5 Snow Driving Tips! Important Things to Know About Snow Wheeling. Maximize 4Runner Snow Wheeling!

3 PEAK MOUNTAIN SNOWFLAKE (3PMSF) ALL TERRAIN TIRES vs WINTER TIRES vs CHAINS
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In this video, I discuss only 3PMSF All-Terrain tires. Why do I choose All-Terrain 3PMSF tires? I do this because they suit my driving style. For off-road driving, they are a good compromise tire. True winter tires are not a subject of this video. While All-Terrain 3PMSF tires may provide some additional snow traction beyond what general all-season tires can deliver, they do not match the capability of a true winter tire for adverse winter conditions. The test to determine if a tire gets the 3PMSF logo is a straight-line acceleration test to measure traction on medium-packed snow. You read that right: the test is on medium-packed snow only. Soft snow, slush, powdery snow, hard-packed snow, ice, and other snow conditions are not tested. It is only a straight-line acceleration test. Braking and turning on snow, along with ice traction are not part of the test. There may be some degree of correlation between traction available for acceleration and traction available for braking and turning but as I said braking and turning are not tested. So, there is no data available on the braking and turning performance of 3PMSF tires. What really interests most drivers in severe winter conditions is braking performance, right? Sadly, no industry or government test measures stopping distances of 3PMSF tires on snow or on ice. Consumer Reports and similar groups may have some ice tests. It is important to note that the 3PMSF test procedure only tests for certain minimum standards. Again, it only tests for minimums standards. More precisely, the 3PMSF symbol represents that a tires’ traction is at least 10% superior on medium-packed snow compared to a generic all-season tire. You read that right: only 10% better traction for straight-line acceleration. The ideal solution is to run dedicated winter tires on their own wheels during the winter. However, please note that some winter tires are designed for on-road use only. So, you will need to do your own research on winter tires which is a topic beyond the scope of this video. It bears repeating that 3PMSF tires cannot match the traction of dedicated winter tires in winter conditions and should not be considered a replacement for a true winter tire. Also please take into consideration that some tires are suited for off-road and some are only suited for on-road driving. As a final note, it is recommended to carry a set of chains as a safety measure. I've tried to get this correct but please do your own tire research and choose the tire that best suits your driving. Always do what you consider to be safe for you and your family based on your vehicle and the driving conditions.

TIRE PSI - WINTER TIRES
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Some viewers have asked whether it is ok to deflate tires to get better traction while driving on the highway. Airing down is an off-road only driving technique. Never drive at highway speed‘s with underinflated tires. It is dangerous due to increased risk of rollover and poor handling. Also, when driving off-road, how much you can safely lower psi varies significantly depending on the tire/wheel combo you have. Please always do what is safe for you and your family based on your vehicle and the driving conditions. PLEASE NOTE: you air down to get more traction. Winter tires already provide said traction. So, airing down winter tires is generally not recommended.

WIDE TIRES vs NARROW TIRES
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Wide tires provide more surface area. Narrow tires provide higher surface pressure against the road and so they cut deeper into the snow. Narrow winter tires are often a great choice. Narrow tires dig deeper into the snow which helps get to the road surface below. So, narrow tires can work better than wide tires in loose snow and slush on a paved surface. If you are off-road in snow that is too deep for your tires to reach the trail below, wide tires and airing down to create a larger contact patch may be preferred because there is less of a chance that the tires will dig themselves into a hole and get stuck. This is why arctic trucks run tires as wide as 475/70 R17. As always, it all depends on the snow conditions.

PLEASE NOTE
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This video is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all the essential tips to snow wheel safely. It is an entertainment video that simply presents 5 Tips that viewers may find useful or helpful. The multitude of other essential snow wheeling subjects such as trauma kits, recovery equipment, navigation, communications, clothing, emergency items, pounds per square inch of vehicle weight applied to the ground based on tire size, etc. are not within the scope of this video.

