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Old 09-10-2013, 01:29 PM
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Scott N Scott N is offline
 
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Default Winter Truck Tires

Hey all,

Just wondering what most of you put on your trucks for the winter.... do you use the same tire all year round, or put on specific winter tires for when the snow flies? I need to replace the tires on my 2010 F-150 4X4, and I'm finding that the choices for 275/55/R20 tires is limited. If you're running that size of tire, what do you like? Is somewhere around $300 per tire reasonable, or is my cost estimation out to lunch?
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Old 09-10-2013, 01:32 PM
Bound2Fish Bound2Fish is offline
 
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I run 325/60R20 Duratrac's. I think the last set was $520/each. My choices for tires are also limited but I have been really happy with the Duratracs for both summer and winter.
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Old 09-10-2013, 01:41 PM
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leeaspell leeaspell is offline
 
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I run an MT in the summer, and studded grabber at2 in the winter. You might have to go a little or smaller to get more selection
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  #4  
Old 09-10-2013, 02:45 PM
JB_AOL JB_AOL is offline
 
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What kind of driving do you do?

Your location says calgary, so I assume you would be commuting in the city..

In the city you want something that will grab the ice (ie lots of sipes or studs). If you drive lots in the country with uncleared roads you want something that'll clear the snow better and be able to grip the ice..

Basically.. If you do occasional highway, with lots of commuting you are better off with something like a blizzak.

But if you do lots of secondary roads/highway/mountain driving, there's more of a possibility of deep snow, and you want something that will clear the snow from the tires (like the duratrac or some all terrains..

As far as one tire year round.. with tires there is always a compromise. I'll use the extremes, if you use a blizzak style tire (soft rubber winter tire) year round, on the 20+ days like today, your truck will have a "squishy" feel to it. True winter tires are designed with softer compounds and side walls, this will also cause your winter tires to wear ALOT faster. And vice versa, if you use an all season tire in the winter, the compound is optimized for tread life (ie. hard), so you won't have as good ice traction.

Some people say, just drive slower (ie use allseasons year round), that's fine, but it's the evasive manuevers when you are reacting to what other people are doing.. That is when you want traction , not matter how fast you are going.

I personally am a firm believer in the right tires for the job.. I've got two sets (winter/summer) for my family mover, and my commuter I've got three sets (winter/summer/gravel). I've located what I thought to be the best tire for each season (summer/winter), as I've felt black ice/reg ice is a bigger danger than deep snow. So my winter tires have alot of sipes, I should've studded them, but I didn't.

The only downside to having dedicated winter tires, is the initial cost. Basically double as you are buying two sets of tires/rims, but that also means you won't have to buy tires for ALONG time (twice as long than if you only have one set).

Do yourself a favour and find some 17" or 18" rims on kijiji that fit your truck, you will save alot of money by purchasing 17/18" vs 20" winter tires. I made that mistake once.. Bought 19" blizzaks for my Acadia, $1800 later, I had 19" tires, I could've bought 17" blizzaks and rims for about $1200..

I'm planning on getting some grabber AT2 for my truck this winter, but my truck really only does towing duties, with the odd commute in the city..

Leeaspell, how do you like the Grabbers?
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Old 09-10-2013, 03:19 PM
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leeaspell leeaspell is offline
 
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I love the grabbers. Thread life is good, got almost 40k still over half thread left, that's on a diesel f350 that I tow with quite often, not super heavy though. I got caught not being able to switch them out as soon as I wanted this spring, but was pretty impressed with them in the mud. Not as good as an mt, but done good for an AT. I do alot of winter driving, 7-10k a month, usually before the plows are out. Not once did I find it sketchy. They hook up good when starting off and braking and evasive moves are controlled, tested many times avoiding moose on hwy 32. And for the price you can't go wrong, I'll be buying them again.
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Old 09-10-2013, 03:20 PM
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Coiloil37 Coiloil37 is offline
 
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My old push ran Goodyear silent armor tires on his Titan. On ice roads with no weight in the box, 2wd you could floor it and that truck wouldn't lose traction. Hit the brakes and it would throw you into the seatbelt. They cleaned well in the mud, ride quiet and wore slowly. I'm a fan of dedicated winter tires on most vehicles but those are a very good year round truck tire. I'm running them on my 2500 and have no complaints.
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Old 09-10-2013, 03:25 PM
camshaft camshaft is offline
 
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BFG AT KO

What type of truck are u putting them on? This makes a huge difference. If just a 1/2 ton, these are great tires. Some love them, others hate them it seems. I just replaced a set with 120k on them that still had 6/32 all around.
Regular rotation and balance is key! Every 8000k religiously and these tires seem to last forever.

