since they will tire match anyone. I run the stock size 315/70/17.

Anyone know of a good set of wheels to mount an set of snows? I'd like to leave my beadlocks intact.

smgilles said:

I could not agree more. In our constant <10 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures and packed snow with ice covering all the roads the majority of winter a dedicated winter tire is hands down the best option for optimum stopping and turning capabilities. I run non-studded (studded illegal in MN) LT2 Hakkapalitas and they are light-years better than Goodyear Duratracs, which were miles better than the BFG KO2's I used. The Raptor is a mountain goat with the Nokians.

In the soft powdery snow the BFG's and Goodyear's due just fine. They become rock hard in the really cold temperatures and are barely adequate on ice/packed snow (Duractracs >>> BFG).

I run Duratracs on after market wheels April - November and Nokians on the factory wheels December - March.


This is the Raptor on Nokians after navigating 4+ feet snow drifts on my way home after being on call all night during our most recent blizzard in MN. The picture below is me pulling out 2 4wd Ford Explorers (the police crusier had BFG KO2's) during the blizzard on my way to the hospital for a call case the night before.

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Yep, I could not agree more. I got by with the stock BF Goodrich KO2'S, but next winter it will be studded snow tires. The stock tires suck in really cold temps. on packed snow and ice.

Unfortunately I got absolutely sh*t on for saying the truth. Unfortunately there are a lot of people on here that are extremely sensitive when you criticize anything about the raptor. And I was not really criticizing the raptor I was criticizing the stock tires which are to wide and to hard to be useful on snow and ice unless you are driving in a dry powder snow.

Gotta be careful not to hurt brand egos.

ME120 said:

Yep, I could not agree more. I got by with the stock BF Goodrich KO2'S, but next winter it will be studded snow tires. The stock tires suck in really cold temps. on packed snow and ice.

Unfortunately I got absolutely sh*t on for saying the truth. Unfortunately there are a lot of people on here that are extremely sensitive when you criticize anything about the raptor. And I was not really criticizing the raptor I was criticizing the stock tires which are to wide and to hard to be useful on snow and ice unless you are driving in a dry powder snow.

Gotta be careful not to hurt brand egos.

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The people that got butt hurt are not pushing their trucks, more like follow the herd. That’s fine if you don’t have the skill or experience, it’s safer for everyone if they just fall inline behind the Prius with all seasons with flashers on. If you turn off all of the ******** nanny features and actually drive your truck these oem tires are garbage.

Kraftei said:

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 !!

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Those are the biggest damned post-it notes I have ever seen in your pictures!! That one is as tall as your truck!

smgilles said:

This is the Raptor on Nokians after navigating 4+ feet snow drifts on my way home after being on call all night during our most recent blizzard in MN. The picture below is me pulling out 2 4wd Ford Explorers (the police crusier had BFG KO2's) during the blizzard on my way to the hospital for a call case the night before.

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Dumb question. How would the Hakk's do when it comes to light off roading? I like to coyote hunt during the winter and I spend several hours each weekend in the winter on gravel and dirt roads and in/out of corn and soybean fields.

Wfo said:

The people that got butt hurt are not pushing their trucks, more like follow the herd. That’s fine if you don’t have the skill or experience, it’s safer for everyone if they just fall inline behind the Prius with all seasons with flashers on. If you turn off all of the ******** nanny features and actually drive your truck these oem tires are garbage.

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Thank you. Be careful, don't say that to loud.