Truck snow tires

[snowaddict91]

wow ! this ^^guy is a fucking genius

Hardly. Just saying I notice the snow tires in warmer weather significantly more than the snows I've ran on lighter vehicles. Seemed pretty fucking relevant to the question at hand.

[XXX-er]

everyone will tell us their snow tires don't grip the road like their summer tires

but you sir are the only person who has suggested ...wait for it




slowing down

[summit]

Muggydude thank you for the Outpost AT review!

[SchralphMacchio]

The Hakka LT3s actually aren’t too bad on highways and in warmish weather, specifically as far as squirm is concerned, compared to my experience with some P-metric winter tires on passenger cars. I’m running anywhere from 8000-9400 lbs on my truck, though my tire size (LT275/70R18) is bigger and has a higher load index than what I think is on your van.
I generally try not to drive my truck over 70 mph (maybe I’ll cruise at 73 in a tailwind) and it’s often 65F down in the valley in April when I think about pulling them. Obviously the steering isn’t as sharp and is more vague than a summer or all season truck tire … the thing that gets me excited about switching back to my Michelins each spring is the sidewall stiffness and stability (they are also reasonably damp for how stiff they are) more than the lack of squirm. Actually I think my LT3s might even be more quiet than my LTX AT2s.

[Core Shot]

BFG k03 has amazing snow grip in an all season off road tire. Full depth sipes is awesome as well. Side lugs help deep snow.

Would be ideal for sf to Tahoe trips

Not sure they make your size. I’m waiting for mine to be produced this year hopefully.

PS. That squishy warm winter tire feeling is also the weather where your tread is wearing out super quick.

[Name Redacted]

Got about 3000 miles on the Nokian Outpost AT’s

Very quiet and smooth on the highway. Considerably quieter than Falken AT3W. Wandered a bit the first 1000 miles til they broke in and I lowered air pressure a bit. Good now.

Stellar offroad in Moab

I’d give them a very good rating in snow. I will say they seem to slip a little more braking than my Falken AT3W’s, but it’s predictable and still quite good for a 8500lb van. Lateral traction slight nod to Falkens too, acceleration I couldn’t really tell a difference. Overall id definitely recommend them, even if the Falkens were still slightly better (but discontinued now so a moot point).

That being said, I’m debating if I should just get a dedicated winter set of tires. I only commute from the Bay Area to Tahoe and back in the winter in the van, no other driving or daily commute. First 175 miles are usually dry or wet pavement at 40-55 degrees, so they might wear a bit faster, but not too bad.

Could get a full set of new Nokian Hakka LT3’s with some stock steelie wheels all mounted up for $880 total out the door. No brainer? I put around 6-7000 miles on the van every winter, including a round trip from CA to CO and back at Christmas


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Just skip the snow tires and get some KO2-3s. 95% of your driving will be dry pavement anyway. You’ll be fine with all that weight on the rear tires.

[m2711c]

Anybody know where I can find a tire pressure guide for LT tires? I can find the max pressure, but I’m not able to find the low pressure or what the pressure range range should be.

[snowaddict91]

[emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji639]][emoji637][emoji637]c;[emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji639]][emoji637][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]][emoji640][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]]][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji639]]]Anybody know where I can find a tire pressure guide for LT tires? I can find the max pressure, but I’m not able to find the low pressure or what the pressure range range should be.

https://www.falkentire.com/load-inflation

[davjr96]

I'll echo Muggydude's positive review on the Nokian Outpost nATs. I'm on my second season with them on a Ford Ranger + GFC, also driving Bay to Tahoe most weekends. They're very good in snow - very predictable. They do suffer a bit on black ice/super packed down snow but not sure what non stud does well there. I've got over 25k miles on my set already.

[summit]

Just skip the snow tires and get some KO2-3s. 95% of your driving will be dry pavement anyway. You’ll be fine with all that weight on the rear tires.

