Winter tire setup
- Thread starter Dave
- Start date
I’ve always run dedicated snow/winter wheels & tires on all my vehicles prior to the ‘24 Land Cruiser First Edition and my ‘25 GX550 Overtrail+. I decided that I’d try running BFG KO3s year round to see how they would perform during inland Pacific Northwest winters, and I have been pleasantly surprised! While the KO3s definitely aren’t anywhere near as good as dedicated snow/winter tires, they have performed extremely well and allow me the convenience of easing in and out of winter during the shoulder seasons.
About 3” of snow fell last night here in north Idaho / eastern Washington and the OT+ with KO3s performed extremely well this morning. Very sure-footed and confidence inspiring so long as you know their limitations and don’t drive them like they were Nokian Hakkapeliittas. That being said, I’m curious about the Nokian Outpost nATs for slightly better winter performance than what I have now or even the Hakkapeliitta LT3s and may give them a try in the future.
About 3” of snow fell last night here in north Idaho / eastern Washington and the OT+ with KO3s performed extremely well this morning. Very sure-footed and confidence inspiring so long as you know their limitations and don’t drive them like they were Nokian Hakkapeliittas. That being said, I’m curious about the Nokian Outpost nATs for slightly better winter performance than what I have now or even the Hakkapeliitta LT3s and may give them a try in the future.
I just had my OT 18” wheels with new, dedicated Cooper Discoverer Snow Claw 275/70 E’s installed this morning. My neighborhood still has packed snow and frozen crud here at 8000’.
I’m shocked at how well these new tires work vs. my summer setup Toyo AT3 285/70R18 (on an aftermarket 18x8 wheel). I didn’t play too hard on the corners, but no slippage. However, I put the drive mode in Sport S and was jabbing the throttle harder and harder on the straights with high torque revs..virtually nothing breaking loose, no torque steer, nothing. Same with braking, successively braked harder each try on straights and it was grabbing extremely well. A really huge difference from using AT tires.
So I’m happy to run these the next several winters. I’ll get more experience the next few days.
My past, recent experience was a 2010 4Runner Limited (full time 4wd) with Bridgestone Blizzaks; and a 2022 Sequoia TRD Sport (part time 4wd) with Continental Viking 7 snow tires. Been running dedicated snows up here since 2012.
If I notice anything strange or negative with this Cooper Snow Claw I’ll edit back here.
I’m shocked at how well these new tires work vs. my summer setup Toyo AT3 285/70R18 (on an aftermarket 18x8 wheel). I didn’t play too hard on the corners, but no slippage. However, I put the drive mode in Sport S and was jabbing the throttle harder and harder on the straights with high torque revs..virtually nothing breaking loose, no torque steer, nothing. Same with braking, successively braked harder each try on straights and it was grabbing extremely well. A really huge difference from using AT tires.
So I’m happy to run these the next several winters. I’ll get more experience the next few days.
My past, recent experience was a 2010 4Runner Limited (full time 4wd) with Bridgestone Blizzaks; and a 2022 Sequoia TRD Sport (part time 4wd) with Continental Viking 7 snow tires. Been running dedicated snows up here since 2012.
If I notice anything strange or negative with this Cooper Snow Claw I’ll edit back here.
What did you end up going with? I live in New England and should take delivery of a premium plus this month. Not a fan of the P+ tires (looks) so I'll likely end up getting a second set of wheels and tires for winter.
📷 Lexus GX 550 Random Images
📷 Lexus GX 550 Random Images
