Winter Weather 2021 Tire Review: The South

[TheGrrrrr]

Now with much of the southern United States dealing with conditions that most of those populations aren't experienced in and have very little preparedness for in terms of outfitting (winter/snow tires, chains etc.) and the localities not having the resources (plows, sand, salt etc.) this is a unique opportunity to get feedback on tire performance in wintery conditions from folks who are less likely to have long held bias/tribal mentality about snow/ice performance of specific brands.

So what do our TX, LA, MS folks have to say about their tires in the snow?

 

[mooneywa]

I did a ton of driving this weekend between South Texas, Houston, DFW, and west of Fort Worth. - probably 1000 miles worth, and 600 of that was in weather where I normally went 80 and stayed below 45mph. I did about 75% of my poor-weather driving in a rental 2WD 2021 Yukon and the other 25% in my 200. The rental Yukon is on 20s with your standard road SUV tire (can't remember what they were, factory with 10k on them.. My 200 has Michelin LTX MS/2s with about 25k on them.

I drove through a few inches of snow on top of ice, then transitioned to straight ice, then to a mix of snow and ice with primarily sleet on top.

*What I believe 100% is that while tires are important, driving style and taking things slowly has the largest benefit by far vs any tire or traction control device.*

The amount of ice we had from Hillsboro, TX and south effectively negated any benefits of AWD. You just simply slid with 4 wheels spinning instead of two. The cruiser of course felt more planted because of its extra weight vs the Yukon, and it was reassuring on acceleration to hear the clatter of the traction magic doing its thing. But when it was safe and I had the opportunity to try and break loose both did so equally and of course turning on ice was always exciting if you didn't drastically reduce your speed.

The few times I could use both in purely snow, the 200 of course outshined the 2WD Yukon, and was as firmly planted on the MS2s as it is on the highway. I think the takeaway from me is that if you're constantly in snow in the mountains or need the mountain/snowflake to not use chains, you could benefit from a slight upgrade in tire from the MS/2s. But for the vast majority of us that don't need a more aggressive tire more frequently, these do great.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

I've had a lot of opportunities to put my Falken AT3W tires through the snow/ice tests this year. Here are the summaries of outstanding events:

- Late November camping some 40km down a FSR, with a 3000lb trailer. Dirt/gravel FSR has some remains of earlier snowfall, but was largely clear in that tires could access the dirt. Received a snowfall of about 15cm overnight and drove out without any issues through fresh snow. Tires were at 18 PSI.

- Mid December driving along a dirt road with hardpacked snow/ice. Lost traction in a left-hand turn at about 40-50kph, slid, fishtailed, recovered.

- Late December camping with the same 3000lb trailer. Going down an FSR with significant amounts of packed and fresh snow. Sunk in and couldn't move forward going up a long hill. Tires were also at 18 PSI. Friend in a very well built Tacoma was in front of me, and he also sunk it and could only progress with chains. Hooked up a strap, managed to back down some 200 metres down the hill, and another 500m or so before I could turn around.

- Early February driving 70km along hard-packed/cleared and fresh-snow dirt road. Very twisty roads, averaging about 50-60kph. Small slide one time, easily recovered. Large slide another time, completely unexpected, could not recover and plowed into the snowbank. Bounced off the snowbank, another slide, recovered. No damage.

- Last weekend (mid February) drove ~700km to/from Vancouver over high mountain passes with fresh and had-packed snow/ice on the roads. Averaged about 100kph on the way to, and 120kph on the way back, frequently driving in the unplowed lane to pass other vehicles (easily hundreds of passes). No real issues, but could feel I was on the verge of losing traction once or twice.

I have previously always ran quality, dedicated winters on virtually all my vehicles. There is no doubt that on-road, dedicated, quality winter tires are vastly superior. Off-road, that's a question with a lot of factors and results can vary. Deep snow and inability to reach the ground (through the snow), I'd prefer the Falkens. Less deep snow and being able to reach the ground, I'll take the Blizzacks.

With smooth, careful driving, the Falkens are decent, but numerous instances of losing traction showed a real need for better tires in the conditions that I drive most.

I'm currently searching for a set of 20" wheels to put my Blizzacks on. I will 100% be running them again next winter.

 

[NYC570]

To me the most important aspect of tires in snow and ice, is their ability to allow you to come to a stop at a reasonable distance. I thought i could get through the winter with my mud terrains. They are great in any type of snow and even some ice to get you going, but their ability to stop the heavy LX is really bad. A couple of weeks ago, I slid about 10' going around 5mph in a slight decline at a red light almost rear ending the car in front. I decided to get passenger Toyo AT3s but we haven't gotten anymore snow to properly test them out.

