I have studs on my ‘18 F150. Nokian Hakkas + studs is pretty tankish.
I have ZERO issue anywhere so far. Sound wise? 20% more.
I’m mostly highway too. It’s not crazy for sound, but if your vehicle is quiet to begin with then you’re good.
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Interesting, I put some Rotiva's on my last truck (2015 GMC Sierra) and hated them, they were no better than my mostly worn OEM Goodyear Wrangler SR-A's in snow or on ice. For the new truck I ordered some Blizzak DMV2's, no more dinking around with winter rated stuff.
There is absolutely not replacement for true Winters even on a heavy truck with part-time 4 engaged.
You also bought a really premier Winter tire at that ;) There are conditions however I’ve been in where the tread depth of the A/Ts have helped, but that is few and far between and I’ll too myself go to a full winter next time.
In comparison to Winter rated ATs... Ive used/tried Wildcountry XTX, Duratrac studded, Michelline LTX and LTX defenders, Cooper AT/Ws and the Rotiivas were the best of the bunch there.
Driven in some really icy conditions and the defenders held up very well. Definitely better than some cheap shit chinese winter tire.
Not trying to disprove winters but I have been extremely happy with my Goodyear LT Duratracs this season. Never see my TCS light unless I’m purposely trying to light up the tires ( which it will even do in the summer ). Have left me wanting for nothing.
Had an asshat in a GLE go from 120 to 30 on the transcanada 50 feet in front of me yesterday which was concerning, had no problem stopping though.
After years of pondering studs vs no studs I said f it this year and got some Nokian’s studded. There’s only noise at low speeds like under 30, then there’s really no noise after that. Grip wise they are good and much better than the x-ice I’ve been using. This is on a awd suv and same as you I got these for the wife and kids that just started driving.
I just picked up a F-150 and was looking for some winters, the Wrangler AT's performed well driving it home the 24th but I have never ran a vehicle in the winter without winters. I wasn't going to go stud this time because my last two vehicles seemed to perform the same with and without studs. Maybe I will just go back to studs just in case after hearing this.
I got studded winters (Kumho Wintercraft WI31) for the first time this year and I'll be getting studded tires again. Feels great with the G37xS's AWD system.
Next time I'm thinking of getting the Pirelli Winter Zeros that come studded from the factory.
I've never had issues using more "winterish" type of A/T's like LTX, Rotiivas or the Cooper AT3 W(or AT/W) for my F150 BUT when its this cold, its 4x4 all the time.
So Kal-tire got a buncha my cash.
I put on some hakka R3 SUVs and its night and day better in this type of condition and unstoppable in 4x4 on pavement. The only apprehension I have is with semi-slick conditions, whether putting it in 4x4 is too much for the drivetrain.
On my FWD Volvo, I put on Hakka R8 studded and Holy FUCK the traction is insane. I've had plenty of Winter tires from cheap to "premium", always preferred studded if they had the holes and honest the last "best" set I enjoyed were Gislaved Frost 5s.. but these Hakka's are night and day better than anything I've ever had.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Nokians are worth the couple dollars more.
On my FWD cars I've had cheap Cooper STs, goodyear Nordic CT specials to goodyear ultragrip, Gislaved Frost, Blizzak WS80, Nokian WR2, Michiline Xi3... and well, none compare.
One of those 4A settings a lot of trucks have these days is far superior to 4wd on pavement. I think my owners manual goes as far as to say to never use 4WD of any kind on pavement.
I think I Mentioned this on another thread but yesterday was the first day I noticed my Duratracs being anything less than stellar, seems like performance falls off a cliff around -30.
Yup pretty standard with anything that is not purely winter compounded to the extreme. I am still rolling on mine and can confirm, although I will say because I drive long distance with no stopping at highway speeds every day, they do get a bit better with a bit of rolling after 10/15 minutes again. Otherwise though, driving in this current deep freeze bullshit requires a bit more self control lol.
In another winter tire thread I talked about giving the G3-Ice studded a try after being on Hakka 8's and 9's for years. They're supposed to be as good as the Hakka studded. First day of snow was pretty much WTF is this shit. Replaced them with Hakka 9's the next day and the difference is massive.
It's pretty hilarious in these conditions that it feels like driving in the rain on fresh Hakka 9's. Barely any ABS action unless you're full on racing stop.
If you used 4A everywhere it will still eat your front diff slowly. The system is not smart enough to full disengage when there’s too much grip and a bunch of load will build up in the front diff and slowly eat the bearings. Used to have tons of soccer moms coming in for noisy diffs after sales told them to leave it in 4A permanently.
Oh I don’t leave mine on 365 days a year, but if the roads are shit for a week and I want the extra traction and control then that’s when I use it. If that eats my diff I can live with that, no point having it if you can’t use it. As it’s definitely way better than leaving your truck in 4X