If you are running the original tires that came on your LC and have 36K on them, I suggest new tires anyway. The OEM tires are lousy on snow/ice to begin with and won't be any fun with 36K on them. Pick a new tire that fits your driving needs (Michelin MS/2 if highway and your choice of AT tire from recommendations on here if substantial off-road). Any newer, better tire will be fine for 6-7 days of snow/ice per year if you keep your speed in check. And the suggestion above to carry chains if something extreme comes up is a good one.
Winter tires and driving
- Thread starter coleAK
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If you are running the original tires that came on your LC and have 36K on them, I suggest new tires anyway. The OEM tires are lousy on snow/ice to begin with and won't be any fun with 36K on them. Pick a new tire that fits your driving needs (Michelin MS/2 if highway and your choice of AT tire from recommendations on here if substantial off-road). Any newer, better tire will be fine for 6-7 days of snow/ice per year if you keep your speed in check. And the suggestion above to carry chains if something extreme comes up is a good one.
Back in the "olden days", a "snow tire" needed an aggressive, deep tread to do its job. I've been REALLY impressed with modern winter tire technology and the ability of tires to stick to deep snow as well as slick snow and ice. I run them on all my cars here in Michigan, but not my LC because I don't use it much in the winter. As you do your tire research, keep in mind that a good winter tire doesn't necessarily need to look aggressive to be aggressive in snow. The Michelin X-Ice on my cars grip even the deep stuff with all those little sipes. The tire construction and materials release the snow and don't get clogged up.
OK winter, do your worst!
Still trying to decide on which tires to get for the 200. It's down to R3 vs Hakka 9. I have Hakka 8 on the Tacoma, like them a lot, but maybe they are overkill. Noise is there, not too bad I was also thinking abotut LT2 in 275/75/18, but LT2 apparently readily lose studs.
Then there are also new Bliizak LTs in that size, but there are zero reviews of them.
Then there are also new Bliizak LTs in that size, but there are zero reviews of them.
Hakka 9s are great on the LX. Minimal road noise at 80mph. Certainly nothing that prevents you from having a conversation at normal voice levels.
I just put my R3 SUV's on this past weekend at the dealer, now looking for some snow to put them to good use 
Not a huge problem in Tacoma either, but that's a loud truck compared to the LC (mine even louder with TRD exhaust).
I am leaning towards Hakka 9s, for sure.
I'm eating my words and putting the Blizzaks on for the winter. We had it snow all day Sunday into Monday, and it was not that much accumulation. The issue was the roads were warm and for all of Sunday the snow did not stick, but melted. It got into the teens overnight and by Monday morning Denver metro roads had a layer of ice covered by a light layer of snow. On one road, just the crown was enough to induce a slide at slow speeds into the curb.
IMHO even an AT with the RMA 3 peak/snow flake winter rated tires are not the same as a dedicated winter tire for those that need it.
IMHO even an AT with the RMA 3 peak/snow flake winter rated tires are not the same as a dedicated winter tire for those that need it.
I've got an ARB compressor (and rear locker) in my 200. Makes it easy for airing up/down. Exactly my buddy made a point of I need to look at how often im driving to ski or on mountain passes in the winter versus the very rare times I would be legitimately offroad in the winter and buy the tire for the 99% like you said. Funny, I had an arctic truck for a bit last month and got to do some solid glacier time with it. Great trucks and definitely purpose built. Not what I'm trying to do with the 200 lol. (Did used to have a 2dr JK on 40's with beadlocks that when aired down did bout damn near the same thing out in the mountains in the winter)
That looks like an amazing experience! I'm definitely jealous!
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It’s almost like cheating.
Are all of y’all running stock tires? I had to order (5) Hakka LT2’s. I’m currently running 285/75/17. Have to drop to 285/70/17 for winter tires. Would’ve loved Hakka 9’s. But even dropping to run run a 285/70 I only saw the Nokian LT2’s and Arctic Claws without running an AT tire. Did I just miss the other sizes?
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I run the 256/60-18. It’s just under 1” smaller I. Diameter than my summer KO2s.
275/55/20 Hakka 9s
My hakka r2s really came through during the storm we got in PA yesterday.
Great tire
Great tire
No, they definitely have a limited variety of tire sizes for what most of us prefer to run. You can tell their primary market is performance cars and SUV’s with relatively low profile tires.
I was kind of happy to be able to do the 275/65R20 to get the height I wanted. I just put them on the stock LX wheels.
Edit: There is a 315/70R17 that I would have liked to try on my 100 but I don’t know anyone that has that particular studded tire to know how true to size it runs. I know most here (200’s) wouldn’t go that wide.
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After not being able to find 285/70-17 LT with studs I went 265/70-17 hakka 9s. Surprisingly they were only slightly shorter then my 285/70-17 ridge grapplers that have about 10k miles on them. Of course they narrower, but that is suppose to get better traction. I also liked the fact the hakka 9s are a newer design where the LT tires have been around a while and the reviews were not as great, ie losing studs.
