275/65 R18 Tires

I live in a high altitude neighborhood in Utah where we frequently deal with snow covered dirt roads that often turn to ice. I bought the Nokian Outpost nATs to replace a 35% life K02 on my '15 F-150 and it's like a night and day difference in snow and ice traction. I took them out on a snowy night just to get a better feel for snow performance and found lateral grip to be very predictable and the overall traction to be similar to an all weather tire (CC2) we have on another vehicle. I was really surprised by how much confidence these inspired in the snow and hope that they are able to maintain this edge through their tread life.

I'm also quite impressed with road feel, the Nokians in SL feel significantly 'cushier' than the E range K02's they replaced. I'm not sure how much of that is the tire vs load range but I am happy to have a nicer ride in day to day use. The Nokians are 10 lbs lighter each and my best guess is that they have contributed ~1 mpg improvement over my outgoing tires. They also seem to have less road noise than the old tires, it's hard to compare worn vs new but they are noticeably quieter on the highway compared to a lot of vehicles with AT tires I've been in.

I had never heard of these tires before and was actually informed of them from chatGPT by prompting 'Which all terrain tire for my truck has the best snow performance, just pick one'. It referenced the snow test on tire reviews and chose these. They were also cheaper than many competitors, I paid $217 each in 275/65r18 which I felt was totally reasonable considering k03's in the same size are ~$330.

I'm happy with them and would recommend for anyone who is dealing with winter conditions on the regular.

The winter performance of these tires is downright terrifying. Hard-pack and ice are very sketchy when on a work truck, and the most scary of all is a light layer of snow on top of ice. The snow performance is fine, but if you know there is going to be ice, avoid getting on the road. Definitely a great summer/spring tire.

I spent a lot of time reading reviews before I pull the trigger, I wanted an all-terrain tire, that had good grip in the wet and snow, but did not kill my MPGs. The Firestone destination at2s exceeded all my expectations. The wet grip is phenomenal, better than the factory. All seasons that came with my large SUV, I was was caught in a blizzard in Western Pennsylvania recently, 12 in of snow, and for the most part I was bored having to drive real slow around other cars.

I don't drive fast enough to really comment on the dry grip, but the noise is low and I have not seen a meaningful change in my MPGs.

I replaced a set of highway tires with these Bridgestone Dueler AT for a cross country trip to spend time camping and fishing the Rocky Mountains. Since I never had AT tires before I did not know what to expect and was concerned about their road manners. Well these really surprised me as I expected noticeably louder tires and degraded ride while traveling across country. But frankly, these sound and ride much like the highway tires they replaced. The traction is amazing in wet conditions. And off road they provided plenty of grip and cushion. I have taken them on mountain roads and trails in the Rockies and they perform exactly as I hoped for on road and off. It's hard to tell how long they will last, but after rotation and tire tread measurement after more than 10,000 miles I expect they deliver the longevity they advertise.

I chose the P-Metric option for my vehicle because I don't do enough heavy towing or experience many sharp objects for my region with the off-roading conditions I experience to warrant the added weight and stiffness. Brand new these tires gripped dry road and gravel amazingly with minimal road noise. It existed, but it was a fairly quiet low hum/whistle that slowly increased with age and miles. Even when new, wet grip left a slight desire for improvement, same with snow, and especially with ice. I discovered this within the first 3 months/3,000mi of installing.

To be expected with going from a highway tire to an all-terrain, and increasing from 265/65/18 to 275/65/18 (an optional stock size), I found I lost about 3~4mpg on average between city and highway. These tires are significantly heavier than the previous tires and have a strong rolling resistance. My transmission temperature also on average began running 5~10º warmer.

As they have aged, dry grip has stayed fairly consistent, wet grip has decreased somewhat as expected, but snow/ice traction towards the end-of-life has fallen off significantly. I live in the northern Midwest where we frequently get heavy wet lake effect snow, it's a difficult substance to drive in no matter what but these tires struggled in it frequently enough that even additional weight over the drive axle did not do much to help and I utilize 4WD often. On average we end up with snow for roughly 4-5 months, starting as early as October and staying as long as March/April With the occasional exception even in May. Over the course of winter we will often receive daily daytime snow followed by nighttime sub-zero temperatures, as low as -25º. Anyone familiar with these conditions will tell you that salt no longer functions to melt the snow and ice, and that the heat from vehicles will bring the road just to the point of starting to melt, then after they drive off it will refreeze, repeatedly until it's an almost glass-smooth surface. Nothing is going to handle this well except the best snow tires, but these Wildpeaks were significantly worse than a highway biased tired at the same wear mileage.

What I have really noticed with these tires they do not like to be cold. I have seen as much as a 5psi swing from morning startup to mid-day driving. When cold at factory specified PSI I noticed for the first portion of driving that the tires have very noticeable flat spots, so much so my entire truck bounces driving down the road to a rhythm until they can be worked out. I also found over-inflating by 1-2lbs helps this as well as fuel consumption.

Overall I'm pretty disappointed in their performance compared to the glowing reviews they got over the years. If you live in a more arid climate I think these would be a pretty decent tire.

Do not buy these junk tires. I spent 500 bucks to keep trying to ballance one of them, brand new. 3 shops. Last was a road force ballance. Total wobble junk. Sent in to the rep, and bought another one, which was not much better. They even stated it was out of whack. No refund. Returned me my junk tire. Never again will I buy Junk Hankook tires. They have poor traction, and you will hate them.

I run Nokian HAKKAPELIITTA 10 SUV STUDDED on my 2024 Ford F150 beginning around mid November. We get a lot of snow in my area so I prefer a dedicated winter tire.
I remove my winter studded tires when the roads lose their layer of packed snow. Last winter I had the dealer pull them off early and install the BFG KO3 that are 10 ply( not what I wanted 6ply BFG still hadn’t made them) and we got hit with several snow falls leading into spring.
The KO3’S handled the snow, packed snow and ice extremely well and far better than the KO2 that were terrible in packed snow and ice. I noticed as well that the KO3 was way better on wet than the KO2 which was terrible. The KO2’s spin on acceleration on wet pavement and rounding wet corners!
The KO3 seems to have corrected that deficiency. Would I run the KO3 all winter if I didn’t have a dedicated winter tire like the Nokians and I had to. Yes I would but my driving technique would have to change for sure!
Like many others have stated you just can’t beat a dedicated winter tire in regions that receive a lot of snow. We had over 18’ of snowfall last winter!
I absolutely love watching your reviews you are the Project Farm of tires on YouTube an excellent unbiased review of tires that makes it so much easier for a consumer to choose the right tire! Check Project Farms channel out! Both of you are excellent sources for honest reviews! I’ve been subscribed for awhile!