Found the limits of my 4WD Denali with all season tires in snow

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grouch

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They’ve had Auto4WD and 4WDH/4WDl for at least 2 gens I think? If not 2 gens then since 2015.


I've got an early 2000 Escalade (just a Denali or Tahoe with fancy trim) which is basically a 1999 and it has the automatic setting for 4WD. After 50 years of driving I know when I need 4X4 or not. I went upstate a bit and went through 14 inches of snow on unplowed back roads as well as the ice we get around here and also some mud thrown in for good measure. I have a tree farm with some major granite outcrops and it even handles those better than a Jeep I had a few years back. Not the best ride with those nasty Firestone Discoverer MT2's but I haven't found anything it can't handle.
 

Garandman

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'Severe Snow rated'? that's cute, here in the upper midwest, we just call them winter tires :sunot:

unfortunately, most nitwits around here still think all season's will do the trick.
Its a performance standard. Quebec, and some mountain passes in the west require them.

To be a M+S Tire, there is only an open tread requirement, but no performance rating. Winter tire has no legal definition. The SS rating is a performance standard developed by the Canadians and NIST. SS tires don’t have treadwear ratings.

There are a small number of light truck tires and one car tire with both the 3-peaks icon and UTQG treadwear and traction rating. To my knowledge the only passenger car tire so rated is the Nokian WRG3/4.
 
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Boatguy

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over confident driver maybe the issue

I’ll take a SUV with weight on all 4 wheels over an empty pickup any day. A million years ago, I got snowed in after skiing at Big Bear. I was driving a 1976 Silverado. Had no traction at all until I asked a guy driving a loader to give me a scoop of snow.
 
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adventurenali92

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I’ll take a SUV with weight on all 4 wheels over an empty pickup any day. A million years ago, I got snowed in a after skiing at Big Bear. I was driving a 1976 Silverado. Had no traction at all until I asked a guy driving a loader to give me a scoop of snow.
I had a pickup, then two SUVs since then. And I agree I love having the SUVs in the snow way more than the truck I had. Though I loved that little truck and went everywhere in it. We had 6 feet of snow over the course of one weekend, back in the beginning of 2011. It was wild to see that much snow here in big bear. And my little 4x4 99 dodge Dakota took me through it all haha.
 

grouch

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I remember one car I had that hammered the snow great. A 1966 Chevy Biscayne with snow tires. There's just something about the weight distribution on those cars where grippy snow tires would go through many inches of snow.
 
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