I never received so much as a flat despite having a shingle nain stuck in a lug one day lol. Stiff sidewalls are great in the summer when airing up for pulling a trailer ect as well.
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Old 09-10-2013, 03:50 PM
javlin101 javlin101 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coiloil37 View Post
My old push ran Goodyear silent armor tires on his Titan. On ice roads with no weight in the box, 2wd you could floor it and that truck wouldn't lose traction. Hit the brakes and it would throw you into the seatbelt. They cleaned well in the mud, ride quiet and wore slowly. I'm a fan of dedicated winter tires on most vehicles but those are a very good year round truck tire. I'm running them on my 2500 and have no complaints.
X2

Ran them on my truck and my current Pathfinder, good all around tire.
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  #9  
Old 09-10-2013, 03:58 PM
rosh rosh is offline
 
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Duratrac. Good for everything. Got them on my f-150 and Mazda 33"x12.5. Best tire I have had. Got dick cepik on my f350 ill see how they are here during hunting and winter. My opinion
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  #10  
Old 09-10-2013, 05:13 PM
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Ice Fishing Maniac Ice Fishing Maniac is offline
 
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We run Dura-Tracs all year on our trucks. Great Winter tires. I have friends that run a 2nd set that is studded for winter. Been running these tires for at least 5 years now. I am on my second set as of this May on my 2500HD CC 4x4. First set got 97K, (3 years old) could of easily got 10-15K more, just started to get into busy season, pulling trailers (work and play) and I wanted to be safe with the amount of gravel driving coming up. My guess is there is about 25% tread left on the first set...


IMO, best overall tire for pickups.

I run 285x70x17's, some of our trucks have 265x75x16's some 245x18".

DuraTracs come in 20", just pricey...somewhere about $500 rings a bell.
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Old 09-10-2013, 06:15 PM
foothills26 foothills26 is offline
 
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I run the Goodyear wrangler territory from Cdn tire. I get about 40k km out of a set but they see gravel road all the time. Never had flats and by far the best winter tire I have ever had on ice on the hwy. They are really good in mud to the only complaint is they add to the road noise a bit (not a big deal to me though). Not sure what 20" would cost but they come on sale quite often and cant beat them for the money when they do.
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Old 09-10-2013, 08:26 PM
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mayuan mayuan is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foothills26 View Post
I run the Goodyear wrangler territory from Cdn tire. I get about 40k km out of a set but they see gravel road all the time. Never had flats and by far the best winter tire I have ever had on ice on the hwy. They are really good in mud to the only complaint is they add to the road noise a bit (not a big deal to me though). Not sure what 20" would cost but they come on sale quite often and cant beat them for the money when they do.
X2 Been using them for years.
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Old 09-10-2013, 08:37 PM
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Nait Hadya Nait Hadya is offline
 
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Discoverer M&S, studded.
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Old 09-10-2013, 08:37 PM
Duramaximos Duramaximos is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foothills26 View Post
I run the Goodyear wrangler territory from Cdn tire. I get about 40k km out of a set but they see gravel road all the time. Never had flats and by far the best winter tire I have ever had on ice on the hwy. They are really good in mud to the only complaint is they add to the road noise a bit (not a big deal to me though). Not sure what 20" would cost but they come on sale quite often and cant beat them for the money when they do.
X3
I also waited for a sale on these. Been running them as winters for 2 seasons.
Great value and great performance.
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  #15  
Old 09-10-2013, 08:41 PM
Smokinyotes Smokinyotes is offline
 
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I run Nitto terra grapplers on my Duramax in the summer and studded Nokian Hakkapellittas in the winter. I won't go back to running an all season in the winter.
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Old 09-10-2013, 10:02 PM
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AppleJax AppleJax is offline
 
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Nokian Hakkapalitta factory studded tires on my truck. I own the winter, paid 267/tire.
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  #17  
Old 09-11-2013, 12:00 AM
bighorn1 bighorn1 is offline
 
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i run bfg all terian in the summer and toyo winter specific tires. toyo were 1200 installed for a set if 4 and after running actual winter tires i could bever go back to all season in the winter again ever,no comparison at all. you can get bye with an all season but once you have actually ran a winter tire there is no going back.
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  #18  
Old 09-11-2013, 05:41 AM
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roger roger is offline
 
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winter
2500 duramax...goodyear WRT, studded, load range E, very impressive.

My cadillac CTS and the wifes subaru forester rolls on getslavid nordfrosts, factory studded with little square studs..combined with those vehicles traction control systems have its insane amounts of traction.

it should be mandatory to run winter tires in this country. plus it extends your tire budget probably by two to four years.
in my world, i believe in running premium winter tires and junkers in the summer.
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  #19  
Old 09-11-2013, 07:08 AM
Dustin98 Dustin98 is offline
 
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Bf goodwrench mud terrains. Great tire
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  #20  
Old 09-11-2013, 07:37 PM
SHEDHEAD SHEDHEAD is offline
 
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I run good year duratracs on my dodge and they have been great. Check out discount tire direct online. I got 4 275 65 20 for 1300 free shipping to the states. Granted I live close to the border. They work out to about a 34 inch tire about 11.5 wide. Grip the snow and ice real good.
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  #21  
Old 09-11-2013, 09:56 PM
wind drift wind drift is offline
 
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I've been running Wrangler Silent Armors on my Tundra and am impressed with them in every way BUT as a winter tire. I've felt the difference a true winter tire makes and there's no comparison. I just have to get over the mental hurdle of forking over the $, but I'm a believer.
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  #22  
Old 09-12-2013, 12:55 AM
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Kokanee9 Kokanee9 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleJax View Post
Nokian Hakkapalitta factory studded tires on my truck. I own the winter, paid 267/tire.
Excellent snow tires. I couldn't get those in my size, so I settled on Toyo GSI-5 for a dedicated set of snow tires for the truck.
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