20" or 22" wheels for snow tires?

[tcole]

I live in Tahoe and starting to think about winter. We get a lot of snow.... So I plan to run true winter tires from sometime in November through May. It's half the year.

I have 22" rims with the OEM tires on my R1T and I'm debating what to do for true winter tries. I live on a hill and with a 7000 pound truck, I want to do everything I can to avoid sliding down that hill!

Looking the most at Nokian: https://www.nokiantires.com/rivian/ and only want studdless, because there can be a fair amount of bare pavement driving.

Obviously the cheapest and easiest option is to just swap my 22" tires for winter tires and get the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV.

But it also looks like the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta LT3 have a stud-less option and would fit the stock 20" rims at the correct size.

I kinda want the 20" rims and tires anyway for some summer dirt roads and stuff, though swapping rims is a pain with the SC visit involved. (I hope they make the wheels and tire size user configurable soon)

My question is, does anyone have winter driving experience with both 20" rims and 22" rims? Is there even much of a difference?

Bonus if anyone can vouch for how good either of those Nokian tires are.

Thanks!

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[SlaterGS]

I plan to put Michellin X-Ice on my 22's then buy a set of 20's with a smaller diameter AS tire to match the 22's so there is no need to have the SC involved.

I'd prefer a good AS on the 22's and the winter on 20's but there isn't an AS option for the 22's yet that I am aware of?

 

[tcole]

I'd prefer a good AS on the 22's and the winter on 20's but there isn't an AS option for the 22's yet that I am aware of?

The OEM Pirelli Scorpion Zero that comes on the 22s is an All Season. Or do you mean an All Season with the 3 peak mountain snowflake?

I had the same Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Seasons on my Volvo C40 and did a bit of snow driving in them, they were better than I expected. Though the next winter I got Blizzaks, much better.

 

[SlaterGS]

The OEM Pirelli Scorpion Zero that comes on the 22s is an All Season. Or do you mean an All Season with the 3 peak mountain snowflake?

I had the same Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Seasons on my Volvo C40 and did a bit of snow driving in them, they were better than I expected. Though the next winter I got Blizzaks, much better.

I guess I don't really consider the OEM Pirelli's as a true AS tire as much as a sport/performance AS. A stickier compound that while it has great street performance it wears quicker and has a higher rolling resistance than a lower rolling resistance AS. I'm looking for low rolling resistance/better range.

All that being said, I'm no tire expert, just thinking based on a lot of various reading and comments from others.

 

[cbrcanuck]

I have the stock 21s, and just bought a set a 20" rims (not factory rims) and Blizzaks for winter. Will report back on performance once they're on and the snow starts falling

 

[timgradywy]

I'm in a similar situation. I have 22's stock. I bought new 22's for my snow tires. I'll either use the Nokia R5 SUV if they're ever in stock again or the Michelin X-ice (much cheaper). The non-studded 20" Nokia's have reduced ratings vs. the 22's (European ENERG rating and SL vs. XL).

For me, the biggest selling point was that if I use 22's, then I now have 9x identical 22" wheels and the tires are all the same OD. If one wheel is ever bent or broken or one tire destroyed, I'll have options. If I went with 20's, then I would reduce redundancy. I've bent enough wheels and blown enough tires that having redundancy is a big bonus.

If I went with the 20's, I would have wanted the Nokian LT3's to have something as robust as possible, though at the expense of some winter traction + incorrect speedometer settings + incorrect spare tire OD.

Tim

 

[tcole]

I'm in a similar situation. I have 22's stock. I bought new 22's for my snow tires. I'll either use the Nokia R5 SUV if they're ever in stock again or the Michelin X-ice (much cheaper). The non-studded 20" Nokia's have reduced ratings vs. the 22's (European ENERG rating and SL vs. XL).

Thanks, this was good info.

I just called the local tire shop and they had Michelin X-ice in 275/50R22, but I asked for the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV. They were able to call around and find them. They are getting shipped to the shop and I'll have them put on a little closer to actual show fall.

$1000 more expensive than the X-ice though...

