Originally Posted by littlehulkster
I hate pickups in winter. The problem is not snow, which they do pretty well in, it's ice. Given as a pickup has a big, heavy engine in the front but nothing in the back, the weight distribution is all messed up, which causes the tail to get very loose on ice. That combined with the high center of gravity, steep hills and generally poor handling means things can go very bad, very quick. Even snow tires won't entirely fix the problem with a pickup. There will always be a massive traction difference between front and rear, and when they do go, they tend to do so quickly and violently.
My solution has been to keep significant weight in the back of the F-150 over the winter. That has eliminated these problems. I have not splurged on winter tires for it, but in all the winter driving I did with it, I never wound up facing the wrong way. The Lightning actually was surprisingly good on ice, as little as I took it on ice. It being short was what saved it.
I remember a few years ago, a buddy and I were both climbing the same hill in a provincial park in the winter. He had his RWD truck, and I had my RWD F-150. Our tires had similar tread. He couldn't get up the hill, and I went up easily. He couldn't understand it until I showed him the 300+ lbs of tractor wheel weights I had in the back.
I hate pickups in winter. The problem is not snow, which they do pretty well in, it's ice. Given as a pickup has a big, heavy engine in the front but nothing in the back, the weight distribution is all messed up, which causes the tail to get very loose on ice. That combined with the high center of gravity, steep hills and generally poor handling means things can go very bad, very quick. Even snow tires won't entirely fix the problem with a pickup. There will always be a massive traction difference between front and rear, and when they do go, they tend to do so quickly and violently.
My solution has been to keep significant weight in the back of the F-150 over the winter. That has eliminated these problems. I have not splurged on winter tires for it, but in all the winter driving I did with it, I never wound up facing the wrong way. The Lightning actually was surprisingly good on ice, as little as I took it on ice. It being short was what saved it.
I remember a few years ago, a buddy and I were both climbing the same hill in a provincial park in the winter. He had his RWD truck, and I had my RWD F-150. Our tires had similar tread. He couldn't get up the hill, and I went up easily. He couldn't understand it until I showed him the 300+ lbs of tractor wheel weights I had in the back.