Hi guys. This will be my first winter with L, and i am concerned about handling. I hope to keep driving to a minimum, but there is a good chance i might have to drive in snow at times( it hurts just to think about taking the boy out in that). I have tried to find some good radials for a winter tire, but have had little to no luck.
Will the F1's get me around with alot of caution, or do that stick all together in bad weather?? I plan on new tires and rims for good weather, just need to get through winter.. Ideally, i would get a winter auto, and put the L up for the winter, but won't have that luxury this year. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Greg

 

From what ive read, putting some weight in the bed and taking it easy you should be just fine. Its not like i know anything about driving in it.

 

Been there done that. Never again. Get a set of winter tires.

 

Hey SVT Bolt, do you recommend any winter tires in particular?? I have had no luck in finding anything...[IMG]botter[/IMG]

 

wouldn't any set of 16 or 17" kinda off road or all terain tires due? They make tires with steel nubs, for impoved traction (my friends 99 SS with a few mods had a set of snow tires on it, kinda funny)

 

well, i just picked my winter tire package up on Friday, and im waiting as long as i can to put them on..... boy are they UGLY, i got a nasty steel wheel that is actually used as a spare tire for the expeditions. but i've done alot of research on this and this is what i got and why.

Michelin (cant go wrong they are a good brand)

i was either going with:

Artic Alpine 235/70/16
or
4x4 Alpine 235/70/16
or
Bridgestone Duell Winter 245/70/16

the above sizes are what come on are trucks if they weren't lightnings. (regular f150s' reg and supercab's)

so i went to tirerack and checked out all the ratings they gave these tires (in my opinon tirerack is dead on with there ratings the tires that i've used i would give the same ratings as tirerack)

artic alpine- Cheap, pretty good tire i guess, about $90 some dollars a piece. speed rating of 99mph. tire rack basically gave all 7.2 ratings for this tire. (dry/wet/ice/snow traction etc.)

4x4 alpine- about $10 more a tire than artic, ratings were all low to mid 8's, and speed rating of 114mph.

bridgestone same as 4x4 alpine but about $2 cheaper a tire.

i definetly went with the 4x4 alpine(had good ratings, and had a better speed rating--hey who knows when it's jan and dry pavement, and i get in some race on the freeway i will easily be over 100), the wheels, tires, and lug nuts ran me $840, (if it saves me once from a bad accident or anything like that, its worth it to me)

but i havent put them on yet, probably the day it starts snowing decent enough to question how the roads are is when i will put them on. but for now if i do get caught in "some snow" i put the 250lbs worth of sand bags in the bed.

hope this helps.

 

Best bet is to buy yourself a 500/1000 dollar front wheel drive beater...Winters in IL can be brutal-->>snow/ice/salt

 

Thanks cobra97snake. I didn't think about trying to go with a different size tire, duh...... That is some helpful info!!!! Rims pretty ugly huh???? Oh well, safety is first concern. I will make up for the looks in spring with new Rims and Wheels. Hey, by the way, how do you get the pics on your thread. I have made a Gallery with a pic of my truck, but how do i get it in my thread??? thanks again Greg

 

get a beater. mine this year will be a pair of adidas size 10 and a half

 

I could not drive my L with some ugly a$$ winter tires and rims on it. Thats like washing it with sand and broken glass...you just dont do that! Get a beater....or stick with the stock F1's and rims....just be easy on the go pedal!

My daily driver Hey, it gets 34+ mpg and goes in the snow!

2001 Ford Focus ZX-3

 

Ditto. I just can't seem to put my ugly-a$$ rims/tires on the truck. I just picked up a set of the Bridgestone Winter Duelers & steel rims. They the same as Blizzaks and have a lot of soft tread.

 

from what i saw those bridgestones do have a cool thread, but i heard the thread wears faster then michelins.

my wheels are ugly but hey i can go a couple months with the outside not looking up to par........ i still got the PS2 inside. who cares what people think in the winter (there are usually no cool rides in the winter anyways up here, everyone stores them, heck i got my cobra stored. so even with the wheels the Lightning will still be one of the coolest people will see, i'd much rather be driving the L, then some crappy beater.). i will sacrifice the ugly rims in the winter because come spring im throwing on some 20's L replicas with some KUMHO 295/40/20's they are better then the F1's and bf good comp t/a's but not as good as nittos and bf goodrich g force's, but they are only $210 a tire.

and if you dont want to have ugly steel wheels, go ahead and spend a bit more money, and get some nice F150 rims or something, anything that is 16x8 or 16x7, because it will look good with those i think, i put the winter tires up the regular tires and they are the same diameter maybe a tiny bit larger than the reg rims. so it would look good.

 

What Cobra97snake said or get a beater for the winter.