Winter tires and rims came in!

[scottdm]

Agree with the squirmy feeling under heavy braking, etc. Studless snows have gotten much better on the noise front since my Nokians are only slightly louder than the Michelin LTX M/S. Installing my snows this afternoon since the weather has turned in western PA. Ran a few miles on snow covered roads with my Michelin’s this past week and that was enough for me.

 

[Deadman]

Makes a huge difference. Whether there's value in that depends on how much snow you get and how long winter lasts where you live.

I'll tell you this ... I'd rather drive my Continental with snows on it in hardpack, slush and snotty wet snow. The only time I'd pick a truck or SUV with all-seasons over it is if snow is accumulating very fast and ground clearance becomes an issue.

Absolutely! My wifes sedan has aggressive snows and I fully expect it to do better than my Max 4x4 on the factory slicks. My only issue is I only drive 2 miles to work, so the engines not even warmed up! lol. I'll try the struggle. If it gets bad I have my 3/4 ton plow truck out anyway...

 

[Rancidlunchmeat]

Can I ask why you got a second set of wheels and tires for snow rather than just going with a new set of wheels and KO2 or Duractracs and running them all year? Is it because you or your wife want the looks of the 20-22 inch wheels and low profile tires rather than the more aggressive ones all year?

 

[scottdm]

Can I ask why you got a second set of wheels and tires for snow rather than just going with a new set of wheels and KO2 or Duractracs and running them all year? Is it because you or your wife want the looks of the 20-22 inch wheels and low profile tires rather than the more aggressive ones all year?

KO2’s and Duratracs still have much harder rubber compounds than dedicated winter tires and have poorer ice traction as a result.

 

[StealthyBulldog]

Can I ask why you got a second set of wheels and tires for snow rather than just going with a new set of wheels and KO2 or Duractracs and running them all year? Is it because you or your wife want the looks of the 20-22 inch wheels and low profile tires rather than the more aggressive ones all year?

Because we only wanted the Stealth pkg, and it comes with 22's

 

[MonkeyBrains]

I just put Duratracs on my Expy. Have run them before on other vehicles, so I know what I’m getting into. They have more noise than the AS tires — it’s that hum or buzz that seems to go with most every AT tire out there, but they ride nice and definitely grip way better under most conditions. They are far superior in mud, slush and snow than all season or winter tires, especially on larger vehicles like this. As scottdm points out above, they are not as good on ice. If you want the best for icy conditions then there are better options — Blizzaks, Ice-X, Iceguard, etc.. Duratracs are studdable and can be purchased as pre-drilled. And if ice is a constant, I would probably recommend that over the softer Blizzaks or similar.

I still have a lot of life left on the Hankook Dynapro HT tires on the 22” rims. I will probably put those back on this spring for a couple of the longer road trips we’ll probably be taking. But maybe not. I can tell since having the Duratracs on for a few days that for general driving it does have an impact on MPG. Not much, but noticeable.

I put on new 18” rims with 275/65r18 Duratracs.

View media item 6985

 

[MonkeyBrains]

I’ll take a bitter pic tomorrow. It’s hard to see from this pic, but the stance is pretty much flush. These tires are 32s’ or the exact same diameter as what came on the truck and a bit narrower at 275 vs. 285 for the Hankooks. I gain about an inch outward on the stance vs stock due to the wheels having a 20mm offset vs. the stock 44mm. I almost went a touch bigger as I know 33’s still fit without rubbing, but I didn’t want to re-tune or hack the computer right now to fix the speedometer and fuel/mileage displays. And they look great as they are, IMO. Wish they had the stealth package option with the black grille when I bought in March ‘18.

 

[CDUBUE]

Money well spent.

 

[GC2019]

We bought a set of these off of eBay, and mounted a set of Toyo Celcius tires for winter. No point in ruining a nice set of 22”, and the Hankook tires are basically a summer tread that will not work in a Buffalo winter.
No need for cutting the axle for this wheel either. It’s was an OEM Expedition wheel in 2016.

 

[StealthyBulldog]

Finally have a picture after cleaning the vehicle! Of course it got dirty on the drive home, so glad I took these in the car wash!