00:00 Intro
00:13 Guest Star
00:38 Tip 1 Best PSI
04:04 Science
05:03 Tip 2 Divets
07:56 Tip 3 Kinetic Lessons
11:08 Tip 4 De-Ice
13:20 Tip 5 Emergency Slide Turn
14:00 Fire Steel

[bigdog]

Been snow wheeling in the Mt Hood National Forest since 1968. Always found that a small square point shovel was my best friend. Sometimes called a sand shovel. Makes those divots you speak of go away very quickly. And always carry chains with me as a back up safety device. The chains i use are called ice-breaker chains and can be purchased at Les Schwab. They have small steel bars on the cross sections and grip the snow like the claws on a cougar. Love your red plastic snow boards. Light weight and do not take up much space in your rig. Safe wheeling everyone.

[davecamilleri]

I love snow wheeling and have been doing it for over 40 years. I am also a tire junky and I have been selling them for over 35 years. I am always looking for the best snow tire for deep snow. Snow varies from location to location. I live in Wyoming and we have some very dry snow at times and it is horrible for any type of traction! I normally start with my Jeep at 10 psi and go down from there. My tire of choice is Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ in a 35x12.50x15. I am old school and I love my 15 inch wheels because I can get a very long tread contact patch and still have sidewall left. Several weeks ago I was elk hunting and we had about 8 inches of fresh snow, the snow was dry and what I like to call sugar snow, won't pack, can't make a snow ball and the only effective way to conquer it is with tires chains. I use ice bar chains that effectively turn my 35 inch tires into 38 inches. I spent several hours trying to recover some elk in high winds and close to two foot deep drifts that the wind would fill in my tracks every 15 minutes, horrible pain in the ***. It was nowhere near as fun as wheeling in heavy wet snow that packs good under the tires. I usually find that 10 psi is just a starting point and my Jeep does really well between 4 and 5 psi with a good wrinkle. I also have an atv with tracks that is a lot of fun but in the super cold months, normally January, the snow will be of the sugar variety and there are days when you can't even make progress with tracks or even snow shoes. Go home and wait for some warmer weather. My other must have for snow wheeling is traction adding devices in both axles. Right now I run air lockers, but for years I ran detroits front and rear. A tire that isn't pulling is a liability!

[brownneedles]

You’re kind of the Mr Rogers of back country exploring! I love your low key voice overs and great footage. Always informative. Thanks!

[Financial_Awareness]

I’m 0.49 seconds into this video and just had to hit pause to comment…by far, hands down, the best video already for this topic. As a Florida boy I’m excited to learn about driving in the snow vs what I’m used to down here at sea level. Thank you for putting in the time to make such great content!

[Wildhorn]

Just to correct you about the 3 peaks snow pictogram. For a tire to receive it, it just need to be 10% more effective on tamped surface than a 4 season tire. Also, Chinese companies can apply it on non-winter tire on demand, so yeah... don't rely on it to know if a tire is good in winter condition and do researches about your tires.

[kevinkasimov]

Great videos. Thanks for not adding any stupid music, getting straight to the point and being informative!

[UPENNACNP]

I am new to off roading - having just purchased a 4Runner. Your videos are an excellent education on how to use the vehicle in off road conditions. Thanks very much for taking the time an effort to create this content! Liked and subscribed.

[gretchennelson]

Love your videos & how well you explain all the functions of the 4-wheel drive dials or toggles buttons. Just purchased a 2023 after driving a 2006 all these years. These are the best for outdoor enthusiasts, however, I will never do the hard stuff you all do. I am not that experienced. Thank you.

[TheLittlered]

Loved the video. I am about 100 miles north of you and love wheeling and snow wheeling near Mt Rainier. I normally wheel as a lone vehicle. I have a few tips. I always, snow wheeling, carry 2 sets of chains. Never used them but peace of mind is great. Trick is not to use them until you need to. This way you do not go further in than you should. Another trick is to always travel up hill on the way in, if you can. Gravity will help you get out.

I love my army shovel. I can "rake" the snow out instead of depending on gravity to keep the snow on the shovel. Square shovels and or pointed shovels the snow can slide off as you try to shovel out. Yes it is a short handled shovel which means you maybe on your knees. This means you should carry some sort of barrier, plastic or otherwise. Something you should carry anyway. Great thing is it does not take up much room.

