21" vs 22" tires in snow?

[acastal]

I'll be using my R1S in Northern California with a few trips to Tahoe each year. For the inevitable snow in Tahoe is there appreciable difference in the performance of their 22" tire vs the 21"?

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[Ingo B]

Same boat, hoping the 21"'s work well. I suspect 80-90% of its success will be driver-dependent.

 

[acastal]

Online it says the 21" road wheels have "improved handling in different weather conditions" but since they are both M+S rated I"m hoping both are the same on snow as I like the look of the 22's better.

From the support site https://rivian.com/support/article/what-type-of-tire-comes-with-each-wheel

• 21” Road wheels come with all-season tires for the best range and improved handling in different weather conditions, and are M+S rated
• 22” Sport wheels come with all-season performance tires for the best on-road handling and are M+S rated

 

[sub]

20" or 22" wheels are clear winners for snow. Because you can buy real winter/snow tires in those sizes.

But if you aren't going to do real snow tires, would not expect much difference between the 21 and 22.

 

[DevSecOps]

20" or 22" wheels are clear winners for snow. Because you can buy real winter/snow tires in those sizes.

But if you aren't going to do real snow tires, would not expect much difference between the 21 and 22.

Exactly this... As someone who goes to Tahoe in the winter all the time to visit my Father, I went with the 22s just because the 21s you can't find tires for.

 

[jjswan33]

Yep. both the 21s or 22s are not going to perform well in snow. If you go this route plan on buying some cables or snow socks for those days.

 

[tcole]

I'll be using my R1S in Northern California with a few trips to Tahoe each year. For the inevitable snow in Tahoe is there appreciable difference in the performance of their 22" tire vs the 21"?

I live in Tahoe full time and always run actual winter tires from sometime in November until May or so.

When I lived in San Francisco, I also just ran winter tires from around Thanksgiving until maybe April or so, but I was driving up here a lot.

But if you're only doing a handful of trips to Tahoe, probably makes sense to just get the best all seasons you can.

And any of the options look like they are M+S rated, so you should be fine getting through chain control without having to put on chains.

Online it says the 21" road wheels have "improved handling in different weather conditions" but since they are both M+S rated I"m hoping both are the same on snow as I like the look of the 22's better.

From the support site https://rivian.com/support/article/what-type-of-tire-comes-with-each-wheel

• 21” Road wheels come with all-season tires for the best range and improved handling in different weather conditions, and are M+S rated
• 22” Sport wheels come with all-season performance tires for the best on-road handling and are M+S rated

I haven't compared either tire on an R1 in the snow. But previously I had a Volvo C40 and it's OEM tires are also the Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season, same model as the Rivian 22" rims, just different sizes.

They were OK when we got a few feet of snow in April 2022. Not as good at the Blizzaks I put on that Volvo for this last winter, but they were certainly better than I expected.

Also looking at various tire reviews, I think the Scorpion Zero All Season (22" rims) is going to be a little better in the snow than the Scorpion Verde (21" rims).

I'd also suspect the low rolling resistance of the Verdes is not going to do you any favors for cold weather traction.

20" or 22" wheels are clear winners for snow. Because you can buy real winter/snow tires in those sizes.

But if you aren't going to do real snow tires, would not expect much difference between the 21 and 22.

And interestingly, Nokian only has exact fit winter tires for the 22" rims so far: https://www.nokiantires.com/rivian/

But for example, Bridgestone makes a Blizzak's in the right size for the 20s and the 22s.

I have 22s on my R1T, still debating what I do this winter. I kind of want a set of 20" rims anyway, but want real winter tires.

 

[Aardvark]

I've ordered our R1S with the 21s, but plan to get a dedicated set of 20"snow tires and rims.
This is what I've done on our Model X since 2016- 20" a/s for most of the year, and 19" Blizzaks on TireRack rims for the winter. This setup has worked very well.

 

[tcole]

I've ordered our R1S with the 21s, but plan to get a dedicated set of 20"snow tires and rims.
This is what I've done on our Model X since 2016- 20" a/s for most of the year, and 19" Blizzaks on TireRack rims for the winter. This setup has worked very well.

Are you planning on having a Rivian SC do the wheel swap so they can do whatever software changes they do when you change rims? Or just swap and let it be.

Hoping they make the wheel / tire size configurable before this winter, so I can also get a set of 20"s and put winter tires on them, then either do the swap myself or have a local shop do it.

 

[Mathme]

I'll preface this with snow tires are best for winter traction. That being said, I believe the M+S rater all seasons are rated based as such based on the voids in the tire tread. I may be wrong there.

I go to Tahoe year-round and opted to pay the mileage penalty for ATs as they are 3PMS rated -- which means they have a certain amount of traction in a straight line that's better than M+S.

I'd also check the manual again, as is says not to use chains (only socks) on the 20s. Check to see what the manual says on the 21 & 22s.

Over the past 20 years of driving to Tahoe, I only had winter tires on one season. They were great, otherwise I've used all seasons - several with the Pirelli Scorpion verde's on my Cayenne. What I've found is that if the road is SO BAD that you NEED dedicated winter tires, CalTrans usually has the road closed for visibility, avalanche control, spinouts, etc.

My biggest change this winter will be to remember that the R1T is a 7,000lb vehicle and it'll likely be more prevalent to slide and take longer to stop.

 

[tcole]

I'll preface this with snow tires are best for winter traction. That being said, I believe the M+S rater all seasons are rated based as such based on the voids in the tire tread. I may be wrong there.

Also Snow tires tend to have a rubber compound that stays soft at lower temperatures, combined with sipes to maintain traction on snow and ice.

Over the past 20 years of driving to Tahoe, I only had winter tires on one season. They were great, otherwise I've used all seasons - several with the Pirelli Scorpion verde's on my Cayenne. What I've found is that if the road is SO BAD that you NEED dedicated winter tires, CalTrans usually has the road closed for visibility, avalanche control, spinouts, etc.

Yeah for getting into and out of the basin I think this is true.

Of course this last winter was exceptional, but there were many many times with chain control on North Lake Blvd (highway 28) and packed snow and ice on the road for several days at a time. I was glad to have winter tires for those times too, but I live here.

My wife did fine in her Bronco with the stock all season AT tires, though I felt like my car with winters was a bit better.

 

[Aardvark]

Are you planning on having a Rivian SC do the wheel swap so they can do whatever software changes they do when you change rims? Or just swap and let it be.

Hoping they make the wheel / tire size configurable before this winter, so I can also get a set of 20"s and put winter tires on them, then either do the swap myself or have a local shop do it.

I'm just going to swap and accept the slight discrepancy in the speedometer and odometer.

 

[Green Dayz]

We found the 21" to perform very well in snow last year. Better than our Subaru with the Scorpio tires. We used chains a few times which was pretty easy affair. One really nice thing is the weight being low and evenly distributed front to back. I think this is a huge difference.

 

[puregreddy]

You ran chains with the 21's? I ended up getting socks for my 21's. Couldn't find chains, or maybe I didn't look hard enough.

 

[tylerdurden03]

I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk with Good Year Wrangler M+S tires last year in Mammoth Lakes and never once even thought about chains (always keep them in truck for CHP). I am hoping my R1T with AT 20s will do as well as the Jeep this winter but a bit nervous that it wont be at least as good…

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