tire traction

Wife has a 2015 Ford Explorer, front wheel drive. This is very poor in snow, just wondering if this is common or does she just need different tires. I believe the tires are original. We bought it used. If I need to replace tires what do you folks recommend. Thanks

Have Firestone Discovery on awd Honda CRV and fwd Ford Escape, five and four years respectively. Great all season tire, good in snow.

I would assume the vehicle has so-called "All Season" tires on it. Here's a little sumpin' to chew on:

I had always been a big Goodyear fan, having grown up in the south. Moved to Minnesnowta in my 30's. Few years ago, had to drive down south for family reasons and our truck decided to stay (needed rear axle work). On that trip down there, we happened to take this one exit and get a little rest (1,100+ mile trip). Roads were wet from rain, temps probably in the 70's....no snow. Took the exit and came upon a stop sign. Road was a bit steep for us flatlanders, and we turned right at the stop sign where the grade was even steeper. All of a sudden, the truck lost traction and started sliding backwards. Couldn't understand it! We were in 4hi due to trouble getting started from that stop sign, and yes, 4hi was fully engaged. We slid backwards until the rear tires hit grass and stopped us. Fortunately we were able to try again successfully. Our tires? Goodyear Wranglers with about 40% wear.

The truck we bought after that had different tires; General Grabber AT II's. Had never seen or tried this kind, but they worked well. Got back to MN and they worked great during winter - MUCH better traction.

Couple years later we were in an accident that took the truck. Bought our current Bucket-O-Bolts which had Goodyear HP tires, practically new! Towed a 16' enclosed trailer home and it was snowing when we got there. Got stuck in the yard.....IN 4LO!!!! Didn't matter what I did, couldn't for the life of me maneuver through 2" of snow! Ordered a new set of the General tires (that also happen to be much less expensive than Goodyear) and haven't looked back since!

Now, keep in mind that up here by the Canadian border, we usually have more snow than ice. For that reason, we get by (happily) with the General all season tires. However, if we lived a bit south where ice is common, then we would NEED to have true Winter tires on our vehicle. ...So what's the difference? Is it the tread? Well, to a point it is. But the other big thing is the rubber. I compared the rubber of the Goodyear HP tires to that of the General tires and the General tires were of a softer rubber. While in town one day at Wally World, they had Winter tires on display and I noticed that the rubber there was even softer than what the General uses. The surprise was, the Generals with their more aggressive tread were considerably quieter than the HP's. Go figure!

Then I started paying more attention to my boots, as I always seem to be sure-footed while the wife is always clinging to me, afraid she's about to take a plunge! :shock: I noticed that the shoes/boots I wear just happened to have softer rubber in the soles. Hers were all hard rubber, or other. Now, softness isn't everything, by far!! I have a pair of boots that have a very soft sole, sorta like crepe soles. If I step anywhere within 17' of a patch of ice I'm gonna go ice skatin', and I can't skate!!

Did a little more research on tires, namely all-season and Winter, and learned a lot about the differences. I'm glad we're able to use the General Grabber AT II's up here as we have 20+ miles of gravel roads going to or from town, and I don't think the less aggressive tread of Winter tires would offer any real benefit. However, if the trend keeps for a while of milder Winters with more ice, I'll soon be investing in a set of Winter tires mounted and ready to go.

It's a trade-off -- better traction and shorter life vs. better dry-road mileage and longer life. Take your pick.

If you live in snow country and want to have good traction, get studded snow tires, brand doesn't matter too much. I wouldn't buy Goodyear tires either. If you want to have good stopping and skid control put them on all 4 wheels.

YOKOHAMA GEOLANDAR I-T G072! Brilliant traction all-year-round, including snow and ice, and my last set lasted 45,000 miles of mostly blacktop driving, including towing, on a Toyota Hi-Lux 4x4.

It is a combination of the "softness" of the rubber and the tread design . Good tiers for ice and snow have a multitude of small "cuts" in the solid part of the rubber-- look for them when buying ice and snow tiers. Softer rubber works better in the cold . You will probably get all kinds of advice on a certain make of tire here in this forum. What they wont mention is the inflation pressure. When you settle on a brand ask the tire shop what is the lowest pressure you can run for best traction. When the winter passes you can now run the maximum recommended -- this will lower the rolling resistance and give you better fuel mileage . Where I am located [ 3 barb wire fences between me and the north pole} I run winter tiers year around and adjust the pressure seasonally .

You have "hard" rubber tires on it right now. They will wear longer but will give you poor traction on snow/ice. I had Goodyear destination tires on my Saturn Vue. I slid through several stops signs at maybe 10 MPH. I replaced them with Hankock tires and they where twice the tire on snow/ice. I bought a second set of rims and put the Goodyear tires on them for summer driving. The Goodyear tires lasted for 1/3 more miles than the Hankock did but the Goodyear where useless on snow or ice.

one answer

dedicated snow tires,

all season radials ARE NOT snow tires

my prefered tire is the Nokian Hakkapeliitta, some people like the Bridgestone Blizzak

IMHO Blizzaks are ok on slushy pavement, on frozen ice covered gravel, the Hakk is the way to go

(quoted from post at 13:11:03 12/10/17) If you live in snow country and want to have good traction, get studded snow tires, brand doesn't matter too much. I wouldn't buy Goodyear tires either. If you want to have good stopping and skid control put them on all 4 wheels.

