This is my first truck, I always had front wheel drive cars in the winter. I've read here that the RTS sucks in winter. My question is this will be my first PA winter with my truck, should i put sandbags in the box or will my 4WD be good enough. The reason I'm asking is everyone with 4WD trucks at work say they dont use anything but there 4WD in the snow. But they all have full size pickups. I'd rather hear from other ranger owners what they do, and again this is a PA winter.

 

Do what I'm going to do, which is wait for the 1st snowstorm and see how it goes. I have regular Wanglers. This too is my 1st truck ever. I may be in better shape, since I have the stepside, which means I have more weight in the back by default.

 

they wont be horrible in the snow, but they are by far not the best.......since you have 4wd, then you prolly dont need sandbags in the bed.......now for any kind of deeper snow, they will suck.......you will not get awsome traction...nothing no were near what you get when it is raining out.......if you are carefull and easy on the skinny pedal, you should be ok...

 

Here in Minnesota, I have a 4wd flareside and just prefer to use some sand in the bed. That with takin it easy on the gas pedal works just fine for me. Yeah, the wranglers do suck in deeper snow, I found that out the hard way.

 

The wranglers won't be too bad in light snow, but awful in deep stuff.
They are really dangerous when the snow melts, and the road gets wet.
On ice, they are borderline lethal.

I speak from experiance on this:
http://silvertank.batcave.net/accident.htm

 

I have wrangler Rts's on the explorer and they are as good as any regulat street tire. I think if you take it easy you'll be fine. I hate Good years though.

~HJ

 

only good Goodyear tire is the MTR's.....

 

In reading your report, I don't think it would have mattered what tires you had on. Hitting a huge puddle, at 50, while changing lanes is going to cause the result every time. It sucks that this occurred, but don't blame it on your GY tires.

 

In all honesty, whether or not you have a sand bag or two in the back of your truck, you're more than likely not going to get stuck, even with the Goodyears. The only thing is that you obviously don't want to be cruising around all the time with the truck in 4wd when you're going from patchy ice/snow to dry pavement, around turns, and so on. So for the times where you are in 2wd, a sandbag or two over the axle or behind the axle really add stability for those times.

To sum it up, you're probably not going to get stuck either way, adding the sandbag is purely for safety reasons so you won't lose it when you are in 2wd as easy. I say put the sandbag in...You'll notice a huge difference from 1/4 tank to full tank when driving on snow...trust me, the sandbag helps.

 

they will be fine, they should be they are brand new! my stockers worked fine when they were new but by next winter they sucked.

sand is preference, sand will help but isnt needed.

btw to those that say all Goodyears suck... if that was true they wouldnt be in business any more, I love my MTRs best tire i have had since i have had this truck. now if only they made a 35x13.5 sized MTR...

 

I don't think you need the sandbags...........the way i look at it is you have the four wheel drive might as well use it.........the sandbags helpout more with two wheel drives than four (it gets more traction on the tires)

 

what i mean is they just give more traction to the back tires.........they don't imrpove one over the other

 

i disagree, the sand bags will help tremendously. have you tried it?

my dad used to think it wouldnt help but when i used to have a 2wd ranger he picked up some tube sand for me hauled it home and was like wow, that helped so he bought some for himself. and he has a 4wd F150.... he has been doing it ever since, i do it occasionally but if im going out to wheel/play in the snow then i dont use it. but for driving from point a to point b it helps..

 

i just think the RT/S's suck.......as far as a truck tire they suck.....but like i said above, the MTR's are pretty good

 

since i bought my BFG's the only weight i have is a 80lb tire sitting in my bed....

 

THis is like a ford chevy debate. Every Good Year tire I have ever owned has come apart on me. I have a Set on my cadillac (I bought) and they have been replace three times for tread separation (Under Warranty). Next year I am buying a set of michelins for it and the good years have less than 5K on them, but they are dangerous and I like to feel safe in my cadillac. I have had nothing but problems with Good Years. My explorer has two tires that won't balance out (My Dad bought them before I bought the Explorer from him) I am glad you have had Good luck with them, But I will nevver give Good year another Dime. I have been Burned way to many times for it. I go with Michelins for cars and BFG/Cooper/Firestone for trucks.

~HJ

 

yea after i get my full size spare, i will have roughly 75# with the wheel/tire combo and the spare tire carrier...........

 

Honistly i ahvn't tried it in my ranger.....but my dad has a two wheel drive f150 all he does is put his cap on(it's fiberglass).....it def. gets more traction on the back tires........i just never bothered with the weight in the back since i have the four wheel drive...........i don't doubt it adds to the traction you get. I am just saying i don't use them and i get around just fine. I think a lot of it has to do with the way drive too. It's real sh!ty out you just slow down.

 

if you haven't tried it don't say it wouldn't help...

 

i didn't say it wouldn't help.........it was just an opinio

 

i wasn't saying that it gives no adantage to four wheel drive...........although that is kinda how it reads

 

Do what I did. first snow fall head to the biggest parking lot u can find. and play a little bit. see when the struck does when u HAVE TO STOP. see how traction is cornering and what not. maybe even do a few donuts! the point is to see how your truck will react to the situation without the danger of hitting anyone of anything.

i put 150lbs of steel bars n my bed the first winter when the truck was new, the only real difference i found, was a smoother ride and even crappier mpg.
the second year, last winter, i put no weight in the bed, and just used 4hi. and didnt really have any probs.

and then this year, when we got 2ft of snow in october, and put 400,000 ppl out of power and brought down like 7/10 trees in the area, 4hi again worked well, even when i parked in 2+ ft of snow when i went to my moms. when i went to leave, just a lil bit of gas and i was on my way. i seriuosly thought i was gonna be stuck



overall the wranglers arnt a BAD tire, tho they do leave ALOT of room for improvement. I have found wet traction to be REALLY bad. stopping on wet roads is a joke.

last night we got like 4inches and of course i had to go out and play in it. i drove around mostly in 4hi, not cause i needed it per say, but cause i do have one bald tire on the front driverside, and in 4hi u have ALOT more GO traction and cornering traction. just to see how much i tried it about 1 mile from home in 2wd and sat there and spun and actually got sideways on the main road. good thing it was 2am or id be dead right now. but as long as u know basically what your truck will do in any situation, you should be ok. and as an extra bar of safety, us 4hi, hell ya got it, may as well use it.

 

Do you have a limited slip? Thats the best thing. I drove around the first winter I had my truck on beat RTS and did just fine with no weight. Last winter I had 265/75/16 Cooper ST and did very well with traction. This winter will suck cuz I got wide muds now so they float. Just be careful and you will be alright. PA winters are fairly mild anyway. Unless you are up by lake Erie like me then you see some snow.

 

My PERSONAL OPINION is that weight helps. the trucks hardly weigh anything in the rear and weight helps keep it planted. We dont get alot of deep snow here but we do get alot of freezing rain and ice and having a little extra weight in the back seemed to help both in and out of four wheel. Plus the less you are in four hi the less fuel you burn!

 

Wrong. The RTS tires hydroplaned, while my old Firestones or new Michelins never do. Goodyear didn't put proper channels to drain water out of those tires, therefore they will lift off the road. Not too bad a tire on SUV's, as the added weight will help push more rubber through the water. Very bad tire for a light pickup. Don't believe me? Read the reviews on TireRack.
I've been driving for 25 years, and have never had tires break loose like these did.

The only reason these were introduced on the Rangers is because of the whole Firestone/Exploder fiasco. Ford wanted to ban all Firestone products, so they decided to use the crappy Goodyears. You don't have to believe me, but there are plenty of crashed Rangers here because of those tires.