 

[TheGrrrrr]

I've had a lot of opportunities to put my Falken AT3W tires through the snow/ice tests this year. Here are the summaries of outstanding events:

- Late November camping some 40km down a FSR, with a 3000lb trailer. Dirt/gravel FSR has some remains of earlier snowfall, but was largely clear in that tires could access the dirt. Received a snowfall of about 15cm overnight and drove out without any issues through fresh snow. Tires were at 18 PSI.

- Mid December driving along a dirt road with hardpacked snow/ice. Lost traction in a left-hand turn at about 40-50kph, slid, fishtailed, recovered.

- Late December camping with the same 3000lb trailer. Going down an FSR with significant amounts of packed and fresh snow. Sunk in and couldn't move forward going up a long hill. Tires were also at 18 PSI. Friend in a very well built Tacoma was in front of me, and he also sunk it and could only progress with chains. Hooked up a strap, managed to back down some 200 metres down the hill, and another 500m or so before I could turn around.

- Early February driving 70km along hard-packed/cleared and fresh-snow dirt road. Very twisty roads, averaging about 50-60kph. Small slid one time, easily recovered. Large slid another time, completely unexpected, could not recover and plowed into the snowbank. Bounced off the snowbank, another slid, recovered. No damage.

- Last weekend (mid February) drove ~700km to/from Vancouver over high mountain passes with fresh and had-packed snow/ice on the roads. Averaged about 100kph on the way to, and 120kph on the way back, frequently driving in the unplowed lane to pass other vehicles (easily hundreds of passes). No real issues, but could feel I was on the verge of losing traction once or twice.

I have previously always ran quality, dedicated winters on virtually all my vehicles. There is no doubt that on-road, dedicated, quality winter tires are vastly superior. Off-road, that's a question with a lot of factors and results can vary. Deep snow and inability to reach the ground (through the snow), I'd prefer the Falkens. Less deep snow and being able to reach the ground, I'll take the Blizzacks.

With smooth, careful driving, the Falkens are decent, but numerous instances of losing traction showed a real need for better tires in the conditions that I drive most.

I'm currently searching for a set of 20" wheels to put my Blizzacks on. I will 100% be running them again next winter.

LOL, well I suppose Vernon is in The South of Canada. All good information despite being sort of the opposite of what I was shooting for in terms of driver experience/perspective. But as I said, still valuable info.

 

[GOLIGHTLY]

I put some Atturo Trail Blade M/Ts on my 100 to replace some pretty shot tires that were on when purchased from auction (just needed something aggressive and cheap to get him rolling, wasn’t looking to find the best tires money can buy). They were $600 for all 4 in 285/75R16. Performed EXCELLENTLY in freshly fallen snow yesterday morning, heavy slush, and even the icy conditions found after temperatures dropped overnight. Very impressed for the money and for them not being purpose built winter tires or anything. Got myself, the girl and our dog safely across ~50 miles of TX road to a warm house. I’d assume that performance would be pretty similar on Nitto Trail Graps and other M/Ts with effectively that same tread pattern. Will run dedicated winter stud-able tires when we move to CO.

 

[slipkid13]

I was in middle of nowhere West Texas (45 miles from the nearest gas) over New Years when they had a huge snowstorm and freezing weather. I have Blizzak DMV-2s on my LX and driving back to Colorado was not a problem. It was slow going as there were many stuck cars and people were going extra slow. The wind caused drifts of 8-9 inches in places, but even on steep hills when other cars/truck were sliding and spinning we just chugged along. The Blizzaks are great tires. It was 70F when we got down there to hunt and 4 days later it was 10F with 5 inches of snow when I left. On the drive down I was wondering why I had my Winter tires but they def. paid off.

The last 3 days have been below zero in Colorado with some snow and the tires handle that weather with zero issues.

 

[Chewbacca]

I did a ton of driving this weekend between South Texas, Houston, DFW, and west of Fort Worth. - probably 1000 miles worth, and 600 of that was in weather where I normally went 80 and stayed below 45mph. I did about 75% of my poor-weather driving in a rental 2WD 2021 Yukon and the other 25% in my 200. The rental Yukon is on 20s with your standard road SUV tire (can't remember what they were, factory with 10k on them.. My 200 has Michelin LTX MS/2s with about 25k on them.

I drove through a few inches of snow on top of ice, then transitioned to straight ice, then to a mix of snow and ice with primarily sleet on top.