If I went with the 20's, I would have wanted the Nokian LT3's to have something as robust as possible, though at the expense of some winter traction + incorrect speedometer settings + incorrect spare tire OD.

This is what helped convince me to to just put winter tires on my 22" rims. I don't want to deal with incorrect speedometer settings, etc.

Maybe I'll pickup a set of 20" rims and tires next year for some off road stuff, but just swap tires on my 22" rims for winter.

 

[R1Thor]

Bonus if anyone can vouch for how good either of those Nokian tires are.

Thanks!

I've been an automotive enthusiast most of my life. I can tell you, Hakkapeliitta's are the DE FACTO best winter tires you can run (sorry Blizzak enthusiasts-- I admit they're damned good, but definitely not holding their own against the performance of Hakkapeliitta). This is evidenced through studies, literature, reviews, and just the fact that they simply live up to the hype.

My last set of winter tires for my 2018 Volvo V60 Polestar were Hakkapeliitta R5s and they stuck like glue in everything I threw at them. I had so much confidence in all kinds of wet weather. I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to get the Hakkapeliitta Outpost nATs to put on 20s (I live in an area that is verily affected by climate change and we don't get as much white stuff as much as we just get cold bitter slop). But if you have significant winter weather, a dedicated winter tire setup is superior, for sure.

 

[jjb]

I live in Tahoe and starting to think about winter. We get a lot of snow.... So I plan to run true winter tires from sometime in November through May. It's half the year.

I have 22" rims with the OEM tires on my R1T and I'm debating what to do for true winter tries. I live on a hill and with a 7000 pound truck, I want to do everything I can to avoid sliding down that hill!

Looking the most at Nokian: https://www.nokiantires.com/rivian/ and only want studdless, because there can be a fair amount of bare pavement driving.

Obviously the cheapest and easiest option is to just swap my 22" tires for winter tires and get the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV.

But it also looks like the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta LT3 have a stud-less option and would fit the stock 20" rims at the correct size.

I kinda want the 20" rims and tires anyway for some summer dirt roads and stuff, though swapping rims is a pain with the SC visit involved. (I hope they make the wheels and tire size user configurable soon)

My question is, does anyone have winter driving experience with both 20" rims and 22" rims? Is there even much of a difference?

Bonus if anyone can vouch for how good either of those Nokian tires are.

Thanks!

I used to live in Truckee now I live in the Wasatch mountains of northern Utah, so I know good winter tires are critical for any Rivian in real SnoCountry. My rule with snow tires is to get them as narrow as possible and as tall as possible. There is a blizzak 20 inch tire that is the exact specifications of the Rivian 20 inch AT tire. I have ordered a set of Rivian 20 inch wheels that I will use that Blizzak with for my R1S that came with the 21 inch wheels.

every day in the winter I climb, then descend a 7 mile stretch with an average 14% grade. Blizzard have always performed well on every vehicle I’ve had, I expect they’ll be just as good with the Rivian. Blizzaks arecheaper and easier to find than some of the alternatives mentioned on this forum.

 

[StefanB]

Hi @tcole, We have a house in Tahoe City and go back and forth from the SF Bay Area. My R1S came with 22" wheels and last November when they became available on the gear store I bought a set of 20" wheels and put Blizzaks on them. Huge improvement over the OEM tires for control when going up our hilly driveway and around town in the snow and slop. So +1 for getting dedicated snow tire setup for winter.

That said, if I had to do it again and if there was no other reasons I would probably just swap the 22" tires onto the factory rims. I've only heard great things about Nokian tires and this would be the least expensive path as well.

Either path will be a good idea and a huge improvement over the OEM tires.

 

[tcole]

I used to live in Truckee now I live in the Wasatch mountains of northern Utah, so I know good winter tires are critical for any Rivian in real SnoCountry. My rule with snow tires is to get them as narrow as possible and as tall as possible. There is a blizzak 20 inch tire that is the exact specifications of the Rivian 20 inch AT tire. I have ordered a set of Rivian 20 inch wheels that I will use that Blizzak with for my R1S that came with the 21 inch wheels.

