Rugged tires in winter: can the overland look handle snow and ice?

Quick picks

Why there's no rugged-looking winter tire for a RAV4

A few winter tires have the chunky overland look, but none comes in a size that suits a RAV4. The Cooper Discoverer Snow Claw's nearest sizes are 235/65R16 and 245/70R17. The Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac RT starts at 245/70R17. The Yokohama G072 doesn't come in a RAV4 size at all. All of these are either too tall or the wrong wheel size.

Consumer Reports' top-scoring SUV winter tires include a few with a chunky tread, like the General Grabber Arctic X, which scored 80 out of 100 with top snow and ice marks, and the Hankook Winter i*cept iZ3 and Nexen Winguard Winspike 3 SUV. None of them comes in a RAV4 size either, so the answer stays the same.

So you have to choose between a rugged all-terrain tire that's decent in winter, or a real winter tire on a rugged-looking wheel.

What owners say: Tire Rack's ratings

Owners who drove these tires through real winters are the best evidence we have. Tire Rack asks owners to score the tires they bought, out of 10. The miles column is the total miles those owners reported. Owners tend to rate their own tires high, so the gaps between tires matter more than the scores themselves.

Read on October 11, 2026 from Tire Rack's owner surveys for off-road all-terrains, on-road all-terrains, SUV and truck winter tires, and car winter tires. Tire Rack doesn't sell Nokian, so Nokian tires aren't in the table.

The ice column tells the story. The best all-terrain, the BFGoodrich KO3, scores 8.4. The best winter tire, the Blizzak DM-V2, scores 9.1 over 14 million miles. Every all-terrain scores below every winter tire on ice. In light and deep snow, the gap is much smaller.

Discount Tire's owner reviews point the same way. On its 5-point winter weather score, the Blizzak DM-V2 averages 4.91 across 530 owners, and only about 1% scored it 3 or lower. The best all-terrains, the BFGoodrich KO2 and Falken Wildpeak A/T3W, average 4.71 and 4.70. Between 5 and 11% of all-terrain owners scored winter 3 or lower, including about 11% of 81 Toyo A/T III owners.

Owners who ran both kinds

These are owners who drove an all-terrain and a winter tire through the same kind of winter, so they could compare directly.

• Falken Wildpeak A/T3W vs studded Nokians, central Oregon (2020): an owner on his third set of Wildpeaks called them his best all-round tire, but switches to studded Nokians for twice-weekly mountain pass crossings.
• BFGoodrich KO2 vs Blizzaks, Montana (IH8MUD forum, 2017): a 4Runner owner couldn't climb a slight grade on KO2s in an ice storm. He called his Blizzaks "awesome."
• Goodyear DuraTrac vs Blizzaks, Spokane (TacomaWorld forum, 2019): a Tacoma owner called his DuraTracs "marginal at best" on ice next to his wife's Blizzaks.
• Wildpeak A/T3W vs KO2, Boise (2020): an owner who ran both found the Wildpeak better on ice.
• Firestone Destination A/T2 vs Blizzak DM-V2, same roads at 22°F (The Pedal Dance, 2024): on a 2023 Subaru Outback, the all-terrain was okay in snow but, in the owner's words, "pretty unacceptable" on ice. The Blizzak stopped shorter from 40 mph than the all-terrain did from 35 mph. Watch the video

The pattern across these owners: all-terrains are fine in fresh and deep snow, and clearly worse on hard-packed snow and ice.

What Consumer Reports found

{CR} buys its own tires, takes no money from tire makers, and tests them on its own track and ice rink. That makes it the most independent tire testing we can point to. Its latest ratings agree with owners:

• On ice, winter tires win. Six of the seven SUV winter tires got Consumer Reports' top ice score. None of the 19 all-terrains it rated did; the best of them scored one step below.
• The Toyo held up well. The Toyo Open Country A/T III ranked second of the 19 all-terrains overall, and its ice score matched the best any all-terrain got. One catch: Consumer Reports tested the A/T III EV, a version built for electric vehicles, not the regular A/T III.
• The Nokian Outpost nAT ranked 18th of the 19 all-terrains overall. It scored below most of them on ice and was one of the noisiest tires tested. That's very different from the one test where it stopped shortest on ice.
• The Falken Wildpeak A/T4W ranked in the bottom half, with weak snow and ice scores and one of the lowest fuel economy scores.
• The BFGoodrich Trail-Terrain T/A+ was the only all-terrain to get Consumer Reports' top snow score, with a good ice score and good fuel economy. More on that tire below.
• Its top-rated all-terrain was the Kumho Road Venture AT52, one point ahead of the Toyo. It fits a RAV4 in 235/65R17 and 245/65R17, weighs 31.7 lb, and costs about $197 to $202. We still pick the Toyo: Tire Rack owners rate the Kumho 7.8 on ice against the Toyo's 8.2, and Consumer Reports rated the Kumho one of the louder all-terrains.
• Among winter tires, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV and Michelin X-Ice Snow SUV scored highest overall. The Blizzak DM-V2 matched them on snow and ice but scored lower overall because of wet braking and fuel economy.

Consumer Reports tested the all-terrains and the winter tires as separate groups, both in a truck size, so this is the same method and scale rather than a same-day head-to-head. It didn't test the BFGoodrich KO3 or KO2, the regular Toyo A/T III, the Yokohama Geolandar G015, or the General Grabber A/TX, so those tires' ratings on this page come from owners and other tests only. Its ratings are for subscribers, so we've summarized them in our own words here; see {CR} for the full scores.

