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Snow tires and wheels

J

joshkbomb

1/2 ton status
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Dec 18, 2003
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Location
Lafayette, CO
So I've been spending my time fixing my 87 up to be the primary ski vehicle this winter and now I've gotten to the issue of tires. In the city, I don't think I need them (I know how to drive on the ice). But I'm going to be taking this no ABS truck over I-70 and numerous other Colorado passes this winter and I want to be safe.
I was looking at either the Dunlop Grandtrek SJ6 in 31x10.5x15 or the Michelin Latitude X-Ice in 265x70x15. Any opinions on which one or others I should consider? Any ridicule for spending so much money on tires destined to never go off road?

Also, I'm planning on mounting these on the truck's stock wheels after I've gotten them sandblasted, primered, and powdercoated white (keeping the wheels/tires I have now for summer/off-road use). I was quoted $75/wheel from a shop in Firestone for this, does this sound like a good price or should I just buy some new wheels?

Oh, and I'm looking forward to having the ski equipment on the back being worth more then the truck (especially with nobody wanting one because of gas prices).:haha:
 
price for powdercoating seems fair...i got a quote of $325-$350 for a set of 16x10's...not sure of snow tires since we dont get snow of relevance here in baton rouge...bfg a/t's are good n snow it seems and you could still go offroad with them...not sure id purchase a new set of "snow" tires for a 4wd rig...just my .02
 
What he said. I say buy some offroad tires you like and then sipe the hell out of them. That's what we do. My wife's DD has small MT's on them that I siped and they're great in the winter. Stick to the slick stuff and dig through the deep stuff.

However for winter rims I'd consider some sort of aluminum wheel since it would be lighter and wouldn't rust.
 
It's not the going that worries me, it's the stopping. All cars have 4 wheel stop (and most have ABS).
If I was just around town I wouldn't worry about it, but sliding off some pass or getting run over by an 18-wheeler in blizzard at 10,000 ft does. Maybe you're right and all I need is just a better all-terrain tire (options?). The Dick Cepek Radial FCII's I have now are pretty bad on the ice which is what spawned this discussion. They're awesome on the pavement and off-road though which is why I want to refurbish my unused stock wheels and get some winter tires.
 
Is rusting going to be a problem anymore after they're powdercoated? I've heard it's pretty bulletproof.
 
bfgoodrich a/t's are good in snow from what i've read...have you tried to do a search on here for any threads titled "best snow tires for 4x4's" or something of that nature??? any name brand a/t tire should do well in regular snow-going AND stopping...stopping really depends on driver awareness more than anything in my opinion...
 
not unless you bang em up pretty good...also couple good coats of primer and paint would work well too for a lot less money...just have to make sure to clean em real good and cover everything good...
 
Colorado doesnt salt their roads so rust is not that big of a deal. ABS is, in my opinion, for people who don't know how to drive their vehicles. Too much speed, following to close in traffic, and standing on the brakes in a panic are usually what causes problems which or course are all caused by unsafe driving. If the roads are so bad that you are afraid of crashing off of a cliff then put chains on.
 
I have Toyo A/T's on my Yukon, and I swear they are nearly as good as a dedicated snow tire, especially on a 4x4. And I didn't sipe them, just what the factory did is all. I'm not really a believer in that siping technology yet.
 
you could also do a search on tirerack.com they have excellent reviews on tires and rate them in different terrains as well...
 
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454k30 said:
Colorado doesnt salt their roads so rust is not that big of a deal. ABS is, in my opinion, for people who don't know how to drive their vehicles. Too much speed, following to close in traffic, and standing on the brakes in a panic are usually what causes problems which or course are all caused by unsafe driving. If the roads are so bad that you are afraid of crashing off of a cliff then put chains on.
Click to expand...

Until I learn how to pump the brake 20 times a second, ABS will be the better way of stopping on the ice.
 
Yeah, he lives in SoCal, where people that are REALLY irresponsible need ABS. Those of us that live in the snowy parts of the world appreciate ABS.:D:wink1:
 
blazin' j said:
you could also do a search on tirerack.com they have excellent reviews on tires and rate the in different terrains as well...
Click to expand...

That's where I got the suggestions originally. I just wanted to get the opinions of some people with the same vehicle as me instead of someone in an accord.
I did search here for snow tires and most of the threads were too old or not helpful.

I'm going to have to check out those Nokians, they're usually cheaper.
 
noJeepshere said:
Yeah, he lives in SoCal, where people that are REALLY irresponsible need ABS. Those of us that live in the snowy parts of the world appreciate ABS.:D:wink1:
Click to expand...
Believe me, if there was some way of installing ABS on my Blazer, I would. But it probably would cost a fortune even if it were possible.

A couple years ago drove my sister's Lumina sedan (my first time in a vehicle with ABS) on some ice and man was it nice to just slam the brake and have the car do all the work for me. It stopped in a shorter distance than I would have been able to do in the blazer too.
 
Maybe the Nokians aren't so cheap. I'll probably be looking at close to $200/tire installed but I should wait until I call a local shop and see what kind of deal I can cut.
They seem like good tires though (lots of good reviews online) and would definitely last longer than a Blizzak or something like that. The warranty is 50,000 miles.
I'm liking these: http://www.nokiantires.com/en/tire_hakkalt.aspx?season=winter
 
I'm actually getting ready to buy some tires as well and snow is probably more what's I need tired for than rocks. I was leaning toward the procomp AT's since they have the M+S rating. I had a set of 33's and didn't have any problems on the small amount of slushy snow\ice up in tahoe a couple years ago.
 
i have blizex (sp) tires on my car, they are great i can actually get around some time, where i live in the winter we see on average 280 inches of snow a year so i do a lot of snow driving
 
slamming on the brakes in any kind of inclement weather isn't a good idea...if its more braking power you'd like out of your blazer, put a rear disc conversion on it (not sure if the make it for a stock rear end tho)...most people w/4wd blazers on here probably just use some sort of a/t tire for snow driving and a mt/ if they're venturing offroad in the snow...not sure how well a snow tire designed for a car(blizzak) would work on a 4wd truck tho...check out the general grabber hts...4wheeler magazine did a write up on it and it seemed to perform really well for an a/t...better than most of the snow tires it went up against...
 
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