Dedicated Snow Tires (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Feb 8, 2022
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Location
Rocky River, OH
New owner here. Shipped a southern car to Cleveland OH. I’ve always kept an extra wheel set for the winter with dedicated winter tires. Currently the car has 285/65/18 KO2’s which have been decent in the snow over the past week.

I’m having difficulty finding quality winter tires in the correct size. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Nokian Hakka R3 is available (and I’ve used in the past) but I was wanting to go for something better for wet and dry winter performance like the Alpin 5 or continental.

Thanks!
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285/60/18 Hakka R3 SUVs on our 200. I also run Blizzaks on other vehicles. Can't go wrong with either one. Both are excellent.
 
Welcome! Nice looking truck. There’s a lot of collective wisdom on here you can tap into with a search. That will be faster than waiting for others to chime in. Here are 3 recent threads to get you started. For inventory on sizes, don’t forget the national retailers like The Tire Rack and Discount Tire Direct, in addition to your local tire shops.

Winter tires (2022) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/winter-tires-2022.1275036/#post-14269100
Winter and summer tires or All terrains with 3 peak rating? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/winter-and-summer-tires-or-all-terrains-with-3-peak-rating.1273766/
LC200 + Blizzak DM-V2 + Blizzard = :) - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/lc200-blizzak-dm-v2-blizzard.1235939/

Edit…..I’m sure you know this, but stock is 285/60-18.
 
Try asking your local tire shop for snow tires in a size 275/65-18. Narrower tread face and slightly taller but there are a bunch more options available in that tire size because it is a stock tire size for the Tundra and most Chevy and Ford trucks.
 
New owner here. Shipped a southern car to Cleveland OH. I’ve always kept an extra wheel set for the winter with dedicated winter tires. Currently the car has 285/65/18 KO2’s which have been decent in the snow over the past week.

I’m having difficulty finding quality winter tires in the correct size. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Nokian Hakka R3 is available (and I’ve used in the past) but I was wanting to go for something better for wet and dry winter performance like the Alpin 5 or continental.

Thanks!View attachment 2928482
I run Blizzaks in stock size. Bought mine at Costco, installed on an extra set of LC OEM wheels i bought on eBay. May be a challenge to get now because this is at the end of the season for many markets. But Costco should be able to get them.
 
Running Cooper True North 265/65/18s on my 2015 - bought them a month ago for a snow trip and got the last 4 on the west coast.
 
New owner here. Shipped a southern car to Cleveland OH. I’ve always kept an extra wheel set for the winter with dedicated winter tires. Currently the car has 285/65/18 KO2’s which have been decent in the snow over the past week.

I’m having difficulty finding quality winter tires in the correct size. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Nokian Hakka R3 is available (and I’ve used in the past) but I was wanting to go for something better for wet and dry winter performance like the Alpin 5 or continental.

Thanks!View attachment 2928482

What is the "correct" size? The stock tire for that LC is P285/60R18. Is that also the size of the spare? Bridgestone made the tires for the early 200's, and I had no problem getting Blizzaks in the same size to match the spare for winter duties.

Wonder if the supply chain issues are having an affect here also?
 
As someone who lives in extended winter, I'd point out that many AT tires and even more aggressive tires have come a very long way since the days of dedicated snow tires. I personally advocate for Cooper Stt Maxx as my choice but there are plenty of options that keep you from having to deal with swapping sets. I run those Coopers on my plow truck here as well with zero issues. Just my $.02
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Great thoughts. We are getting lots of freezing rain tonight. I’ll see how the KO2’s do on my morning commute in the morning.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Great thoughts. We are getting lots of freezing rain tonight. I’ll see how the KO2’s do on my morning commute in the morning.
KO2s are horrible on ice. Good luck.


Fun video:
 
Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 size 255/70R18 (32" in truck speak) on Tundra wheels. Tall and skinny for me. My daughter is just learning to drive, and (first world problem) it has proven difficult for her to experience sufficient slippage in order to learn to control a slide. One really has to give it the beans to break loose the tires on snow/ice covered pavement - way more than an inexperienced driver should/would be doing - even with stability and traction control deactivated. I don't know, something about a 6000 lb tank with full time 4WD and skinny winter tires... ;)

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I have been using Blizzak tires since WS-50 were released in the early 2000s. Currently have 5 generations across my vehicles.
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Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 size 255/70R18 (32" in truck speak) on Tundra wheels. Tall and skinny for me. My daughter is just learning to drive, and (first world problem) it has proven difficult for her to experience sufficient slippage in order to learn to control a slide. One really has to give it the beans to break loose the tires on snow/ice covered pavement - way more than an inexperienced driver should/would be doing - even with stability and traction control deactivated. I don't know, something about a 6000 lb tank with full time 4WD and skinny winter tires... ;)

View attachment 2929094

I have been using Blizzak tires since WS-50 were released in the early 2000s. Currently have 5 generations across my vehicles.
View attachment 2929095
The first 50% of tread on the DMV2s are awesome. After that, they are still decent, but the first compound is great on snow and ice. This is my wife's 5th season on them (and likely the last for this set).

I like my Nokians better overall, but the Blizzaks are great and easy to find.
 
Yes, Blizzak's party trick is the first 50% is a porous (at a microscopic level) compound and the remaining 50% is a normal winter compound. The theory behind the porous compound is more biting edges and a place for the thin film of water (created when ice is under compression) to go rather than remain between rubber and ice. Ice without that film of water actually has a fair amount of friction/traction. Ice skates work on the same principle, but use that film of water as the lubricant so the blade glides across the ice easier, i.e., ice skates actually slide along on a thin film of water that instantly freezes as the pressure of the blade moves along.
 
Nokian Rotiiva AT Plus. Not dedicated winter tires, I searched for the best non-winter-only tires. These are performing impressively on long highway drives in blizzards, slush, rough ice, along the Lake Michigan shore. Most of my miles are on dry pavement, my Blizzaks didn't hold up long running October to March.
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I run Hakka R3 SUv's on my wife's Cayenne, they're great. Blizzak's are good but as pointed out they're really only good for the first 50% of the tire. As I responded in your FB post, if you live in the lake effect band, you should probably get a set of snow tires.

I ran K02's on my Gx470 in Denver, including many trips up to Vail with no issues. I'm running Falken AT3W's on my 200. I've got the oem wheels as "extras" if I decide I want to run dedicated snow tires, which would be the Hakka R3's
 

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