Why would he get KOs if he has Outpost nATs? He was looking to further improve the snow performance... if he doesn't want snows, stick with the nATs

[Conundrum]

Studded Hakka LT3s on a Tundra. Not a heavyweight pickup but still heavyish. Hasn't seemed to squirmy up to about 50* so far. And crushes anything slick. Will put summer ATs on in the spring. I don't mind limping summer tires longer when I know in the fall, the snows go on.

[Huskier]

Studded Hakka LT3s on a Tundra. Not a heavyweight pickup but still heavyish. Hasn't seemed to squirmy up to about 50* so far. And crushes anything slick. Will put summer ATs on in the spring. I don't mind limping summer tires longer when I know in the fall, the snows go on.

Samesies. Just refreshed with my second pair. Rears wore to 40% and got me momentarily stuck in the lot on slick ice. Stupid open dif. Not anymore. Drifts, packed, ice, no problems. They absolutely rip.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[XXX-er]

The Hakka LT3s actually aren’t too bad on highways and in warmish weather, specifically as far as squirm is concerned, compared to my experience with some P-metric winter tires on passenger cars. I’m running anywhere from 8000-9400 lbs on my truck, though my tire size (LT275/70R18) is bigger and has a higher load index than what I think is on your van.
I generally try not to drive my truck over 70 mph (maybe I’ll cruise at 73 in a tailwind) and it’s often 65F down in the valley in April when I think about pulling them. Obviously the steering isn’t as sharp and is more vague than a summer or all season truck tire … the thing that gets me excited about switching back to my Michelins each spring is the sidewall stiffness and stability (they are also reasonably damp for how stiff they are) more than the lack of squirm. Actually I think my LT3s might even be more quiet than my LTX AT2s.

Studded Haks on truck/ SUV/ small car have always been pretty stable on pavement its the snow & ice that is a probelm so my rule of thumb is 10kph over posted limit in summer and 10kph under posted limit on snow/ ice is always safe, thats on pretty much shitty 2 lane highwy up here

[Muggydude]

[emoji638]][emoji640][emoji639]][emoji637][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]][emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]]]Why would he get KOs if he has Outpost nATs? He was looking to further improve the snow performance... if he doesn't want snows, stick with the nATs

Yeah the Outposts are probably one of the top [emoji639] AT tires for winter performance.

I’m just debating if the extra safety of the winter tires is worth the (~minor) cost for a spare set and possible handling caveats for most of my ski road trips on pavement

[XXX-er]

life is cheap
but not mine

[SchralphMacchio]

Rears wore to 40% and got me momentarily stuck in the lot on slick ice. Stupid open dif.

Just to clarify, 40% of total depth, or 40% on the snow traction indicators?
A couple of mine have just wore through the 60% snow traction indicators.

[Name Redacted]

Yeah the Outposts are probably one of the top [emoji639] AT tires for winter performance.

I’m just debating if the extra safety of the winter tires is worth the (~minor) cost for a spare set and possible handling caveats for most of my ski road trips on pavement

Yeah, that was my point, you don't need snow tires. The ATs are fine. I have Falken's and KO2s on my two trucks and never have an issue anywhere around CO. Two set of tires and wheels just doesn't make sense if most of your driving is on dry pavement and CO snow (dry). Save that money for the tow when the Sprinter breaks down because some stupid sensor in the exhaust goes bad.

[SnowMachine]

Yeah the Outposts are probably one of the top [emoji639] AT tires for winter performance.

I’m just debating if the extra safety of the winter tires is worth the (~minor) cost for a spare set and possible handling caveats for most of my ski road trips on pavement

With fear of people telling me that I know nothing again..... I've gotten away with AS tires on trucks since I started driving in the 90's. No accidents yet. The current crop of AT's are better than ever. I'm really happy with the K03's on my new truck.

I run dedicated winters on our SUV. I haven't tried something like the Quatrac Pro on our cars, but I have customers that run them without issue. I look at it like this: dedicated winters are cheap insurance for my wife and family. I don't want her to have to think about conditions before she goes. I know exactly what I'm getting into and think I can read conditions well. Obviously there are times I'd like to have studs on my truck, but it doesn't make sense for where/how I drive. When it's shitty and icy I give myself a lot more space.

