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Your Snowboard Vehicle.

383K views 2K replies 556 participants last post by  speedjason 
G
#1 ·
New to the forums. Currently have a BMW 330xi as my vehicle to get to the mountain. See where that's a problem? More than a couple inches on the road and I am screwed..


Looking for input on what vehicles you all drive to the mountain. I have about 12k to put into this. Maybe more.

Thanks for input--

-Alex
 
#1,534 ·
My snowboard vehicle enjoys the summer months as well...

View attachment 48401
My father-in-law has one of those and it is fun to driver. Pretty quiet and easy going on the road as well. Unlike my Jeep with no top and giant tires lol.

The only thing I've wondered is do you get used to the blind spots? I have a terrible fear of not seeing people behind me on the freeway.
 
#1,541 ·
Currently a subaru outback limited. Gets way better mileage than my old f150 but doesn't have the ability to power through 4 feet of snow. The f150 was a 4 door with a cap on the bed so it was basically a station wagon on steroids. Plenty of room in the cab for people and tons of room in the bed for gear. With the subaru if i have more than 2 people in the car i need to use the roof rack for boards. I have also gotten stuck and had to shovel it out, never happened to the f150.
 
#1,543 ·
Put some real winter tires on that subaru and you are good to go :)

I'm going to buy some kind of smaller minivan, because you can remove middle seat from 2nd row and you can put snowboard, no need for roof racks whatsoever. Once I go to mountains it's a 1500 mile trip, so fuel economy counts a lot and no need for AWD on german autobahns of french motorways
 
#1,559 ·
Kinda looks like one eh. This season will be my first using a AWD/4WD in the snow. My 4Runner is 2WD. Even when they shut down the roads, I never had issues. I always just flashed 4 fingers at the check points and rolled throw. With the right tires and driving, I've never had an issue. I even climbed steep ass hills that people needed to get towed up :dunno: But I'll take it! And I'm looking forward to seeing what my scooby will do :yahoo:
 
#1,564 ·
But low riding rwd cars don't seem like they'd be a lot of fun, lol.
Yeah that's for sure. Had a Supra back in high school, and had pure summer tires on it. Had it idling in 2nd gear just trying to make it up a slight incline into the shop! :blink:

On another note, I had a Lexus SC400 with good snows on it, and that thing was fine on snow covered and hardpack roads. I'd take anything with snow tires, over anything else with all seasons.
 
#1,569 ·
I added the shell this year for the pooch specifically for days like the one pictured. General AT 2 stud ready all terrain/winter tires. I also have five sand bags over the rear axle during the winter.
 

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#1,570 ·


So, I picked this thing up a little while ago. 2001 Platinum Edition F250 Lariat crew cab short box with the 7.3L diesel, locking hubs and electronic shift on the fly 4x4. Great truck so far. Few little things it needs but it's in good shape and runs well. It's all stock except for a gooseneck setup, brush bar, and the muffler got tossed in favour of straight pipes :cheeky4:. Got plenty of ideas for what I'd like to do to it but other things will take my money first! All in due time...

Before winter I'm on a quest for the ultimate AT tire for the thing, though. Did much googling after seeing ridinbend's shot there! I need something that will do it all and look good, unfortunately. We don't get much snow here but after driving my mom's '08 4WD Rav4 with regular all seasons up to Whistler last winter during a few snowstorms I'm leery about winter performance a lot. My heavy old RWD open (maximum slip) rear end diesel Benz with some cheap winter tires on it is way better in the winter than the Rav4 with the all seasons. I'm not prepared (or have the funds) to run a dedicated set of winters on the truck like a car, and I think there's some good tires out there that can do it all and would fare decent in the snow. What are the rest of you big truck boys running? I'm lookin' at you Argo and the rest of ya...
 
#1,571 ·
I have used numberous different tires through the years. One thing you have to factor in on the bigger heavier trucks is tread wear. 9000 lbs of truck wears Down tires twice as fast as a Toyota so a soft compound tire goes away really fast.. Also they are E rated so if you toe anything you don't need to worry too much about weight rating.

I have come to love Goodyear duratrac. They are great on the Trails with soft dirt and mud, the handle well on the dry or wet pavement and get amazing winter traction. I have around 35,000 miles on mine and have about 20,000 if I drive without punching it and burning rubber off all the time.
 

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#1,575 ·
I have heard tons of good things about the Duratracs from guys with bigger pickups.

Not a big pickup, but I have Coopers (top) on my half ton and they do well. They were ~$180 in E range. For a half ton they're great, I haven't been in a 3/4 ton+ with them though.


I like the Michelin LTX AT2 as well, only driven in 2 different vehicles with em but over 2 seperate snowb trips. They were awesome on the snowpack and great in fresh snow. They are spendy, but the ride is great.

