20" Inch Winter wheelset - 33" or 34" Advice

[steved76]

Hello there, and since this is my first post, thanks for having me. I have been stalking this forum since we put our order in last month. Here's the advice I'd be interested in:

We have a Gen 2 R1S Tri Max set to deliver later this month. We spend a lot of time in Tahoe during the winter, and I have always run a separate winter tire set between November and March, with snow and ice tires. Our Tri will have 22" Brights the rest of the year, but I am finalizing the winter setup with Atomic Wheels 20" AW01 rims, and I need thoughts/advice on the rubber. I understand our OEM wheelset will be 33", and assuming I don't mind the side effects of running a 34" diameter during the winter, what are the positives/negatives inherent with running 275/60/R20 Nokian Hakka R5 (33") vs. 275/65/R20 Blizzak LT (34")?

I am hoping for insight w/r/t range and efficiency, ride comfort, tread life, overall snow/ice effectiveness? What else should factor into the tire selection?

Thanks in advance!

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[ksurfier]

It simply comes down to whether or not you are willing to sacrifice 30% of your range and efficiency for a larger diameter tire…

The benefit is you will have much more tread and tires will last a lot longer.

why not go with a compromise?
Hankook Winter i*Pike X (W429A)
275/60R20
42.3 #
12.5/32 tread
Rated 4.74 / 5 by ~40 reviews
$250 each

 

[steved76]

It simply comes down to whether or not you are willing to sacrifice 30% of your range and efficiency for a larger diameter tire…

The benefit is you will have much more tread and tires will last a lot longer.

why not go with a compromise?
Hankook Winter i*Pike X (W429A)
275/60R20
42.3 #
12.5/32 tread
Rated 4.74 / 5 by ~40 reviews
$250 each

Sorry to be slow, is your suggestion because the Hankook is better for treadwear than the R5? That might work. I didn't see that option at tirerack.

 

[jasonthepro]

Go full 34s, if you off road as much as I do and in the mountains with snow, it's a blessing even with a 30 mile reduction in range. 285 55 22, no rubbing 34.3 inch tires.

 

[LL75]

Hello there, and since this is my first post, thanks for having me. I have been stalking this forum since we put our order in last month. Here's the advice I'd be interested in:

We have a Gen 2 R1S Tri Max set to deliver later this month. We spend a lot of time in Tahoe during the winter, and I have always run a separate winter tire set between November and March, with snow and ice tires. Our Tri will have 22" Brights the rest of the year, but I am finalizing the winter setup with Atomic Wheels 20" AW01 rims, and I need thoughts/advice on the rubber. I understand our OEM wheelset will be 33", and assuming I don't mind the side effects of running a 34" diameter during the winter, what are the positives/negatives inherent with running 275/60/R20 Nokian Hakka R5 (33") vs. 275/65/R20 Blizzak LT (34")?

I am hoping for insight w/r/t range and efficiency, ride comfort, tread life, overall snow/ice effectiveness? What else should factor into the tire selection?

Thanks in advance!

Personally, I would go with the Nokian 275/60/20 so you can keep the same overall size. They are known as great winter/snow tires.

 

[GLstmbt]

I have had the Nokian 275/60/20‘s on for a couple of weeks and like them. They are quiet at highway speeds and traction was good on snow packed roads I’ve encountered. Can‘t comment on range reduction yet.

 

[Mathme]

One thing to note is that if you go with the 34" tire, then Rivian says NO to chains...only snow socks. If you have dedicated winter tires on 33" tires, the changes of needing chains are pretty low, but you'd still have the option. 33" tires on 20" wheels will also likely be less $$$.

