Winter Tires

From my personal experience, the Dunlap OEM tires are pretty bad in snow/ice. I was wondering what the thought is on a good all-season tire for snow. I don't want snow tires because I don't daily my 4runner and it'd be too much of a hassle to store and switch tires twice a year for a car without too much mileage. It seems like most recommendations are for KO2's or Michelin Defenders. Any thoughts on this topic?

Thanks!

 

Welcome, there is a butt load of threads on winter tires on this forum.
https://www.4runners.com/threads/snow-tire-recommendations-2019-sr5.11516/#post-116370

 

Welcome.
Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S is a good tire

 

Thanks for the welcome and the link in the right direction!

 

Welcome to the forum!

Will you be off-roading the truck as well?

I'm beyond satisfied with my KO2's, but wouldn't use them if I wasn't hitting trails.

The Michelins are excellent tires as well, and probably a better fit if you're not going off-road a lot.

What do you use your 4runner for?

 

If its snow/ice and pavement only I would go with the michelin or Cooper at3.

 

Welcome. I have read a lot of good things about the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W. So much so that I just ordered a set because I want good tires for the NY winter that's coming. These are what I ordered.
https://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/falken/wildpeak-a-t3w/p/TV093001471

 

That's a good point. I'm mainly going to be pavement with occasional dirt roads in the mountains. I'm mainly looking for best snow on pavement performance without getting snow tires.

 

I had Yokohama Geolander AT's on my previous 4runner, and was constantly impressed with the snow traction. They became noisy as they wore, but I didn't rotate them so that could be the reason.

The Falken Wildpeak AT's are very popular right now, and are supposed to be very good in snow.

 

Nokian WR G4 SUV sounds perfect for you. It’s it’s not a big heavy bulky all terrain, it’s an all weather tire, similar all season but it works very well in the snow.

 

I have always had BFG's tires on my 85 4 Runner and I do drive it a lot in all seasons...they are the best in my opinion all around tires for on and off road. I've been in snow over twelve inches, rain, dry and off road mud and they have always performed Great!!! I do have the new BFG KO's now and are just as good as the older BFG's if not better. Great tires that wear and perform in all seasons...you can't go wrong with them...plus they look Great too!!!

 

After owning both K02s and Ridge Grapplers I’d never buy K02s again, Ridge Grapplers are superior in almost every way. The K02s have an advantage in snow, the Ridge Grapplers have in advantage in literally everything else.

 

I was considering those as my street tires if I buy a dedicated set for trails.

 

Meh. There's a bunch of guy saying the same thing about Falkens. I'm sure they're nice tires. I looked at them and passed because of the weight.

 

I have to put my vote in for the ever popular Duratracs. On both work trucks & our runner! I would say we like them!

 

i guess everyone has their own opinion on Ridge Grapplers; I'm currently running them and don't like the performance in rainy or snowy conditions; everything else i agree that its superior but not when conditions are wet.

 

For wet or snowy conditions your best friend is siping. Here is a comparison between the Ridge Grapplers and the Duratracs. It is clear which is made for snow & ice.
Yes, you can have your tires Siped! That may be an option depending upon your preference.
Good luck!


Edit * Note to everyone; none of these are ice tires! Hell, they may be snow rated but that all comes down to the drivers ability. Don't over drive it & expect it to get out. Every tire has it's limits.*

 

This is interesting, because the biggest complaint I hear about KO2's is that they're bad in rain and snow. I've had no issues in either, but I have owned tires that were better in these conditions.

By looking at them(the Nittos), they look like they would be better in mud. I can't imagine them being much better at anything else, though.

This is funny to me. KO2's are consistently ranked very high in nearly every category. Then, every time another manufacturer comes along with a comparable tire, people run out and buy them and say that they're better. Some even claim that KO2's are "junk." But, people continue to buy them, and drive all over and through all kinds of conditions with them.

Of course they have some competition now. But, they're still great tires in my book.

 

From my experience, Ridge Grapplers are only good in dry conditions; i have zero complaints when it comes to dirt or pavement performance. As soon as the terrain gets wet my ass cheeks are for sure puckering up and my grip on the steering wheel gets slightly tighter. I've played around with my psi and still not happy with the performance on wet conditions; I came to a conclusion that comparing tires is as subjective as comparing handguns and brands of sliced bread. haha

 

Absolutely!

