Tires (22")

I know there have been many posts about tires, but I have to relay this. Last year, I made it to the mountains many times with the factory Hankooks. As you all have found, they are horrible in snow and ice, but I never got stuck. Well, today was the day. Stevens pass got a good dumping today. The highway had a bunch of stop and go. Right at the pass, the road banks right at the first entrance to the ski area parking. I witnessed 4 cars going sideways just trying to move slowly. Fortunately, I was able to inch over to the high shoulder and get in a few inches of fresh, before finding a window and going for it. I took a picture from our first chairlift and you can see what looks like a capable 4x4, stuck sideways into the bank.

Thankfully, I got a mostly flat spot in the upper parking lot. However when I pulled in, the tires just spun. I tried to back up and go forward again to pack down a little section, but it was hopeless and the car on one side was a little close, so I just parked it. Upon returning, the closer vehicle was gone but when we went to get out, the wheels just spun. 4L, locking diff, mud/snow setting - none of it made a difference. I wonder if my attempts when first parking actually sealed my fate by freezing a nice little wheel hole.
Dug and dug and got it to move about 6 inches... into the next hole. Then I gave up and pulled out the chains. Before I got them on, the neighbor on the other side showed up and pulled us out. Nice little Jeep, thank you!

When we finally got our beast out, I just had to take a picture. The 'holes' I was stuck in were embarrassingly small! The factory Expy is just pathetic in the snow. The tires are crap and that stupid transmission is impossible to shift back and forth between R and D to rock out of a bind. Don't get me wrong, I love the truck, just hate getting stuck.

I'd love to hear tire recommendations. My use is lots of city/highway and 10-15 trips to the snow a year. Currently eyeing the Falken Wildpeak and Conti TerrainContact. I love the 22's but after today's mishap, I'm one step closer to changing to 20", which would open up many more choices.

I put dedicated 22" winter tires on my factory rims.

The BFG TA sport are an all weather 22" that I would consider. There are many other AT all weather tires in 22" as well. My '20 Lariat F150 has the Toyo ATIII and they have been great.

Huh. There’s no reason you should’ve got stuck there. As you’ve deduced, the tires are just not up to the task. I watched the Tire Rack reviews which included the continental tires: while they came in last (out of 4) in the snow section, it wasn’t a tragedy by any means, and appeared capable. They did the best in the wet conditions, though.

Anything but the OEM!

Wow, looking again at tire rack, there are quite a lot of choices! Ironically, Hankook does have a good looking AT tire at a good price but I just can't trust the brand after dealing with the crummy factory tires.

Those Hankook AT2 are actually pretty good all weather tires. A worthwhile consideration as I had them on a previous F150 and overall they were above average.

These have been night and day upgrade over the Handkook garbage

I just spent the day driving through a hell of a lot of snow up in the mountains, testing out these OEM’s and I was very surprised at how well they did especially in snow mode. I’m guessing it’s because they are new but I’m pretty confident they will suffice this season.

I have factory 22" with the Hankook, mine are HTs. I've kept the HT's on for now in summer but purchased Blizzak DMV2's (on 18" aftermarket wheels from TR) for winter soon after taking delivery of the vehicle. The SUV handles spectacularly in the snow (we take 3+ trips a year out to Colorado's Summit Co to ski) on the B's. I've hit white-out conditions on I80 several times and been up in the mountains with 10"+ falling overnight and the vehicle has never skipped a beat/felt out of control. The OEM tires on the other hand are TERRIBLE. I had the misfortune of converting back to the 22" rims and HT tires one March for a spring break trip to FL. Unfortunately we got hit with a couple inches of snow the week we were leaving, it was terrifying driving in snow without the dedicated snow tires on. Also, I would recommend against going to AT tires with the mountain symbol as an alternative....they are winter rated but not nearly as effective as dedicated snow tires on the road. MT had an article articulating the same (as have other magazines)...https://www.motortrend.com/features/1612-diggin-snow-we-test-the-best-tread-design-for-driving-in/
Good luck....

John Ferrero said:

I have factory 22" with the Hankook, mine are HTs. I've kept the HT's on for now in summer but purchased Blizzak DMV2's (on 18" aftermarket wheels from TR) for winter soon after taking delivery of the vehicle. The SUV handles spectacularly in the snow (we take 3+ trips a year out to Colorado's Summit Co to ski) on the B's. I've hit white-out conditions on I80 several times and been up in the mountains with 10"+ falling overnight and the vehicle has never skipped a beat/felt out of control. The OEM tires on the other hand are TERRIBLE. I had the misfortune of converting back to the 22" rims and HT tires one March for a spring break trip to FL. Unfortunately we got hit with a couple inches of snow the week we were leaving, it was terrifying driving in snow without the dedicated snow tires on. Also, I would recommend against going to AT tires with the mountain symbol as an alternative....they are winter rated but not nearly as effective as dedicated snow tires on the road. MT had an article articulating the same (as have other magazines)...https://www.motortrend.com/features/1612-diggin-snow-we-test-the-best-tread-design-for-driving-in/
Good luck....

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I’m on the Hankook HT’s and made it through a pass just fine last night and icy roads this morning. Putting it on snow mode made a big difference. Next season will definitely get either Blizzaks or Nokians. I’m sure my only reason for success is they are still almost brand new. I slowed down in that pic since a plow was coming at me. But was easily doing 50.

I recently had a four wheel skid on a s curve section that leads to my local Costco. I easily caught it, and I went in a little fast for it being wet out, but that was ********. I’ve driven several vehicles over that same stretch and never experienced anything like that. I’ve got under 11k on these and can’t justify trashing them…yet.