What's really scary is what the majority of the folks coming up from the Bay are driving on. Walk around downtown Truckee and look at their tires.

[Muggydude]

Yeah, that was my point, you don't need snow tires. The ATs are fine. I have Falken's and KO2s on my two trucks and never have an issue anywhere around CO. Two set of tires and wheels just doesn't make sense if most of your driving is on dry pavement and CO snow (dry). Save that money for the tow when the Sprinter breaks down because some stupid sensor in the exhaust goes bad.

Thankfully I have a Ford transit [emoji6] love the Ecoboost engine, van has been very reliable. I’d never own a sprinter, for a ton of reasons.

I live in CA, I just travel to CO once a year.

If I lived in Colorado, I would have a set of snow tires no question. It’s a lot colder there, a lot more snow for most of the commute, shorter commute, and gets icier. When I lived there I had Blizzaks for our pickup, made a Huge difference over AT’s. Granted pickups are lighter than the van, id throw in 300 lbs in the bed but still not comparable.

I have a distinct memory of one day coming back down I-70, and it was just an ice rink. Steeper down hill portion, and almost all the cars in front and behind were literally just sliding off the shoulder left and right. Very parting of the Red Sea esque. Must have passed 20 cars over a half mile stretch off the road, and most were 4x4 SUV’s and trucks with (I’d assume) decent AT or AS tires.

It was a rare occurrence, but the winter tires definitely paid for themselves that day. Have a few more instances over the years living there where I was glad I had them.

That being said, CA is very different. Lot less ice, lot more slush and packed snow. And way more dry pavement and rain/temps above freezing. I’ve had a few instances where it was similar ice rink conditions and the van did great with the Wildpeak AT3W’s, just a little less confident how the Nokians would do in that same scenario. We’ll see

I think I’m probably going to stick with the Outposts for now. They’re certainly not lacking overall

[Name Redacted]

Thankfully I have a Ford transit [emoji6] love the Ecoboost engine, van has been very reliable. I’d never own a sprinter, for a ton of reasons.

Good luck with those brakes and transmission. ; ). At least you can take it south of the border and still get it fixed as needed.

[Muggydude]

Yeah transmission we’ll see. At least one day finding a 10r80 if I need a replacement won’t be hard. Mine has been great

Nothing wrong with the brakes? Not sure why that’s supposed to be a dig. Sure if you’re mechanically incompetent you can pay a shop $1000 to replace them, but they are not expensive or hard to replace if you have half a Brain and some tools. And rotors last multiple sets of pads anyways if you replace the pads on time, and the pads are real easy


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[byates1]

I do a fluid change every 40k on my t250. 300$.
I do my own front/rear diff, transfer case, oil, air, plugs etc.also about 40k(air 20k)Keep it all fresh. Coolant 80/100k

I'm at 112k and brakes are at 7 still. I drive nice and easy. About 1300$ for 4 rotors pads fluid this spring.

I feel like she'll go long way down the road if I take good care of her.

[Huskier]

Just to clarify, 40% of total depth, or 40% on the snow traction indicators?
A couple of mine have just wore through the 60% snow traction indicators.

I -think- the snow traction indicators? The numbers in the middle of the tread. Night and day difference, I didn't realize how much they'd started to suck

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[SchralphMacchio]

I -think- the snow traction indicators? The numbers in the middle of the tread. Night and day difference, I didn't realize how much they'd started to suck

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Thanks, yeah the numbers on the center tread are snow traction indicators. The overall tread depth is much deeper than the final snowflake imprint goes down.

That’s really good to know since I’m towing a 7000 lbs trailer behind my truck mid winter on PNW packed snow and ice, and the truck has LT3s. This is my fourth season on them. Maybe I will do a preemptive refresh after winter number 5.

[summit]

Everyone talks about how high CO and Summit have mostly dry roads in the winter, so who needs snows/studs, but this winter and the last 2-3 there have been weeks and months where my daily commute is significantly/mostly packed snow/ice.

I remain happy with my Hakka 10s instead of all weather ATs, especially having a second vehicle with all weathers to compare an contrast. The AWs are great for what they are, but they are not studded snows.