I suggest you mount real snow & ice tires for winter seasonal use, but not mud and snow "all season" tires which are marketed to people who don't have a serious need for winter tires. Studs are nice, and are necessary if you are constantly driving on ice but come with their own limitations - more noise, more damage to roads and more expensive. I use a set of 4 studded ice tires here in Saskatchewan from November to April because I'm driving on ice as often as not. You are not likely to be driving on ice most of the time on your way to Alaska on paved roads. If you have a 4 wheel drive, you'll be Ok with ice radials all around. If you are driving a 2 wheel drive, put studs on the back set and weight in the box as already mentioned.
Tests have shown that the so-called 'all season's aren't any better than highway tires on slick stuff. They're made for high mileage and high speed. The rubber's too hard for a good grip and the so-so tread doesn't make any difference.
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Many of today's cars do not have clearance for a set of chains. But if you are driving a pick-up you should have clearance for real chains, at least on the back. I highly recommend heavy duty chains with cam tighteners on the side chain. They are a smaller version of the chains used by interstate truckers. They are the only way to really tighten a set of chains on the tire.
Some of the newer pickups don't have clearance for chains, either. At best, they'll tell you to use the light weight car chains. My Dodge 2500 is like that with stock tires but I run narrower ones that give me extra clearance.
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I wouldn't use the studs and I would say they might be illegal in some of the states you will be driving through. I put some Folkon Wildpeaks AT3 on my Ford F150 4X4 and they were good in snow and ice. I think the Nokian tires are the best as far as snow and ice tires. They are soft rubber and have a lot of grip but will wear out in about a year and a half if you keep them on after the snow season. A set of chains is a good thing to have stored in the back if traveling in real snow country.
Fly, dont drive, Dennis. Southerners cant drive on snow like Yanks can.
most of that video is in Russia... where you think they would know how to drive in snow..
most common denominator of accidents in winter... too much excessive speed for the conditions..
I worry more about the other guy than I do the road conditions...
too many people see someone going faster than every one else on the freeway, and is doing okay, so they will speed up and follow him instead of just being patient and aware...right up until the minute that he looses traction and so do they...
I see more of that on interstates than anything else...
you also want to avoid a lot of idiots on the highways Dennis, if you have to drive in bad weather.. do so at night, where there is a lot less traffic on the roads.. and most of the traffic is usually professional drivers out at those times...good winter tires and traction, you'd be surprised how 40 to 45 mph can be maintained... but if conditions are worse, just SLOW DOWN....it ain't rocket science...
I drive 40 to 60 K a year on our highways... and have done that since the early 70s.... I've had ONE winter wreck in all that time.. it was on a two lane road, my side had been plowed and the other not... so lady in a Volvo was driving on my side the road and refused to slow down or yield, she expected me to...at the end, on a curve, I had to jerk off the road to avoid a head on collision....and as I went off the road at 25 mph, I had 6 oak trees in someone's front lawn to dodge....I missed 5 of them, but at the last moment I had to decide to try and dodge it and hit it on the drivers side if I failed, or just ride it in and let the car hit it on the passenger side... I chose the latter...
as I climbed out of the car, there standing in the road was Mrs Volvo, with her hands over her mouth.. when I climbed out, she realized she had caused it, and it was her fault... so she jumped in her Volvo and took off....welcome to Massachusetts...
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I think it was mentioned already but some areas may not allow studded tires after April 1, BC included. Personally I would get a set of all weather all terrain tires. BF Goodrige TA KO2 are an example that I like. Go for tires with the mountain symbol (winter rating) and not just mud and snow rating. These IMO are like 90% as good as dedicated winters but you run them all year. Very good in deep snow, good on ice. Dedicated winters would be slightly better on ice. I've never bothered with studded tires I recognise them as an advantage on ice all right, but not much compared to todays tested and stamped mountain symbol tires be they dedicated winters or not.
Spent 40+ years in a little Idaho town that nearly doubles Anchorages yearly snow fall at 138" and 300" a tad out of town at the ski hill..I think half the town had nothing more than 2WD and a good set of tires,studded or not..People rarely chained up..It was the flatlanders coming for the weekend that were always in the ditch in there new 4X4's..Tires are everything on the snow and ice and ofcourse,experience doing so..
Spent 40+ years in a little Idaho town that nearly doubles Anchorages yearly snow fall at 138" and 300" a tad out of town at the ski hill..I think half the town had nothing more than 2WD and a good set of tires,studded or not..People rarely chained up..It was the flatlanders coming for the weekend that were always in the ditch in there new 4X4's..Tires are everything on the snow and ice and ofcourse,experience doing so..
Problem is, it doesnt matter how good you drive. When someone else loses it you can be in for a world of schiett.
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Dennis; Good afternoon to you sir, I hope that this final Sunday before Christmas finds you and yours well and warm.
On another thread I made the observation that like chainsaw and moose rifle threads, there's a grand chasm of difference between some snow and other snow isn't there?
For example, my cyber friend Salty303 lives on the other side of the pass from us now made famous by that "Highway through Hell" show. It's not all Hollywood either by the way - for instance for the last two days we couldn't get out of the valley here other than go south and cross the medicine line as all roads were closed.
The Coquihalla Pass between Salty and I got a bit less than a meter of snow and the alternate route Hope Princeton got a bit more than a meter - in 24 hours....
Anyway there's snow and then there's snow, you know?
My good wife has the famous made in Finland Nokian tires - studded - on her '19 Rav4 and I must say on ice they're pretty fantastic. They're not that much better in deeper snow than a good set of snowflake rated winters, but on ice they shine. On dry pavement they're less shiny for sure though Dennis.....
