Help with winter tire/wheel selection

[alpha_brit]

I need to start shopping winter tires and wanted some feedback about running 20's versus finding a set of 18" take-offs and putting those on. It's a '21 Bighorn night edition and I am reluctantly resigned to chrome/silver wheels for winter I guess, since I can't find anything dark in 18's within reasonable driving distance.

I'd welcome any suggestions for tires and feedback on whether it's worthwhile going down to 18's. I think the tire choices might be more varied, and minus sizing should provide traction advantages. I'm anxious about doing this though as this vehicle seems trickier than most when it comes to wheel selection.

 

[securityguy]

What ever wheels you get, plasti-dip them and call it a day!

 

[alpha_brit]

What ever wheels you get, plasti-dip them and call it a day!

TIL - I had no idea. This will make things much simpler to get the look I'd prefer. Many thanks.

 

[Georgf]

Since I live in Russia, where it is winter for half a year, I can say that the best winter tires that I have ever tried are Nokian Hakkapeliitta, they ride great on snow and ice. At the same time, they are not as noisy as, for example, a Cooper, and have much better grip than, for example, Bridgestone. Also tried Yokohama, Hankook and others, all the worse. And the wheels of your choice, but it is better not to use chrome-plated wheels in winter, they are very difficult to wash them off from plaque later. I run with 20” in winter too.

 

[alpha_brit]

Since I live in Russia, where it is winter for half a year, I can say that the best winter tires that I have ever tried are Nokian Hakkapeliitta, they ride great on snow and ice. At the same time, they are not as noisy as, for example, a Cooper, and have much better grip than, for example, Bridgestone. Also tried Yokohama, Hankook and others, all the worse. And the wheels of your choice, but it is better not to use chrome-plated wheels in winter, they are very difficult to wash them off from plaque later. I run with 20” in winter too.

Yeah, we get around 10 feet of snow a year here on average and I've run Nokian's on my last five vehicles at this point, everything from a set of WRG3 SUV's to a whole bunch of Hakka's (original R's up to R3's). The only thing I found was that the Hakka seemed to wear very quickly on my old Ram - I got three seasons out of them and would have really been pushing it to get a fourth season out of them, and that vehicle saw less than 10k a year combined, between summer and winter sets.

 

[Finn5033]

I’m in MN and go ice fishing a lot so I’m picky about my winter tires. Best I’ve used so far were the Falken Wild Peak AT3W and the Goodyear Wrangler UltraTerrain. Highly recommend both

 

[Georgf]

Yeah, we get around 10 feet of snow a year here on average and I've run Nokian's on my last five vehicles at this point, everything from a set of WRG3 SUV's to a whole bunch of Hakka's (original R's up to R3's). The only thing I found was that the Hakka seemed to wear very quickly on my old Ram - I got three seasons out of them and would have really been pushing it to get a fourth season out of them, and that vehicle saw less than 10k a year combined, between summer and winter sets.

Rapid wear due to too powerful motor. In fact, it is soft rubber that holds grip on ice better and makes less noise, but apparently wears out faster.

 

[alpha_brit]

Rapid wear due to too powerful motor. In fact, it is soft rubber that holds grip on ice better and makes less noise, but apparently wears out faster.

Oh believe me I know lol been using them for decades, I have steered clear of Blizzak for that very reason since the full tread depth isn't the softer compound (or at least it wasn't the last time I shopped snows three years ago).

Historically I have gotten a solid four seasons out of the last 6-7 sets of Nokian snows, could squeeze a fifth out of almost all if I wanted, and that's putting ~6-7k a year on them. Apparently the heavier vehicle combined with the softer compound really wore quicker than I was expecting. I doubt the current set have 15k on them and they're completely shot.

 

[LouNY]

And I'll add another vote for the Nokian Hakkapeliitta studded snows.
I'm not real happy with the size selection avilible for the newer trucks with 18's,
none tall enough and narrow enough for my desires not sure what I'm going with this winter.
I really do not want to stay with the 275/65R18's as I believe that they are too wide and I have always found a narrower tire to work better in the winter for me.
I would really like a 245/75R18 studded snow.
I do see the Nokians in the stock size in the SUV9's and the LT3's.

 

[alpha_brit]

And I'll add another vote for the Nokian Hakkapeliitta studded snows.
I'm not real happy with the size selection avilible for the newer trucks with 18's,
none tall enough and narrow enough for my desires not sure what I'm going with this winter.
I really do not want to stay with the 275/65R18's as I believe that they are too wide and I have always found a narrower tire to work better in the winter for me.
I would really like a 245/75R18 studded snow.
I do see the Nokians in the stock size in the SUV9's and the LT3's.

Agree about the lack of sizes. For my old truck with 20's I minus sized down to a 17" with a much taller, narrower profile. I've been searching the 18's and am not finding much selection for sizes there, I'm a little concerned.

For what it's worth, I won't do studded here - too noisy and frankly not enough ice to bother with, mostly slush and snow - but I really do want that smaller, narrower contact patch for better traction.

 

[LouNY]

Yes, the closest I've come up with are 255/70R18 and not a lot of choices