First winter with new Defender. Coming from a 2017 Disco were I ran stock all-seasons most of year and Nokian Hakka’ R3’s in winter. I loved the way the disco handled all over Colorado in the winter. Now the Defender. 3 months out of year I run the Falkan Wild Peak At4’s and love them. This winter I installed Michelin X-Ice Snow (275/55/R20) and just had my first two days of solid snowy roads to play with them. Frankly…I’m lot really happy; but I’m not sure if it the Defender, the tires, or both? I haven’t driven the defender in snow yet so have nothing to compare it to. Specifically, the roads have been 1-3” inches of fluffy snow with thicker slush in town. The Slush specifically seems to be the challenge. The anti-lock brakes almost immediately lock up in the slush and sliding starts. Almost went into a ditch. The Disco + Nokian Hakkapaliitas R3 didn’t do that at all.

Could it be that the tires in defender are wider than the Disco? And therefore “float” more? Dunno.

Btw…I wanted the Nokian this year, but couldn’t get any dealers around me to find them. So settled for the Michelins.

Thoughts?

 

I have 18" X-Ice in Canada, I find snow performance pretty good. The real ice can be a challenge though.

 

Snap on the wheels! We ran the Hakka R3 on our 2018!Disco (loved them). And now put x-ice on the old Disco wheels as 20inch winters

Have done a few drives in snow and slush recently in New England. Drives really well and not seen any of the issues you mention. Seems well planted
My oerception is that the Nokian is a slightly better tire (but I maybe imagining that). Unfortunately you can't get the new Hakka R5 in the right size.

 

My 2023 110S is on relatively new Duratracs (maybe 5,000 miles on them). They’ve done well in the snow here in northern Virginia this year. (I’m a New Englander; this year’s snow is more like New Hampshire than Virginia).

It’s been surprisingly cold, and our snow from more than a week ago is still here; the local governments really aren’t prepared to plow a lot of snow, so most of the side streets, including the one I live on, never got plowed. The Defender did fine on ~6” of fresh snow, and is still doing fine on the compressed and rutted ice that I have to drive over to get to the plowed roads.

 

2025 Defender in Atlantic Canada, for the winter we replaced the stock Pirellis with Goodyear Duratrac RT 275/55/20 and no issues with snow, slush or ice. They are loud on the pavement though.

 

Flawless snow drives with Bridgestone Blizzaks.

 

I switched to Duratracs from the original Adventures (same size as my originals: 255/70/18) and I didn’t notice a louder sound. The tone is a little different - a deeper hum, maybe. But not noticeably louder to my unscientific ear.

 

I run Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws, and while I had no problems in the snow, I actually thought the OEM Goodyear Wrangler Adventures performed slightly better in the snow than the Wildpeaks, despite not having the 3PMSF rating, which turns out to be a BS marketing tactic. Nothing will be as good as a dedicated set of winter tires.

 

I was also surprised when the brakes locked up in slushy conditions. I started researching, and saw that anti lock brakes deactivate at low speeds, but that wouldn't explain why it's never happened on any other modern vehicle I've driven. I found that having to tap on the brakes old school style was the only thing I could do to keep the rear end from coming around.

 

Right now we have to compromise on winter tires. We have Nokian Hakka R5's in 275 width on one Defender and Michelin X-Ice in 255 width on the other Defender. The X-Ice tires are better in deep snow, mainly because narrower tires work better in deep snow. The R5's are better on ice and in slush. From my experience, if Nokian ever makes a Hakka R5 in 255 width, that would be the best winter tire for the Defender.