Mostly we run snowflake rated winters on all our rigs from October to April. On the pickups anymore, I've gone to just putting on the best snowflake/mountain rated tires I can find - 10 ply on the current Cummins Ram - and just burn them up year round. When they get tired I have a spare set of rims which gets fresh snowflake tires for the winter again.
As always, there's more than one road to Mecca - or Fairbanks too perhaps - and that's just how one BC Canuck handles the winter driving challenges and not much more.
Merry Christmas to you and yours sir, good luck whichever way you decide and safe journey when the time comes.
I can't fly, I'm hauling too much stuff- weight in the back won't be a problem (toolbox along weighs 750#). Yes, my truck is 4 WD. I was planning on taking a spare set of 4 tires already mounted and change them out as I got to where it is still winter. I was just trying to decide between the Nokian studded or non-studded. Looks like I might as well get the non-studded. I have, as mentioned, Falken Wildpeaks on my other F150. They seem pretty good but I would rather have really good straight-up winter tires than try and compromise with an All terrain or all season tire. I have BF Goodrich All terrains on it now as that is what it came with. Not a fan but they do the job here.
Just need to find some wheels that I can actually buy tires for- terrible selection of 31-10.50-15 winter tires. I am going to have to get 16 or 17" wheels to find decent tires. I don't need to push it. I can leave as early as I need to to get up. Only deadline is the Homer-Kodiak ferry on the 25th.
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Your decision both on the tire brand and going with larger rims is eminently logical in my view.
As you likely know since it's not your first rodeo, there's provincial websites in both Alberta and BC which give up to the minute updates on road conditions. Forecasting is way, way better than it was even 5 years ago too, so your plan to carry and install if needed should work fine.
If you ever get our way on Highway 97 either way, feel free to give me a shout and I'll do my best to get some food, beverages or both into you.
Gee Dwayne, if there is a class guy around here, you gotta be it!
Dennis, didn't see it mentioned elsewhere so I'll post it...
in deep snow, contrary to modern tires available.. the skinnier the tire is, the better it is in deep snow...
tires like 31 x 10.50 suck in heavy wet snow like you'll encounter... they provide the same flotation on snow, like they would on sand... flotation on sand is good... not so good on heavy wet snow...they will turn into a pair of skis like my brother sadly found out when he moved to Minnesota for a couple of years....
wiped out his F 150 in about 3 weeks into snow season.... he moved there coming back to the mainland after living in Hawaii for about 10 years so he had no winter driving experience....
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
You would be well served with a top tier studless winter tire and you won’t wear out the studs with thousands of miles of hard bare pavement.
The difference between the top studless winter tires and all seasons is huge. The best studded winter tires are better than the best of the studless, mostly around 32 degrees, but the difference is much less than between a top tier studless and a typical all season, all terrain snowflake, or m+s snowflake tires.
Good winter tires have a different rubber compound that stays softer and has lots of siping, whether they are studded or not. Adding studs in a typical all season or all terrain/traction light truck tire doesn’t make it perform like a winter tire.
Studded versions of light truck traction tires are very common, sold as winter tires by the local shops, and most folks don’t know the difference. Studs are most helpful on ice, especially around 32 degrees. But they don’t do crap for snow, a studless winter tire is way better for snow than a typical studded traction tire.
Dennis; Good afternoon to you sir, I hope that this final Sunday before Christmas finds you and yours well and warm.
On another thread I made the observation that like chainsaw and moose rifle threads, there's a grand chasm of difference between some snow and other snow isn't there?
For example, my cyber friend Salty303 lives on the other side of the pass from us now made famous by that "Highway through Hell" show. It's not all Hollywood either by the way - for instance for the last two days we couldn't get out of the valley here other than go south and cross the medicine line as all roads were closed.
The Coquihalla Pass between Salty and I got a bit less than a meter of snow and the alternate route Hope Princeton got a bit more than a meter - in 24 hours....
Anyway there's snow and then there's snow, you know?
My good wife has the famous made in Finland Nokian tires - studded - on her '19 Rav4 and I must say on ice they're pretty fantastic. They're not that much better in deeper snow than a good set of snowflake rated winters, but on ice they shine. On dry pavement they're less shiny for sure though Dennis.....
Mostly we run snowflake rated winters on all our rigs from October to April. On the pickups anymore, I've gone to just putting on the best snowflake/mountain rated tires I can find - 10 ply on the current Cummins Ram - and just burn them up year round. When they get tired I have a spare set of rims which gets fresh snowflake tires for the winter again.
As always, there's more than one road to Mecca - or Fairbanks too perhaps - and that's just how one BC Canuck handles the winter driving challenges and not much more.
Merry Christmas to you and yours sir, good luck whichever way you decide and safe journey when the time comes.
Dwayne
Well my cyber friend Dwayne it sounds like you as well as I did our part on the recent storms and cheered them all on from a more sensible locale - home!! A good day not to be on the Coq or the Crowsnest for sure. Little old Hope was bulging at the seams the other day when not just those two mountain passes but the usual safe plan B of taking the low elevation Fraser Canyon and highway 1 was closed as well. Not for snow but a hellish amount of rain which loosened up the mountainside at one of the usual spots round about Boston Bar and a rock slide blocked the road. There was no way up country what so ever for a time. The rock slide was cleaned up fairly quickly and today everything's wide open although the view may be limited due to some pretty impressive snow banks on highway 3 and 5 I'm sure.
Glad to hear from you on the other side of the hump. I see you're another fan of Nokian tires put me on that list we've had several pairs through the years on my wife's cars, those Fins know a thing or two about winter Having said all that I wish all the best to you and your loved ones and I hope you have a safe and fabulous Christmas. cheers
