Snow Tires / Ice Rating

Hello all!

I am currently driving a 2022 TRD-Off Road, with KDSS and stock Nitto Ridgegrapplers. I live in Colorado and have experienced some slips throughout the previous winter. I was wondering if it would be worth it to invest into some snow tires this year to avoid the fishtailing / sliding I have previously encountered. Here are some questions about snow tires:

• If you recommend any snow tires, which tires should I look at?
• The toyota dealerships 'tire professional' recommended some Falken tires that are 'Ice-rated'? Is ice-rated even a real thing?
• If I procure a set of snow tires, would it be more worth it to get rims as well so I can just take them on and off with regards to the season?
• While driving on a very thin sheet of snow on the highway, would it be recommended to engage 4-wheel drive? I understand that it is problematic to be in 4-wheel drive while on any pavement, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, the last time I went to the dealership they charged me $130 for an alignment, which seems to be a normal price. I went to Firestone the other day and mentioned they had a life-time (for the same car) alignment deal for $220 for unlimited alignments. I feel as if this is a great deal, should I engage in the contract?

Thank you for the help!

 

No idea about the ice tires seeing as we don't have ice here.

But we have the lifetime alignment for the wifes RX since it will never be modded. Worth do our annual safety check at Firestone and make them do the alignment same time. It doesn't cost much more.

 

Not surprised as they are not winter rated tires. Also they are not stock either. They are installed at the local port or dealership as part of the tire package you selected.

This pic would help you to give bit of understanding on the topic.
Tires with 3 peak mountain snow symbol will help the rubber compound to be soft even at winter tepms retaining the grip.

Here in CO even in Winter time we get warmer days I like to run All weather / All Terrain Tire with 3 peak mountain snowflake symbol over a dedicated winter tire. The best winter rated tire I've used is Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac.

Yes I had good luck with Falken Wildpeak AT3W. Its a decent All Terrain Tire with 3 peak mountain snowflake symbol.

You should be on 4H driving on a snowy day. Just switch to 2H if you have to do any tight turns if the road is dry on that turn.

To my experience Toyota dealerships are not that capable of doing good alignment. Shops like R4T, Toytec, RSG are by far better alignment places that do alignment for about $100-120. Even BrakePlus in Centennial 80112 next to JazzitUp did better alignment than Toyota Dealerships near by.

For tire jobs I really like Discount tire for tire install and Road Force balance work.

 

Some here have said Wildpeak AT3W do good in the snow and summer months. Maybe someone can chime in that has these.

 

I'd say winter tires are not 100% guarantee good handling in snow but they are help a lot. And I turn on 4Hi every time load looks slippery or if I see patches of snow on the road. I drive on roads where snow gets blown over from farmer fields and believe me you don't want to hit a deep patch of show on speed in 2HI even with show tires. For myself I solved problem with snow tires by getting Goodyear Duratrac tires. They rated for deep snow and they are good off-road tires, so I drive them year round but I have to replace them every 50K miles or so.

 

If you truly want maximum control and safety in the snow - particularly hard pack and ice, the only way to fly is a true Ice and Snow tire. What's that? Here's a good description:

What is the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake Symbol? | Tire Rack

If you want the Cliff's Notes version of the above, Three Peak rated tires offer the absolute best traction in ice and snow. That said, they're not very good in warmer / drier conditions. Most folks (myself included) only run them when it's cold and snowing. Speaking of which, what do I run in an area that averages 100" of snow each winter? In over 50 years of driving, the absolute hands down best tires I've found are Blizzaks. These go on my T4R from December thru March:

 

The important thing about winter tires is really how they behave in cold temps - sure, the snow traction is great, but when you're dealing with single digit or sub zero conditions, you do NOT want tires that aren't winter rated.

 

This is for Denver (www.denver.org/about-denver/resources/weather/). Not sure where OP is.

 

Studded snow tires would do the trick.

 

Dedicated snow tires (Blizzaks and others) will outperform a 3 peak A/T in cold, snowy conditions. The problem is you have to change them over when it warms up otherwise they wear very quickly. I use DuraTrac's as my winter tires- they work OK, but at least there is no rush to swap them over in the spring. A second set of wheels is nice because it make the changeover easy and keep the summer wheels away from salt and winter crud. As far as alignments go, I have the Firestone screw-up-your-car-for-life alignment. I've been to various Firestone shops in my area and in 11 visits for alignments, they have only done it correct once. All the other times took at least one trip back. The alignment equipment might be very accurate, but it requires the moron running it to pay attention to details.