*What I believe 100% is that while tires are important, driving style and taking things slowly has the largest benefit by far vs any tire or traction control device.*

The amount of ice we had from Hillsboro, TX and south effectively negated any benefits of AWD. You just simply slid with 4 wheels spinning instead of two. The cruiser of course felt more planted because of its extra weight vs the Yukon, and it was reassuring on acceleration to hear the clatter of the traction magic doing its thing. But when it was safe and I had the opportunity to try and break loose both did so equally and of course turning on ice was always exciting if you didn't drastically reduce your speed.

The few times I could use both in purely snow, the 200 of course outshined the 2WD Yukon, and was as firmly planted on the MS2s as it is on the highway. I think the takeaway from me is that if you're constantly in snow in the mountains or need the mountain/snowflake to not use chains, you could benefit from a slight upgrade in tire from the MS/2s. But for the vast majority of us that don't need a more aggressive tire more frequently, these do great.

MS2s are just about the best snow tire out there, short of dedicated snows.

 

[Sandroad]

Now with much of the southern United States dealing with conditions that most of those populations aren't experienced in and have very little preparedness for in terms of outfitting (winter/snow tires, chains etc.) and the localities not having the resources (plows, sand, salt etc.) this is a unique opportunity to get feedback on tire performance in wintery conditions from folks who are less likely to have long held bias/tribal mentality about snow/ice performance of specific brands.

So what do our TX, LA, MS folks have to say about their tires in the snow?

Fun question. I love the “....long held bias/tribal mentality.....” angle that‘s so common in every tire discussion. Since I live in the north Midwest I’ll keep my long held bias to myself and would only note that driver experience has a lot to do with winter travel experience. I live near a huge university that has folks from all over the country/world and it’s always a hoot in the early winter during the first snowfall to watch the drivers who have never seen snow try their luck, good tires or not. That’s a long winded way of saying 2 different drivers in the same vehicle with the same tires may report a very different winter experience.

 

[kf5wzu]

Bfg KO2 in 275/65/18. Did well in snow and ice. Drove Austin-Houston-Austin yesterday, Austin-Smithville this morning. Small amount of slip in thick ice in Austin but otherwise felt planted.

 

[CharlieS]

Fun question. I love the “....long held bias/tribal mentality.....” angle that‘s so common in every tire discussion. Since I live in the north Midwest I’ll keep my long held bias to myself and would only note that driver experience has a lot to do with winter travel experience. I live near a huge university that has folks from all over the country/world and it’s always a hoot in the early winter during the first snowfall to watch the drivers who have never seen snow try their luck, good tires or not. That’s a long winded way of saying 2 different drivers in the same vehicle with the same tires may report a very different winter experience.

I won't weigh in on the original question, but I will say that I live in snow country, and when I was young the vast majority of people we knew couldn't afford snow tires, and drove 2wd vehicles (and when I was really young, most vehicles were rear wheel drive). People slowed down, increased following distances, increased stopping distances, and just took it easy. Some might have thrown a couple of sandbags in the trunk or bed of the truck might have helped with traction (and made for something grippy to throw under the tires when stuck). Like auto racing, the best driver on subpar equipment can be better than the less skilled driver on the best equipment. These Land Cruisers have every technological advantage, so doing the same thing (slow down, take your time, increase stopping/following distances) will get you where you've got to go, even with the stock all season tires. Asking people who don't drive on snow to judge the efficacy of tires on snow seems like an odd thing to ask. I'm sure this thread makes for good conversation (and I hope our southern friends are keeping safe), but I don't think it is going to lead to any new, interesting, or remotely objective tire data.

 

[TheGrrrrr]

Asking people who don't drive on snow to judge the efficacy of tires on snow seems like an odd thing to ask.

Yeah, it is an odd ask. The intent was to get perspective as folks without snow driving experience are less likely to be able to make up for tire deficiency with skill, therefore getting their initial impressions (assuming they can translate what they feel into something descriptive) can tell us something about how tires perform. Its sort of an 'ease of use' question in UI design. Like if I hand an iPhone to a person who has never used a smart phone before, but understands what a phone is, what a camera is, what an internet browser is etc., how quickly and easily can they get up to speed using that device without explanation. Maybe not the best analogy, but with any tire in snowy/icy conditions there will be some learning curve, but the question of how much was interesting to me. Maybe I just should have asked "For the folks who have never driven on snow/ice how would you describe the learning curve and what good/bad of that do you attribute to your tires?"

 

[NDizzle]

My 34" Toyo Open Country AT3s are doing fantastic. Except when my wife drives, as shown in the wheeling damage thread. Ice doesn't care about your non-studded tires. Snow on the other hand, or going up and down my driveway, is no problem.