Tire by tire

Here are the five tires side by side in 235/65R17, the size most RAV4 owners pick for an all-terrain. Weight matters because a heavier tire takes more energy to turn, which costs some gas mileage, especially on a hybrid.

Weights, warranties and prices are from TireSize.com's spec pages, checked October 11, 2026. The KO3 only comes as a light truck tire in this size; the others are passenger tires. In 225/65R17, the Toyo weighs 31 lb and the Wildpeak 34.8 lb.

Questions you might still have

How much gas mileage will I lose?

Expect to lose some, but how much varies a lot. Nobody has run a controlled test of these tires on a RAV4, so here's what owners reported:

• A RAV4 Hybrid owner on Toyo A/T III's said they lost about 2 mpg.
• Another RAV4 Hybrid owner tracked his highway average dropping from 38 to 34 mpg after switching to all-terrains on new wheels. That's covered in our wheels and tires guide.
• A RAV4 Hybrid owner on Nokian's lighter Outpost APT in 235/65R17 reports about 41 mpg.
• A Drivingline long-term test on a 2016 gas RAV4, the previous generation, measured only about 0.3 mpg lost on the highway over about 10,000 miles on Nitto all-terrains.

Weight is part of it, but so is the tread pattern and how much the tire resists rolling. Within this group, the lighter Trail-Terrain T/A, Toyo and Nokian should cost the least, and the 45 lb KO3 the most. Consumer Reports' fuel economy scores point the same way: the Trail-Terrain T/A+ scored well and the Wildpeak A/T4W worst. We couldn't confirm which tire Toyota fits at the factory or its weight, so we can't give an exact difference from stock.

How long will they last?

The Toyo and the Wildpeak carry 65,000-mile tread warranties, the Outpost nAT 60,000, and the KO3 50,000. The Trail-Terrain T/A carries 60,000. Owners on Discount Tire rate tread life about the same for the four we have owner data on, between 4.6 and 4.9 out of 5.

Will they be louder or ride rougher?

A little, compared with a highway tire, but owners don't seem bothered. On Discount Tire, owners score ride noise between 4.45 and 4.58 out of 5 and ride comfort between 4.5 and 4.9 for all four tires. The Toyo scored lowest for noise, at 4.45 from 905 owners, and the Outpost nAT highest for comfort, but from only 59 owners.

235 or 245 width?

235/65R17 is the safer choice. It fits RAV4 Hybrids without rubbing, it's lighter, and it keeps your speedometer close to right. 245/65R17 looks beefier, but it can rub at full steering lock and makes your speedometer read about 3% lower than your actual speed.

Can I keep them on all summer?

Yes. Unlike winter tires, all-terrains are made for year-round use. That's the whole appeal of the one-set plan.

Every same-day test of an all-terrain against a winter tire

The only fair way to compare two tires is to test them on the same day, on the same surface, on the same vehicle. These are all the tests we found that did that with an all-terrain and a winter tire.

The two-set plan, with the rugged look

Most of the rugged look comes from the wheel and the taller sidewall of a 17-inch tire, not from the tread. So real winter tires on chunky 17-inch wheels look the part in winter and give you the best ice grip.

Winter tires in 235/65R17

• Studded: Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10 SUV. The car-size Hakkapeliitta 10 won Tekniikan Maailma's 2025 studded tire test on a VW Golf. On ice from about 31 mph, the studded tires stopped in about 105 to 112 feet, against about 151 to 157 feet for the best studless tires (results). TireSize.com listed it at about $201 to $239, but another retailer starts at $229.50, so check the current price before you buy.
• Studless: Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 or Michelin X-Ice Snow SUV. They have the top two owner ice scores in the table above, 9.1 and 9.0. Consumer Reports gives both its top ice and snow scores; it rates the X-Ice Snow SUV and the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV a little higher overall than the Blizzak, which loses points for wet braking and fuel economy.

Wheels and fit

• What fits: a 5x114.3 bolt pattern and an offset of about +35 to +40. The RAV4's hub is 60.1 mm.
• Hub rings: many aftermarket wheels have a larger center hole and need hub rings to fit the RAV4's 60.1 mm hub. That includes the Method MR502 in matte black (about $314 a wheel), which has a 67.1 mm hole, so it needs 67.1 to 60.1 mm hub rings. The hub ring that comes in the box is sized for Subarus, so buy the 60.1 mm rings separately.
• Brake clearance: owners measured only about 1/4 to 3/8 inch between the front calipers and the spokes on some 17-inch wheels. Have the shop test-fit one wheel before mounting all four.
• Plain factory-style 17x7 wheels: about $566 for a set of four.
• Tire size: 235/65R17 runs on RAV4 Hybrids without rubbing, according to owners. 245/65R17 also fits, but it can rub at full steering lock, and because it's taller, your speedometer reads about 3% lower than your actual speed. RAV4World fit thread
• Pressure sensors: ask the shop to clone your existing sensor IDs onto the winter set's sensors, so the car recognizes them after every swap.

What it adds up to

These add up part prices. They aren't shop quotes.

Where the evidence is thin

• No test has measured the popular all-terrains on ice on the same day as a top winter tire. Consumer Reports rates both on the same ice scale, but in separate test groups.
• Most all-terrain owner ratings come from truck owners on truck sizes.
• Consumer Reports tested the EV version of the Toyo and the T/A+ version of the Trail-Terrain, not the exact versions sold in RAV4 sizes.
• The KO3, Wildpeak A/T4W and Outpost nAT have only been out for one or two winters, so owner data is thin or missing.
• Tyre Reviews and Tire Rack block automated tools, so a few numbers come from search engine copies of their pages.

For the best snow and ice tires without the rugged look, see the best snow tires for the RAV4.