I have a 03 Limited V8 with the 17" Dunlops. I am coming up to my first winter. Here in southwestern Ontario Canada we do not have much deep snow but can have a lot of slush and ice mixed in with considerable bare pavement in the winter. I do mainly highway and back road driving.
Can anyone tell me how their Dunlops are in snow/ice/slush?
I am looking at getting an "ice radial" and am considering Bridgestone Dueler DMZ-2(3) for the winter time(3-4 months here)of the same size P265-65 R17.
Comments and any other suggestions? Maybe I do not need to get any tires as I am looking at over $1000(Can $) approx $700(US$) just for the tires!!!!!!!!
Any suggestions or ideas from other members would be appreciated especially from any fellow Ontarions!!!!!!!

 

The money will be well spent on better tires, I already went through a winter and the Dunlops sucked big time, any hill crawl down it slow and I mean slow, I was out 1 day with snow and ice covered roads and the truck no joke from the top of the hill all the way to the bottom the ABS pumped like a mad man and the truck never stopped, luckily for me I was out when noone else was cause I blew threw a stop sign onto a major road, at the speed I was traveling if I rearended someone I could have seriously F ed them up, that scared me more then the wrecking the truck.

My 2000 Pathfinder with Yokohama Geolandar AT+II tires I could stop in the middle of the hill, actually it would hand this truck it's ass in the same situation.

Scared the hell out of me and I could not believe how crappy the tires performed, just goes to show you, you can have the best vehicle and the crap tires Toyota put on it made it handle no better than a Kia Sportage on bald tires:pat:

I was actually gonna sue Toyota but my lawyer said their was no reason to pursue it cause nothin happen except for realizing these tires suck and I don't need the money, but he was willing to go if I said lets do it.

Before snow comes Im getting the Yokos and trashing the Dunlops, I might even send them back to Toyota COD with no return address

 

Edge - I was wondering how long it was going to take you to weigh in....

 

Get the Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo's awesome in snow, ice, slush and rain.

 

 

The Yoko Ono Geolanders on my '03 Subaru Forester are almost bald at 20,000 miles. I am not impressed with that brand's wear pattern.

 

I'm going to buy a set of Dunlop Rover R/T's for use in the winter and off road.

http://tires2.digiknow.com/dunlop/di...ea=Light+Truck

They're considered a "commercial traction" type of tire so their road manners and wear should be better than the typical "mudder." I'm sure they'll be adequate for the wheeling I do...

 

I doubt you have the AT on it, my Pathfinder had 15k hard driven miles on it and no wear, and I fish tailed and slid around turns

 

I am still interested in comments about tires!!!!!!

 

My '03 Limited came with Michelin Cross-Terrain tires, and I'm very pleased with them. Their performance on slushy snow and ice is orders of magnitude better than the Michelin LT-X M+S tires on our previous 4Runner. They are quiet, handle crisply, ride reasonably well and still have 9 - 10/32" of tread remaining at 19K miles.

If you want a dedicated snow/ice tire, I'm sure you can better the winter performance of the Cross-Terrains. But for a 4-season tire, the Cross-Terrains are tops in my book. Here in southern Michigan, it's very rare to have weather that really demands dedicated snows.

 

I say ditch the Dunlop's they really suck. Mine did not even last a month before the dealer put the Michelin cross terrains on. Have not had them in the snow yet but they do good in wet conditions and the runner rides great with them. Just my opinion though. Have a good one.

 

Edge,

I've had the samething happen to me in the rain with my Dunflops. I was approaching an exit to a parking lot that is slightly sloped when the ABS started pumping. The truck didn't stop and I slid into the middle of the intersection! It scared the stuff out of me because it's a blind intersection where I could've easily have broad sided someone or been crushed myself. I'm still not sure if it were the tires or the Brakes. I think those tires are just a bad match for trucks equipped with ABS.

BTW, I hate ABS! I just don't trust it to work. I would rather have control of the vehicle's brakes.

 

I think the Dunflops were good in the powdery snow but in the hard packed snow and ICE they are a little tricky to stop. I had good traction when accelerating and turning but things got a little hairy when stopping.

 

I have the Dunlops on my 00 Tacoma and they did great in the last Blizzard we had in CO. They were brand new tires then, so time will tell. I don't know of too many tires that perform good on ice unless they are studded or of the Blizzak variety.

 

kaneman
it's got to be the tires, I've driven many ABS equiped cars and never had the problem of not stopping, although I hate how if you stop hard or short and you hit a slick spot or anything not dry and flat the car feels a need to let go and roll several feet, I've actually been in situations where I was coming to a stop in snow and the ABS kicks in and it's like Im on the gas, scary when their is a car infront of you, leaves you with the feeling WTH.

The Dunlops feel more like they float on top of the snow, even my OEM BridgeStones that came on my Pathfinder where good in snow, their was another hill I always come down and if it was the same situation that day, just as steep but only a left or right on the bottom and it's a blind intersection and I don't even want to think about that.

 

I have Dueler ATs on my T100...these are LTs instead of Ps...how do you think they'll do on my 2003 V8 Sport 4x4?

Thanks.

 

The best tire I've owned so far is the BFG AT/KO's. They're great for the little bit of offroading I do, have excellent tread pattern, made of a long lasting compound, and they handle awesome. I can hung corners when I need to and not have to worry about the side wall folding.

 

Have you checked out the Pirelli Scorpion tires. Two different SUV models that are great in snow/ice. You can read the reviews at TireRack.com

They look great too!