AW Tires for Premium Plus (1 Viewer)

[longshot53]

Just acquired a Premium Plus. There's a lot of helpful discussion here about aftermarket tires AND wheels, but I'm just considering changing out the OEM all-season Yokohama Geolander tires for something all-weather. Need advice.

1. I live in moderate climate that does have snow/ice 4-5 times a year that I must drive in along with lots of rain. Do occasional off-roading. Would AW tires be an improvement over the OEM tires? Or should I just stick with what I have and put my $$$ elsewhere?
2. Would AW tires—as opposed to the OEM tires—either affect the smoothness of the ride or lower my gas mileage?
3. If I change to AW tires, should I get the same size as the OEM tires, or can I go wider? While I'm not a big fan of the OEM wheels on the Premium Plus, I do not want to spend the extra $$$ for new wheels.
4. If AW tires might be better for me, which ones would you recommend? (I've heard Falken Wildpeak AT4W, Nitto GE Terra Grappler, and Bridgestone AT Ascents).

Many thanks for your advice!

 

[munkeeboi]

If you are not doing heavy offroading or not trying to improve the looks...AW tires are not necessary. The stock tires will work on everything...Including dirt and snow...but with some compromises

AW tires will add more noise and lower mileage. you can safely go to a 275 width on the stock rim (each tire has their own limitation of allowable rim widths.

 

[Uncle Jack]

I have the Dunlop All weather tires. I just drove in the Chicago area snow. They are terrible.

 

[cmfhsu]

What kind of occasional off roading are you doing? Fire roads & service roads? Mud? Rock crawling?

I believe I saw somewhere that the new Premiums are now coming with Dunlop Grandtrek PT5A, so I'm giving you my thoughts on that from my Lux+.

1. IMO the Dunlops are surprisingly decent, given the extremely poor Tirerack reviews. They're fine in heavy rain and even moderately decent in snow, though I only tried it once. I'm big on getting snow tires for the winter, so I've been using a different set. No feedback off road, as I never off road, but I almost guarantee it will be useless in any mud at all.
2. Different tires are likely to have a huge impact on the ride of your vehicle, as will the tire pressure you run. It also probably has a pretty decent effect on mileage, but I doubt you're likely to notice given how bad the mileage is anyway.
3. What's your motivating factor behind wider tires? I think the stock tire size already gives you about as much grip as you would want in this vehicle, given the potential rollover risk. It looks like (on my Lux+ at least) there's enough clearance to go at least 10 or 20mm wider on the tire, but again - not sure why you'd want to.
4. IMO, the gold standard for Highway Terrain tires primarily used on-road is the Michelin Defender LTX MS2, which is what I plan to run after I wear out the stock Dunlops. Should be quiet, hard wearing, and comfortable, with excellent wet weather and better than average snow performance.