 

[Herb]

I just put 275/65/20 (close to 34") Hakka with EV Sportline Steelies on. EV Sportline has a thread on this forum with wheel/tire packages. These Nokian LT3s are quite heavy and look somehow noticeable larger than the OEM 21 Pirellis, even though it's only 1" difference. They look great and have nice ride quality, although louder. Not annoying, but noticeable. In retrospect 275/60/20 may have been the more sensible choice. With the 34" tire, my speedometer is dead nuts on, whereas with the 21" it showed 72 when GPS showed 70ish. Once we get some real snow, I'll report back. I am already seeing a noticeable drop in MPK but too early to post numbers.

 

[LL75]

I just put 275/65/20 (close to 34") Hakka with EV Sportline Steelies on. EV Sportline has a thread on this forum with wheel/tire packages. These Nokian LT3s are quite heavy and look somehow noticeable larger than the OEM 21 Pirellis, even though it's only 1" difference. They look great and have nice ride quality, although louder. Not annoying, but noticeable. In retrospect 275/60/20 may have been the more sensible choice. With the 34" tire, my speedometer is dead nuts on, whereas with the 21" it showed 72 when GPS showed 70ish. Once we get some real snow, I'll report back. I am already seeing a noticeable drop in MPK but too early to post numbers.

speedometer 2 miles higher than gps is the norm for a lot of cars including ICE.

 

[Seano]

Like the OP, we drive up to Tahoe from the Bay Area. I just took delivery today of Haka R5 275/60R 20 mounted to MSW Type 52 wheels. I went with these based on my past experience with this identical setup for past 4 seasons on our Range Rover.

Years ago I used Blizzaks on an S6 Avant, but switched to Nokians for the SUVs and really like the ride much better. I’m guessing winter performance is probably pretty equal: phenomenal in both cases.

 

[Herb]

I just put 275/65/20 (close to 34") Hakka with EV Sportline Steelies on. EV Sportline has a thread on this forum with wheel/tire packages. These Nokian LT3s are quite heavy and look somehow noticeable larger than the OEM 21 Pirellis, even though it's only 1" difference. They look great and have nice ride quality, although louder. Not annoying, but noticeable. In retrospect 275/60/20 may have been the more sensible choice. With the 34" tire, my speedometer is dead nuts on, whereas with the 21" it showed 72 when GPS showed 70ish. Once we get some real snow, I'll report back. I am already seeing a noticeable drop in MPK but too early to post numbers.

Update: We had a few inches a couple of times and snow performance seems pretty great, but still waiting for the big one. MPK drop is about a true 15% (after adjusting for an apparent 3% drop for the tire diameter). Definitely a bigger hit than I hoped, but not entirely unexpected. The ride quality is great, albeit slightly noisy. The weight (inertia) of these monsters made me switch from medium regen to high regen and the truck still doesn't slow as quickly as with the 21" Pirellis in medium. If in high regen, I frequently find myself using the brakes for the last 10 or 20 feet which I practically never needed to do with the Pirellis. I take solace in the fact the inertia energy goes back into the battery, but for an ICE vehicle this would be a lot of energy wasted and hard on the brakes. Something else I noticed is a bit of a snap back in the steering dynamics. E.g. coming out of a slow corner and letting the steering wheel self-center was a very smooth experience with summer tires, where there's a noticeable snap at the end, probably caused the deep profile being loaded with energy from the steering angle and the weight of the vehicle. I am definitely aware of it in tight traffic to make sure I don't clip anybody. As a side note, I ordered these from EV Line and the TPS sensors were not reading from day one. They just now shipped new ones and agreed to pay for mounting them. Already had to rebalance once because weights were falling off. Hopefully that fixes the problem and is not a tire problem, but what a pain. In retrospect these are probably slightly too aggressive, large and heavy (steelies) for my use case here in fairly flat Ohio. I'll probably change my mind when the big one hits and I am sure these are a great choice for the mountains.

Update: TPS sensors was a calibration issue, no fault of EV line. Traction performance in various snow conditions is very good. Either I have adapted to the snap back or it has subsided, anyway I barley notice it now. If I would do this again, I would stick with a 33" tire on aluminum wheels. This set is just heavy, difficult to manipulate.

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