Snow Tires - Studded

[driver3]

Allright everyone... I've been out here in Colorado for about a month now.. and my tires that were great in Ohio, are not so good out here. I've been doing a lot of trail riding in the snow and ice and driving up to Breckenridge and Keystone for snowboarding. I'm going to get yet another set of tires for my truck and it looks like these are the ones. Light Truck.. something like 8-10 ply.. they are very heavy.. and about 31.5X9... here's a site that has the description...

http://www.vulcantire.com/wintcatssts_s.htm

Can I get some comments on these? the whole package mounted should be about 515.96+tax...

My goal here is a snow monster that can go anywhere this winter... TOD with studded tires has to be the ultimate...

[AlaskaVX]

Those look like excellent street snow tires! If you want a good MT tire that does pretty good on the ice I would go with TrXus MT tires. I just did some trail riding and they did awesome in the snow! Ya they won't be anything like the tires above on icey street but if your looking for an offroad tire that does OK (really good for mud terrain) on ice then TrXus MT is the way to go IMO.

[Todd Adams]

Keep in mind that you can only run the studded tires during the winter months. I am not sure of the dates in Colorado.
As far as I am concerned the best snow tire and all around tire is the BFG AT KO. If you get in real deep snow there is no substitute for chains.
Todd

[driver3]

Colorado doesn't have any dates you have to take them off.

I still have my Kumho's for the summer, then my uniroyals for the dirt and mud and these will be my winter going to the ski slopes and everyday snow driving tires. The lack of salt in the springs here leaves ice everywhere, and I need something for the ice.. I know ice is pretty much impossible.. but I just tap the gas here and can spin out really easy, not to mention the mountain driving in the snow and the uniroyals I'm using were excellent in Ohio... and they have tons of tread left, so I'll keep them for the summer trail. I will be mostly on the road for the winter here, I'm just not feeling comfortable with my current set up here.

I really like the studded tire idea, seems like people with rear wheel drive use them and do very well.. I can't imagine how nice with 4 and 4wheeldrive...

[AlaskaVX]

Those tires should do real well on the icey/light snow streets. But don't go out spinning your tires or you will loose the studs quick (look for steel studs). Also don't get too confident in the studs as sometimes they won't bite, most of the time they will, but sometime they just don't do squat (just can't find anything to bite into)

Studs rock but that puts an end to having fun on the ice.

[Ldub]

Another brand you may wish to look into is Nokian, made in Finland. I am seriously looking at these for winter tires..good grippy tread pattern, lots of sipeing (sp.?)& also studable.

Happy Trails, Ldub

[kinnaq]

Originally posted by Lawrence Wussow
Another brand you may wish to look into is Nokian, made in Finland. I am seriously looking at these for winter tires..good grippy tread pattern, lots of sipeing (sp.?)& also studable.

Happy Trails, Ldub


Here are the tires I have: Hakkapeliitta SUV

Sz. ----------Ld Ind. --Prod#- Wt. lbs--Rim W.--Ovrl. Dia. Ovrl. W.
245/70R16_108T__ T443650_32___ 6.5-8 7 __29.5 _____9.8

Trd. Depth (32nd) Stud Sz. (TSMI) Stud Sz. (mm)
15 ______________12__________ 8-11


Yes, the Nokian's are supposed to be good. I purchased some in town and they were quite expensive at $798.00 for a set. They were studded with those aluminum shoulder type. I was told by this shop they only came studded from the factory, but I was still charged $10 a tire for 'em!

I have driven about 1300 miles on them so far and they are good on the street or highway if there isn't a lot of snow. I had asked for tires good in both types of environment and was told they were good in the snow.
I almost got stuck in my driveway two weeks ago. The snow varied in depth from 3" all the way up to just over a foot, I might add that my driveway is on an incline. They don't seem to do well in thick/heavy snow from about 3" in depth on up (they fill up rapidly with snow).

The Nokian's cost a lot because of where they are made; the 'proprietary' compound in the tire itself and the special way the studs are inserted into the tire, with a (for a lack of better word) separate rubber backing behind the stud itself.
This is supposed to keep the stud above the surface of the tire for the life of the stud.

The Nokian's are supposed to have a newer (improved?) tire pattern in this model, but it wasn't offered in the size our Vx's used.

I was going to purchase a set of blizzak's but they couldn't get them until a week later. I had used blizzak's on an Audi TT in the past. It drove like it was summer time with those tires.

With the Blizzak's they would have been $120 cheaper for the set.

Maybe someone else has a better experience to offer from being in the snow, ice, etc., than I have. I still don't know if these are worth the premium in price. Maybe they will last a lot longer than any other winter tire - as the (but of course) tire seller claims.

Good luck in your tire search, let us know your results!

[Ldub]

Kinnaq,

Thanks for the info. on Nokian, real world experience beats dealer hype & brochure bs hands down. Glad you posted this before I made my final choice. The Hakkapelitta SUV were the ones I was looking at, though now I may still consider the Blizzak.