Final thing. Tire pressure. My YJ weighs in about 3500 with 2 people and a trailer, TC-3. I came up with this weight going to the dump and they scale you going in and out. I am guessing that the trailer weighs at least 500 lbs. So I weigh about 3000 lbs with 2 people. Matt's Jeep, the yellow banana from Matt's towing. weighs in over 4000 lbs. He ran 8 psi in his tires. So given the tire rating of my tires and weight I run 17 front and 25 rear normally. I could run lower but this I believe this is safe for me and have the best control on the highway. Off road, I believe that 8 psi is more than a safe pressure and believe I could go down to 6 psi and still be somewhat safe. This is me and me knowing my vehicle. As Overland said, you need to figure out what is best for you and your vehicle. Get your vehicle weight, that way you know what is safe for you.

[adventurelifesam]

You should do a video explaining common “snow ratings” and what they actually mean. There are actually several snow ratings floating around that mean different things and have varying requirements. Might be interesting.

#1 on my personal list of snow driving tips would be to know the type of snow conditions you are dealing with because the best tool for the job in snow varies quite a bit depending on the snow you are in. For example, a narrow (fully inflated) tire is actually superior in situations when there is a solid surface below a layer of snow that can be reached before the axles and undercarriage of the car hang up on the snow or if there is enough snow that it just compresses into ice under the tire. Skinny tire, less surface area, so there is more pressure per square inch to push the tire down to the solid surface with better traction. In deep snow with no accessible high traction solid surface the goal is the opposite and you want wide tires or tracks to maximize the surface area supporting the car, decrease the pressure per square inch, and float on top of the powder.

Great video, I was sad to miss the trip!

[xbgwright]

Great info! Just drove out of Breck through the massive snow storm on 01/06/2022 with my JK Unlimited (2.5 and 35's-Duratrac). This would have been very helpful. We didn't get stuck but I certainly was swimming through the snow. Appreciate you taking time to educate those of us less familiar with driving in these conditions.

[firstandlastname]

Thank you from the video! From Yakutia, Russia

[MartinsGarage]

Love snow. Tested out my rig I built in the summer for snow. Love it. Excursion is great. No matter the ice or snow. Pulled a half ton up a super steep icy hill with little effort. Got 33s on 16s with Dynapro ATMs in the front and dynpro AT2 on the rear. I have 4 snow plow rated ice breaker chains for traction boards and and for emergencies.

[mtnphot]

Depends on the type of snow and the temperature. the last cold spell we had the snow was like gravel. There have been other times when we just barely got home with new studded tires on ugly snow just around the freezing point. Mind you this is on 17% grades. The other thing is to get into 4wd long before you have to. Don't wait till you are stuck on a hill to remember. Turn off traction control. It is not your friend in snow. It just slows you down and you do have to maintain momentum especially when going up hill. Carry chains. I have had to chain up all four wheels when a wet road changed to glare ice. When you have to pull yourself around your vehicle tires with a snowflake are not enought. Studded tires but they have their own problems.

[robbergstrom]

Sweet video. We recovered a couple people yesterday who slid off of icy side roads here in Southern Oregon using our kinetic rope. I appreciate the tips on their use.

[waikarimoana]

Awesome video and very interesting for us Kiwis as we get very little snow in North Island of New Zealand.Many thanks for a great video, thumbs up and greetings from Kiwiland, , Tony.

[HubCityOverlanding]

What a great video for those who are JUST getting into wheeling, especially in the winter. Love it!! 🤘

[sakhalin]

Thanks guys for fun video. It was good to meet you on the trail. till next time

[benjones]

Great video! A lot of good information I can use on my travels. I’ve also learned since this is the first time I’ve had a truck, that you can get into four-wheel-drive and low gear to help you get around in a lot of bad weather like snow.

[rxonmymind]

You are so calm because you are ready for anything. Have everything. Good to see having your wits together and rising to every challenge. Love snow country.