21” tires and snow- winter travel

[JSitty]

So looking ahead to the PNW winter… what was the experience with 21” roads going over the WA State passes or down city streets in snow or packed snow/ice???

My R1S is to be delivered in a week or two…

Sponsored

 

[nfrank]

I've got some experience in snow with 21s. They work well on plowed roads. I bought these chains and they fit great. Needed them to drive up a steep grade that was not plowed. 21s without chains are pretty good. 21s with chains are unstoppable, but not necessary under most conditions.

 

[JSitty]

I've got some experience in snow with 21s. They work well on plowed roads. I bought these chains and they fit great. Needed them to drive up a steep grade that was not plowed. 21s without chains are pretty good. 21s with chains are unstoppable, but not necessary under most conditions.

Did u put on the front, back or all 4 tires?

 

[nfrank]

Did u put on the front, back or all 4 tires?

In the back. That’s what the owners manual recommends. The owners manual doesn’t recommend any tire chains on the 20s, fwiw

 

[JSitty]

In the back. That’s what the owners manual recommends. The owners manual doesn’t recommend any tire chains on the 20s, fwiw

Saw that re 20”. Hate chaining up but may be worth it. Thanks for the quick and non-snarky reply!!!

 

[SeaGeo]

A friend of mine ran 21s with a couple of us on 20s when doing some offroading in snow. Overall they seemed to perform reasonably similar to the 20s in that environment.

However, at least with the 20s (and I expect the same with the 22s) I had pretty poor traction, particularly laterally, on packed or icy surfaces. Anecdotally both tires seem to struggle more as the temp drops and the rubber gets harder. Which is to be expected. I'm not terribly concerned about being able to *go* with either tire, but I've experience the truck generally just sliding more (especially sideways) than I've experienced in the past with vehicles on similar surfaces and quickly swapped over to a set of winter tires.

 

[Ingo B]

I've got some experience in snow with 21s. They work well on plowed roads. I bought these chains and they fit great. Needed them to drive up a steep grade that was not plowed. 21s without chains are pretty good. 21s with chains are unstoppable, but not necessary under most conditions.

Was this from the past winter? Man, I still get PTSD thinking about it. Way too much of a good thing.

Per the size chart, the chains are designed for 20"? Or am I misreading?

FWIW, I made it out of there in a 2006 Ridgeline, so I would imagine the Rivian would do just fine. Just don't drive like an asshole.

 

[JohnK]

This is well trod ground from last winter. 21s on PNW packed snow and ice on hilly city streets SUCK.

 

[Greg Chick]

My R1T 21" AS scorpion Verde tires in snow mode and quad mode was beyond belief in steep hills in a blizzard. 12" snow, 40 MPH white out weather at night was scary, but zero slip and steep climb @5 MPH. The main obstacle was visual being able to find the road.

 

[JSitty]

My R1T 21" AS scorpion Verde tires in snow mode and quad mode was beyond belief in steep hills in a blizzard. 12" snow, 40 MPH white out weather at night was scary, but zero slip and steep climb @5 MPH. The main obstacle was visual being able to find the road.

Thanks… I sense the issue will be steep hills on packed snow/ice in cities

 

[SeaGeo]

Thanks… I sense the issue will be steep hills on packed snow/ice in cities

Just my two cents. Going forward (up hills for example) the tires seem to perform ok.

My negative experiences with the 20s (I'm sure the 21s aren't any better) has actually been on fairly flat ground at low speeds. The first was on ice, before snow mode, and the tires just locked up and slid in a situation I wouldn't have expected in a similar environment with prior vehicles I've owned. Snow mode may have improved on that. Basically I didn't have ABS.

The other issue is I've had the truck slide laterally, even at a stop, solely due to the side slope of the road. Which I've also heard of other people having the same experience. My sense is that the tires just perform poorly laterally on ice.

 

[Greg Chick]

Thanks… I sense the issue will be steep hills on packed snow/ice in cities

5 MPH.

 

[Birdowin]

If you go with the 21's you should probably get a set of chains in case you encounter any deep snow. They do ok on ice and packed snow but a 7000 lb truck is just going to slide sideways if you don't have 3 peak rated tires.

 

[nfrank]

Was this from the past winter? Man, I still get PTSD thinking about it. Way too much of a good thing.

Per the size chart, the chains are designed for 20"? Or am I misreading?

FWIW, I made it out of there in a 2006 Ridgeline, so I would imagine the Rivian would do just fine. Just don't drive like an asshole.

This was last winter at my place near Pinecrest lake in California.

I used chains for a couple of days, but so did at least 80% of all the four wheel drive trucks up there. It was a super heavy storm. I may never use the chains again, but I was sure glad I had them on hand.

Pro tip: The chains I mentioned fit on top of the spare tire in the cabinet under the bed. I also throw in there a large rubber door mat. It's great to drop that down in front of the tires while you kneel down to put on the chains. Also carry quality gloves.

 

[GoldenMaui]

I have the R21 Pirelli Verde All season. The snow mode helps quite a bit, but the tires are not great in hard pack snow. Pirelli only makes all season R21. In fact, I haven’t been able to find a R21 EV snow tire. Know if any?

i wonder if Rivian allowed Pirelli to corner the market on R21’s for their vehicles?

Sponsored