Thanks again, Ldub

[driver3]

Phines also has nokkians, no studs though.. but I can't spend 750

Thanks for the info on losing the studs.. I will have to be careful. I'm going to wait one more weekend and see if I can get used to the m+s one's I have, then I'll be closer to the ome springs. I don't want to have "fun" on the ice anymore.. LOL

I'm going to post a question soon about ome rear springs, then either crank the torsion bars or flip the ball joints... I need to know what's worse on the cv's.. I need the lift, I want to know the safest way... I bounce alot.. (reading the other post about cv angles and bouncing) I only post this here because AlaskavX is reading this one...

[AlaskaVX]

Well since this is your thread I guess I will post here. If you plan on installing OME (old man emu) springs, you will be cranking the torsion bars to match the lift in rear from OME springs. Cranking the torsion bars increases the angle of CV's which makes them more prone to breaking. The way I somewhat fixed it was by installing a 1.5" differential drop bracket (from Darlington offroad) which drops your differential and in turn staightens out your CV's. I will get a pic sometime of the other VXers CV angle compared to mine, but they were amazed at how much straighter they are with only a 1.5" drop. The only reason you really flip your ball joints it for easier alignment and extra 1/2" down travel. But it doesn't take much to do it.

The differential drop brackets takes a LOT to install, very spendy ($750+ installed), but for me not to break $900 CV's it's worth it. Unless you drive hard or go offroad this really isn't necessary as the CV's will mostly only break when stressed hard at awkward angles. Of course I even managed to break them at stock height, but I think I'm the only one....:mbrasd:

I also installed a 1" spring spacer which adds an extra inch of lift in which you also need to crank the torsion bar an extra inch (to match). So the OME springs lift it 2.5" and the spacer adds 1", that is 3.5" of lift (front should match by cranking torsion bars) and then my front diff is dropped 1.5". So in other words my CV's are at an angle of the torsion bar being cranked 2" when really it is cranked 3.5".

I tried to make that as easiliy understandable as possible but let me know if you have more questions.

[driver3]

Ok.. so 750 installed for the drop brackets? Can I do it myself, I know it's a bit difficult, but I'd rather do it myself if I can. Ok and here's another what-if.. whatif I just get the 2.5 lift with the ome springs (no spacers) and just do the torsion bars enough to level.. I off road quite a bit, is the angle going to be a problem? I do have a tendency to go fast over a lot of terrain.. so I'm thinking the drop brackets may be necessary.

Oh, and my extent of working on the vx is wheelbearings, brakes, etc... I did replace engine mounts on a friends truck once... that was a pain by myself... but anyway I think I could maybe attept it.. I'll just do a whole weekend job... let me know if you think I'm crazy on this one...

[AlaskaVX]

It's definately possible to do it yourself, the only reason I had a shop do it was that there is over a foot of snow on the ground and no garage. It will most likely take you a weekend to do the lift with drop brackets by yourself. You will need to get new axle seals because you will have to take it out. The brackets alone were $350 with a $100 return on the core at www.Darlington_offroad.com Make sure you get the one with the crossmember drop bracket as well (most expensive on his site)

I would suggest getting the spring spacer if you plan on dropping the diff, you will be very happy with the results! And its only like $100 more for the extra 1". I think you will also need new rear shocks with this setup though, fronts will be fine, I have the Bilstein part #'s in my profile. The ones I got are supposedley a tad bit long and the shop said I could possibly loose a spring but I went wheeling and it didn't even hiccup. I like the feel of the rear shocks I got, but my fronts seem a little soft/bouncey.

I also got 2" rear bump stop extensions, no need for brakeline extension.

[SkidPlate]

I had a new set of tires put on today. Went with the Firestone Destination M/T with Studs. 245/75R16 on the factory 16s I had laying around.

I decided to go with studs since the Destination M/Ts have no siping(sp?) at all. Hopefully they'll perform for me pretty well this winter. Studs have to be off by April 15th in PA, I'm sure I'll be ready to put the 18"s back on by then.


http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/48img_2161s.jpg

[newthings]

Many places will cut a high density of sipes into your tires.

[driver3]

I ended up with chains, $140 from autozone. These are amazing, I've never used chains before but I have to say they are better than I expected.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/2/18P1140019-med.JPG

Up ahead on this trail was a section going up with a drift, probably 3 feet deep or so for about a hundred feet, the trailhead for the hike was only a 1/4 mile so there was no point in going any further, I had attempted and made it maybe 10 feet before realizing how deep it was a throwing it into reverse and getting out. My friends came up behind about 5 minutes later, they insisted their Audi Allroad was going to just plow right through... needless to say I had to pull them out, but I had no traction without the chains so I tried them out and didn't even spin a tire... Very Cool.