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OEM Tire concerns

PGK

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July 31, 2015
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City, State
Lake in The Hills, ILL.
Year, Model & Trim Level
2016 Ford Explorer Sport
Just purchased a 2016 Sport, 4 wheel drive. I pull a snowmobile trailer from ILL. up to northern Wisconsin. I am interested to see if anyone has experience with the Hankook Ventus 255/50R/20 tires is snow and ice road conditions. They look
more summer highway to me.

Other tire recommendation for the Sport in the winter would be appreciated.
 



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Just purchased a 2016 Sport, 4 wheel drive. I pull a snowmobile trailer from ILL. up to northern Wisconsin. I am interested to see if anyone has experience with the Hankook Ventus 255/50R/20 tires is snow and ice road conditions. They look
more summer highway to me.

Other tire recommendation for the Sport in the winter would be appreciated.
Welcome to the Forum. :wavey:
Get dedicated Winter tires. No so call all-season will be as safe or perform as well as a Winter tire. I put on the 18" Interceptor wheels in place of the OEM 20" Hankooks. BTW, the Ventus was just introduced on the 2016 model.

Peter
 






Welcome to the Forum. :wavey:
Get dedicated Winter tires. No so call all-season will be as safe or perform as well as a Winter tire. I put on the 18" Interceptor wheels in place of the OEM 20" Hankooks. BTW, the Ventus was just introduced on the 2016 model.

Peter

Peter is 100% correct

I did the same.

Dedicated Blizzaks on Interceptor wheels with TPMS.
 






Get winters...those won't be good in the snow
 






I put winter tires on my XLT before last winter, and I'm glad I did. There wasn't anywhere I couldn't go and we had a very bad winter. Pulling a trailer in ice and snow, I'd never use the street tires that come on these vehicles.
 






My oem 20" hankooks did perfectly fine in the winter snow last year. Towing a trailer is a different beat though.
 






Just purchased a 2016 Sport, 4 wheel drive. I pull a snowmobile trailer from ILL. up to northern Wisconsin. I am interested to see if anyone has experience with the Hankook Ventus 255/50R/20 tires is snow and ice road conditions. They look
more summer highway to me.

Other tire recommendation for the Sport in the winter would be appreciated.

I guess these guys must have endless pockets that suggest you must have a winter set and a summer set of tires. I also trailer sleds up to WI and the UP. How many times are the roads that bad where you're actually driving on all snow? Not many - not the main drags at least. I don't have the cash to have 2 sets of wheels and tires. The Hankook's worked fine on my brother's 2013 Ex Sport. Now that I have a 2016 and they put a better rated model of Hankook's on these, I am going to use them to tow up north with confidence.
 






Welcome to the Forum. :wavey:
Get dedicated Winter tires. No so call all-season will be as safe or perform as well as a Winter tire. I put on the 18" Interceptor wheels in place of the OEM 20" Hankooks. BTW, the Ventus was just introduced on the 2016 model.

Peter

Peter & Sgt, can you link or give exact specs to the exact Interceptor wheels and tires you have? Thanks!

Has anyone been able to confirm that ALL the specs are the same for 16' as far as wheel compatibility?
 






Agree with others about getting dedicated winter tires. You'll get better traction.
 






We drove last February through the mountains to Asheville NC during a driving ice/snowstorm with the stock tires with no problems using the snow mode. On the way back home to NW Indiana it snowed continuously all the way home. They even had almost a foot of snow in Lexington KY and again, we had no issues with the stock tires. We learned 2 things. The tires were fine and we will never go on driving trip in the winter :)
 






The surefootedness of my 2014 4WD Explorer is really the only thing I like about it. I had to drive my son to work last year (3rd shift) in a terrible snow to sleet to freezing rain. I took it slow but not once in the 24 mile round trip did the car slip or slide when there were cars in both ditches both ways. I was and still am using the OEM Hankooks.
 






