tahoeacr
Full Access Member
Right there with you Badgertits. Any all season tire cost vs performance gain isn't worth it. Only way to go is a dedicated Summer tire and a dedicated Winter tire. Even if the stock tires get you around good enough the gain in braking alone with a Winter tire is worth it. Since I'm going to get Winter tires, I'm going with what I've learned works well for my conditions. To get your tires changed over is a process that takes days up here. It's ridiculous. Few tire stores and you have to make an appt.(even before Covid). Because of this I just go with separate rims I can change in the garage.
I'm no stranger to trying different widths, aspect ratios and rim diameters. Spent three years testing and trying to find actual data for a Winter set up. Changed ride height, spring rate and sway bars. The goal was to develop a setting that would allow to be able to swerve at 45mph in any conditions in control. Tourist avoidance maneuver. When the idiot is doing 360's and heading into your lane. You can set up a track in a controlled environment but after one lap you have just changed the conditions. I came up with a setting that was unstoppable.
This isn't powder that's easy to go thru. You can see traction is made by compressing the snow not digging down to pavement. The car is not stuck and only took about 500 more rpm letting the clutch out to get going. Unfortunately, the best set up really sucked on dry pavement at 50mph. If you went down a freeway with grooves cut in the pavement you could feel the car tramlining and sidewall flex. A compromise of lower ride height and shorter aspect ratio was reached. This set up was the only time I got the car stuck. Spring conditions where I broke thru a layer of ice over soft snow. High centered. Short walk home to get the F350. Took 4x low range on dry pavement to get the car out and it wasn't easy.
The compromise is still fun to drive.
Taking what I learned and applying it to the Raptor is going to be hard. There just isn't the available options. I'd like to find a narrower rim and tire. Problem is there is no narrower tire without being smaller diameter. Got to weigh the smaller ugly tire looks vs. performance gain. lol. I have to go out in the worse conditions. My Winter job is driving a snow plow. There has been times when my F350 couldn't get to the yard. In the end Hakkas on $500 stock take off rims might be fine.
I'll do some testing with the Raptor next big storm if we ever get one. The yard I work at is on 30+ acres. Got a track set up with some uphills/downhills. Plus there is plenty of equipment around to pull out a stuck Raptor.
I'm no stranger to trying different widths, aspect ratios and rim diameters. Spent three years testing and trying to find actual data for a Winter set up. Changed ride height, spring rate and sway bars. The goal was to develop a setting that would allow to be able to swerve at 45mph in any conditions in control. Tourist avoidance maneuver. When the idiot is doing 360's and heading into your lane. You can set up a track in a controlled environment but after one lap you have just changed the conditions. I came up with a setting that was unstoppable. This isn't powder that's easy to go thru. You can see traction is made by compressing the snow not digging down to pavement. The car is not stuck and only took about 500 more rpm letting the clutch out to get going. Unfortunately, the best set up really sucked on dry pavement at 50mph. If you went down a freeway with grooves cut in the pavement you could feel the car tramlining and sidewall flex. A compromise of lower ride height and shorter aspect ratio was reached. This set up was the only time I got the car stuck. Spring conditions where I broke thru a layer of ice over soft snow. High centered. Short walk home to get the F350. Took 4x low range on dry pavement to get the car out and it wasn't easy. The compromise is still fun to drive.
Taking what I learned and applying it to the Raptor is going to be hard. There just isn't the available options. I'd like to find a narrower rim and tire. Problem is there is no narrower tire without being smaller diameter. Got to weigh the smaller ugly tire looks vs. performance gain. lol. I have to go out in the worse conditions. My Winter job is driving a snow plow. There has been times when my F350 couldn't get to the yard. In the end Hakkas on $500 stock take off rims might be fine. I'll do some testing with the Raptor next big storm if we ever get one. The yard I work at is on 30+ acres. Got a track set up with some uphills/downhills. Plus there is plenty of equipment around to pull out a stuck Raptor.