Click to expand...

Might not be able to use studs in your state.
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Get another set of rims off CL and put Bridgestone Blizzaks on them and run'em in the winter.
Switch bake to your current set the rest of the year.

Explorers use a very common among many O.E.M.'s so you can get o.e.m. rims very cheap.

Nokian Hakkapeliitta Read up on them. Some fifteen years ago someone in our small NH town Fire Dept got them, then one after another until pretty much everyone was using them.

My vote is for Bridgestone Blizzak WS80. They are amazing on ice and snow and easily beat real studded tires. Only downside is the special soft rubber that makes them so amazing wears off in 10,000 miles or so. After that, they can still last a long time but loose that fantastic grip. I know some people who buy a new set every year and sell the old ones while they still look fairly new. They first came out in the 70s as Firestone Snowbiters. I am sure there are other brands of soft-rubber OD tires that work the same.

I have a real steep snow-covered private road I drive on every day. I prefer my AWD van but sometimes use a 4WD Chevy Tracker that is rear-wheel drive unless I lock it into 4WD. The Blizzak W80s I got a Walmart made an amazing difference over the fairly new conventional snow tires it had on before.

There is traction codes on the tire itself.

Depends on where you live and whether you are experienced driving in snow. Lots of people got unusual snow in the past few days. Are you one of them???
Loren

Lots of good comments below. Consumer Reports has evaluated tires and has some good information if you have access to it.

We change all four tires on my wife's Ford Five Hundred spring and fall. The winter tires are specially designed for snow and ice. For ice and packed snow you want lots of edges in the tire tread.

Paul

I used the Hakka. for the winters in
Northern Vermont. It was the best
snow tire I have ever used. But now I
live in central New Mexico.

One of my sisters purchased a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe that was maybe a year or two old that is a front wheel drive V6 and was the absolute worst in the snow with the original "all season" tires that were on it. We get some snow so I did her a favor and bought her a set of four Cooper M/S (mud and snow) that are highly rated in the snow. She probably only needed two since its front wheel drive, but I always go four snows on my trucks and jeep, so she got four too. Makes all of the difference in the world she says. She was so scared to drive it in the snow that she was going to sell it after the first snow season that she had it. Now she feels invincible. I just put them on again for her this past weekend. Typically on the last week of November, off the last weekend of February. I use the LT version of this same pattern on my trucks and jeep.

Good luck

Mark
Cooper M/S

As stated above, put snow tires on the front you will be amazed at the difference. I owned a tire shop in the snowbelt for 22 years. Some recommend putting them on all 4 corners. Probably 95% we put on went on the front only. Brigestone Blizzak or one of the clones made to look like them are great. Cooper makes a good snow tire. They all designed for fwd's. When I first started selling Blizzaks we were told Brigstone developed them in Siberia for their winters.

I have General arctic snow tires on both my car and the van. The car I bought 3 years ago had good looking tires, but the drive home with it the road was covered in blowing snow. Worst drive I ever had in a car.

I found a set of lightly used snow tires the next week on craigslist, set of 4 on steel rims, for $250. Complete change in the car. All of a sudden I was busting drifts and nothing could get this car stuck. Even used it to pull our much heavier van out when my wife slid off the driveway.

Last year I found a lightly used set of tires for the van, and a set of oem rims. I have Generals on that as well. Not as big of a difference as I had with my car, but still noticeable. One big difference I notice, is that with snow tires on, you may still spin your wheels but they'll still pull you in the direction you point your steering wheel. I drive home from work at 4 or 5 in the morning, so the roads aren't plowed yet. I now have a different car, but I kept the snow tires and found rims that will fit. Won't go any time soon without snow tires. My life and my families life is too important to sacrifice winter traction on questionable roads.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Get some real SNOW TIRES! Not all seasons, not mud tires, SNOW TIRES! And don't buy them any wider than you have to. Snow wants a narrow for the size tire. The old Firestone Town and Countrys were great, but they don't make them anymore. Get a real snow tire and then drive defensively in the snow. I've seen a million idiots think that their fancy tires or 4wd means they can still drive 55mph in 6" of slush and snow. No, if 35 mph feels right, then 35 it is!

Bridgestone Blizzak or General Altimax Arctic. Two best snow tires on the market today. Can't go wrong with either one.

On a front wheel drive vehicle you need FOUR snows, though. The back end will be sliding all over the place on your bald old all seasons.

If the tires do not have the mountain and snowflake symbol on the side wall to indicate they are real snow tires . They will not be worth a bucket of warm spit.
All season Tires are a sick joke unless you live in Florida, Alabama , Mississippi , south Texas, south New Mexico and Southern California .
Install four proper tires before you have a wreck and injure or kill somebody.