Congrats on the "new" pickup!
 
#1,576 ·
Yeah, it was an expensive learning curve getting my first truck that was bigger than 1/2 ton. Tires would last forever on it my 1/2 and smaller trucks....

I have heard good reviews on the Michelin and mixed reviews on the cooper. The sidewall is what sold me on the Goodyear initially with a few reviews on a few tires being good for heavy trucks. Like the aggressive look of them.
 
#1,577 ·
Man oh Man! Reading this thread, You guys have really got me missing my old F-150 4x4!!! I traded down to a Focus last Oct. cuz gas was just killing me!

This is what I had, and what I have now,...
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Pickup truck


The whole Freakin' car is only as big as the cab of my truck! :laugh: :blink:
I was surprised that it handled reasonably well on a trip north with some serious whiteout snow coming down. Of course they weren't mountain roads either, but it did ok in about 5-7/8 inches on the road. Especially since its a manual trans.



....still miss the truck tho! :( (Everywhere but the pump!) ;)
 
#1,578 ·
If the Cooper AT hold up as well as their mud grips on a heavy pickup you're set, the STT's on the work truck are doing great. But their mud tires are very expensive compared to the AT's and you get what you pay for usually.
The Michelins and Duratracs are both more spendy, but from what I have seen they last a long time. Don't know about the DT, but the Michelins have a very good ride on top of it all.

Have you resiped the Duratracs before Argo?

And sorry you sold the pickup Chomps. I'd definitely miss mine if I had to get rid of it. Drives nice, can pull plenty for me, and great for road trips.
 
#1,580 ·
….And sorry you sold the pickup Chomps. I'd definitely miss mine if I had to get rid of it. Drives nice, can pull plenty for me, and great for road trips.
Yeah! I've been driving pickups of one sort or another since the late 80's! Somehow ,.. I just don't feel like "Me" driving a small car! :dunno: :laugh: …I'm sure it will feel somewhat better, more like myself when I'm recovered enough to get the Yakima rack on it and finally be driving down the road with a MTB or Kayak strapped to the top of it!! ;) (…although I think my kayak may be as long or longer than the car!!!) LOL!!!
 
#1,582 ·
Unfortunately your theory is a little bit off. We have a small car too and it definitely request the soft studded tires. But a middle of the road compound (with regards to stiffness) on a vehicle that is 3x heavier ends up being applicable on the ice and snow because of the weight pushing through. A super stiff compound turns to ice skates on trucks too.. I'm sure a super soft compound may work slightly better on ice but with the weight of the vehicle I would crush the tires. Most soft compound tires are for small cars and light trucks with only a c or maybe d weight rating. As I said, it's relative to the vehicle we are talking about, that would be an 8-9000 lb truck.
 
#1,583 ·
if car is 3x heavier and makes harder rubber to work on hardpack, then it makes that rubber to be to soft to be good on wet and dry asphalt. Tires is a set of compromises, always. Period. Good grip on ice and hardpack without studes always will be relatively bad in wet and dry asphalt compared to hard compound. And this is valid for good manufacturers. Take any china shity tires with soft compound and it will be unsafe to drive in wet. You always choose between grip on asphalt and snow/ice, only studes makes it more versatile, except noise and not beeing able to use them in summer. Take hard compound tire, add studes and your are good on asphalt, ice and hard snow.
 
#1,588 · (Edited)
Yup. I have actually had procomp xterrain and MUDs too. They are decent off road/mud tires but slide bad in ice/snow and wear down quick. Toyo and nitto are about the same, have had both.

Yokohama and BFG MUDs wear down fast and aren't very good for winter driving.

Super swappers and Mickey Thompson suck everywhere but off-road and wear down super fast.

Hankook rt10 is a great all around tire, I just don't like their looks as much as the Goodyear.

Most tires have worn down really quick and I get maybe 18 months or 35000 miles tops. These goodyears have lasted and my hankooks did too....

I am happy to spend 20% more to get double the time out of my tires.....

Kosmoz probably isn't used to exceeding 70kph. We have to propel our hunks of metal to 120-140kph, Then stop them in a timely fashion.
 
#1,589 ·
All season compound is never to hard for cold weather, all seasons will kick dedicated winters on wet and dry asphalt all day long no mater how cold it is, until no ice on the road. But like you said, thread pattern and compound is not any good on winter disciplines.

Every year I look at new passenger tire tests and its always the same, soft compound rocks on ice and snow, good ones are ok on wet and dry, cheap ones are undriveable there, hard compound sucks on ice, almost as good on snow and good on dry and wet. Russians even put some summer tires to have an idea whats the difference and on wet amd dry, even in cols temps, summers were way better.
 
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