Has anyone out in Raptor land mounted Snow tires on 17 inch Raptor rims?? If so what size and what brand? I understand that Nokian LT3's are made in 17 inch and at least one person has mounted them!
Help Please!
I am running the Nokians WITHOUT studs (long story short I ordered them studded & it said so on the order AND on the tires but Simple Tire said "we don't sell studded tires" - what I THINK happened is I'm pretty damn sure someone ordered the same tires to a state that doesn't allow studs & either cancelled or returned the tires & then rerouted to me) - on factory 17" wheels (non-beadlocks, I have 2 sets of 17"s the beadlocks came w/ my truck & I bought a set from a forum member) - I LOVE these tires in the snow/cold/ice WAY WAY WAY better than KO2s & obviously going to be better than ANY other non-snow tire. DO NOT LISTEN TO WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS The KO2s get a "snowflake" symbol too like some other AT's (duratracs) - but they're still quite literally compromised by definition "all terrain" doesn't denote "snow/ice & winter weather specific" does it? If your plan is to run 1 set of tires year round & live in a climate like I do in Northeast - long COLD winters w/ combo of wet heavy snow/sleet & freezing temps/ice then duratrac probably a good bet but you gonna add & remove studs every year? Nah.
I had studded blizzaks on my last GMC truck also 4x4 & had non-studded snows on other trucks, once you experience how much more grip & especially confidence in general you get when running dedicated snow tires on a 4x4 truck you'll look at every other dude who says "you don't need snow tires when ya got 4 wheel drive" like a complete moron, sure you don't NEED em, you don't NEED DRs/Slicks to win a drag race either @ the track - but sure as shit improved your chances of success when you have the right tire for the job no?
Lastly....I was initially pissed @ simple tire's mistake, but after having them on the Raptor for a season I am OK giving up a lil bit of that "extreme" added traction the studs provide since 80% of the time they're not needed in MA & can be detrimental running em in certain conditions if it warms up randomly mid-winter and just the fact that even re-positioning my truck in the driveway was gouging up the concrete w/ the studs (when it wasn't covered in ice anyhow lol) Even in the scenario as you described I'm pretty confident the Raptor could handle no prob w/ the nokians & no studs - I pulled my cousin's 2 WD chevy up a very steep long winding driveway w/ ice during a ski trip, studs wouldve helped for sure but I got it done. That being said...I'd probably get em studded too if I were you.
The Raptor's handling/grip/performance is night & day on road in winter w/ these Nokians - offroad obviously they're not really geared for serious offroading but they're definitely not a "performance" street car type snow tire either - I didn't have issues on muddy rutted ME logging roads or driving on beach in winter w/ them (didn't air down either)
