Snow tires recommendations?

[lrosen12]

I finally received my R1S this summer and am loving it. However I live in a ski area town in VT, up a dirt hill, and we get a lot of snow and freezing rain in the winter. We are getting ready to put snow tires on our other vehicles, we put studded snow tires on at least one vehicle for the really bad days, and I wasn’t sure what to do for the Rivian this winter. Anyone have experience with the Rivian in true winter, and what would you suggest for snow tires?? I got it with the 21” road tires if that’s relevant.

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[Smeek]

i live in CT and got my R1S with 21” wheels a month ago. i have a set of Michelin x-ice snows mounted to 20” wheels waiting in my garage to be put on, probably in another 4 weeks. i got them from tire rack

i always have a second set of wheels/tires for winter. there were more options at 20” than 21”.

 

[Budman]

No snow tires available for the 21” rims. You would have to get new rims.

I made it through a snowy Minnesota winter on the 21’s. They did well. But if 21“ snow tires were available I would buy them….. we use other vehicles with nokian snow tires when the weather is knarly.

 

[EVerywhere]

X-Ices on second set of 20s waiting a few more weeks to go on.

 

[Mathme]

As is documented on here, get a set of 20" wheels and then go with a 275/60/20 for the same outside diameter as the 21 and 22" wheel. I don't think Rivian will sell the wheels without tires attached, but several of the vendors on this sell 20" wheels specifically for the Rivian. Others have said there's a Dodge Ram 20" that will also fit but it's pretty plain looking from what I recall (search on here for more info on that route).

I read reports from last winter that the Rivian's do well in the snow. I know come this winter in the Sierra Nevada's one thing I'm going to be extra cautious about is to remember this thing weighs over 7,000lb...which is a lot more weight than it feels like when driving and is a lot of momentum going around icy corners.

Let us know what you decide.

 

[Riviot]

X-Ices on second set of 20s waiting a few more weeks to go on.

Can you share a zoomed out pic of your rack?

 

[EVerywhere]

It’s the tire rack wall mount, I have 3 of them so far. It will fit 4 Rivian tires, but I’m using one tire as the spare. If you are mounting it high definitely recommend a hoist — these things are heavy.

 

[Laurent]

This is the tire rack in question: https://www.tirerack.com/accessories/tire-rack-tire-storage-rack

BTW, the 275/60R20 size for the X-Ice Snows appears to be discontinued. That's what it says on the Tire Rack website anyway.

 

[EVerywhere]

I think it’s just short supply, tire rack does weird things with out of stock / vs discontinued. I ordered a set of 4 from Tire Racktwo weeks ago.

 

[Smeek]

This is the tire rack in question: https://www.tirerack.com/accessories/tire-rack-tire-storage-rack

BTW, the 275/60R20 size for the X-Ice Snows appears to be discontinued. That's what it says on the Tire Rack website anyway.

not discontinued just out of stock. i bought this tire in this size from tire rack 3 weeks ago

edit: oh sorry. now i see it. hopefully just for the season!

 

[sierraskier]

Lots of info in this thread

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/20”-blizzak-snow-tires-installed.9244/

 

[Laurent]

Tyre Reviews has a new video out comparing the snow performance of all-terrain tires (including the Pirelli AT Plus), the all-season Defender LTX M/S, and the X-Ice Snow SUV.

Not surprisingly, the X-Ice Snow SUV is head and shoulders above the rest but the standout performers are the BFGoodrich Trail Terrain (2nd best after the X-ice Snow) and the Defender LTX M/S (3rd best). The Pirelli AT Plus is close to dead last on snow traction & braking.

It sounds like Michelin chose not to label the Defender LTX M/S as 3PMSF-rated for marketing reasons since they also sell the Cross Climate 2.

 

[usofrob]

Also, it should be noted about the test above that I think those are the previous generation Michelin Defender tires, not the new M/S2. I haven't seen any testing on the new ones, but they usually get better in all ways.

Also, @EVerywhere , how did you lift the wheels and tires up that high? I'm worried about carrying one around at a time on the ground.

 

[Smeek]

Tyre Reviews has a new video out comparing the snow performance of all-terrain tires (including the Pirelli AT Plus), the all-season Defender LTX M/S, and the X-Ice Snow SUV.

Not surprisingly, the X-Ice Snow SUV is head and shoulders above the rest but the standout performers are the BFGoodrich Trail Terrain (2nd best after the X-ice Snow) and the Defender LTX M/S (3rd best). The Pirelli AT Plus is close to dead last on snow traction & braking.

It sounds like Michelin chose not to label the Defender LTX M/S as 3PMSF-rated for marketing reasons since they also sell the Cross Climate 2.

thanks for posting. this is my favorite tire reviewer. he does a great job. I knew he was very positive about the x-ice snow SUV in the past so that's what i went with for this year. nice to see how well it does against 'all terrain' tires.

 

[R1TLG20BM]

For what it's worth, a good AT tire should not need winter tires. Most AT tires that you're going to mount on these trucks are M&S rated. 21's will have issues with that statement depending on tire.

The weight of the Rivian alone will combat most snow conditions, not a lot for ice. But unless you live on the tundra I'd question why you'd have a dedicated ice tire. Driving condition familiarity is a greater impact than most tire options.

I'm being a bit hypocritical as I have other trucks with two sets of tires, but that's mostly just a bad habit. If you have good AT tires I wouldn't sweat winter tires at all (for those without a lot of experience). OP has road tires and should definitely look at a winter set of 20" wheels to have the most tire options. 21s are a good range option in non winter months. I've never seen 21in ATs but I presume they might exist somewhere.

I do a TON of winter driving throughout Canada and the NW. Just my opinion over the years. Despite some reports, I've found that the R1T handles fantastic in snow/ice. I dont run the scorpions on it though, they seemed to be a little squirrly the first winter so i switched to KO2s last winter. Hope this helps.

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