Video: Do You Really Need Snow-Rated Tires on Your 4×4 Truck to Survive the Winter? Let’s Find Out!

The results are drastic!

ram 1500 2500 hd snow tire all-terrain stock comparison winter test

On this episode of “Let’s Find Out!” we put our stock 2022 Ram HD 2500 pickup truck on factory all-purpose tires against a nearly identical new Ram HD 2500 diesel truck on new three-peak snow-rated all-terrain tires. The test starts by driving up a snowy and icy dirt road as quickly as possible and measuring the acceleration time. Next, it’s going down the same snowy road and doing a 30-0 MPH braking test. What will be the difference between these two identical trucks on different tires? Also, how will our Ram 1500 “Stubby” truck perform on the same test with its stock all-purpose tires? Let’s find out!

Stock Ram HD 2500

You have seen this heavy-duty truck before. This is TFL’s long-term test truck that we have been using to work on our Tumbleweed Ranch. This truck has over 11,000 miles on its stock Firestone Transforce AT tires. It’s a Big Horn trim crew cab 4×4 with a standard bed and a 6.7-liter I6 Cummins turbo-diesel under the hood.

Modified Ram HD 2500

The blue heavy-duty Ram belongs to Alex. He is the managing editor at TFLoffroad.com, a videographer, an editor, a motorcycle rider, and a good friend. This truck is a Tradesman trim crew cab 4×4 with the same diesel engine. The silver truck is equipped with a Mopar 5th-wheel / gooseneck hitch. The blue truck has a soft topper, a suspension leveling kit, and these new 37×12.5-inch Falken Wildpeak A/T3W tires.

Both of these HD trucks have an as-tested curb weight of right around 8,000 lbs.

Stock Ram 1500 “Stubby”

This is our most-affordable full-size 4×4 pickup truck in the country. We bought it for our test fleet just about two weeks ago. It’s a two-door regular cab truck with a standard bed and a 3.6L Pentastar V6 under the hood. It’s wearing stock Goodyear Wrangler SRA tires. This half-ton Ram truck has a curb weight of 4,800 lbs. It’s MUCH lighter than these heavy-duty trucks.

Here is what happened.

Ram HD (all-purpose)Ram HD (Snow-rated)Ram 1500 (all-purpose)
Acceleration17.82 seconds12.1 seconds12.56 seconds
Braking138.5 feet109.0 feet129.0 feet

The results are clear! Three-peak snow-rated tires on the Ram HD performed WAY BETTER in the snow. It gained about 5.7 seconds during the acceleration and stopped 29.5 feet shorter! This can be a difference between safely navigating a snowy road or getting into serious trouble.

Interestingly, the light-duty half-ton truck on stock tires nearly matched the modified Ram HD’s acceleration time. However, it still needed 20 feet more to stop after going 30 MPH.

Join the video for all of the snowy fun.