 

Also, don’t swap them over yourself.

If you call around, you’ll probably find a place that’ll do it for $20 or so.

 

I am in CO as well. for the first few years I just used my BFG Ko2's year round and they work perfectly. They are 3 peak MS rated and work fine around town even in deep snow. I do all of my camping/hunting in winter so I ended up buying a set of nokian hakkapelita LT3 snow tires for winter driving on unplowed backcountry roads. But to give you an idea for the places I go that would warrant the snow tires I also carry chains, traction boards, and have a winch and recovery gear. They are better than good all terrains in winter but they still won't perform miracles.

If you have an extra set of wheels, extra space and extra money they are nice to have. I would not go out of my way to get them though as a good set of all terrains with 3PMSF rating will do just fine under typical use in CO's temps/weather.

As for the alignment, it is misleading because unless you are messing with your suspension constantly, You should not need an alignment very often. So $150-200 for a one-time alignment at a "good" shop is worth it since you may not need another alignment for 4-5 years or more.

 

On snowy, icy paved, plowed roads, how much better are the Hakkapelita tires than the 3PMSF tire would be? I am stuck deciding on dedicated Blizzaks or Wildpeak AT3W up here near Spokane, WA.

 

Toyo AT3 (3-peak rated) go good in the snow/ice for me. Still some sliding but no tire is 100% fullproof on black ice.

https://gearjunkie.com/motors/toyo-open-country-at3-review

 

I'm in Ellensburg. My wildpeak at3w have been adequate for our pnw conditions. They aren't as good as the blizzaks on my audi but I have not felt the need to run dedicated snows on the 4runner and I'm in the cascades every couple days in the winter

 

Good to know. Prob get a little more snow but similar climates otherwise. Have you had an sliding or sketchy situations with the Wildpeaks?

 

Sketchy no but sliding yes. However sliding is predictable and you'll slide even with dedicated snows. It just depends on the conditions. I rarely have it in 4wd on plowed snow covered roads.

 

My Duratracs have been great in the snow. I used to put Vredestein snows on my cars but with the 4R and Duratracs (They can be studded for ice) i am good with one tire all year round. So nice not having to swap.

 

If I had to give it a number I would say 20% better than my KO2's(when they were new) on ice/snow on normal roads but my snow tires are also the studded version. I have had blizzaks on other cars in the past. They work great but don't last long. 50% tread on blizzaks is when the foam tread compound wears out and they are considered done. Next year I need new tires and may go with AT3W's over KO2 for my normal season tires.

I am going to run non-studded hakkapelita R2's on my rs5 this winter and see how they do.

If I were you I would just get AT3W's. swapping and storing snow tires is a hassle and I wouldn't do it myself if I didnt need it for extreme conditions where I typically camp in 0 to-25 temps.

 

I have heard many people comments on the FALKEN WILDPEAK A/T3W tires and say they are a great year-round tire out here in Colorado. They mentioned they are great for the winter. Has anybody owned a set of these or heard about them? $1,450 after installation seems a bit much. I'll be shopping around if these FALKEN tires are the move. I have seen a couple of 4runners out here with them equipped.

 

I've had 'em for 3 yrs/60,000 miles. 275/70/17. I do a 5 tire rotate. They do well in the snow, ride smooth and quiet (for an AT tire) on the interstate, and have not let me down on 3 trips to Moab. There is plenty of tread life left in them. Is $1450 for 4 or 5 tires? I paid $1250 installed for 5 at Discount Tire. They have increased in price.
https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-tires/falken-wildpeak-a-t3w/p/89994

 

I paid about $1500 for five installed. I don't know about snow and ice performance yet, but I'm otherwise very happy.

 

I paid $1,049.26 for my set of Falken's. But they're 265/70 R17 AT3's. (Set of 4).

That price included taxes and mounting.

 

Just got 4 265/70R17 SL rated, with 4 new TPMS sensors installed-$1,287.