Everyone has their own preferences. And, driving style will affect how well tires handle different situations.

I believe that I run my KO2's a bit lower than most, 35 PSI, C load rating. I'm not sure how much this contributes to my opinion of them. But, it seems like most people will keep them at 38-40.

 

The K02s had decent wet weather braking when brand new but that fell off very very quickly. I’ve had more ABS activations with the K02s than any other tire I’ve ever had on any vehicle. I will take Ridge Grapplers when it’s wet over K02s any day.

 

I have used KOs, KO2s, Rugged Terrains, and Rugged Trails before in the past and have found BfGoodrich in general doesn’t do well in the rain. I always got a lot of wheel spin in rain and forget about the ice! Even when the tires were brand new...never been super impressed. In light snow they have been okay and in deep snow the KO2s rocked. I feel the same way about Goodyear...nothing to write home about. Outside of the Michelin LTX series, the original Nitto Terra Grappler and Yokohama ATS did a much better job in rain/ice/snow than BFG and GY. There seems to be a lot of competition in the tire field these days and the bigger brands are slacking a little bit. Take Michelin for example, the Defender LTX is an unbelievably great tire in all weather (for what it is) but half the car
line (not high performance) is struggling to keep up with others due to poor wear and winter weather ability. I run Yokohama’s on my commuter car and they are better than Michelin’s car tires I have used in the past. However they are not as comfortable. I believe every manufacturer has their “go to tire” but lately there are some excellent choices from most the the large players.

Ahh yes the beauty of capitalism...spark competition to deliver better products for us Toyota freaks...

 

I have about 23K on my KO2's. If what some people are saying were true, I definitely would have been in a ditch a few months ago.

Based on what I observe while I'm driving in bad weather, there are many people who drive way too aggressively for conditions. I guess it's easier to blame the tires than take responsibility.

Not that there aren't better tires for rain and snow. But, many people have zero problems. Sometimes you need to understand the limitations of your vehicle and drive accordingly.

 

Yeah, lot of people don’t realize all terrains are much worse that an OEM all season in a lot of situations. Wet and dry traction, braking, and handling is reduced when you switch to an all terrain. They are adequate at everything and great at nothing.

 

You are 100% correct...people drive much too aggressively in wintery condition especially those who drive SUV's and pickup trucks. They are hands down the worst. And most people don't understand the differences between driving different vehicles. I drive slow in general usually 70 or under. But I guess I should clarify my critic of the KO2s. I have read several instances were guys running caused them to spin out on exit ramps or accerating on a bend. I never had any such issues with BFG. That is hands down driver error-speeding in my opinion. My largest complaint came from taking off from a dead or rolling stop. Now granted I ran them on a few different pickup trucks which inherently has a tendency to spin. With the Michelins that barely if ever happened. Where I lived you sometimes have to give a little extra gas otherwise you will be at an intersection for days. NY/NJ/PA drivers have to be some of the most inconsiderate driver's on the planet. For me having to let off the gas due to spinning tires in the middle of an intersection is a little scary. Speeding and aggressive driving isn't the tires fault but all tires and manufacturers have strong/weak points.

 

Obviously it varies by area but I’m in hard disagreement with you here. In Colorado it’s Subarus. Everytime it snows here those dipshits lines the ditches. I swear they all think it’s going to handle like a snowmobile because it’s “symmetrical AWD”, nevermind the garbage no season tires in the snow up winding mountain passes. Since moving to Colorado 8 years ago I’ve come to despise Subaru’s and a vast majority of their owners.


Sorry for the rant. Even my mom is one of those idiots, she bought a Subaru because it’s AWD so it’ll be good on the snow, she refused to believe that some snow tires on her Matrix would outperform her new Stupidaru on The all seasons she’s going to run year round.

 

Lol! Funny but true!

In my area, I feel like full sized trucks are the biggest culprit. But, there's no shortage of idiots in any type of car.

I agree about snow tires as well. We have Hakkapliittas on a Scion TC, and I would take that over the 4runner on all seasons. The 4runner on snows would be ridiculous!

 

I used Blizzaks on my 4Runner Limited, full time 4WD with dedicated winter tires and lots of ground clearance, it’s a tank. In fact it’s so good it’s frustrating. The capability gap between my setup and your average ill equipped vehicle is so massive it’s almost a waste because your always stuck behind a pos slowly sliding around anyway.