We drove last February through the mountains to Asheville NC during a driving ice/snowstorm with the stock tires with no problems using the snow mode. On the way back home to NW Indiana it snowed continuously all the way home. They even had almost a foot of snow in Lexington KY and again, we had no issues with the stock tires. We learned 2 things. The tires were fine and we will never go on driving trip in the winter :)

I was in the central Kentucky area at the same time, Guy. You noticed, as did I, that the Kentucky Department of Transportation needs to head north for snow plow lessons I'm sure. I have never seen such a poor attempt at plowing a road in all my life. I do understand that they don't get much practice but wow!
 






Peter & Sgt, can you link or give exact specs to the exact Interceptor wheels and tires you have? Thanks!

Has anyone been able to confirm that ALL the specs are the same for 16' as far as wheel compatibility?
Check out;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3357232&postcount=356
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3352615&postcount=301
These posts are in the Winter Tires and Wheels thread;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=372353&highlight=winter+tires

A couple of members living close to the border have actually bought the wheels at a Canadian Ford dealership. I believe they are less than 1/3 of the U.S. price.

Peter
 






Many thanks Peter. I will check it out. :thumbsup:

While I feel sensible driving trumps everything, good snows/wheels can make a huge difference if the sledding (pun intended) gets bad. I had a Toyota Sequoia with 22's and summer tires and with no more than 2" of snow it will literally slide off the road. Toss on 18's with some dedicated snows and it would go straight up a wall. It's a combination of the driver and the wheels/tires. If you have a good driver with some "decent" all seasons, you can drive an Impala and be fine.

Not sure how good the Hanooks are/aren't but I'm guessing if you can afford some dedicated wheels/snows, it will allow the truck to go to some more extremes. Obviously also depends on where you live whether it's worth it or not. Another way to look at the $ equation is that by having dedicated snow tires you save the life of your all seasons and that defrays the cost of new all season tires by extending their life. You can even meet in the middle by not buying new wheels but just buy winter rubber and swap them on your OEM wheels each winter. Bit more of a hassle but saves a bunch of $ on the wheels.
 






I was in the central Kentucky area at the same time, Guy. You noticed, as did I, that the Kentucky Department of Transportation needs to head north for snow plow lessons I'm sure. I have never seen such a poor attempt at plowing a road in all my life. I do understand that they don't get much practice but wow!

It was pretty bad. Not much snow removal there. Many fast food places like McD and BK were closed because their employees or supplies could not get to work but we trucked on nicely on the OEM tires in the snow mode.
 






Thanks for all the reply's

My last vehicle was 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V8 with Goodyear Fortera tires. Never had a problem towing with snow or Ice. Has anybody used these tires on the explorer?

PGK
 






May want to check tirerack.com. They have tons of reviews. Fortera's on 5th gens though are not very complimentary but then again there are only a handful of reviews.
 






Thanks for all the reply's

My last vehicle was 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V8 with Goodyear Fortera tires. Never had a problem towing with snow or Ice. Has anybody used these tires on the explorer?

PGK

I had the Fortera Triple-Tred on my Lincoln Aviator and those tires amazed me, especially in snow. It's just too bad Goodyear does not have a size for the Explorer (well, at least not for the Sport). I did inquire, and was told there are no plans to add to the product line.

That being said, the OEM Hankook tire did amazingly well in the snow, especially in some of the deep stuff last winter. I had counted on pulling them right away for something "better", but will be glad to leave them on. Some of us don't want the hassle of keeping winter tires and wheels around, especially after realizing that Ford actually put on a decent tire.
 






You have to remember that while some so call all-season tires provide adequate traction in snow, they can't compare to a dedicated Winter tire on bare cold pavement. They begin to lose optimum traction at 44 degrees F due to the rubber used which will harden even more as the temperature drops. A dedicated Winter tire, made of a different and more pliable rubber, will maintain its grip and will out perform an all-season tire making it much safer. That is one of the reasons many insurance companies offer premium discounts on their insurance policies.
It is also a reason Winter tires are no longer referred to as 'snow tires'.

Peter
 



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