Yeah I hear you. Ideally you get pizza cutters for snow.

I had Blizzaks on my Volvo C40 and they got me through everything last winter. They didn't actually make the right size (should be wider in the back) so I ran the same tires on all 4 wheels. Worked great.

The only time I had trouble was when the county plow hadn't come and the snow on the road was just too deep for my ground clearance. I had to dig myself out a couple of times when I was too eager to get to the ski hill. That experience was part of what put my over the edge to get the Rivian. Seeing high clearance trucks navigate my the roads in my neighborhood while I was stuck was motivating!

Before the Volvo C40 I had a Volvo V60 R-Design Polestar and ran Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3s and there were great on dry pavement for snow tires, but underwhelming in actual deep snow. Would not buy them again for Tahoe. Also that car just didn't have enough ground clearance for those mornings when the roads are not totally cleared yet. Tried to go skiing once early, removed the berm from my driveway, got stuck immediately, and to dig out, drive back into the garage...

I've also had a Subaru Outback with Bilzzaks on it, that thing could do anything basically. I certainly drove it to Tahoe from SF during storms that I would just not drive in at all, now that I'm a bit older and live in Tahoe full time.

Maybe one or even two previous Subaru's that I also had Blizzaks on. They always worked well, though there seemed to be a steep drop off in snow performance once you wore the thread down a bit. It would look like there was still a lot of tread, but snow performance well got worse.

I wanted to try something different, as the Nokians are so well regarded, and unfortunately they don't seem to have something that's an exact fit for the Rivian 20" rims and I didn't want to bother with aftermarket.

 

[tcole]

Hi @tcole, We have a house in Tahoe City and go back and forth from the SF Bay Area. My R1S came with 22" wheels and last November when they became available on the gear store I bought a set of 20" wheels and put Blizzaks on them. Huge improvement over the OEM tires for control when going up our hilly driveway and around town in the snow and slop. So +1 for getting dedicated snow tire setup for winter.

That said, if I had to do it again and if there was no other reasons I would probably just swap the 22" tires onto the factory rims. I've only heard great things about Nokian tires and this would be the least expensive path as well.

Either path will be a good idea and a huge improvement over the OEM tires.

Yeah I always run dedicated snow tires if I'm going to be spending much time in the snow. Even when I lived in SF and drove to Tahoe for ski trips, I'd run winter tires from about Thanksgiving to April. AWD + winter tires. Did not want to be one of those people putting on chains on the side of I-80 in a snow storm....

And yeah, the tire swaps on the factory 22" rims is certainly going to be the easiest. Even if I had a dedicated set of winter rims, I don't think I'd want to do those swaps myself. My garage is too narrow to feel comfortable doing in there, and my driveway is way too sloped to feel ok swapping wheels on a 7000 pound truck there. Plus if I didn't get all the wheel size calibrations done that Rivian wants to do, it would bug me...

The Reno / Sparks SC is open now, but still, that's a lot of time out of my day, and possibly a long lead time scheduling if I wanted to swap wheels.

The local shop in Truckee can sell me the ties and swap them for me twice a year.

 

[SeaGeo]

I'm in a similar situation. Just purchased some 275/60r20 X-Ice Snow SUV (which are 115 and not 116 load rating.... but I had a chat with Rivian and I'm comfortable with that). I'm waiting on a couple of 20" wheel options to come to market soon, but if they don't I'll just get one of the least expensive ones from EVSportline.

 

[Bob76]

Smaller wheels are better in snow in my experience.

We went with Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3s on the 20" wheels for winter. Also in Tahoe btw.

 

[jplblue]

I'm in a similar situation. Just purchased some 275/60r20 X-Ice Snow SUV (which are 115 and not 116 load rating.... but I had a chat with Rivian and I'm comfortable with that). I'm waiting on a couple of 20" wheel options to come to market soon, but if they don't I'll just get one of the least expensive ones from EVSportline.

Just curious, what did Rivian say?

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