Buy 5 winter tires now in case you ruin a sidewall on a pothole. Winter tires sell out and chances of finding a replacement tire in February are slim. I would prefer to go narrower too, but there simply are not many size options. From my experience, the Defender traction technology is awesome in deep snow and 275's work fine. My Defender was the only vehicle at our ski house that could make it through heavy overnight snow and get us to the slopes. My friends with a BMW X5 and Honda Pilot with smaller winter tires immediately got stuck. (Adjustable ground clearance deserves credit as well)

 

I have also been using Nokian winter tires for years. Our set of Hakka R3's were made in Russia and I always check for sidewall cracks when I install them. I read an article that Nokian closed that Russian plant which was their largest with 1600 workers. Nokian is based in Finland and said the Ukraine invasion combined with Finland joining NATO is why they pulled out of Russia.

The Hakka R5's I bought last year for our second Defender were made in Finland, but I think most Nokians we buy here will be made in their plant in TN.

https://www.nokiantires.com/daytonfactory/

 

Just what my garage needs: more tires. No I'll not bother getting spares. Blizzaks are directional so I'd need two. They're always in stock in Costco and Discount. Ubiquitous around here.

I have 5 spares in The Goodyear Adventures. 1 on a rim. Not ideal but it'll do.

 

I ran blizzaks on my Durtymax, 4Runner, and plan to run dedicated on the defender. Back country Idaho is not the alps but they’ve been great across all kinds of snow, from packed ice to fluffy 8-12” (in the durtymax).

 

I have blizzaks on order for the winter so that they arrive in plenty of time, I've used them on other vehicles before and they are outstanding in the snow. I'm hoping that we see less ice in the PacNW this winter, had a few weeks that got real sketchy - my road was impassable for several days unless you had studded tires.

 

There was general carnage on the roads those couple of days. The skiing was great. Parking was a dream.
It's wonderful having the right gear.

 

I put the 5th Nokian on the back of the Defender. The only dilemma was which way to mount it as it is also directional. I went with "right" since most big potholes are on the right edge of the road.

Thanks for posting that photo. So nice when other skiers can't make it to the mountain and you can. Great idea to bring Maxtrax on winter trips...I never thought of that. I only bring them along when driving in beach sand but will have to remember winter use too.

 

anybody running Nokian Outpost?

 

Yes. They've come in handy in unplowed parking lots. I just throw them up there on some of the deeper days.

 

I ended up getting the Cross Climate 2s. Pretty decent all year tires no decrease in mileage.

I was able to drive into a snow filled parking lot. On the way I pulled a defender and Jeep out of a ditch and was at the restaurant in time for cornflakes!